Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
The Sherpa Meeting of India’s G20 Presidency is being organised in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan. It is being attended by international Sherpas, their delegations, and heads of invited International Organizations (IOs) from G20 Members, 9 Guest countries among others.
Discussions of the 1st Sherpa Meeting were initiated by India’s G20 Sherpa, Amitabh Kant.

Notes:
Tamil Nadu Government has raised the monthly pension amount of differently-abled persons from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 1500 from January 2023.
An expert committee has been formed by the state to identify vacancies in all the departments where differently abled can be employed.

Notes:
Asha, one of the cheetahs released at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, has killed her first Nilgai calf, diversifying its prey.
This is seen as an important step in adaptability of cheetahs to the new environment. After being released into the enclosure, the wild cat had made her first kill—a cheetal. All the cheetahs at Kuno had so far only killed cheetals, the most abundant prey in the park.

Notes:
After significant deterioration in air quality of Delhi-NCR in last 24 hours, the Stage III of revised Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was invoked.
This is in addition to the preventive/ restrictive actions mentioned in Stage I and Stage II of the GRAP. Delhi’s overall Air Quality Index (AQI) crossed the 407 mark, which is likely to be a localized influence.

Notes:
World Bank approved USD 250 million financing to help Bangladesh strengthen environment management and promote private sector participation in green investment.
The Bangladesh Environmental Sustainability and Transformation (BEST) Project will help the country tackle key pollution issues. An E-waste management facility will be set up to process 3,500 metric tons of e-waste annually.

Notes:
Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the creation of an integrated ‘Agriculture Investment Portal’.
The Co-Chairperson of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates held a meeting with the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, in New Delhi. The portal was launched during the meeting.

Notes:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Orion capsule made its closest approach to the Moon within 130 km.
The feat has been achieved after Apollo 17 flew half a century ago. The spacecraft is set to parachute into the sea and splash down on December 11. NASA shared a picture of the ‘Moon and the distant crescent Earth’ captured by the Orion spacecraft.

Notes:
Sixteen-year-old Aditya Mittal has recently become India’s 77th chess Grandmaster. The Mumbai-based player crossed 2,500 ELO points mark during the sixth round of the ongoing Ellobregat Open tournament in Spain.
Mittal is also the fifth Indian to achieve the GM title in 2022 after Bharath Subramaniyam, Rahul Srivatshav, V Pranav and Pranav Anand.

Notes:
The World Bank recently released a report titled ‘Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector’.
The report was released during the two-day ‘India Climate and Development Partners’ Meet’ being organised by World Bank in partnership with the Kerala government. As per the report, the country is experiencing higher temperatures that arrive earlier and stay far longer. India could become one of the first places in the world to experience heat waves that break the human survivability limit.

Notes:
Haryana Government issues orders which prohibit dismissing an employee without a proper enquiry. The move comes after a recommendation of Punjab and Haryana high court which states that authorities have been ignoring the law regarding dismissal of an employee under Article 311 (2) (b) of the Constitution.
Article 311 empowers the competent authority to dismiss, remove or reduce in rank a government employee subject to various riders.