Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
Indian shuttler Manisha Ramadass has been named the Badminton World Federation (BWF) female Para-Badminton Player of the Year.
The World Champion in the SU5 section, Manisha Ramadass won 11 gold and five bronze medals overall in 2022. BWF Male Para-Badminton Player of the Year went to WH2 world champion and reigning Paralympic champion Daiki Kajiwara. Viktor Axelsen and Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong won the BWF Player of the Year Awards.

Notes:
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Economics of Land Degradation (ELD) Initiative jointly released ‘State of Finance for Nature 2022 ‘ Report.
It shows that current finance flows to nature-based solutions (NbS) are at USD 154 billion per year, which is less than half of the USD 384 billion per year needed by 2025.

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:
Supreme Court exempted Maharashtra’s Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) from its earlier order mandating the creation of a 1 km eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) around all protected areas in India.
It also stated that practical difficulties and ground realities will have to be taken into account before having a uniform order for creating ESZs as mandated. The Sanctuary is located in the suburbs of Mumbai.

Notes:
Bernard Arnault & family, who own the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton group of luxury brands, were briefly placed in the top position on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was at second position for a while after a fall in his automobile company Tesla’s shares. With a net worth of USD 185.4 billion, Musk is now again followed in the Forbes list by Arnault at USD 184.7 billion

Notes:
The Singapore Declaration was adopted at the 17th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Labour Organisation (APRM of ILO).
The Declaration urges countries to ensure labour protection. It noted that social dialogue is essential to address labour market challenges and finding solutions in crisis situations such as COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, and economic uncertainty.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of greenfield international airport at Mopa in north Goa.
The airport would be named Manohar International Airport after former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar. The Mopa airport in North Goa is the second international airport apart from the existing airport at Dabolim.

Notes:
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Researchers have developed an ‘Ocean Wave Energy Converter’ that can generate electricity from sea waves.
The Device was deployed at a location about 6 KM off the coast of Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. The device targets generating 1MW of power from ocean waves in the next three years.

Notes:
The International Day of Neutrality is commemorated on December 12. The day was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, to focus on advocating and campaigning for intra-state peaceful relations.
The United Nations focuses on Preventive diplomacy, which is the diplomatic action taken to prevent disputes from escalating into conflicts, as well as limiting the spread of conflicts; as well as mediating in inter and intra-state conflicts at all stages, and peacekeeping.

Notes:
India ranks at Number 5 as 20 Indian companies feature in 500 most valuable ones in the world, as per the 2022 Hurun Global list.
India rose from the 9th rank to 5th rank with 20 companies featured in the list. With USD 202 billion, Reliance Industries is the most valuable company ranked at followed by Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC Bank. Reliance Industries (34) and Tata Consultancy Services (65) are the only two Indian companies to feature in the top 100 list. US tops the list with 260 companies.