Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
Six Indian para-shuttlers clinch gold medals at Peru Para Badminton International in Lima. World No 3 Sukant Kadam defeated ace shuttler Singapore’s Chee Hiong Ang to clinch gold.
India won 14 medals in total including 6 gold, 1 silver and 7 bronze. In the women’s category, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan and Mandeep Kaur clinched the titles in the SH6 and SL3 singles sections.

Notes:
Bharti Airtel announced its partnership with Facebook parent Meta to jointly invest in global connectivity infrastructure that would extend a subsea cable ‘2Africa Pearls’ to India.
Last year, Meta announced a new segment of 2Africa Pearls in collaboration with regional partners. The 37,000-km subsea cable connected 23 countries, when it was launched in 2020. The cable would connect Africa, Europe, and Asia.

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.

Notes:
The USA’s White House has supported Congress to pass a legislation that seeks to eliminate the per country quota on green cards.
This seeks to allow U.S. employers to focus on hiring people based on merit, not their birthplace. The bill if passed would benefit several hundreds of thousands of immigrants specially Indian-Americans. A Green Card, or a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the U.S. as evidence of grant of privilege of residing permanently.

Notes:
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got a vote-share close to 13% in Gujarat Elections. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI) rulebook, a political party can apply to be recognised as a national party if it is ‘recognised’ in at least four states; or polled at least 6% of the total votes in any four or more states in the previous Lok Sabha or assembly election, and sent at least four MPs to the Lok Sabha in the previous Lok Sabha election; it has won at least 2% of the total seats in the Lower House, from no less than three states.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of new and renewable energy extended the rooftop solar programme till March 31, 2026.
With this, subsidy under the programme will be available until the target for the scheme is achieved. All residential consumers are advised not to pay any additional charges to any vendor on account of fee for application on the National Portal or any additional charges for net-metering or testing.

Notes:
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has recently sworn in as the next Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. He was a four-time MLA and chairman of the Congress’ state election campaign committee.
Mukesh Agnihotri has been selected as the Deputy Chief Minister. The Indian National Congress party won the Himachal Pradesh state assembly elections.

Notes:
Russia has remained India’s top oil supplier in November for the second month in a row, surpassing traditional sellers Iraq and Saudi Arabia,
According to Vortexa, an energy intelligence firm, Russia supplied 9,09,403 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to India in November. India imported 8,61,461 bpd of oil from Iraq in November and 5,70,922 bpd from Saudi Arabia.

Notes:
Every year UNICEF Day is celebrated on December 11. UNICEF was originally called the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund and now officially called as United Nations Children’s Fund.
After World War II, the United Nations formed the International Children’s Emergency Fund to provide with humanitarian aid for the well-being of the children whose future was at risk. It also defends children’s rights and helps them fulfil their potential.

Notes:
The 28 year old Denmark badminton player Viktor Axelsen claimed his eighth title in 2022 at the World Tour Finals.
He is the 2017 and 2022 World champion and the 2020 Olympic champion. Reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan defeated Tai Tzu Ying to claim the women’s singles crown. With that, Yamaguchi became the first women’s singles player since Ye Zhaoying in 1997 to claim the All England Open, World Championships and end-of-season finals all in the same year.