Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
Google’s Jigsaw subsidiary is launching a new anti-misinformation project in India. The project is aimed to prevent misleading information that has been blamed for inciting violence.
The initiative will use prebunking videos, which have been designed to counter false claims before they are circulated on the company’s YouTube platform and other social media sites. In India, the project is released in multiple local languages including Bengali, Hindi and Marathi.

Notes:
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations organized an opening ceremony for the International Year of Millets 2023 (IYM2023) in Rome, Italy.
An Indian delegation led by Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, Minister of State, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and other senior officials were present at the opening ceremony. Raising awareness to create ‘Millet Mindfulness’ is an important part of this movement.

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:
Three medicinal plant species found in the Himalayas have been added to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Meizotropis pellita, commonly known as Patwa and endemic to Uttarakhand, has been assessed as ‘critically endangered’, Fritilloria cirrhosa as ‘vulnerable’, and Dactylorhiza hatagirea as ‘endangered’.

Notes:
‘World Soil Day’ is being observed annually on 5 December to focus on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for sustainable management of soil resources.
The theme of this year’s World Soil Day is ‘Soils: Where food begins’. An international day to celebrate soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences in 2002. The Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO Conference endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013.

Notes:
Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane stated in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that more than 8,40,000 jobs created by Startups in country.
These jobs have been generated by 84 thousand government recognized start-ups. The start-ups are spread in 640 districts with 45 percent of them being from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Over 100 Indian start-ups have achieved the status of Unicorn.

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:
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:
Legendary athlete PT Usha was elected as the first woman president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
She is a multiple Asian Games gold medalist and fourth place finisher in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m hurdles final. The 58-year-old athlete was declared elected unopposed for the top post in the polls. The elections were held under the supervision of Supreme Court-appointed retired SC judge L Nageswara Rao. She became the first Olympian and first international medallist to head the IOA in its 95 year history.

Notes:
US scientists announced a major scientific breakthrough in the research to harness nuclear fusion energy.
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction that was used to ignite it, which is also called net energy gain. This achievement will pave the way for developments in defence and future of clean power.