Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
The ‘12th World Hindi Conference’ is being organized by the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with the Government of Fiji in February 2023 in Fiji.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the main theme of the Conference is “Hindi: From Traditional Knowledge to Artificial Intelligence”. Eleven World Hindi Conferences have been organized in various countries, so far.

Notes:
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) saw a huge rise of 650 percent in value at the semi-urban and rural stores in India, according to a report by fin-tech company PayNearby.
According to the report, the demand for micro-ATMs and mPOS devices increased by 25 percent. There was sharp growth of over 200 percent in the cash collection business with a monthly average of Rs 1400 crores.

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 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released the ‘Global status of black soils’ Report on the occasion of World Soil Day, December 5, 2022.
As per the report, Black soils, which feed the global population, are under threat, with most losing at least half of their soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. As per the FAO, the reasons are Land-use change, unsustainable management practices and excessive use of agrochemicals.

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:
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:
University Grants Commission (UGC) has sought the translation of textbooks for undergraduate programmes in languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu.
UGC also constituted an apex committee to prepare the roadmap to introduce undergraduate and postgraduate courses in regional languages in disciplines including commerce, humanities, and science.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed a Currency Swap Agreement with the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) under the SAARC Currency Swap Framework.
This agreement will enable the MMA to make withdrawals in multiple tranches up to a maximum of USD 200 million from the RBI.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin launched sanitation workers’ development programme across the state and distributed safety equipment.
A survey will be carried out to identify sanitation workers and details will be uploaded on a mobile application. In the first phase, the scheme will be implemented in five urban local bodies and will be extended to all other local bodies.

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.