Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
The National eGovernance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) organized an AI Pe Charcha (AI Dialogue).
The panellists discussed the importance and approaches for enabling access to quality datasets for AI. The AI Pe Charcha series has been initiated as a part of Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE), India’s first global AI summit organized by MeitY in 2020.

Notes:
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky recently addressed the US Congress. He appealed to lawmakers and citizens to continue supporting Ukraine.
He delivered a 25 minute-speech while unfurling the Ukrainian battle flag in the end and evoking the analogy of the ongoing war in Ukraine with second world war’s ‘Christmas of 1944’.

Notes:
Indian scientist Professor Thalappil Pradeep, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras received VinFuture special prize on 20th Dec. 2022 in Hanoi.
He was awarded for innovation of a low-cost filtration system to remove arsenic and other heavy metals from groundwater. Thalappil was earlier conferred with the Padma Shri in honour of his work to develop affordable and safe drinking water solutions using nanomaterials.

Notes:
Decacorn is the name given to a business with a value more than USD 10 billion. Unicorns are businesses with a value more than USD 1 billion.
Recently, the collective value of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is estimated to have gone up to USD 10.9 billion, thereby becoming a decacorn. Media rights, sponsorships, ticket sales, and in-stadia revenue are the contributors for its revenue.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet approved pending One Rank One Pension (OROP) revision for retirees from armed forces and their families.
The scheme has been delayed since July 2019. Arrears will be paid from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022 which is approximately ₹23,638 crore. As per the Defence Ministry, over 25.13 lakh people, including over 4.52 lakh new beneficiaries, armed forces pensioners and family pensioners will benefit.

Notes:
Russia and India planned to drop all use of the US dollar and the euro in bilateral settlements and conduct all trade transactions in rupee and rouble.
As per the officials, it is necessary to address the imbalance in trade for a full-fledged transition to national currencies.

Notes:
The bar-headed goose, considered one the world’s highest flying birds, recently visited the Muttukadu backwaters in Tamil Nadu.
As many as seven bar-headed geese made a temporary stop at Muttukadu. Bar-headed geese, native to Central Asia, are capable of flying through the passes of the highest mountains with speedy winds freezing temperatures.

Notes:
The President of India Droupadi Murmu, laid the foundation stone for the project ‘Development of Pilgrimage Facilities at Bhadrachalam Group of Temples’ at Bhadrachalam in the state of Telangana.
She also laid the foundation stone for another project called ‘Development of Pilgrimage and Heritage Infrastructure of UNESCO World Heritage Site at Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple’ in the state.  Both these projects have been approved under the PRASHAD (National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive) Scheme of the Ministry of Tourism.

Notes:
Telangana government has launched the 10th phase of Rythu Bandhu, the investment support scheme for farmers.
Under this phase, 7,676 crores will be deposited in the bank accounts of over 70 lakh farmers towards investment support for the Rabi crop season. The investment support is disbursed at a rate of 5000 rupees per acre.

Notes:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) releases the financial stability report (FSR) twice a year in every June and December.
As per the recent report, the gross non-performing asset (GNPA) ratio of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) fell to a seven-year low of 5.0 per cent. The net non-performing assets (NNPA) have dropped to ten-year low of 1.3 per cent in September 2022.