Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
India has recently launched a ‘Group of Friends’ to promote accountability for crimes against peacekeepers, during its current presidency of the UN Security Council.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced that New Delhi will soon have a database that will record all crimes against the peacekeepers. India, Bangladesh, Egypt, France, Morocco and Nepal are co-chairs of the group. India, among the largest troop-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping, has lost 177 of its peacekeepers in the line of duty.

Notes:
The Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs won the Platinum Icon in the Digital India Awards 2022 for their initiative ‘DataSmart Cities: Empowering Cities through Data’.
The scheme won under the ‘Data Sharing and Use for Socio Economic Development’ category. The Digital India Awards (DIA) instituted in 2009 aims to encourage innovative digital solutions by government entities in realising the Digital India vision.

Notes:
Adani Solar, the photovoltaic manufacturing and research arm of the Adani Group, has introduced India’s first large sized monocrystalline silicon ingot.
Inaugurated at its Mundra facility recently, the mono-crystalline ingots will help to produce renewable electricity from Silicon based PV modules with efficiencies ranging from 21% to 24%. Adani Solar is a part of Adani New Industries (ANIL).

Notes:
National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has received in-principle approval from the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to set up a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) as a separate segment of the NSE.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Union Budget speech of 2019-20, proposed the creation of a Social Stock Exchange, under the regulatory ambit of SEBI, for listing social enterprises and voluntary organisations.

Notes:
The Karnataka government has introduced a new startup policy (2022-27), which aims to add around 10000 startups more in the state in the next five years.
The new policy has been framed by the Department of Electronics and IT/BT. As a part of the policy, the state government will launch an INR 100 Cr venture capital fund to support deep-tech startups working in AI&ML, electric vehicle, med-tech, robotics and drones, among others.

Notes:
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has approved Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine as a booster dose for those above 18 years of age.
India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine iNCOVACC will be added to the CoWin app, which is a web platform for vaccination registration in the country. At present, only Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Serum Institute’s Covishield and Covovax, Russian Sputink V and Biological E Ltd’s Corbevax are listed in the CoWin portal.

Notes:
US President nominated Joe Biden Indian American Richard Verma to top diplomatic position in State Department.
Indian-American lawyer Richard R. Verma has been appointed as the Deputy Secretary of state for management and resources. Verma is currently the chief legal officer and head of global public policy at Mastercard. He has previously served as the U.S. ambassador to India and assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs during former president Barack Obama’s tenure.

Notes:
England player Sam Curran became the most expensive player in IPL history in the INR 18.50 crore deal signed by Punjab Kings.
Sam Curranwas the Player of the Final and the Tournament at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, and since September this year he has taken 25 wickets in 14 T20s at an economy rate of 7.08.
Ben Stokes became Chennai Super Kings’ costliest signing at INR 16.25 crore while Sunrisers Hyderabad bought Harry Brook for INR 13.25 crore.

Notes:
Sitiveni Rabuka has been elected as the new Prime Minister of Fiji, after his People’s Alliance party secured the backing of Social Liberal Democratic party.
Frank Bainimarama’s reign as leader of Fiji has ended almost 16 years since he made himself as the Prime Minister after a coup in 2006.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) is an autonomous Research Institute wholly financed by the department of Science and Technology. It has its headquarters in Bengaluru.
Astronomers and scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), along with their international collaborators, have recently found that hot stars and white dwarfs emitted less ultraviolet radiation than expected.