Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

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:
The Governor of Uttarakhand, Lt. Gen. (Retired) Gurmit Singh, approved the State’s Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act.
According to the amended bill, forced conversion in the State will come under the category of crime. Apart from a maximum imprisonment of up to ten years, those persons indulging in forceful and unlawful conversion in Uttarakhand will be slapped with a fine of at least Rs 50,000.

Notes:
The Delhi Metro has recently completed 20 years of operations, since it started its journey in December 2002 with a corridor of just 8.2 km spanning six stations on the Red Line.
The DMRC’s network span is nearly 392 km with 286 stations in 2022. An exhibition named ‘Tracing Delhi Metro’s Journey’ was launched to mark the 20^th year. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided financial support for rapid expansion of the metro network in Delhi-NCR.

Notes:
As many as 38 people recently died in incidents related to powerful Arctic winter storm. The vast storm extends more than 3,200km from Texas to Quebec.
Over 200 million people across the country were left without power and thousands of flights were cancelled. More than eight million people remained under blizzard warnings. As per the US National Weather Service, its recent depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather advisories ever.

Notes:
Pharmaceutical company Hetero received World Health Organization Prequalification of Medicines Programme (WHO PQ) approval for its generic version of Covid-19 oral antiviral treatment candidate Nirmatrelvir.
Nirmatrelvir, which originated in Pfizer laboratories, is co-packaged with ritonavir tablets as Pfizer’s Covid-19 oral antiviral drug Paxlovid.

Notes:
The Union Mines Ministry approved the purchase of two new surveyor ships, to replace RV Samudra Shaudhikama and RV Samudra Kaustabh.
The new ships would conduct marine surveys for the Geological Survey of India (GSI). The RV Samudra Shaudhikama and RV Samudra Kaustabh were built in the Netherlands and commissioned in 1984.

Notes:
Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) announced that India will become the third economic superpower by 2037 and a USD 10-trillion economy by 2035.
This growth trajectory will see India rise from fifth place on the World Economic League Table in 2022 to third in the global rankings by 2037.  The annual rate of India’s GDP growth is expected to average 6.4% in the next five years, average 6.5% in the subsequent nine years.

Notes:
Ladakh is celebrating Losar Festival on December 24, to mark the Ladakhi New Year. The Losar festivities continue for nine more days from the new year.
This is the major socio-religious festival of Ladakh celebrated in winter. The New Year is welcomed with dough Models of Ibex Sun and Moon and flour-painted lucky signs on the walls of the kitchen.

Notes:
Cricket Australia has named the men’s Test Player of the Year award after Shane Warne. The legendary cricketer Warne passed away earlier this year.
In 2006, Warne won the Test player of the Year award and finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in Tests by the end of his career. Warne clinched 708 wickets from 145 matches.

Notes:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently launched the Mobile App ‘Prahari’ and Manual of Border Security Force in New Delhi.
Through the Prahari app, BSF personnels can get information related to accommodation, Ayushman-CAPF and leaves on their mobiles.