Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
Two heritage sites from Gujarat — the Sun Temple at Modhera and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hometown Vadnagar, a historic town were added to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Rock-cut Sculptures and Reliefs of the Unakoti, Tripura were also added to the tentative list.

Notes:
Automobile major Tata Motors has announced that Tata Safari will be the official partner for the Maharashtra Open tennis tournament.
This is South Asia’s only ATP 250 tournament, which is scheduled to be held in Pune. Tata Motors committed itself as the title sponsor for the fifth consecutive year.

Notes:
Indian Air Force (IAF) and Japanese Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) are set to hold their maiden bilateral air exercise, Veer Guardian 23.
The exercise will be held at Hyakuri air base and Iruma air base in Japan in January 2023. It aims to promote mutual understanding and strengthen defence cooperation between the Air Forces.

Notes:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin launched the Mananala Nallaadharavu Mandram (Mind Health Support Forum) at government medical colleges to offer counselling and support to school students.
A helpline 14416 was also introduced to reach out to psychiatrists at government medical colleges. In all medical colleges, the forum has been created to offer programmes to improve the mental health of students. The programme will be extended to all colleges and schools.

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:
As per a new research, two-thirds of Antarctica’s native species, including emperor penguins, are under threat of extinction or major population declines by 2100.
This is due to current trajectories of global heating. The study was conducted by scientists, conservationists and policymakers from 12 countries.  It has identified emperor penguins as the Antarctic species at greatest risk of extinction, followed by other seabirds and dry soil nematodes.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways has published its annual report ‘Road accidents in India 2021’.
This report is based on the information received from police departments of States/Union Territories collected on calendar year basis in standardized formats. The formats are provided by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). As per the report, there were 4,12,432 incidences of road accidents during 2021 which claimed 1, 53,972 lives.

Notes:
In India, the minimum wage for labourers has been fixed at Rs 178 per day. The labour ministry is considering a shift from the minimum wage to a living wage.
As per reports, India could seek help from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to arrive at living wages. A minimum wage is the amount required for subsistence and is set by law while the living wage is necessary for workers to meet their basic living requirements. The difference between the two may range from 10 to 25 per cent.

Notes:
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the country’s first ever metro rail line in its capital city Dhaka.
Dhaka is regarded as one of the world’s most densely populated cities. The Metro project has been mostly funded by Japan and the train network has been in development for nearly 10 years.

Notes:
The first consignment under the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) was flagged off from Chennai.
Another flagging off ceremony of the export consignments from Tamil Nadu under ECTA was held on at Ennore Adani Container Terminal, in Tamil Nadu.  The pact will boost overall bilateral trade and benefit various labour intensive sectors of India as import duty from existing 5% becomes zero.