Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
Parliament has passed the Maritime Anti Piracy Bill 2022 after the approval of Rajya Sabha. The Bill has already been passed by Lok Sabha.
The Bill enables Indian authorities to take action against piracy on the high seas. It applies to the sea beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone, which is beyond 200 nautical miles from India’s coastline. Ministry of External Affairs is associated with the bill.

Notes:
Most cervical cancers are associated with the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and the HPV vaccine can prevent most cases of if the vaccine is given before girls or women are exposed to the virus.
National Technical Advisory Group   for Immunization (NTAGI) has recommended introduction of HPV Vaccine in the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) with for 9-14 year-old adolescent girls. The Centre has written to all States and UTs to create awareness on prevention of cervical cancer and the importance of HPV vaccine.

Notes:
As per a recent report by the Centre, Transport and highways sector has the maximum number of delayed projects.
Of the 769 projects of the sector, 358 projects are delayed. The total original cost of implementation of the projects when sanctioned, was ₹4,33,744 crore, but this was subsequently anticipated at ₹4,60,524 crore with a cost overrun of 6.2%.

Notes:
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has constituted Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Settlement Commission.
It aims to resolve and settle the show-cause notices issued under the Customs Act, Central Excise Act and Service Tax regime. This move would ensure speedy disposal of cases under the old indirect tax regime.

Notes:
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar mentioned that families with annual incomes up to 1,80,000 are being brought under ‘BPL family category’ and around 29 lakh cards will be made in this regard.
He also announced that the government’s official portal Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) will begin its Citizen Facilitation Center. The state government will celebrate 2023 as ‘Antyodaya Arogya Varsh, and under the ‘Chirayu Yojana’ 29 lakh families shall be given health insurance.

Notes:
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs has recently released the draft guidelines for a new ranking system of cities based on their financial performance and beautification.
The ‘City Finance Rankings 2022’ aims to evaluate and reward urban local bodies on the basis of their strength across resource mobilisation, expenditure performance and fiscal governance systems. The ‘City Beauty Competition’ initiative aims to recognise efforts made by the cities and wards towards creating beautiful, innovative and inclusive public spaces.

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 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.

Notes:
The US Census Bureau said the world’s population is projected to be at 7.9 billion on New Year’s Day 2023.
This is an increase of 73.7 million since January 2022 and an increase in global population of 0.9 percent over the previous year. The Census Bureau projected that there will be 4.3 births and two deaths globally every second in January 2023.

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.