Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

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:
Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reached their career-best world No. 5 rank in the BWF world rankings.
They clinched two world tour titles at Indian Open Super 500 and French Open Super 750 and claimed maiden gold at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the World Championships. HS Prannoy was ranked at world number 9. Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu continued to hold on to the number six position.

Notes:
Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 is set to take place between March 28 to April 2 in New Delhi, the United World Wrestling announced.
The Championship will include men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle, and men’s Greco-Roman divisions.  The first and second events will take place in Zagreb and Cairo in February while the third and fourth events will take place in Bishkek and Budapest in June and July.

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:
Commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal in Lok Sabha introduced Jan Vishwas Bill, which seeks to promote ease of business..
The bill seeks to decriminalise minor offences by amending 183 provisions in 42 Acts. The Bill was later referred to a 31-member joint committee of Parliament for scrutiny. The bill will also help in reducing the burden on judiciary.

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:
Indian badminton star PV Sindhu is the only Indian player in the top 25 in Forbes’ annual list of the highest-paid female athletes in the world.
The 27-year-old made 7 million US Dollars of her earnings, after having won a singles gold and doubles silver at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year in Birmingham. Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka tops the list, for the third straight year.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Power and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up early warning systems for vulnerable hydro projects or power stations.
Specific tasks will be formulated between DRDO and respective project developer, under this agreement.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid foundation stone and projects worth more than ₹7,800 crore in West Bengal.
He also virtually inaugurated Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee – National Institute of Water and Sanitation (DSPM – NIWAS). It will serve as an apex body in the country on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the country, serving as a hub of information and knowledge for Central, State and local governments.

Notes:
The newly-discovered species named ‘Solanum scalarium’ belongs to Solanum, a large genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Solanum is the most species-rich genus in the family Solanaceae and among the largest in the angiosperms or flowering plants. Solanum includes the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (brinjal or aubergine).