Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

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:
New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) founders Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy said that they have decided to transfer most of their shares in the company to billionaire Gautam Adani.
With this the control of about 65% of the news broadcaster will be transferred to Adani, while Radhika and Prannoy Roy will retain a combined 5% stake in NDTV.

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:
HCL Corporation and World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the ‘Aquapreneur’ Global Fresh Water Innovation Challenge.
HCL Corporation partnered with UpLink, the open innovation platform of the World Economic Forum, to announce the five-year-long Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative. The USD 15 million ‘Aquaprenuer-Global Fresh Water Innovation Challenge’ is attracting interest from startups from regions like India and the rest of the world.

Notes:
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has outlined a 10-point peace plan to end the war with Russia.
He has been promoting his 10-point peace plan, discussing it with U.S. President Joe Biden among others. He also urged the the world leaders to hold a Global Peace Summit based on it. Zelenskiy announced his peace formula at a November summit of the Group of 20 major economies.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), ARTPARK (AI and Robotics Technology Park) and Google have partnered together for ‘Project Vaani’ Initiative.
The digital project aims to map the language diversity of India by collecting speech sets of about a million people across 773 districts. The project aims to record over 150,000 hours of speech, part of which will be transcribed in local scripts. The goal is to boost development of automatic speech recognition, speech to speech translation and natural language understanding.

Notes:
Tata Power’s subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL) has received the letter of award (LoA) from Tata Power Delhi Distribution to set up 255 megawatt (MW) hybrid (wind and solar) power project in Karnataka.
Tata Power Delhi Distribution (Tata Power-DDL) is a joint venture of Tata Power and the Government of NCT of Delhi.

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:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has ranked Indian-PSU company WAPCOS as top amongst consulting services firms in water and other infrastructure sectors.
In another report ‘Fact Sheet – 2022’ released by the ADB, WAPCOS was placed amongst the Top 3 consultants from India involved in consulting services contracts under ADB loan, grant, and technical assistance projects in energy, transport and water, and other urban infrastructure sectors.

Notes:
The Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed the Maharashtra Lokayukta Act, 2022, which will give additional powers to the Lokayukta to direct state agencies to probe public servants, including the chief minister and state ministers.
The government has accepted all the recommendations made by the committee led by social activist Anna Hazare. The Act will now be presented in the Legislative Council for approval.