Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2022

Notes:
The Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister (EAC-PM) along with Institute for Competitiveness and Social Progress Imperative today released the Social Progress Index (SPI) for States and Districts of India.
Puducherry has the highest SPI score of 65.99 in the country. It was followed by Lakshadweep, and Goa. The top three performing districts are Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Solan in Himachal Pradesh, and Aizawl in Mizoram.

Notes:
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky recently addressed the US Congress. He appealed to lawmakers and citizens to continue supporting Ukraine.
He delivered a 25 minute-speech while unfurling the Ukrainian battle flag in the end and evoking the analogy of the ongoing war in Ukraine with second world war’s ‘Christmas of 1944’.

Notes:
Japan adopted a new policy promoting greater use of nuclear energy to ensure a stable power supply amid global fuel shortages and to reduce carbon emissions.
This is seen as a major reversal of its phase-out plan since the Fukushima crisis. The new policy seeks to maximise the use of existing nuclear reactors by restarting many of them and prolonging the operating life of old reactors beyond their 60-year limit, developing next-generation reactors to replace them among others.

Notes:
‘Naatu Naatu’ song from the blockbuster Telugu film ‘RRR’ has been shortlisted for the 2023 Oscar Awards in the ‘Best Original Song’ category.
Gujarati film ‘Chhello Show’ was also shortlisted in the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category. ‘RRR’ was nominated in two categories, ‘Best Picture – Non-English Language’ and ‘Original Song – Motion Picture’ in Golden Globe Awards 2023.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid respects to Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh, the sons of Tenth Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh’s sons who laid down their lives while defending their faith.
December 26 is observed as Veer Bal Diwas in Idia. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee as well as Akal Takht, the highest temporal body of the Sikhs, opposed the government’s initiative.

Notes:
Former Central Railway General Manager Anil Kumar Lahoti has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Railway Board.
He will be taking over the chairmanship from Vinay Kumar Tripathi on January 1. The Railway board has been transitioning to a new integrated service named Indian Railway Management Service.

Notes:
The Health Ministry of Uzbekistan said 18 children, with acute respiratory disease, have died from taking excessive doses of a cough syrup, Doc-1 Max.
It has been manufactured by Marion Biotech a Noida-based Indian firm. The children consumed the cough syrup, which contained ethylene glycol, a substance that ought not to be present in cough syrup. Parliamentary panel in The Gambia earlier found unacceptable levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in cough syrups made by Haryana-based Maiden Pharma.

Notes:
Asian Games silver medallist Brijesh Damani won his maiden National Billiards Championship as he defeated his fellow player Dhruv Sitwala in Indore.
Indian Oil’s Brijesh had defeated B. Bhaskar of Karnataka and reigning World 6Red Champion S. Shrikrishna in quarterfinal and semifinal. At present, Brijesh has six international medals, including a silver at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

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:
According to a report by Save the Children, the number of people facing hunger in Afghanistan increased from 2.25 million people in 2019 to 6.6 million in 2022.
Afghanistan is suffering from a severe hunger crisis and is now counted amongst the top eight countries worst hit by hunger. The eight countries include Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, DRC, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen.