Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
Ace Tennis player Rafael Nadal created history as he won a historic 21st Grand Slam title, defeating Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open.
The Spaniard became the first male tennis player to win 21 Grand Slam titles. He went ahead of Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic-both tied at 20 each. Australian retired tennis player Margaret Court won 24 Grand Slam women’s singles titles.

Notes:
Northern Ireland is marking 50 years of Bloody Sunday, on which British soldiers fired upon a crowd of protesters, killing 14 people.
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin also tweeted that the country is paying tribute to the families of the victims. The violence took place during a march organized by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.

Notes:
As per the latest data from National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP), a total of 65,147 new leprosy cases were detected during the year 2020-21 in India.
Leprosy, caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae, affects the peripheral nervous system causing skin lesions, numbness, and other deformities. India accounts for over half of the world’s new leprosy patients. According to NLEP’s 2020-2021 report, 94.75% of patients in India were cured.

Notes:
The Union Budget announced a fund with blended capital, raised under co-investment model, will be facilitated through NABARD. It will be used to finance start-ups for agriculture and rural enterprise.
The Government would promote the use of ‘Kisan Drones’ for crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insecticides.

Notes:
Researchers have discovered a tiny new species of cynipid gall wasp in the branches of a live oak tree. It is the first insect species to be described alongside its fully sequenced genome.
The researchers are studying how the nonstinging wasps may have been impacted by Houston’s historic February 2021 freeze. The wasp was named Neuroterus Valhalla, after the location of its original discovery, as it was discovered at Valhalla, a student hangout at Rice University, USA.

Notes:
As per the Union Budget, linkage of National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) with the ‘One-Nation One-Registration Software’ will be promoted.
The Government has focused on digitisation of land records through its scheme Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme (DILRMP). According to the Department of Land Records, (Ministry of Rural Development) over 90 per cent of land records have been digitised across 24 states.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh government started the Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP)-Jagananna Swachha Sankalpam programme.
It aims to clean up rural areas, improve sanitation conditions and waste management with public participation. Besides door-to-door collection of garbage, the campaign aims for segregation of liquid and solid waste, onsite waste treatment, and encouraging home composting.

Notes:
Massive flooding in Ecuador’s capital Quito and a resulting landslide have killed at least 24 people. Ecuador is a country in South America, touching the Equator.
The floods were caused by heavy rains on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, which overlooks the city.

Notes:
NASA has released an updated International Space Station Transition Report. It includes the goals for the next decade of station operations leading to a smooth transition to commercial services.
It also includes the steps being taken to develop both the supply and demand side of the low-Earth orbit commercial economy, and technical steps and budget required for transition.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation released the report on ‘Global analysis of health care waste in the context of COVID-19’.
As per the report, eight billion vaccine doses administered globally were estimated to have produced an additional 144,000 tonnes of waste in the form of glass vials, syringes, needles and safety boxes. The amount of medical waste puts a huge strain on healthcare waste management systems.