Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
According to World Steel Association, India’s crude steel production rose by 18 per cent to 118 million tonne (MT) in 2021.
India is the second largest steel producing nation, as it manufactured 100.3 MT steel in 2020 and China produced 1 064.7 MT of steel in the same year. China recorded a 3 per cent decline to 1 032.8 MT in 2021.

Notes:
Death Penalty in India Report was released by the criminal law reforms advocacy group at the National Law University, Delhi- named Project 39A.
As per the report, the number of prisoners on death row at the end of 2021 stood at 488, the highest in 17 years. This is an increase of nearly 21% from 2020. This is also the highest the death row population has been since 2004 (563).

Notes:
Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology (MeitY) has released a draft report on India Digital Ecosystem Architecture 2.0 or the InDEA 2.0.
InDEA 2.0 proposes a model of ‘Federated Digital Identities’, which seeks to optimise the number of digital identities that a citizen needs to have. The draft report is headed by former MeitY secretary J Satyanaraya as Chairman and current secretary Ajay P Sawhney as Co-Chairman.

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:
Manipur got its first-ever good freight train connectivity post independence, as the first freight train arrived at the Rani Gaidinliu station of the north-eastern state.
Earlier, a passenger train from Silchar in Assam reached the Bongaichungpao railway station in Manipur. This is a part of the 111 km long Jiribam-Imphal new line project, which will connect Imphal with Guwahati.

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 has announced to set up a Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood or DESH-Stack e-portal.
It aims to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training. The portal will provide trusted skill credentials to find relevant jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. The Budget also announced that National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) will be aligned with dynamic industry needs.

Notes:
‘World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day’ is observed on January 30 every year, to raise awareness on neglected tropical diseases.
This year’s World NTD Day was commemorated under the theme ‘Achieving health equity to end the neglect of poverty-related diseases’. Some examples of NTDs are Chagas disease, Chikungunya, Dengue, Leprosy, Rabies and Trachoma among others. They affect 1 billion people globally.

Notes:
Two Oil Giants- France’s TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) signed a USD 10 million deal to develop Uganda’s energy resources and build a Regional oil pipeline.
The project aims to exploit the crude oil reserves at Lake Albert, a 160-kilometre natural border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Notes:
The Union Budget announced that 2,000 km of the rail network will be brought under ‘Kavach’ technology in 2022-23.
Kavach is an indigenously developed anti-collision device (ACD) network. It is SIL4 certified which means there is a probability of a single error in 10,000 years. 400 new Vande Bharat trains will be introduced, and 100 PM Gati Shakti cargo terminals will be built in the next three years.