Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
Chimeric antigen receptor, CAR – T-cell therapy works by genetically engineering an individual’s T-cells to recognise and destroy cancer cells.
T-cells are a type of white blood cell of the immune system that can recognise and destroy foreign cells. Two first human patients who were treated with the therapy still possess cancer-killing cells a decade later. In the UK the therapy is approved for use in children, young adults and adults for certain types of blood cancers.

Notes:
Mission for Economic Empowerment of Traditional Artisans and Craftsmen (MEETAC), Manipur, and the National Institute of Design have created ‘Craft Map of Manipur’.
It includes all art forms across the state such as the black earthenware crafted by the Tangkhul community without using a potter’s wheel, GI-tagged Manipuri half sari called ‘moirang phee’, ‘Thang’ knifes , products made from ‘kauna’, firm-stemmed grass among others.

Notes:
Chhattisgarh government launched the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Bhumiheen Krishi Mazdoor Nyay Yojana’.
It is a financial assistance scheme of the Chhattisgarh government for landless labourers of rural areas with around 3.55 lakh beneficiaries receiving Rs 2,000 each in their bank accounts as the first instalment under the plan. It was launched by Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi.

Notes:
In a recent study, a team of scientists scaled the world’s highest peak to monitor the mountain’s highest-altitude glacier — the South Col Glacier, for signs of climate-related ice loss.
It stands at standing nearly 26,000 feet (8,000 meters) above sea level. The study revealed that South Col is losing ice roughly 80 times faster than it took for the ice to accumulate on the glacier’s surface.

Notes:
India has agreed to provide a grant to Sri Lanka to implement a ‘Unitary Digital Identity framework’. It is modelled similar to India’s flagship Aadhaar card.
Sri Lanka’s Cabinet decided that the Government will prioritise the implementation of the Framework as a national level programme. It will introduce personal identity verification device based on biometric data for citizens.

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The lighthouse at Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, is being developed under the Public Private Partnership mode for tourism. Infrastructure includes a museum, amphitheatre, open air theatre, cafeteria, children play area, gazebo, landscaping, and lifts. The development is part of a national project identifying 75 lighthouse sites in India for tourism promotion. Work at Mahabalipuram is confirmed as started under PPP mode.

Notes:
The ACT Accelerator is a multinational and multi-institutional initiative launched by G-20. It includes WHO, CEPI, FIND, GAVI the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, the World Bank and governments, to raise financial support of R&D, production and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, therapies and vaccines.
The ACT-Accelerator Facilitation Council’s has called for ‘Fair share’ of financing that the richer countries should contribute to the ACT-Accelerator’s global response.

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NITI Aayog has announced the five most improved aspirational districts in the Agriculture and Water Resources sector for December 2021.
Malkangiri in Odisha tops the list. It is followed by Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir. This is as per the Delta Rankings published by NITI Aayog.

Notes:
Scientists in the United Kingdom have achieved a new milestone in producing nuclear fusion energy, or imitating the way energy is produced in the Sun.
A team at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility in central England generated 59 mega joules of sustained energy during an experiment. A kg of fusion fuel contains about 10 million times energy of that of a kg of coal, oil or gas.

Notes:
NITI Aayog released a report titled ‘Reimagining Healthcare in India through Blended Finance’. As per the report, about 65 per cent of hospital beds in the country cater to almost 50 per cent of the population concentrated in some states.
The report also stressed that the number of beds must be increased by at least 30 per cent to ensure equitable access to healthcare facilities for people.