Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
Seven Indian Army personnel, who were part of a patrol team, were struck by an avalanche in the high-altitude area in the Kameng sector of Arunachal Pradesh.
All the seven personnel were later found deceased. The area is located at an altitude of 14,500 feet and had been witnessing heavy snowfall since the last few days. The Army had lost six personnel to avalanches and snow-slides in the Siachen Glacier in 2019, and 11 others in other parts of the country.

Notes:
The country’s first commercial-scale biomass-based hydrogen plant is being developed up in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.
The plant will produce a tonne of hydrogen per day from 30 tonnes of biomass feedstock. It will also produce biochar and methane.

Notes:
According to figures released by the US Census Bureau, India-US bilateral goods trade was worth USD 113.391 billion from January to December 2021.
This is the largest volume of goods trade in a calendar year in India-US economic history. India exported goods worth over USD 73 billion, and imported goods worth over USD 40 billion dollars. In 2020 trade fell to USD 78.2 billion due to pandemic, from the high of USD 92.1 billion in 2019.

Notes:
NASA has announced two new science missions namely Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) and HelioSwarm.
These two missions aim to study the sun’s corona and also measuring the magnetic field of the solar wind. NASA earlier announced the latest observations done by the Parker Solar probe on its way to the sun.

Notes:
State Bank of India’s Strategic Training Unit has entered into a partnership with NSE Academy to promote financial literacy as a necessary life skill.
Five inaugural Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) of SBI have been on the NSE Knowledge Hub platform. The e-courses enable learners to gather knowledge on various aspects of banking and financial services.

Notes:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is a regulatory authority established under the SEBI Act 1992. It is the principal regulator for Stock Exchanges in India.
SEBI has recently penalised the National Stock Exchange (NSE), its former CEOs Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain for governance lapses in hiring of its chief operating officer (COO) Anand Subramanian.

Notes:
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has suggested to medical colleges that the traditional Hippocratic Oath be replaced by a “Charak Shapath”.
Charak is considered as the father of Ayurveda in India. The Hippocratic Oath dates back to the Greek philosopher and physician Hippocrates. It forms the foundation of modern medicine and is used in graduation ceremonies in many medical colleges.

Notes:
India has cut its tax on crude palm oil (CPO) imports to 5 percent from 7.5 percent. The reduction in the tax, known as ‘Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC)’, will widen the gap between the CPO and refined palm oil import duties.
This will make it cheaper for Indian refiners to import CPO. India is the world’s biggest edible oil importer.

Notes:
The Central Government has constituted the Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority to implement the first initiative under the national river interlinking policy.
The policy seeks to bring nearly 11 lakh hectares of land under irrigation in the Bundelkhand region spanning between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. KBLPA will be headed by a CEO at the level of additional secretary to the Government of India and assisted by five additional CEOs.

Notes:
The Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture
ASI is the process of reviving its ‘Underwater archaeology wing’ that has not been functioning over recent years. ASI appointed Alok Tripathi, an expert in underwater archaeology, as its Additional Director General in 2021.