Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
A special Assembly session of Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously re-adopted the anti-NEET Bill, which Governor R N Ravi had returned to the government.
By re-adopting the Bill, and sending it again to the Governor, he is expected to forward it to the President for his assent. The state had set up Justice A K Rajan Committee to look into the impact of NEET in medical admissions.

Notes:
Senegal won its first African Cup of Nations title in the year 2022 by beating Egypt 4-2 in a penalty shootout.
Senegal’s Sadio Mané scored the winning spot kick. Senegal had finished as runners-up in 2019 African Cup, losing the final 0–1 to Algeria. Senegal has played in sixteen editions of the Africa Cup of Nations and the team finally won their first AFCON title in 2021.

Notes:
Karnataka High Court Chief Justice constituted a three-judge bench, including himself, to hear a batch of petitions questioning a ban on the use of hijabs in a few pre-university colleges in the state.
A single-judge bench of the court had decided to refer the pleas to a larger bench as it found the case involved larger Constitutional issues. The decision came after two days of tension and protests across Karnataka over the issue.

Notes:
China’s four government agencies including its central bank published a five-year plan for financial standardisation
The plan is to be implemented during the 2021-2025 period. China will strengthen its cross-border yuan payments system and explore setting up infrastructure standards for a digital fiat currency as part of the plan.

Notes:
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a new partnership under the Sustainable Access to Markets and Resources for Innovative Delivery of Healthcare (SAMRIDH) initiative.
The partnership with AIM, NITI Aayog will promote SAMRIDH’s efforts to reach sustainable healthcare models and innovative financing mechanisms to improve the quality of spending in the health sector.

Notes:
The Department of Science & Technology (DST) has established the National Centre of Excellence in Carbon Capture and Utilisation (NCOE-CCU) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
This is India’s first such centre centrally funded by the DST. This Centre of Excellence explores the potential of Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technologies, which will help India achieve its climate change goals.

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:
As per a recent research, Kaziranga National Park in Assam, is releasing more carbon than it is absorbing.
The National Park is home to the largest-population of the one-horned rhinoceros in the world. Usually, forests absorb more carbon than they release, which makes them carbon sinks. This is mainly due to decreasing rainfall in the region.

Notes:
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured its first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space.
Parker used its Wide-Field Imager (WISPR) to image the entire night side in wavelengths of the visible spectrum and extending into the near-infrared. Venus’ surface is usually hidden from sight as it is covered in thick clouds.

Notes:
India signed an agreement with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for the distribution of 50,000 MT of wheat.
India has committed to send relief to Afghanistan as part of a humanitarian assistance, to be sent in truck convoys through Pakistan by road. Rome-headquartered WFP thanked India for the agreement to support Afghans who are facing humanitarian crisis.