Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

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:
RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted unanimously to keep policy repo rate unchanged at 4 percent. Reverse repo rate also remains unchanged at 3.35 percent.
As per the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, the ‘accommodative’ stance will continue as long as needed.

Notes:
The Indian Railways has notified the Indian Railway Management System (IRMS) which will unify the eight existing services of the transporter.
IRMS is a new Group ‘A’ Central service and only the officers of IRMS will be eligible to become the functional members and chairman/CEO of the railway board.

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:
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog in collaboration with UNDP, India launched the Community Innovator Fellowship (CIF).
It was launched on the occasion of the “International Day of Women & Girls in Science”. It is a one-year-long fellowship program, developed as a pre-incubation model to guide innovators set up their social enterprise focusing on SDG based solutions.

Notes:
Australian government announced a series of new initiatives to boost its education and cultural ties with India under the Maitri programme.
Under the Maitri Scholars Programme, Australian government will provide over 11 million dollars over four years to support Indian students to study at Australia’s top universities. The Maitri Fellowship Programme will provide 3.5 million dollars to support mid-career Australian and Indian professionals to collaborate on strategic research initiatives.

Notes:
The Government has approved the umbrella scheme of modernisation of police force for the next five years (2021-22 to 2025-26) with a financial outlay of Rs 26,275 crore.
More than Rs 18,000 crore of this money has been allotted towards security related expenditure in Jammu and Kashmir, Left Wing Extremism areas and the Northeast.

Notes:
‘Babushka batallion’ is an army of older women, being organised by far-right movement Azov. The training offered basic lessons in first-aid, survival and evacuation, weapons safety and how to use a weapon.
The tension between Russia and Ukraine has entered a critical week and the USA has warned that troops could wage a bloody campaign to take the country within days.

Notes:
India reported an outbreak of highly contagious H5N1 bird flu virus on a poultry research farm in Bihar.
The Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) announced that the virus killed 787 out of 3,859 birds on the farm in Patna and all of the remaining birds were slaughtered.

Notes:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said February 15 would be commemorated as “Shahid Diwas” in memory of the 34 freedom fighters who were killed by police in Tarapur town of Bihar 90 years ago.
The Chief Minister said the Tarapur massacre was the biggest carried out by the British police after the one in Jallianwala Bagh in 1919. Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the Tarapur massacre in his Mann ki Baat radio address of January 2021.