Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
A piece of amber with a well-preserved juvenile ‘Retinosaurus hkamtiensis’ was recovered from the near the Jade mines in Myanmar
The newly-identified lizard species was trapped in an araucarian tree resin about 110 million years ago. It is a representative of Scincoidea, a superfamily that includes skinks, armoured lizards and night lizards.

Notes:
Madhwacharya was a Hindu philosopher and the chief proponent of the Dvaita (dualism) school of Vedanta.
Madhvacharya was born in the Karnataka in 13th-century India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his tributes to  Madhwacharya on the occasion of Madhwa Navami.

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:
Indian National Women’s Day is observed every year on 13 February to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sarojini Naidu.
She was also called ‘Nightingale of India’ or ‘Bharat Kokila’. Sarojini Naidu was the first woman Governor of Uttar Pradesh and the first woman ever to be elected as the President of the Indian National Congress.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh Police has initiated ‘Operation Parivartan’, a special operation to eliminate the cultivation of cannabis.
This operation was led by the Andhra Pradesh Police with the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) in Visakhapatnam. Recently, around 2 lakh kilograms of processed cannabis was seized while it was being shipped out.

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:
Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been elected to a second term as Germany’s President. A special assembly voted the veteran politician, to the President Post.
Steinmeier was elected by secret ballot by a majority of the assembly for another five years. German presidents are elected by special assemblies comprising lawmakers and hundreds of other prominent citizens.

Notes:
‘Carnival of Hope’ is a famous annual celebration held in the city of Venice. It is also known as “City of Bridges” and “The Floating City”. This year’s edition is expected to attract thousands of people.
The 2020 Venice Carnival, which usually draws tourists from around the world, was curtailed when the pandemic broke out in Italy.  The festival got cancelled the following year to contain infections.

Notes:
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked a never-before-used emergency power to curtail protests demanding end of Covid restrictions.
This decision was taken after anti-government protests in the Canadian capital and blockades at border crossings with the US. The country is witnessing over two weeks of “Freedom Convoy” protests by Canadian truckers and their supporters, demanding an end to all Covid restrictions.

Notes:
Astronomers have recently discovered a third moon orbiting the main-belt asteroid (130) Elektra, making it the first ‘Quadruple Asteroid’ ever found.
(130) Elektra is a large main-belt asteroid, first discovered in 1873 by Litchfield Observatory astronomers.  It has an effective diameter of 199 km. The discovery of first quadruple asteroid system will help in understanding the mechanisms of the formation of these satellites.