Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
Pratham Foundation annually conducts an extensive survey in schools, to analyse the learning outcome of students.
Recently, it released the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER, West Bengal). As per the report, the basic reading and numerical abilities of school children in West Bengal have reduced during Covid-19, without class rooms.

Notes:
Ministry of Coal announced that a target of all India coal production of 1.2 billion tonne up to the year 2023-24 has been fixed.
The Union government launched Single Window Clearance portal in 2021 for the coal sector to speed up the operationalisation of coal mines. It is a unified platform that assists for clearances and approvals required for starting a coal mine in India.

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:
Acromegaly is caused by excessive secretion of growth hormone, most often from a tumor in the pituitary gland. The disorder causes increased height when it manifests in childhood and adolescent age group.
The Fairbank’s disease (Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia) patient usually requires management of pain and orthopaedic procedures.  As per Health Ministry, patients of both these diseases are getting treatment at various tertiary health facilities in India.

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.

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:
A team of Indian Scientists has recently identified the next-generation probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus Plantarum JBC5.
The bacterium promoted healthy aging on a model organism called Caenorhabditis Elegans. The team from Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati, has also developed a yogurt using this probiotic bacterium.

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:
As per the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data, India reported an 11 per cent jump in cyber crime in 2020.
A total of 50,035 cases were registered under cyber crimes in 2020. This is an 11.8 per cent in registration over 2019 (44,735 cases). In 2020, 60.2 per cent of cyber-crime cases registered was for the motive of fraud. It is followed by sexual exploitation (6.6 per cent) and extortion (4.9 per cent).

Notes:
The Indian Army has recently commenced Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging of its ammunition inventory.
This will lead to increased efficiency in technical activities and reduce inventory carrying costs. The first consignment of RFID tagged ammunition was despatched from Ammunition Factory Khadki to Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) Pulgaon.