Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
Philippines has recently deferred ratification of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
This decision has been taken after farmers and other civil society groups in the country expressed strong apprehensions against the mega trade deal signed. India has decided to stay out of RCEP, as per current situations.

Notes:
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the Central Sector scheme “SMILE: Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise”.
This umbrella scheme is designed to provide welfare measures to the Transgender community and the people engaged in the act of begging. The Ministry has allocated Rs. 365 Crore for the scheme from 2021-22 to 2025-26.

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:
Cholendra Shumsher Rana became the second Chief Justice of Nepal to face ‘impeachment’ procedure in Parliament in seven years over allegations of corruption
The Chief Justice Rana has been suspended pending final disposal of the case, and Dipak Karki, the senior most Judge in the Supreme Court has taken over as the acting Chief Justice.

Notes:
Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr. Virendra Kumar launched the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs (SEED).
It aims to promote the welfare of De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Communities. The Department of Social Justice & Empowerment has developed an online portal to ensure seamless registration and data storage of these communities

Notes:
NITI Aayog inaugurated the first-of-its-kind initiative of ‘Fintech Open month’, to bring together regulators, Fin-tech professionals, industry leaders, start-up community on a common platform.
The overarching theme is ‘OPEN’, to achieve three objectives namely 1) encourage Open ecosystem across the Fin-Tech industry; (2) promote co-innovation and growth; (3) ensure financial inclusion and leverage new models like Account Aggregator.

Notes:
A molecule developed by researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland named ‘TriSb92’can inactivate the coronavirus spike protein and offers short-term protection against the virus.
In contrast to vaccine protection, the effect of TriSb92 begins immediately after its administration. It protects against coronavirus infection for at least eight hours. In virus studies, TriSb92 was able to prevent even the spread of SARS. The product is nasally administered through sprays.

Notes:
Ministry of Culture organised a two-day Global Summit on ‘Reimagining Museums in India’ in the month of February 2022.
The summit was organized under the aegis of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. The online summit will encompass four broad themes: Architecture and Functional Needs, Management, Collections (including Curation and Conservation practices) and Education and Audience Engagement.

Notes:
The Karnataka bench of Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) has ruled that the Income earned from providing guest lectures will attract 18 per cent goods and services tax (GST)
The AAR said the said service falls under the category of other professional, technical and business services and does not fall under the exempted category of services. The service professionals whose turnover exceeds Rs 20 lakh will have to pay 18 per cent GST on the said income.

Notes:
The Mumbai water taxi services to provide connectivity between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai were inaugurated by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
The newly constructed Belapur jetty and water taxi services were inaugurated virtually. The Mumbai Port Trust, Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) and CIDCO coordinated in the implementation of the project.