Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
India celebrates National Productivity Day on February 12 every year. The National Productivity Council (NPC) organises this special day.
NPC is an autonomous organisation established in 1958 under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. National Productivity Council celebrates productivity week February 12 to 18, across the nation under the theme “Self Reliance Through Productivity.”

Notes:
The Ministry of Defence has signed up a design and development contract with NewSpace Research & Technologies, to develop a High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS).
The Bengaluru-based company was mentored under the ministry’s Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative. The HAPS aims to conduct surveillance operations and support communications by staying airborne for months.

Notes:
Ministry of New & Renewable Energy is conducting a three-day program “New Frontiers” on Renewable Energy.
This has been conducted as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. A brainstorming meeting on “Roadmap to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070” will also be conducted

Notes:
The Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture
ASI is the process of reviving its ‘Underwater archaeology wing’ that has not been functioning over recent years. ASI appointed Alok Tripathi, an expert in underwater archaeology, as its Additional Director General in 2021.

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:
After Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Karnataka High Court has struck down the state’s ban on online gambling, declaring it to be ultra vires under the Constitution.
The Court struck down key amendments to the Karnataka Police Act, 1963, which were brought in last year to ban all forms of gambling in the state. The Court said that the state may bring in legislation to regulate betting and gambling, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Notes:
Indonesia holds the Presidency of G 20 in 2022. The G20 second Finance and Central Bank Deputies (FCBD) meeting produced a communique draft containing a long-term economic recovery strategy to tackle future pandemics.
The communique draft would be further discussed in the first Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting. The theme of G20 this year is “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”.

Notes:
NITI Aayog has partnered with leading digital payments platform PhonePe to host the first-ever open-to-all hackathon, ‘Fintech open hackathon’.
Participants can use data sources like PhonePe Pulse (open-data API), the Open Government Data Platform and RBI reports on payments to build on their submission.

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:
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is an international organization founded in 1969, consisting of 57 member states. It is headquartered at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Union government of India described the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) remarks on the ongoing hijab controversy in Karnataka as ‘motivated and misleading’.