Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
To reintroduce cheetahs, Union Ministry of Environment unveiled the ‘Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India’.
Recently, it has been decided that 12 to 14 cheetahs are to be brought from South Africa, Namibia  or Other African Countries over a period of five years, as the first step. The primary aim is to establish a free-ranging population of cheetahs in and around Kuno Palpur National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh.

Notes:
Karnataka High Court Chief Justice constituted a three-judge bench, including himself, to hear a batch of petitions questioning a ban on the use of hijabs in a few pre-university colleges in the state.
A single-judge bench of the court had decided to refer the pleas to a larger bench as it found the case involved larger Constitutional issues. The decision came after two days of tension and protests across Karnataka over the issue.

Notes:
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) organized a National level meeting on Identification, Rescue and Rehabilitation of Children in Street Situations with NGOs and UN agencies.
NCPCR developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 2.0 for Care and Protection of Children in Street Situations. It also devised ‘Baal Swaraj portal – Children in Street Situations (CiSS)’. Earlier, NCPCR developed “Bal Swaraj (Covid-Care)” portal to track children who lost parent due to Covid-19.

Notes:
Ministry of Earth Science’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting Research (SAFAR) recently announced that Mumbai has seen unusually high levels of pollution this week, with its air quality index reading frequently above 300.
An AQI between 301 and 400 is categorised as ‘red’ or ‘very poor’. Mazgaon, the most polluted area in the city had AQI of 495 in ‘severe’ category. The current high pollution is due to a second dust storm in less than two weeks that has hit Mumbai.

Notes:
The researchers from the United Kingdom found an ancient Roman settlement site while investigating the route of the construction of upcoming high-speed railway called HS2.
In a recent excavation, Scientists could find 40 decapitated skeletons, which were likely to have been executed criminals. Many of these were buried in graves with their severed heads placed between their legs or at their feet. The team earlier found 1,200 coins, pottery, cutlery, gaming dice, bells and lead weights.

Notes:
Elon Musk’s Starlink has lost 40 of the 49 satellites causing them to fall from orbit before they could be commissioned.
They were caught in a Geomagnetic storm a day after they were launched. A geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance of the Earth’s magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave. It also occurs when cloud of magnetic field interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field.

Notes:
Astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, along with astronomers from BITS Pilani have devised an Artificial Intelligence-based algorithm, to identify potentially habitable ones with a high probability.
As per current estimates, the number of planets in our Galaxy alone is estimated to be in billions. It is an ‘Anomaly detection method’, which is based on the assumption that Earth is an anomaly, with the possibility of existence of few other anomalies.

Notes:
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) recently launched an agro ecology-based programme JIVA.
It aims to promote natural farming under NABARD’s watershed and wadi programmes in 11 states covering five agro-ecological zones. It aims to nudge the farming community towards natural farming.

Notes:
India is ranked 46 on the EIU’s Democracy Index report, which was released recently. In the Global index, India has scored 6.91.
Norway and New Zealand got the top two places respectively, while North Korea, Myanmar, Afghanistan were placed at the bottom. India has the lowest score of 5 on political culture and the highest score of 8.67 on electoral process and pluralism.

Notes:
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has suggested to medical colleges that the traditional Hippocratic Oath be replaced by a “Charak Shapath”.
Charak is considered as the father of Ayurveda in India. The Hippocratic Oath dates back to the Greek philosopher and physician Hippocrates. It forms the foundation of modern medicine and is used in graduation ceremonies in many medical colleges.