Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
The birth anniversary of Tilka Manjhi, a revolutionary freedom fighter and tribal leader was observed recently.
He organized Adivasis into an army and led the famous Santhal Hool in 1784, to loot the treasury of the East India Company and distributed it among the poor and needy during severe famine. It is referred to as Santhal Hool, the revolt of the Santhals.

Notes:
The Central Government has constituted the Ken-Betwa Link Project Authority to implement the first initiative under the national river interlinking policy.
The policy seeks to bring nearly 11 lakh hectares of land under irrigation in the Bundelkhand region spanning between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. KBLPA will be headed by a CEO at the level of additional secretary to the Government of India and assisted by five additional CEOs.

Notes:
Several parts of Jharkhand are witnessing massive protests against the inclusion of Bhojpuri and Magahi as “regional languages” in district-level competitive examinations for government jobs.
The state government issued a notification to include Magahi, Bhojpuri, and Angika among others as regional languages in the district-level selection process through exams conducted by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).

Notes:
Philippines has signed a USD 375 million deal with India to buy three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile from India.
Recently India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held discussions with his Philippines counterpart Teodoro L Locsin, on mutual national security and development aspirations. External Affairs Minister Jaishankar has undergone a three-day maiden visit to the Philippines.

Notes:
UK has announced to be the co-host of an upcoming United Nations virtual pledging summit to address the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
As per the UK government, the virtual pledging conference is aimed to help the UN raise USD 4.4 billion for Afghanistan. It is the largest amount the UN has ever requested for a single country.

Notes:
Union Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that ‘Pan India 3D maps’ will be prepared for 100 cities.
He also said that mapping of six lakh villages will be done under the SVAMITVA scheme. He announced this during an event commemorating the 1st anniversary of the release of Geospatial Data. India’s geospatial market is set to cross 36 thousand crore rupees in three years.

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:
Indian private sector bank, Yes Bank has launched an annual start-up enabler program, YES BANK Agri Infinity.
It aims to co-develop digital financial solutions for ‘Food and agriculture ecosystem’ by mentoring entrepreneurs in the field.