Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

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:
The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) is a government printing and minting agency. It functions under the Ministry of Finance.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the first colour souvenir coin on ‘Panchtantra’ on the occasion of 17th foundation day of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

Notes:
Veteran Nobel-winning virologist Luc Montagnier died in Paris recently. He won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 for the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS, along with his colleague Francoise Barr-Sinoussi.
He had also shared half of the Nobel with German scientist Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of Human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer.

Notes:
The Ministry of Home Affairs has recently recommended a ban on 54 Chinese mobile applications, including the popular game Garena Free Fire.
In 2020, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) banned TikTok and other popular short video apps from China. MeitY banned these apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, which states that the government has the “Power to issue directions for interception or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource.”

Notes:
India has cut its tax on crude palm oil (CPO) imports to 5 percent from 7.5 percent. The reduction in the tax, known as ‘Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC)’, will widen the gap between the CPO and refined palm oil import duties.
This will make it cheaper for Indian refiners to import CPO. India is the world’s biggest edible oil importer.

Notes:
Japan is the only country that has dedicated country-focused industrial townships across India. Recently DPIIT (India) reviewed the status of Japan Industrial Townships (JITs) with METI (Japan).
Japan Industrial Townships (JITs) were set up after the “Action Agenda for the India-Japan Investment and Trade Promotion and Asia-Pacific Economic Integration” signed in 2015. They wer developed in India especially in Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC).

Notes:
‘Carnival of Hope’ is a famous annual celebration held in the city of Venice. It is also known as “City of Bridges” and “The Floating City”. This year’s edition is expected to attract thousands of people.
The 2020 Venice Carnival, which usually draws tourists from around the world, was curtailed when the pandemic broke out in Italy.  The festival got cancelled the following year to contain infections.

Notes:
Digital services company Jio Platforms has formed a joint-venture with Luxembourg-based SES to deliver satellite broadband services across India.
SES is a satellite-linked content connectivity solutions provider SES to deliver satellite broadband services across India. The joint venture will provide SES’s satellite data and connectivity services in India.

Notes:
Rajasthan has the maximum households electrified through the solar-based standalone system, under Saubhagya scheme.
The hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir had no beneficiaries under the initiative. Rajasthan (1,23,682 households) is followed by Chhattisgarh (65,373), Uttar Pradesh (53,234).

Notes:
In 2018, SEBI asked the top 500 listed companies to split the post of chairman and managing director by April 2020, after the recommendations of the Uday Kotak-led panel on corporate governance. In 2020, it extended the timeline by two years to April 1, 2022.
Recently, SEBI has made splitting of the post of chairman and managing director (CMD) in the top 500 listed companies voluntary.