Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
Sovereign gold bonds (SGB) are government securities denominated in grams of gold, issued by the RBI on behalf of the Government of India.
The maturity period of the sovereign gold bond is eight years. The premature redemption is permitted after the fifth year from the date of issue of such gold bonds on the interest payout date.

Notes:
The ACT Accelerator is a multinational and multi-institutional initiative launched by G-20. It includes WHO, CEPI, FIND, GAVI the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, the World Bank and governments, to raise financial support of R&D, production and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, therapies and vaccines.
The ACT-Accelerator Facilitation Council’s has called for ‘Fair share’ of financing that the richer countries should contribute to the ACT-Accelerator’s global response.

Notes:
Geo-location technology specialist TomTom has released the 11th edition of its annual TomTom Traffic Index. It is a report analysing traffic trends seen in 404 cities in 58 countries, during 2021.
India fared better than the global average of 10% decrease in congestion. But, four cities from India featured in the Index’s global top-25 list namely Mumbai (5th), Bengaluru (10th), and New Delhi (11th) and Pune (21st).

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:
U.S announced USD 5 billion to be made available under the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.
It aims to build a national electric vehicle charging network. The money will be used over five years to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations.

Notes:
The seventh round of India-EU consultations on disarmament and non-proliferation matters was held in a virtual format.
The consultations are part of dialogue mechanisms under the ‘Roadmap to 2025’ for further strengthening the India-EU Strategic Partnership.

Notes:
The President of India Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the annual ‘Udyanotsav’ of Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Every year, the event is held during February-March.
The Mughal Gardens will remain open for the general public from February 12, 2022 to March 16, 2022. The main attraction of this year’s event will be 11 varieties of Tulips which are set to bloom in phases during February.

Notes:
International Day of Women and Girls in Science is observed every year on 11 February. The United Nations calls for women’s full and equal access to and participation in science.
The day also celebrates those that are leading action and innovation around the world. As per UN Women, only 33 per cent of researchers are women, and they are awarded less research funding than men, and are less likely to be promoted.

Notes:
DigitalSky is a single window Platform through which a DGCA-approved drone school provides Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC).
Recently, the Civil Aviation ministry scrapped the requirement of drone pilot licence for operating drones in the country. The RPC is sufficient to operate drones in India

Notes:
French president Emmanuel Macron hosted the high-level session of the One Ocean summit in the city of Brest.
Nearly 27 EU states and 16 others agreed to pursue a global agreement by the end of year, to regulate sustainable use of oceans all across the globe. Many countries joined the “High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People” and “the High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction”.