Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
One Ocean Summit is being organised by France in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank.
India supported the French initiative of a ‘High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the conference and said that India is committed to eliminating single-use plastic.

Notes:
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme for farmers for installation of solar pumps and grid connected solar and other renewable power plants.
Recently, the Central government has set the target for replacing diesel with renewable energy in the agricultural sector by 2024.

Notes:
A team of Indian Scientists has recently identified the next-generation probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus Plantarum JBC5.
The bacterium promoted healthy aging on a model organism called Caenorhabditis Elegans. The team from Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati, has also developed a yogurt using this probiotic bacterium.

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:
Brazil recorded the most deforestation ever in the Amazon rainforest for the month of January, according to new government data.
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon totalled 430 sq kilometres last month, five times higher than January 2021. This is according to preliminary satellite data from government space research agency.

Notes:
Australian government announced a series of new initiatives to boost its education and cultural ties with India under the Maitri programme.
Under the Maitri Scholars Programme, Australian government will provide over 11 million dollars over four years to support Indian students to study at Australia’s top universities. The Maitri Fellowship Programme will provide 3.5 million dollars to support mid-career Australian and Indian professionals to collaborate on strategic research initiatives.

Notes:
For the first time, India’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a satellite jointly developed by team of international researchers including from Taiwan.
INSPIRESat-1 stands for International Research and Teaching Satellite Project satellite one. It has been developed by scientists from universities of US, Taiwan, India and Singapore. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C52 mission launched an Earth observation satellite EOS-04 and two others.

Notes:
Astronomers have recently discovered a third moon orbiting the main-belt asteroid (130) Elektra, making it the first ‘Quadruple Asteroid’ ever found.
(130) Elektra is a large main-belt asteroid, first discovered in 1873 by Litchfield Observatory astronomers.  It has an effective diameter of 199 km. The discovery of first quadruple asteroid system will help in understanding the mechanisms of the formation of these satellites.

Notes:
Using the SOAR (Southern Astrophysical Research) Telescope in Chile, astronomers have confirmed that the asteroid 2020 XL5 is an Earth Trojan.
Earth Trojan is an Earth companion following the same path around the Sun as Earth does. 2020 XL5 was discovered in 2020 by the Pan-STARRS1 survey. Study shows that it is much larger than the only other Earth Trojan known.

Notes:
The landlocked African nation – Malawi has recently declared a polio outbreak, after a case was identified in a young child.
As per the World Health Organisation, this outbreak is the first in the African continent in more than 5 years. This strain is of the type WPV1 (Type 1 Wild Polio Virus)