Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

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:
A team of astronomers has discovered a new planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the Sun.
The planet named ‘Proxima d’, is the third detected in the system. It is among the lightest of the exo-planets discovered so far. The astronomers used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile to spot this exo-planet.

Notes:
Southern Railway has introduced Quick Response (QR) code-based payment of ticket fare in Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs).
This aims to encourage cashless transactions and digital payments. As per the Railway administration, journey and platform tickets can be purchased using QR code facility. Renewal of season tickets can also be completed digitally.

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:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated ₹48,000 crore towards completion of 80 lakh houses under Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) in rural and urban areas during 2022-23.
Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs approved project proposals for over 60,000 houses across five states — Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

Notes:
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has organised ‘Darkathon -2022’ initiative to find solutions to counter dark-net markets.
The initiative aims at involving students, youth and technical experts to find effective solutions to counter drug trafficking through darknet. NCB is a Law enforcement and intelligence agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Notes:
Guru Ravidas was an Indian mystic, poet and social reformer who made remarkable contributions in the form of devotional songs, verses, spiritual teachings during the Bhakti movement.
February 16 is marking the celebration of 645th birth anniversary of the Guru. It is observed as Guru Ravidas Jayanti all across the nation. He was born in 1377 C.E. in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. He actively opposed the caste system and promoted communal harmony.

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:
NITI Aayog has partnered with leading digital payments platform PhonePe to host the first-ever open-to-all hackathon, ‘Fintech open hackathon’.
Participants can use data sources like PhonePe Pulse (open-data API), the Open Government Data Platform and RBI reports on payments to build on their submission.

Notes:
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is an international organization founded in 1969, consisting of 57 member states. It is headquartered at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Union government of India described the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) remarks on the ongoing hijab controversy in Karnataka as ‘motivated and misleading’.