Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
According to figures released by the US Census Bureau, India-US bilateral goods trade was worth USD 113.391 billion from January to December 2021.
This is the largest volume of goods trade in a calendar year in India-US economic history. India exported goods worth over USD 73 billion, and imported goods worth over USD 40 billion dollars. In 2020 trade fell to USD 78.2 billion due to pandemic, from the high of USD 92.1 billion in 2019.

Notes:
India is the fifth largest exporter of millets in the world, according to 2020 data, with exports increasing at around 3 per cent CAGR in the last five years ending with 2020.
In 2020-21, India exported millets worth USD 26.97 million against USD 28.5 million in 2019-20. World export of millet has increased from USD 380 million in 2019 to USD 402.7 million in 2020.

Notes:
RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted unanimously to keep policy repo rate unchanged at 4 percent. Reverse repo rate also remains unchanged at 3.35 percent.
As per the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, the ‘accommodative’ stance will continue as long as needed.

Notes:
Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest.
Russia and Belarus have started joint military exercises close to the Belarusian border with Ukraine. Russia has already amassed forces along its own border with Ukraine, and in the annexed Crimean peninsula.

Notes:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is a regulatory authority established under the SEBI Act 1992. It is the principal regulator for Stock Exchanges in India.
SEBI has recently penalised the National Stock Exchange (NSE), its former CEOs Chitra Ramkrishna and Ravi Narain for governance lapses in hiring of its chief operating officer (COO) Anand Subramanian.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh Police has initiated ‘Operation Parivartan’, a special operation to eliminate the cultivation of cannabis.
This operation was led by the Andhra Pradesh Police with the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) in Visakhapatnam. Recently, around 2 lakh kilograms of processed cannabis was seized while it was being shipped out.

Notes:
India signed an agreement with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for the distribution of 50,000 MT of wheat.
India has committed to send relief to Afghanistan as part of a humanitarian assistance, to be sent in truck convoys through Pakistan by road. Rome-headquartered WFP thanked India for the agreement to support Afghans who are facing humanitarian crisis.

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:
Cholendra Shumsher Rana became the second Chief Justice of Nepal to face ‘impeachment’ procedure in Parliament in seven years over allegations of corruption
The Chief Justice Rana has been suspended pending final disposal of the case, and Dipak Karki, the senior most Judge in the Supreme Court has taken over as the acting Chief Justice.

Notes:
Medaram Jatara is the second-largest fair of India, after Kumbh Mela, celebrated by Koya Tribal Community of Telangana, for four days
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has sanctioned ₹2.26 Crores for various activities related to Medaram Jathara 2022.  At present, the Jathara festival is biennially celebrated by the Koya Tribes in collaboration with the Tribal Welfare Department, Telangana.