Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is an intergovernmental organisation, established in 1964 at Geneva, Switzerland, with an aim to promote trade among developing countries.
Recently, the organisation has stated that India’s trade deficit as a percentage of global trade has reduced to 0.6% in 2022 as against 0.7% in pre pandemic levels.

Notes:
Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Mumbai an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology conducted a study on Greater Maldive Ridge (GMR). It is located in the western Indian Ocean.
The researchers claimed that the GMR may have an oceanic crust underneath. The results from their study can help in understanding the plate-tectonic evolution of the Indian Ocean.

Notes:
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) organised the ‘Labharthiyon Se Rubaroo’ initiative. It was launched to monitor progress of projects under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) by directly interacting with beneficiaries.
Recently the Secretary of MoHUA, interacted with PMAY(U) beneficiaries from Assam, Jharkhand and Kerala, to know about their experiences under the scheme.

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government changed the name of MP Professional Examination Board into ‘M.P Karmachari Chayan Aayog’.
It was earlier known as Vyavsayik Pareeksha Mandal or Vyapam. This is for the second time that the state government has renamed the exam conducting body. After the Vyapam scam, the government had changed its name to MP Professional Examination Board.

Notes:
The Supreme Court has scrapped the condition imposed by Maharashtra authorities that limited the number of female and male performers in orchestra bars to four each.
The Court also said that the cap directly transgresses the fundamental rights of the performers as well as the license owners under Article 15 (1) and Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution.

Notes:
To popularise traditional Indian crafts among the diplomatic community, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is organising a crafts exhibition-cum-fair in New Delhi.
The fair is named ‘Coalescence: Craft-Culture-Community-Climate’. It will have 22 craft persons from 11 states under five categories. ICCR functions under the Union Ministry of External Affairs.

Notes:
Vedanta Ltd has announced that it has made an Oil discovery named ‘Durga’ in a block in Rajasthan’s Barmer district.
The company has notified the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas about the oil discovery. The block was awarded to Vedanta under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).

Notes:
The Government has approved the continuation of the Central Sector Umbrella Scheme of “Border Infrastructure and Management” (BIM) from 2021-22 to 2025-26, at a cost of Rs.13,020 crore.
The BIM scheme, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, will help in construction of border fence, border flood lights, technological solutions, Border roads and Border Outposts, to secure the Indo-Pakistan, Indo-Bangladesh, Indo-China, Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Myanmar borders.

Notes:
State owned Maharatna company – Coal India Limited has been awarded the ‘India’s Most Trusted Public Sector Company’ award by Industry Chamber “ASSOCHAM”.
The company was established in the year 1975 with Kolkata as headquarters. It is the single largest coal producer in the world, which is operating more than 85 coal mines spread across 8 states.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Rural Development implements the ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)’ scheme, with National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA) as the nodal implementation agency.
Recently, the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh released Rural Connectivity GIS Data in Public Domain. This includes GIS data for 800,000+ rural facilities as points, 1 Million+ habitations and 25,00,000+ km of rural roads, digitised using the GIS platform.