Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

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:
NITI Aayog inaugurated the first-of-its-kind initiative of ‘Fintech Open month’, to bring together regulators, Fin-tech professionals, industry leaders, start-up community on a common platform.
The overarching theme is ‘OPEN’, to achieve three objectives namely 1) encourage Open ecosystem across the Fin-Tech industry; (2) promote co-innovation and growth; (3) ensure financial inclusion and leverage new models like Account Aggregator.

Notes:
Crimson Rose is a large butterfly with a mix of black, white and crimson colours on its wings and body. It belongs to the Swallowtails (Papilionidae) family and they are known to migrate along the coast, inland and cross the sea often.
Recently, thousands of Crimson Rose butterflies were seen flying from Dhanushkodi, at the southern-most tip of Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu) Island towards Sri Lanka, which is around 25 km from the tip of Dhanushkodi.

Notes:
The Union Government has approved the ‘New India Literacy Programme’ for financial years 2022-27 which will cover all aspects of Adult Education in the country.
The program has been announced in line with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. ‘Adult Education’ will now be called ‘Education For All’. As per 2011 Census, the number of non-literates in the country (15 years and above) was 25.76 crore (9.08 crore male and 16.68 crore female).

Notes:
Indian private sector bank, Yes Bank has launched an annual start-up enabler program, YES BANK Agri Infinity.
It aims to co-develop digital financial solutions for ‘Food and agriculture ecosystem’ by mentoring entrepreneurs in the field.

Notes:
The Government of India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recently notified guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic packaging, under the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022. This aims to eliminate single use plastic.
This defines the roles and responsibilities of producers, importers and pollution control units in bringing down plastic waste.

Notes:
Eminent Kannada writer and poet Dr Chennaveera Kanavi passed away at the age of 94 after age-related complications.
The Karnataka government ordered police honours for his last rites. The litterateur won the Sahitya Akademi award for his book ‘Jeevadhwani’. He received various awards including Rajyotsava Award, Pampa Award, Nadoja title, Nrupathunga award, Sahitya Bangara Award.

Notes:
The Upper Bhadra Lift Irrigation Project of Karnataka envisages to irrigate 2,25,515 hectares of land in Chitradurga, Davanagere, Tumakuru districts of the state by lifting water from Tunga river to Bhadra reservoir.
This project is set to get the national project status, by which it would receive 60% of funding from the Government of India.

Notes:
Japan has recently unveiled its first hydrogen-powered train, as a step toward the nation’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
The two car “Hybari” train costs about $35 million ( 4 billion yen) and can travel up to 140 kilometers (87 miles) at a top speed of 100 km/h on a single filling of hydrogen. The train has been developed by East Japan Railway in partnership with Toyota and Hitachi.

Notes:
Pakistan President Arif Alvi approved an ordinance to amend the country’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
The amendment allows anyone to file a complaint against a social media post.  It also increased the jail term for the act from three to five years and made ‘spreading fake news online’ a non-bailable offense.