Current Affairs Quiz - February 2022

Notes:
India and France have agreed on a Roadmap on Blue Economy and Ocean Governance. The agreement aims to contribute to scientific knowledge and ocean conservation and ensure that the ocean remains a global common.
It was made during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s three-day visit to France. The scope includes maritime trade, marine eco-tourism, inland waterways, scientific research, and integrated coastal management among others.

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:
16 year old Indian Grand Master – Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has secured a massive victory over World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway at eighth round of the preliminary stage in Airthings Masters chess tournament.
With this, only Praggnanandhaa becomes the third Indian following Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna to have defeated Carlsen in a tournament game.

Notes:
KPAC Lalitha, a veteran actor in Malayalam cinema, recently passed away at the age of 74. She has done more than 500 films in a career spanning over five decades.
The actor did more than 500 films in a career spanning over five decades. She started working as a theatre artist at the age of 10, and became a part of KPAC (Kerala People’s Art Club), a leftist theatre group that propagated Communist ideology.

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released the ‘National Strategy for Additive Manufacturing’.
As per the strategy, India aims to increase share in global additive manufacturing to 5 per cent within the next three years. It could likely add USD 1 billion to GDP at the time. 3D printing or additive manufacturing uses computer-aided designing to make prototypes or working models of objects.

Notes:
The third Saturday in February is celebrated as World Pangolin Day across the world, to raise awareness of this endangered mammal.
Pangolins, also called anteaters, are illegally trafficked for the bogus medicinal powers given to their scales, which are made of keratin. Since 2019, six of the eight pangolin species have been classified as ‘Endangered or Critically Endangered.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu Government began work to form India’s first Dugong Conservation Reserve in the Palk Bay region. Dugongs are endangered species protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
According to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), only 200-250 dugongs are left in the wild, of which 150 are found in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu.

Notes:
Thiomargarita Magnifica is the newly described bacterium living in Caribbean mangroves. It is claimed to be the largest ever bacterium.
Its threadlike single cell is visible to the naked eye, growing up to 2 centimeters, which is 5000 times bigger than many other microbes. T. magnifica achieves its exceptional size by having unique cellular features with two membrane sacs.

Notes:
‘Anonymous’ Hacking Group has declared a ‘Cyber war’ against the Russian government after President Vladimir Putin announced an invasion of Ukraine.
The group also claimed responsibility for the attack on the website of the Russia Today TV channel and other Russian websites. Anonymous is an international ‘hacktivist’ group that has been involved in various major cyber-attacks across the globe.

Notes:
The founder of the Hindu reform organisation Arya Samaj was Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He was born as Mool Shankar Tiwari on February 12, 1824, in Gujarat.
Dayananda Saraswati was an Indian philosopher and leader of reform movement of Vedic dharma. He was the one who first gave the call for Swaraj (India for Indians) in 1876, a call taken up by Lokmanya Tilak.