Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2024

Notes:
Cameroon recently adopted the Nagoya Protocol, a global agreement enforcing access and benefit-sharing obligations outlined in the Convention on Biological Diversity. Adopted in 2010 and effective since 2014, the Protocol establishes a legal framework facilitating fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resource utilization. It supports biodiversity-based research, ensuring researchers access resources for biotechnology while indigenous communities receive fair returns, respecting the value of traditional knowledge linked to genetic resources.

Notes:
Sunil Kumar won the 87 kg Greco-Roman title at the 2024 National Wrestling Championships, which took place in Jaipur, Rajasthan on February 4, 2024. Kumar, an Asian Games bronze medalist, beat Manoj Kumar 9-1 to win the title.

Notes:
REC Limited received the 2024 Best Green Bond-Corporate Award at The Asset Triple A Awards for Sustainable Finance. The award recognizes REC’s commitment to environmental and sustainable finance. REC Limited is a Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Power and a leading NBFC. In April 2023, REC issued $750 million in Green Bonds, which is why they received the award.

Notes:
At least 112 people have died in the Valparaíso region of Chile due to fast-moving wildfires. The fires are thought to be the deadliest ever recorded in Chile. The government is investigating whether some of the fires were deliberately started. The fires have also destroyed an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 homes. The fires are thought to be the result of a week of record-setting temperatures caused by El Niño. High heat has also caused droughts and generally increased wildfire risk.

Notes:
India sent 3.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Zambia, a Southern African country, to help with a cholera outbreak. The aid includes medicines, water purification supplies, and chlorine tablets. The emergency funding will also support humanitarian partners UNICEF and the WHO in their efforts to address health, water, hygiene, and sanitation needs.

Notes:
The Minister of State for Heavy Industries revealed SAMARTH Centres to Lok Sabha. SAMARTH, or Smart Advanced Manufacturing and Rapid Transformation Hub, operates under the “Enhancement of Competitiveness in the Indian Capital Goods Sector” scheme. These centers aid MSMEs by organizing events on Industry 4.0, conducting training for awareness, offering consultancy in areas like IoT, software development, and data analytics, and providing incubation support to start-ups, contributing to workforce development and technological advancement.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) has unveiled ‘Jigarthanda,’ India’s first Hypervelocity Expansion Tunnel Test Facility. The 24-meter-long S2 facility, developed over three years, is located at IIT Kanpur’s Hypersonic Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory. Funded by ARDB, DST, and IIT Kanpur, it can simulate hypersonic conditions with flight speeds between 3-10 km/s. ‘Jigarthanda’ will play a crucial role in advancing aerospace technologies, supporting missions like Gaganyaan, Reusable Launch Vehicles, and hypersonic cruise missiles for ISRO and DRDO.

Notes:
Noida has been honored as a “water warrior” city by the Union water ministry for outstanding efforts in wastewater treatment and reuse. The city boasts eight sewage treatment plants (STPs) with a total capacity of 411 MLD (million litres daily), treating 260 MLD of sewage. Notably, 70-75 MLD is repurposed for irrigation, construction, firefighting, pond maintenance, and road sprinkling. Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat presented the awards in Delhi.

Notes:
Michelle O’Neill, a member of Sinn Féin, became the first Irish nationalist first minister of Northern Ireland. O’Neill’s appointment came after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) agreed to a new deal with the British government on post-Brexit trade rules. The DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly is the deputy first minister. Northern Ireland’s government is a result of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord, which equally shares power between the two main communities in the region. These communities are British unionists who want to remain in the U.K., and Irish nationalists who want to unite with Ireland.

Notes:
Russian forces recently launched a 3M22 Zircon missile targeting Kyiv. The 3M22 Zircon is a scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile developed in Russia, boasting speeds up to Mach 9 and a 1000 km range. It features a two-stage design with solid fuel in the first stage and a scramjet motor in the second. The missile employs cooled supersonic combustion ramjet engines, creating a plasma cloud during flight for radar invisibility. It differs from other hypersonic weapons like China’s DF-17 or Russia’s Avangard, using an active and passive radar seeker guidance system.