Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
Afghanistan has signed a new agreement with Tajikistan’s “Tajik Electricity” company for the extension of the import of electricity for the next year.
As per recent reports, Afghanistan needs 850 megawatts of electricity per year. Afghanistan imports 620 megawatts from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran.While, 230 megawatts are supplied from domestic sources.

Notes:
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has received a total of 31,000 complaints of crimes committed against women in the year 2021, which is the highest in number since 2014. There is an increase in complaints by 30% in the year 2021 in comparison to 2020.
Among the total complaints, more than half of them have been received from Uttar Pradesh state which has the highest number of complaints, followed by Delhi.

Notes:
Food aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato will have to collect and deposit tax at 5% rate from January 1, 2022.
At present, only those restaurants registered under GST are collecting and depositing the tax. Cab aggregators like Uber and Ola will have to collect 5% Goods and Services Tax for booking 2 and 3 wheeler vehicles.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India appointed the technical committee to look into the Pegasus malware issue.
The technical committee issued a public notice asking citizens to contact the panel if they suspected that their mobile devices are infected by Pegasus malware. The committee would request the person to allow examination of the device, if reasonable.

Notes:
Trinamool Congress MP Sushmita Dev is the only woman in the 31-member parliamentary panel assigned to examine the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill.
The seeks to raise the legal age of marriage for women to 21. At present, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 and for women is 18. The proposal to increase the marriage age of women was recommended by the NITI Aayog.task force headed by Jaya Jaitley.

Notes:
Union Health Ministry of India set up the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) in 2020, to monitor genome sequencing and variation of Covid strains.
INSACOG is jointly initiated by the Union Health Ministry, along with Department of Biotechnology, CSIR and ICMR. An INSACOG Lab has asked States to temporarily pause sending COVID-19 positive samples.

Notes:
North Korea recently fired a “hypersonic missile” that successfully hit a target. The test-fire was detected by several militaries in the region, and drew criticism from the United States, South Korea, and Japan.
North Korea first tested a hypersonic missile in September. Hypersonic weapons can achieve more than five times the speed of sound – or about 6,200 km per hour.

Notes:
Ministry of Tourism is organising ‘Tourism Week’ from 3-15 January, at the India Pavilion in Expo2020 Dubai.
India also announced that it will offer five lakh free e-tourist visas and it is opening up for international travel in a calibrated manner. The Tourism Ministry is in the process of ‘New tourism policy’ to strengthen the tourism sector.

Notes:
Six ODOP (One District One Product) brands under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme were launched recently.
It is a scheme implemented by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries. The Ministry has signed an agreement with NAFED for developing 10 brands of selected ODOPs. All products will be available at NAFED Bazaars, E-commerce platforms, and retail stores.

Notes:
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel launched the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP) 2.0, at the International Conference of Academic Institutions (ICAI-2022)
It aims to financially support school students in innovation and will be implemented for the next five years till March, 2027. The financial support has been increased from Rs 200 of the previous edition to Rs 500 crore.