Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
Gram Ujala scheme is a flagship scheme of the Union Ministry of Power. Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) is providing high quality LED bulbs with 3 years guarantee at a cost of INR 10 per bulb in exchange of working incandescent bulbs.
Recently, CESL has achieved a remarkable milestone of distributing 50 lakhs LED bulbs under Project Crore of Gram Ujala programme.

Notes:
Pakistan’s Cabinet endorsed the country’s first-ever National Security Policy (NSP), which emphasised that economic progress should be at the center of national security.
The Cabinet has adopted the document which was approved by the high-powered National Security Committee (NSC). The Policy is a five-year policy document covering the period 2022-26.

Notes:
South Korea’s first domestically produced space launch vehicle KSLV-II Nuri rocket failed due to a loose helium tank.
All the three stages of the rocket worked, taking it to a height of 700 kilometres, and the 1.5-tonne payload separated successfully. The mission failed as the third-stage engine stopped burning 46 seconds earlier than schedule.

Notes:
The Sahitya Akademi announced a list of 22 winners of the Yuva Puraskar and the Bal Sahitya Puraskar for 2021.
The Sahitya Akademi award was separately announced for literary works in 20 languages in various categories like poetry, novels, short stories, plays, biography and autobiography, book on criticism.  Tamil feminist writer Ambai, Kannada’s DS Nagabhushan, Telugu’s Goreti Venkanna, and English author Namita Gokhale are among the winners.

Notes:
Iran has launched a satellite carrier rocket ‘Simorgh’ bearing three research devices into space, as per the country’s media.
‘Simorgh’ translates to ‘Phoenix’ in Iran language. The country has launched the devices at an altitude of 470 kilometres (290 miles). United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018 and re-imposed sanctions against Iran.

Notes:
China complained to the United Nations that its space station was forced to avoid collisions with satellites launched by his Starlink Internet Services project.
As per China’s claim to the Vienna-based United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the country’s space station had two close encounters with Starlink satellites this year. Starlink is a satellite internet network operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Notes:
India’s first indigenously developed Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) protein sub-unit vaccine for COVID-19 is CORBEVAXTM.
The vaccine, which has been developed by Biological E Limited, has recently received the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approval for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and its PSU Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), have supported Biological E’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Notes:
The Pakistan Ministry of Religious Affairs has formed a Hindu Temple Management Committee, to act as a bridge between the non-Muslim population and the state.
As per media reports, the Committee will look after matters related to Hindu places of worship. The formation of the committee will help in resolving the issues of the Pakistan’s Hindu community.

Notes:
According to the data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India’s unemployment rate reached a four-month high of 7.91% in December.
This is compared to the rates of 7% and 7.75 per cent in November and October 2021. The unemployment rate was at its highest since 8.3% in August. The urban and rural unemployment rate rose to 9.30% and 7.28% respectively. The rise in unemployment was due to muted economic activity and consumer sentiment, due to Omicron variant.

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.