Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
Portuguese football legend Cristiano Ronaldo’s statue has been unveiled in Panaji, Goa to motivate the younger generation towards sports.
This is the first time that the statue of Cristiano Ronaldo has been installed in India. The statue, which weighs around 410 kgs cost around Rs 12 Lakhs.

Notes:
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 or AFSPA legislation, has been extended in Nagaland for another six months.
The North-eastern state has been seeking to withdraw it after the alleged security operation near Oting Village in Nagaland that left 14 civilians and one jawan dead in December 2021. The law was first introduced by the British to suppress the Quit India movement in 1942.

Notes:
Tamil Nadu Government recently unveiled “New Policy for Women 2021”, which includes features such as compulsory martial arts training for school and college females.
It also proposes 50 additional person-days under MGNREGS for all single and women-headed households, and 33.3 percent representation in registered parties. The policy also seeks to make all modes of transportation women-friendly.

Notes:
The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) announced that it will add Egypt as its new member. NDB was established by BRICS nations, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, in the year 2015.
Egypt is the fourth new member admitted into NDB, after Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Uruguay. Marcos Troyjo is the President of the NDB.

Notes:
Ace Tennis Player Novak Djokovic from Serbia was named the Best Balkan Athlete of the year for a record seventh time.
The 34-year-old player is ranked No. 1 in the world and won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments this year. Greek basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo was second in the poll, followed by another Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglu.

Notes:
The newly discovered Begonia gigantic, is claimed to be the world’s largest specimen of a Begonia species.
Begonia is one of the largest plant genera, with over 2050 known species. Though most Begonias are small weeds, this new species grows on slopes along streams at elevation of 450–1400 m. The species are distributed in southern Tibet. The conservation status is ‘Endangered’ as per the IUCN Red List.

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:
VS Pathania took charge as the Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). He replaced K Natarajan, who served as the Chief of the Indian Coast Guard from 2019.
VS Pathania, an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, and National Defence College, New Delhi, is a qualified helicopter pilot.

Notes:
Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan became the youngest ever World Rapid Chess champion, at 17 years three months. Magnus Carlsen had won the 2009 World Blitz Title at the age of 18.
He also defeated the Ace player Magnus Carlsen to win the World Rapid championship in Warsaw, Poland. France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave won the World Blitz title.

Notes:
Indian solar power producer Azure Power has fully commissioned its largest project, a 600-MW solar park in the state of Rajasthan.
The independent Power producer now owns and operates India’s largest solar power project at a single location. The solar park is located in Bikaner and is connected to the Interstate Transmission System (ISTS). It will supply its power to Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) over 25 years.