Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

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:
The Ratings agency ICRA has maintained its forecast of a 9.0% GDP expansion for India in FY2022. It maintained that a K-shaped divergence will be seen amongst the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
The ratings agency also expects the economy to maintain a similar 9.0% growth in the next fiscal year FY2023.

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:
NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission released the ‘Compendium on the innovations on technology’.
‘Innovations For You’ Compendium focuses on the start-ups and innovations in the field of Agriculture and Allied services. It features the 70 start-ups supported by Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) of AIM. ‘The Ingenious Tinkerers’ includes 41 innovations from Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL).

 

Notes:
The Indian Army has set up a ‘Quantum computing laboratory and a Centre for artificial intelligence (AI)’ at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.
The centres will carry out research in developing transformative technologies to be used by the armed forces. It has been established by the Indian Army, with support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).

Notes:
China is the world’s top producer of rare earth material. Recently, the country has 3 state-owned rare earth mining companies to form a new entity named ‘China Rare Earths Group’.
China has been strengthening its supply chain of rare earth materials. Rare earth is a combination of 17 minerals used as vital ingredients in the production of consumer electronics as well as military equipment.

Notes:
Senkaku Island is an uninhabited island chain in the East China Sea that has been administered by Japan for several decades. China and Japan are claiming the island.
Senior Defence officials from Japan and China held their first high-level dialogue and agreed to establish a hotline in order to avoid physical conflict. China calls the Senkaku island group as Diaoyu and says it has a historical claim.

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:
State Bank of India (SBI) is the only authorised institution to sell Electoral bonds in India. An electoral bond will be valid for 15 days from the date of issue.

As the elections are due in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Goa, SBI has been authorised for sale of electoral bonds from January 1 to January 10, 2022 across 29 specified branches.