Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
The Union Government in exercise of the powers conferred by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has notified the Consumer Protection (Direct Selling) Rules, 2021.
As per the new rules, Direct selling entity and direct sellers are prohibited from Promoting a Pyramid Scheme or enroll any person to such scheme or participate in such arrangement. They are also prohibited from participating in money circulation scheme in the name of direct selling business.

Notes:
The tequila fish (Zoogoneticus tequila) which was declared extinct in the wild has been reintroduced to its native Mexico.
The little fish, which grows only up to 70 mm, was bred in an aquarium at Chester zoo, England. The fish disappeared from the wild in 2003 due to the introduction of invasive, exotic fish species and water pollution.

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:
Insurance regulator IRDAI has announced that the state-owned LIC, General Insurance Corporation and New India Assurance have been identified as Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SIIs) for 2021-22.
D-SIIs are perceived as insurers that are too big or too important to fail’ (TBTF). Due to their size, market importance and domestic and global inter connectedness, their failure would cause a massive impact in domestic financial system.

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:
The GST Council decided to defer the increase in the rate for textiles to 12% from 5%. It has referred the matter to a panel of Ministers, to review Rate Rationalisation.
The GST on all readymade textile items, except those made with cotton, was earlier hiked to 12 per cent. The GST on footwear, except those below Rs 1,000, was also hiked to 12 per cent from 5 per cent. State representatives from Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu opposed the hike.

Notes:
China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs announced the “standardised” names of 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh.
China has been claiming around 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory. It had even called the state as “South Tibet” back in 2017. India, in response announced that the renaming does not take away the sovereignty of India from the state.

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:
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.