Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
Lanka IOC, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Government of Sri Lanka signed lease agreements on jointly developing the Trincomalee oil tank farm.
Indian Oil Corporation’s subsidiary Lanka IOC is set to run the 14 oil storage tanks while CPC would run 24 tanks. Trinco Petroleum Terminal Pvt. Ltd would develop the remaining 61 tanks, in a joint venture where 51% stakes will be held by CPC and 49% by Lanka IOC.

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:
Odisha’s Ganjam has declared itself the state’s first child marriage free district. It has undertaken a campaign named Nirbhaya Kadhi (Fearless bud).
Through the campaign, the district administration has counselled over one lakh teen-agers and stopped over 450 child marriages. They implemented various steps like providing incentives for informing child marriages, making Aadhaar card mandatory for marriages etc.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Turkmenistan on Cooperation in the field of Disaster Management.
At present, India has signed agreements of Cooperation for cooperation in the field of Disaster Management with Switzerland, Russia, SAARC, Germany, Japan, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Bangladesh and Italy.  The Union Cabinet also approved the signing of Agreement between India and Spain on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters.

Notes:
According to a new study, Traffic-related air pollutant is identified to be causing over 2 million new cases of pediatric asthma every year.
The study is the first to estimate the burden of pediatric asthma cases by the air pollutant in over 13,000 cities across the world, including Mumbai. Children are at risk of developing asthma due to Nitrogen dioxide and the problem is intense in urban areas.

Notes:
Fair trade regulator CCI (Competitive Commission of India) ordered a probe against Google for its alleged abuse of dominant position.
As per the Commission, Google has violated provisions of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 which pertains to abuse of dominant position. A complaint was filed that more than 50 per cent of the total traffic on the news websites is routed through Google and by way of its algorithms, the company determines which news website gets discovered via search.

Notes:
Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off the Jan Shatabdi Express between Agartala and Jiribam connecting two northeastern states, Tripura and Manipur.
The Jan Shatabdi Express will run thrice a week and the journey will take six hours. Besides this, Tripura has Rajdhani Express, Kanchanjungha Express, Humsafar Express among others.

Notes:
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia. It is headquartered at Moscow, Russia.
CSTO consists of many post-Soviet states. After Kazakhstan faced massive protests over the hike in fuel prices in the country, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev called in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to help tackle the protests.

Notes:
The UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (WHC) has agreed to publish Hindi descriptions of India’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the WHC website.
The information was shared by the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO announced this news, to be implemented on the occasion of World Hindi Day. It is observed on January 10 across the world.

Notes:
West African nations will close their borders with Mali, cut diplomatic ties and impose tough economic sanctions in response to delay in holding elections.
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the 15-state regional bloc announced this stance, as Mali’s interim authorities have proposed holding elections in December 2025 instead of this February as originally agreed with the bloc.