Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) scientists announced that along with the original Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant, its sub-lineage BA.1 is dominantly co-circulating.
There are two more sub-lineages of the Omicron variant – BA.2 and BA.3. Since the sub-lineage belongs to the same family, these samples are considered Omicron positive. According to WHO, the BA.1 sub-lineage of Omicron accounts for 99 percent of sequences.

Notes:
Ministry of Food Processing Industries has launched a dedicated grievance cell for the food and food-related industry to ensure smooth operations and uninterrupted supply of essentials for all citizens.
The Ministry had set up a similar grievance cell during the first wave when the national lockdown was imposed in the country. The Ministry said that industry players and people can send their concerns and queries on [email protected].

Notes:
A new strain of coronavirus that combines Delta and Omicron has been detected in Cyprus. The new strain has been named ‘Deltacron’ due to the identification of Omicron-like genetic signatures within the Delta genomes.
There has been a constant spike in the cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 across the globe. A detailed study is yet to be done on how the new Deltacron variant will impact the world.

Notes:
Every year on Makar Sankranti in the month of January, pilgrims visit Gangasagar village for a dip at the union of the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal.
Nearly one million devotees are expected to gather on the banks of the Ganges River on this year’s event for the holy bathe. West Bengal recorded second highest number of COVID cases in the country.

Notes:
The state government of Tamil Nadu notified the ‘Regional Plan Rules, 2021’. The rules are notified for preparing plans for 12 regions covering 1.36 lakh sq km in the State.
Under the new rules, the State will constitute a regional planning authority to prepare land and building use maps over the next 18 months. The regional plan is an inter-settlement plan, while master plans and detailed development plans are intra-settlement plans.

Notes:
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has recently notified the Andhra Pradesh Mahila Police (Subordinate Service) Rules, 2021. This notification seeks to create a separate women police cadre under the state’s police department.
The new wing would comprise inspectors (non-gazetted), sub-inspectors, assistant sub-inspectors, senior Mahila police and Mahila police personnel.

Notes:
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) is a type of LED (Light-Emitting Diode) in which emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compound that emits light in response to an electric current. This is a competitive alternative to liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
Recently, team of researchers from University of Minnesota, MIT, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and Pusan National University have demonstrated a printing technique which produces fully 3D-printed flexible OLED displays.

Notes:
During a water bird census, an uncommon sea snake was spotted by a team of bird watchers. Hydrophis gracilis, the small-headed sea snake, was spotted at the Perumathura coast in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Members of the Thiruvananthapuram-based forum of bird watchers and nature lovers, Warblers and Waders, were carrying out the survey as part of the yearly water-bird census.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Culture has announced that a 10th century stone idol of Goat Head Yogini that was illegally removed from a temple in Lokhari, Uttar Pradesh is being returned to India from the UK.
The sculpture originally belonged to a group of stone deities in sandstone. A similar sculpture of the buffalo-headed Vrishanana Yogini, stolen from the same temple at Lokhari had been recovered from Paris in 2013. Yoginis are a group of female divinities associated with Tantrik mode of worship. They are worshipped as a group of 64 and are believed to possess infinite powers.

Notes:
Tonga is a group of over 170 islands located in South Pacific Ocean. It is located in the continent of Oceania.
Recently, a volcanic eruption happened in Tonga, below the surface of the ocean and triggered tsunami waves around the Pacific. The US Geological Survey estimated the eruption caused the equivalent of a magnitude 5.8 earthquake.