Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
In the 1960s, paleo-anthropologists unearthed the remains of Homo sapiens known as Omo I, from the lower Omo valley of southern Ethiopia.
Previous attempts to date the Omo I fossils suggested they were 197,000 years old, but the new research shows they must be 230,000 years old and they are the oldest unchallenged Homo sapiens in Africa.

Notes:
The United Nations Development Programme-India announced Content creator and actor Prajakta Koli as their first UNDP India Youth Climate Champion.
The UNDP recognised her contribution towards mental health, women’s rights and girl child education through various global social campaigns. As UNDP India Youth Climate Champion, Koli will be responsible for interacting with young minds to create awareness on climate issues.

Notes:
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the General Assembly and laid out the priorities for 2022.
Terming it as a ‘Five-alarm global fire’ he listed down the five priorities as the raging COVID-19 pandemic, a morally bankrupt global financial system, the climate crisis, lawlessness in cyberspace, and diminished peace and security.

Notes:
The Union Government has given the final approval for setting up a plastic park at Ganjimutt in Mangaluru, Karnataka.
The park will be set up on 104 acres at an estimated cost of ₹62.77 crore, out of which 50% of the project cost will be borne by the Union Government and the rest by  Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB).

Notes:
Nasscom conducted a study titled ‘Indian Tech Start-up Ecosystem: Year of The Titans’. As per the study, more than 2,250 startups were added in the year 2021.
This is 600 more than that was added in the previous year. As per the report, the startups raised USD 24.1 billion in 2021, which is a two-fold increase over pre-pandemic levels. There were several active angel investors and the trend demonstrated a growing investor confidence.

Notes:
United Kingdom based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released the report titled “Connecting the Dots: Plastic pollution and the planetary emergency”.
As per the report, a new global plastics treaty focussing on the entire lifecycle of plastics needs to be developed urgently. This was also proposed in the draft resolution by Peru and Rwanda at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).

Notes:
The Indian Government has dropped Gandhiji’s personal favourite “Abide With Me” hymn from the Republic Day celebrations.
The hymn, which was written by Henry Francis Lyte, a Scottish Anglican minister, has been played in the Indian Beating Retreat ceremony since 1950. It has been replaced by Kavi Pradeep’s “Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon” which was written in the wake of the Sino-Indian War.

Notes:
“The International Day of Education” is annually celebrated on January 24. This year the theme of the fourth year of celebration is ‘Changing Course, Transforming Education’.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2018 proclaimed the celebration of this day. India celebrates ‘National Education day’ celebrated on November 11 to mark the birth anniversary of India’s first Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

Notes:
Professor Vinod Sharma, the founder co-ordinator of the National Centre of Disaster Management, has been selected for this year’s Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar, under individual category.
The Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM) was selected under the institutional category. Minister Narendra Modi presented the awards in an event, commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Notes:
Australia’s Online Safety Act, which was passed in July 2021, has come into effect recently. It allows adults to report cases of online bullying in the country to the eSafety Commissioner.
The act empowers the eSafety commissioner to order social media websites to take down content related to bullying against Australian adults within 24 hours and impose fines if not followed. This Act addresses bullying against adults as well as children.