Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
Centre-right lawmaker Roberta Metsola has been selected as the third woman to head the European Parliament.
The 43-year-old from the European Union’s smallest nation Malta is also the youngest President of the European Parliament. She is viewed as a political moderate in spite of the controversy over her anti-abortion stance.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet approved the extension of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) for three years with effect from April 1, 2022.
NCSK was constituted as a statutory body in 1994 by ‘National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993. The tenures have been extended several times. It works under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. As per official data, there were 58,098 manual scavengers identified in the country as on December 31, 2021.

Notes:
Amazon India has signed a memorandum of understanding with the NIF Incubation and Entrepreneurship Council (NIFientreC). The agreement aims to accelerate innovation, local economy and improve livelihoods across rural India.
NIFientreC is a technology business incubator hosted by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Notes:
‘Anxiety’ has been chosen by children as their word of the year for 2021, according to new research from Oxford University Press.
The research also highlights that Teachers have chosen “resilience” as their word. Oxford University Press analysed the evolution of children’s language, and how they use it to reflect their emotions and experiences.

Notes:
The Delhi government launched a “dedicated one-stop website for promotion and adoption of electric vehicles (EVs).
The website ev.delhi.gov.in aims to help both the buyers and manufacturers. It includes a ‘charging stations explorer’, ‘EV calculator’, ‘EV search’ and ‘EV dashboard’ among others.

Notes:
Kiribati is one of the most isolated islands in the world. It is located in Oceania and is about 4,800km from Australia.
Until last week, Kiribati had recorded just two Covid cases. After the passengers on the first international flight tested positive for Covid, the country has imposed its first lock-down.

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 World Bank has approved a loan of around Rs 1,000 crore (USA 125 million) for the West Bengal government.
The loan has been approved under the ‘West Bengal Building State Capability for Inclusive Social Protection’ operation. The loan is being given for several development projects related to social security.

Notes:
‘Spices Board’ is a regulatory and export promotion agency of Spices, working under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is headquartered at Kochi, Kerala.
Spices Board launched the country’s first virtual platform for spice exports “Spice Xchange India”. India exports 225 different spices and spice products to more than 180 countries. It is a 3D virtual platform which aims to connect India’s spice exporters with buyers from around the world, using AI.

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.