Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

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:
Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura were formed in 1972 with the enactment of North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.
The three states were formed on January 21, 1972 and the day has been celebrated as the Statehood Day every year. Meghalaya was a part of Assam before it attained complete statehood and Tripura was a Union Territory before it attained statehood.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Coal launched the “Koyla Darpan” portal, to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to the Coal Sector.
At present, the portal has 9 KPIs including Coal/Lignite Production, Status of Coal Stock in Thermal Power Plants, Infrastructure Projects, Allocation of Blocks, Monitoring of Major Coal Mines and Coal Price.

Notes:
India has emerged as the largest exporter of gherkins in the world. India has exported cucumber and gherkins of around 1.2 lakh metric tonnes with a value of $ 114 million during April-October (2020-21).
Gherkins (Cornichons) are small cucumbers with thick bumpy skins, also called baby pickles or pickling cucumbers.

Notes:
The Home Ministry announced the list of recipients of the Padma awards.128 people have been named this year for the Awards which are conferred in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri.
The third highest award, Padma Bhushan will be conferred on Global  heads of tech giants Microsoft and Google Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai; Vaccine makers – Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institue and Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech. India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat was conferred the Padma Vibhushan posthumously.

Notes:
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) notified a ‘Drone certification scheme (DCS)’ to ensure minimum safety and quality requirements and to boost indigenous manufacturing.
The objective of this DCS, released under liberalized Drone Rules, 2021, is to provide the minimum requirements for security requirements for drones and enable their evaluation for certification. The liberalised Drone Rules, 2021,was released by the MoCA in August 2021.

Notes:
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has revised the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for adopting and implementing the Integrity Pact.
It has been revised for the second time in eight months. The step aims to ensure transparency in public procurements and to provide a large number of of Independent External Monitors (IEMS) to examine government contracts.

Notes:
The European Union launched a case against China at the World Trade Organization over its forced practices against Lithuania and some exporters from other member states.
China, the EU’s main trade partner, started blocking Lithuanian products and some other European goods that contained Lithuanian components last December. This was done after Taiwan opened a representative office in Vilnius (capital of Lithuania) under the country’s name instead of Taipei.

Notes:
U.S. President Joe Biden and his European Union counterpart Ursula von der Leyen pledged to cooperate on guaranteeing Europe’s energy security.
They released a joint cooperation statement amidst standoff triggered by Russia consolidating troops at Ukraine’s border. The European Union depends on Russia for around one-third of its gas supplies.

Notes:
The Delhi cabinet approved ex-gratia relief of Rs 20,000 per acre to farmers whose lands were damaged by rains last year.
In September-October 2021, several acres of farmland were damaged due to heavy rain and water-logging in fields. If the damage is found to be 70% or less, the compensation will be 70% of the amount. If the assessed loss is more than 70%, Rs 20,000 per acre will be paid.