Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

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:
India has paid USD 29.9 million in United Nations regular budget assessments for the year 2022. India is a non-permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council and its two-year term will end on December 31, 2022.
As of January 21, 2022, 24 Member States have paid their regular budget assessments in full. Iran, Guinea and Vanuatu paid sufficient dues to the UN regular budget to regain their voting rights. Only Venezuela and Papua New Guinea don’t have the right to vote in the 193 member body.

Notes:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its World Economic Outlook January 2022 assessment.
As per the update, India is estimated to grow at 9% in 2021-2022, down from 9.5% projected in October 2021. It also projects 9% growth for the Indian economy in 2022-23 Global economic growth will dip from 5.9% in 2021 to 4.4% in 2022.

Notes:
The 61 winners of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) 2021 and 2022 got digital certificates that use blockchain-driven technology developed by IIT Kanpur under the National Blockchain Project.
The digital certificates will be stored on digital wallets installed on the mobile devices of the recipients. These certificates are globally verifiable and cannot be forged. IIT Kanpur had awarded digital degrees to its students for the first time using the in-house developed blockchain technology.

Notes:
The 77 year-old Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refused the Padma Bhushan award announced in 2022.
He served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011. Legendary singer Sandhya Mukherjee and tabla exponent Anindya Chatterjee also refused the awards. Sandhya Mukherjee has a 70 year long career and has sung thousands of songs for Indian cinema.

Notes:
The President of India Ram Nath Kovind approved to confer 128 Padma Awards this year, on the eve of the 73rd Republic Day.
The 89-year old Kirana gharana Vocalist ‘Prabha Atre’ was awarded the Padma Vibhushan.  She holds a world record for releasing 11 books on music in Hindi and English from a single stage. She established the ‘Swarmayee Gurukul’. Radheyshyam Khemka (Posthumous; Literature, UP), General Bipin Rawat (Civil Service) and Kalyan Singh (Posthumous; Public Affairs, UP) were also awarded the Padma Vibhushan.

Notes:
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge to encourage innovative start-ups to transform the sanitation and waste management sector.
The challenge has been launched in partnership with Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD). It seeks to promote enterprise development under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0).

Notes:
Union Minister for Power R K Singh interacted with renewable energy developers, industry and various government representatives to discuss on the Draft policy on the energy storage system’.
The Minister also indicated that people may be free to set up standalone energy storage systems (ESS). The Government has planned to de-license the setting up of those systems, under the policy for ESS.

Notes:
The Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) of Tamil Nadu has been awarded the prestigious TX2 Award after its tiger number doubled since 2010.
STR is a protected area and tiger reserve in the Western Ghats in the Erode District of Tamil Nadu. The reserve is a part of the Nilgiri biosphere landscape, which is the home to world’s largest tiger population. The awards are presented by the Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CATS), Global Tiger Forum (GTF), IUCN’s ITHCP, UNDP, WWF among other stakeholders.

 

 

Notes:
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar announced that 150 villages around the Centers of Excellence will be converted into Villages of Excellence with technical assistance from Israel.
75 villages are being taken up in the first year to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence. Both countries commemorated the completion of 30 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel.