Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
In new research, a team of scientists at Tufts University demonstrated long-term regrowth of limbs in an African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis).
They achieved this restoration of an amputated hindlimb after a 24-hour exposure to a five-drug cocktail delivered by a silicone wearable bioreactor. The researchers are exploring ways to extend this to human beings

Notes:
India has initiated an anti-dumping probe against imports of Vinyl Tiles from China, Taiwan and Vietnam, following a complaint by domestic players.
It is a type of tiles, used for covering the floors in residential and commercial buildings.The Commerce Ministry’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) is probing the dumping of Vinyl Tiles. Dumping of the product is affecting the domestic industry which started commercial production in 2019.

Notes:
The drug regulator has granted Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin Covid-19 vaccines “conditional market authorisation”.
Since January last year, the two vaccines have been available under “Emergency Use Authorisation” (EUA). They have to submit the safety and efficacy data every six months, under the new authorisation against 15 days earlier. This is different from the Full Market Authorisation.

Notes:
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched AP Seva Portal 2.0 (Citizen Service Portal), to deliver better services for the people.
The public can track the status of their application themselves without any hassles. All the applications can be approved online and the officials can provide certificates and documents online with digital signature.

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:
The European Commission proposed a set of digital rights and principles, for the first time in the world. It aims to protect people’s rights, support democracy and ensure a fair and safe online environment.
The rights and principles also cover digital devices, ensuring that they support the green transition goals of the association. The digital rights and principles aim to provide a guide for policy makers and companies when dealing with new technologies.

Notes:
India’s exports of electronic goods touched USD 1.67 Billion in December 2021, registering a growth of 33.99% over USD 1.25 bn seen in December 2020. The overall exports of electronics goods in the last financial year was USD 11.11 Billion.
The top 5 export destinations of Indian electronics goods in April-November 2021 are: USA (18%), UAE (16.6%), China (7.6%), Netherland (4.5%) & Germany (4.2%). Mobile phones form a major part of India’s Electronics Goods sector exports.

Notes:
As per the preliminary results of Nepal’s National Census 2021, the country’s population has reached 29,192,480, which is a growth of mere 0.93 per cent. This is also the lowest growth in the last eight decades.
The population growth rate in Nepal is less than the average growth rate of the global population. This is due to the outward migration of Nepalis for jobs and studies. In the last Census 2011, the average population growth rate was 1.35 percent.

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:
The Government has appointed V Anantha Nageswaran as its Chief Economic Advisor (CEA). He was Dean of IFMR Graduate School of Business.
He was also a part-time member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister from 2019 to 2021.The upcoming Survey has been drafted by a team led by Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal.