Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

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 It has been replaced by Kavi Pradeep’s “Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon” which was written in the wake of the Sino-Indian War.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:
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:
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched ‘Apna Kangra’ app, to help the tourists and boost sale of local handicrafts by a e-Marketing platform.
The aim of ‘Apna Kangra’ is to empower rural women and provide job opportunities to youth through tourism. It also aims to enhance hospitality services such as hotels, homestays and transport.

Notes:
The Australian government has bought the copyright of the Aboriginal flag, to free the symbol of identity from fights over who can use it.
Indigenous artist Harold Thomas created the flag in 1971 as a protest image. It is used as the dominant Aboriginal emblem and an official national flag. Now, the flag can be reproduced by anyone without fear of legal threats.

Notes:
Facebook parent company Meta has announced that its new Artificial intelligence supercomputer will be the fastest in the world by the middle of next year.
Meta has introduced AI Research SuperCluster (RSC), which is among the fastest AI supercomputers running at present and will be the fastest in the world once fully built out in mid-2022.

Notes:
The Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India, has given approval to Kerala for setting up India’s first ‘Graphene Innovation Centre’.
The state-run Digital University Kerala (DUK), along with CMET-Trichur, is to set up “India Innovation Centre for Graphene”, an R&D incubation centre. It will be implemented with the support of Government of Kerala, and Tata Steel Ltd will be the industrial partner of the centre. Graphene is the thinnest and strongest material in the world and could replace indium in OLED screens.

Notes:
India and France signed an MoU on scientific cooperation for advancement in Human Health. CSIR and Institut Pasteur would jointly research on emerging and remerging infectious diseases and inherited disorders.
This MoU seeks to enable delivery of effective and affordable healthcare solutions to people across the world.

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:
Veteran Author Ruskin Bond released his latest book titled, “A Little Book of India: Celebrating 75 years of Independence”
The 87-year-old Indian author of British descent has depicted the physical and spiritual attributes of India. It is a record of some of the author’s memories and impressions of the country. Ruskin Bond is the recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award, Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.

Notes:
The United Kingdom Police began a formal probe on the ‘partygate’ controversy which was seen in the news for weeks.
It is said that a birthday party of Prime Minister Borris Johnson was conducted amidst the coronavirus restrictions in 2020. The scandal is being investigated by senior civil servant Sue Gray, and her report is seen as the future of the Prime Minister.