Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
Researchers have recently found scientific evidence of a strong anti-cancer activity in the ethyl acetate fraction of Halodule uninervis.
It is a species of sea-grass found in the coastal region near Rameswaram in southern Tamil Nadu. It evaluated the activity of the species against various human cancer cell lines, including malignant melanoma, lung, cervix, carcinoma and colorectal cancers.

Notes:
National Tourism Day is celebrated in India on January 25 every year. The theme for National Tourism Day 2023 was ‘Rural and Community Centric Tourism’. The Ministry of Tourism announced this theme to promote rural tourism and encourage community participation across the country.

Notes:
Veteran archaeologist, art historian and Padma Bhushan awardee R Nagaswamy has passed away at the age of 91.
He was the first director of Tamil Nadu government’s Department of Archaeology. He played a key role in bringing back the Chola-era bronze Nataraja to Tamil Nadu Nagaswamy founded the Institute of Epigraphy and Archaeology in 1973. He had also excavated many sites in Tamil Nadu, including Korkai, the ancient Pandyan port.

Notes:
Himachal Pradesh is the northernmost state of India and shares borders with the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to the north.
The state is celebrating its 52nd full statehood day on 25 January, as it was formed as the 18^th Indian state on the same day in 1971, with Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar as its first Chief Minister. In 1950, Himachal became a Part ‘C’ state then became a union territory in 1956.

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:
The United States House of Representatives unveiled the ambitious America ‘Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength’ Act of 2022, or the America COMPETES Act of 2022.
It proposes to open up new arenas for talented individuals from across the world with a new start-up visa. The bill also provides grant to encourage semiconductor production in the US and to improve supply chain resilience and manufacturing.

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:
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:
India Pavilion at EXPO2020 Dubai launched the USD 150-million fund India-UAE venture capital fund in the UAE.
It is the first such fund to be set up in the UAE. The fund aims to invest and nurture promising startups through an accelerator to fuel the growth of India-UAE start-ups. It will be funded by investors across UAE, India and GCC countries.

Notes:
France’s Justice Ministry has been hit by cyber-attack from a group known as LockBit 2.0. The group locked the ministry’s files and asking for ransom from the Government.
The country has launched investigation on the attack. As per government sources, no criminal records have been affected.