Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the General Assembly and laid out the priorities for 2022.
Terming it as a ‘Five-alarm global fire’ he listed down the five priorities as the raging COVID-19 pandemic, a morally bankrupt global financial system, the climate crisis, lawlessness in cyberspace, and diminished peace and security.

Notes:
NITI Aayog, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and RMI India released a report, titled ‘Banking on Electric Vehicles in India’.
It highlighted the importance of priority-sector recognition for retail lending in the electric vehicle sector.  The report also provided recommendations to inform the inclusion of EVs in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) priority-sector lending (PSL) guidelines.

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 It has been replaced by Kavi Pradeep’s “Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon” which was written in the wake of the Sino-Indian War.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:
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:
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in association with ICEA, released a five-year roadmap and vision document for the electronics sector.
Titled “USD 300 bn Sustainable Electronics Manufacturing & Exports by 2026”, this is the second volume of a two-part Vision Document. The first part titled, ‘Increasing India’s Electronics Exports and Share in GVCs,’ was released in November 2021.

Notes:
China-Russia-Iran Navies participate in the ‘CHIRU-2Q22’ is a Joint Drill. China announced that it has sent its naval missile destroyer Urumqi to the Gulf of Oman to participate in the drill.
The Chinese regime also sent helicopters and marines for the exercise. Russia sent its Pacific Fleet’s task force which included Nakhimov missile cruiser Varyag and anti-submarine warfare ship Admiral Tributs. The exercises are held in the waters of the Mediterranean and Okhotsk seas.

Notes:
Nagaland state was carved out of Assam in 1963 and the two states share a 512.1-km-long border.  Nagaland has been demanding Naga Hills and all Naga-dominated areas in the then North Cachar and Nagaon districts of Assam, to be part of the state.
The Governments of Nagaland and Assam announced that they are ready for out-of-court settlement of the long pending inter-state boundary dispute.

Notes:
A joint maritime exercise Paschim Lehar was conducted by the Indian Navy concluded off the West Coast recently.
The Exercise aims to enhance the inter-service synergy among the Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army and Coast Guard.  It was conducted over a duration of 20 days with participation of various equipment of the armed forces.

Notes:
January 26 marks the date the British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1788 to start a penal colony. For many Indigenous Australians, it is “Invasion Day”.
Prime Minister participated in the national flag-raising and citizenship ceremony in Australia’s capital, Canberra. While many protesters held rallies across the country with some carrying the Aboriginal flag and “change the date” signs.

Notes:
Former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has authored a book titled , “The $10 Trillion Dream”.
It explores the policy issues that India faces today and suggests reforms for it to become a USD 10 trillion economy by the mid-2030s. S C Garg is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and was appointed as Finance Secretary in 2019.