Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
‘Koozhangal’ from India won the best film award in the Asian Film Competition section at the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival. It was directed by P S Vinothraj from Tamil Nadu.
Best Actor Award went to Jayasurya for Ranjith Sankar-directed film Sunny. The Best Script Writer Award went to Indranil Roychowdhury and Sugata Sinha for India-Bangladesh film Mayar Jonjal. The special audience award was given to Aimee Baruah Directed film Semkhor. India won 4 out of 17 awards.

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:
The Home Ministry announced the list of recipients of the Padma awards.128 people have been named this year for the Awards which are conferred in three categories – Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri.
The third highest award, Padma Bhushan will be conferred on Global  heads of tech giants Microsoft and Google Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai; Vaccine makers – Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institue and Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech. India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat was conferred the Padma Vibhushan posthumously.

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:
The Kerala Bird Atlas released recently is said to be Asia’s largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent, sampling efforts, and species coverage.
It is also the first-of-its-kind state-level bird atlas in India, and was conducted as a citizen-driven exercise with the participation of over 1000 volunteers. The Atlas has provided data about the distribution of various bird species across major habitats.

Notes:
Coal Controller’s Organization, a subordinate office under the Ministry of Coal, released its flagship publications, the ‘Coal Directory of India 2020-21’.
The Statistical Publication contains information on the performance of Coal and Lignite sectors during the financial year 2020-21. It also provides the grade wise data of production and dispatch and reserves of coal. The publication also provides information on import- export and prices of coal.

Notes:
NeoCov stands for Neoromicia, the species of bat that have been infected with the virus. This virus is associated with MERS Coronavirus and not the SARs-CoV-2.
Recently news about the virus discovered in South Africa amongst bats is being circulated widely. However the World Health Organization has said that whether NeoCov coronavirus poses a threat to humans requires further study.

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.

Notes:
The Government of Tamil Nadu has framed a draft policy for senior citizens, acknowledging the State’s demographic transition.
The policy also proposes to create a Directorate for the Welfare of Senior Citizens. The draft document is based on Article 41 of the Constitution, which requires the State ‘to secure the right to work, education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement’.

Notes:
India-ASEAN Digital Work Plan 2022 was approved in the 2nd ASEAN Digital Ministers meeting held in the virtual mode.
The Work Plan focuses on tackling the use of stolen and counterfeit mobile handsets and WiFi Access network interface, for the public interest. It also includes knowledge sharing in emerging areas ICT such as Internet of Things, 5G, Advanced Satellite Communication and Cyber Forensics.