Current Affairs Quiz - January 2022

Notes:
India’s star opener Smriti Mandhana was named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for her contribution across all formats in 2021. She was short-listed for ‘the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy’
The Indian T20 Vice-Captain is only the second India woman player to bag an ICC award after veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami, who was named the ICC Player of the Year in 2007. England captain Root was named ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year for 2021 and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam named ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for 2021.

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 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:
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge to encourage innovative start-ups to transform the sanitation and waste management sector.
The challenge has been launched in partnership with Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD). It seeks to promote enterprise development under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0).

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:
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.

Notes:
In a new study, researchers have found that the highest levels of atmospheric mercury pollution in the world are found in a patch of the Peruvian Amazon.
The study shows that illegal Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon is causing record high levels of atmospheric mercury pollution. Birds from this area have up to 12 times more mercury in their systems than birds from less polluted areas.

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.