Current Affairs Quiz - March 2022

Notes:
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is the flagship scheme of Ministry of Rural Development.
From the next financial year, the Centre will not give funds for MGNREGS to states that do not appoint ombudspersons in 80 per cent of their districts where the scheme has been applied. States are mandated to appoint Ombudsperson for each district to receive grievances and pass awards.

Notes:
Odisha’s first tribal Chief minister as well as last Congress Chief minister of the state, Hemananda Biswal passed away.
In 1995, he was made deputy chief minister by JB Patnaik. He was elected to the Odisha assembly in 1974 from Laikera constituency. He was also elected to assembly as MLA six times from the same seat. In 2009 he was elected as an MP from Sundargarh.

Notes:
Indian Wushu player Sadia Tariq has won a gold medal at a junior tournament being held in Moscow, Russia.
The 15-year-old player from Srinagar has been a gold medallist in the junior national championship for the last two years. A 38 member Indian contingent is competing at the event in Moscow.

Notes:
Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), under the aegis of Department of Pharmaceuticals is set to celebrate the Jan Aushadhi Diwas Week, with the main event on March 7. The theme of 4th Janaushadhi Diwas is “Jan Aushadhi-Jan Upyogi”.
PM Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana ensures easy reach of affordable medicine to the people in every district. The Government has set a target to increase the number of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) to 10,500 by the end of March 2025.

Notes:
Scientists have described a new species of the Neotropical orchid genus Maxillaria from northern Ecuador.
Named Maxillaria anacatalinaportillae, it grows as an epiphyte in cloud rainforests at altitude of 1,700 m above sea level. According to the IUCN Red List criteria, the species should be classified as ‘Critically Endangered’, as per the Scientists.

Notes:
Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), organised a National conclave on ‘Social Enterprises for Garbage Free Cities: Encouraging Women Entrepreneurs in Waste management’.
The conclave was organised in collaboration with the Chhattisgarh Government in Raipur.

Notes:
The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) with 175 member countries, signed a mandate which makes it legally binding for the signatories to end plastic pollution.
The Global Plastics Treaty will be drafted and ratified in the next two years.  The mandate recommends measures to tackling plastic production and addressing the toxic burden of plastic.

Notes:
The 193-member UN General Assembly adopted the resolution titled ‘Aggression Against Ukraine’, with support of 141 nations voting in favour and five against.
Nearly 100 UN Member States co-sponsored the resolution including Afghanistan, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The resolution required a 2/3 majority and it demanded that Russia immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine and refrain from any further unlawful threat or use of force against any UN member state.

Notes:
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the field assessment for seventh consecutive edition of Swachh Survekshan (SS).
It is claimed to be the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey, Swachh Survekshan (SS), was launched on 1st March 2022 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The survey would capture the initiatives of cities for the overall well-being of frontline sanitation workers.

Notes:
‘Theyyam’ or ‘Kaliyattam’ is a 800-year-old ritual dance performed in the state of Kerala. It exhibits folk dances and art thereby displaying the ancient tribal cultures
Various types of theyyams are performed during the course of the festival. Ritual dance Agni Kandakarnan Theyyam has begun at the Kaliyattam festival in Kannur, Kerala.