Current Affairs Quiz - March 2022

Notes:
‘Stonehenge’ is a prehistoric monument located on the Salisbury Plains in England. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet high. Stonehenge is believed to 3000 BC to 2000 BC old.
Recently, a study claims that Stonehenge was designed as Solar Calendar. Each of the 30 stones in the sarsen circle represents a day within a month, which is divided into three weeks each of 10 days.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of the National Land Monetization Corporation (NLMC) to monetise surplus land and building assets of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and other Government agencies.
NLMC will be fully owned by the Centre, under the administrative jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry. It will have an initial authorised share capital of Rs 5,000 crore and paid-up share capital of Rs 150 crore.

Notes:
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN recently suspended the observer status of Russia. It is the international scientific laboratory which has the world’s largest atom smasher.
CERN announced that its 23 member states condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is one of seven associate member states, and Russia, like the US, Japan and the European Union, had observer status in CERN.

Notes:
The Ministry of Tourism publishes the draft of the National Digital Tourism Mission (NDTM) for stakeholder comments and feedback.
As per the draft, the autonomous body will be at the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism, with a CEO and Board of Directors. The vision of National Digital Tourism Mission is to bridge the existing information gap among different stakeholders of tourism ecosystem through digitisation.

Notes:
Indian Scientists from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) have developed the Nickel oxide (NiOx) based system for producing hydrogen from electro-oxidation of Urea.
It is an electro-catalyst system for energy-efficient and low-cost hydrogen production with the help of electrolysis of urea. CENS is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology.

Notes:
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs organised a national level ‘India Water Pitch-Pilot-Scale Start-up Conclave’ at New Delhi.
It aims to start the communication with Start-ups in water sector. The Ministry will select 100 start-ups through this challenge, and they will be provided Rs.20 lakhs as funding support.

Notes:
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has invited applications for the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components that was announced in 2021.
Under the PLI scheme, the incentive for a manufacturer of drones and drone components will be 20 per cent of the “value addition” made by the company during the next three years. The scheme was announced in September 2021.

Notes:
US President Joe Biden issued a presidential declaration formally announcing Qatar as a major non-NATO ally.
This move upgrades the partnership between the USA and Qatar and also gives the Gulf country special economic and military privileges in its relationship with the US. Qatar is the third country in the Gulf region after Kuwait and Bahrain to become a US major non-NATO ally.

 

Notes:
The Kerala budget presented by Finance Minister KN Balagopal included infrastructure development of the IT sector.
The Minister announced that four IT corridors will be made parallel to the existing NH 66 as part of decentralising the IT sector in the state. He also announced a new IT park to be constructed at Kannur. An ‘IT facility’ covering an area of 5,00,000 square feet will also be set up in Kollam.

Notes:
Researchers at Australia’s La Trobe University in Melbourne tested an ‘Autism Early Screening Tool’ for children.
It has been developed after a five-year study of more than 13,500 children. They found that 83% of children aged between 12 and 24 months, who were identified by the tool were later diagnosed with autism.