Current Affairs Quiz - March 2022

Notes:
NITI Aayog, in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness, released the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2021.
As per the report, most of the Coastal States of India are the best performers, and Gujarat was the top-performer. The EPI ranks states and UTs on 4 main pillars namely ‘Policy; Business Ecosystem; Export Ecosystem; Export Performance’ and 11 sub-pillars.

Notes:
Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh launched the Data-Driven Research to Eradicate TB named “Dare2eraD TB” by the Department of Biotechnology, on World TB Day.
“Dare2eraD TB” will be the umbrella TB program comprising initiatives like, Indian Tuberculosis Genomic Surveillance Consortium, Indian TB Knowledge Hub- Webinar Series and Host Directed therapies against TB and Evidence-based procedure for treating extra-pulmonary TB.

Notes:
The Union Environment Ministry has designated October 5 as National Dolphin Day, to be observed annually from this year.
The decision to designate a National Dolphin Day was taken by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). As per the experts, the ministry should focus on improving the flow and water quality in Ganga and its tributaries to improve survival of the Gangetic dolphin.

Notes:
The President of India Ram Nath Kovind presented the prestigious President’s Colour to INS Valsura. The advanced Torpedo Training Facility was created in 1942 for the Royal Indian Navy during World War-II.
After India became a Republic, it was renamed as INS Valsura on 01 Jul 1950. The President’s Colour is presented upon a military unit in recognition of exceptional service rendered to the Nation, both in peace and in war.

Notes:
The country has over 50,000 ODF plus villages, the government recently announced. An ODF plus village is one that sustains its open-defecation-free status, ensures solid and liquid waste management and is visually clean.
The top-performing states include Telangana with 13,960 ODF Plus villages; Tamil Nadu with 11,477; Madhya Pradesh with 3,849.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Earth Sciences recently announced that the tropical Indian Ocean has experienced a rapid increase in ocean warming.
The average rise in sea surface temperature of about 1 degree Celsius (°C) was observed over the period of 1951-2015, at 0.15°C per decade. The western Indian Ocean region experienced a four-fold rise in marine heat-waves events and the North Bay of Bengal experienced a two-to-three fold rise.

Notes:
The Waste to Wealth Mission of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, has inaugurated Decentralised Waste Management Technology Park in East Delhi.
It was inaugurated in collaboration with the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), for onsite processing of fresh Municipal solid waste. The aim is to make onsite processing Technology Park with the aim of zero waste and zero energy.

Notes:
Ministry of Defence has signed a contract worth Rs 887 crore with Larsen & Toubro for acquisition of Two Multi-Purpose Vessels (MPVs) under the “Buy-Indian’’ category.
L&T will deliver the MPVs which will be indigenously built in India to the Indian Navy in another two years. The vehicles can perform maritime surveillance, surface and underwater firing exercises, launching of torpedoes and giving Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) support.

Notes:
The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European countries that have officially abolished passport and other border control at their mutual borders.
The area has a common visa policy and is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement signed in Schengen, Luxembourg. Recently, many countries have lifted Covid-19 entry rules for the EU/Schengen Area Travellers.

Notes:
IIT Kharagpur has launched the peta-scale supercomputer PARAM Shakti inaugurated by West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
PARAM Shakti was developed under the National Supercomputing Mission, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department of Science and Technology. Supercomputer ‘PARAM Ganga’ was earlier installed at IIT Roorkee.