Current Affairs Quiz - March 2022

Notes:
North Korea has confirmed that it has test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) since 2017 named ‘Hwasong-17’.
Hwasong-17 flew 1,090 km at a maximum altitude of 6,248.5 km and hit a target. Hwasong-17 is claimed to be the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled ICBM in the world. Hwasong-15, which was tested in November 2017 reached an altitude of about 4,475 km and covered 950 km.

Notes:
Asia’s largest tulip garden, with over one million tulips, has been opened to the public in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar.
The Tulip Garden has been cultivated over months for the upcoming Tulip Festival. The Tulip Festival in Srinagar annually attracts tourists from all over the world at the beginning of spring.

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:
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, announced their collaboration with the Indo-German Development Cooperation Project ‘Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs and Start-ups by Women (Her&Now)’.
Under the partnership between AIM and Her&Now, ‘WINcubate Training Programme’ will be provided to AIM Incubators and Innovation Centres to help them adopt a gender-focused approach.

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:
Bulgaria has recently abolished its controversial “Golden passports” scheme, which offers citizenship of the EU member state in return for substantial investment.
The scheme made it possible for foreigners to acquire residency when they invested a minimum of 500,000 euros in Bulgaria, and citizenship when they invested one million euros. The European Commission has called for the abolition of such schemes as they provide ways for money laundering.

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 Punjab Government made a resolution to install three statues in the Assembly Building of Capitol Complex, Chandigarh. It was opposed by Heritage Experts of the city
The Edict of Chandigarh is a rule book prescribed by Le Corbusier, the planner of Chandigarh. Other than statues, the Edict also specifies a complete ban on noise and commercial structures at the Sukhna Lake.

Notes:
As many as 313 central sector and centrally sponsored schemes from 53 ministries have been onboarded on the DBT Bharat Portal.
The Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) programme was launched to bring transparency through the transfer of subsidies to the beneficiaries through their bank accounts. There were 98 crore beneficiaries (cash) and 81.9 crore beneficiaries (kind) in 2020-21.

Notes:
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. Has launched the world’s longest commercial passenger flight by distance.
It has planned to reroute its New York-Hong Kong service to avoid Russian airspace, and that would be the longest flight. The distance of 16,618 kilometers is covered at 17 hours would surpass Singapore Airlines’ New York service, which takes about 17-and-a-half hours to cover 15,349 km.