Current Affairs Quiz - March 2022

Notes:
An ancient clay pot was recently unearthed at Maligaimedu excavation site in Ariyalur, in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The phase II excavation project at Maligaimedu in Gangaikonda Cholapuram was recently inaugurated by Chief Minister MK Stalin. A 25 cm high, 12.5 cm wide, ancient clay pot was unearthed recently. Besides this, a 30-layer brick wall and a clay spoon were excavated.

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:
In the 94th Academy Awards, Sian Heder’s ‘CODA’ created history by becoming the first movie from a major streaming service to win an Oscar for best picture.
Will Smith was declared the best actor for ‘King Richard,’ and Jessica Chastain won the best actress award.  Ariana DeBose created history by becoming the first queer woman of colour to bag the award for the film ‘West Side Story’.

Notes:
The renowned hydrologist Wilfried Brutsaert is awarded the Stockholm Water Prize 2022 for his outstanding work to quantify environmental evaporation.
Professor Emeritus Wilfried Brutsaert, fondly known as Mr Evaporation, is the world’s leading authority on terrestrial evaporation. His works help to make accurate predictions of the impact that climate change has on local rainfall patterns and water sources.

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 Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has bagged the ‘Covid champion’ award at Wings India 2022.
It is Asia’s largest event on civil aviation jointly organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and FICCI. CIAL was selected for the implementation of a project named ‘Mission Safeguarding’ during the Covid pandemic to ensure safe travel at Kochi Airport.

Notes:
The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released the Final Estimates of 2020-21 and First Advance Estimates of 2021-22 of Area and Production of various Horticultural Crops.
Total Horticulture production in 2020-21 is estimated to a record 334.60 Million Tonne, an increase of about 4.4% over that achieved in 2019-20. Production of Fruits and Vegetables is estimated to be 102.48 Million Tonne and 200.45 Million Tonne respectively. Total Horticulture production in 2021-22 is estimated to be 333.3 Million Tonne, (decrease of 0.4%) over 2020-21.

Notes:
“Jingkieng Jri: Living Root Bridge Cultural Landscapes of Meghalaya” has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site tentative list.
The Living Root bridges are home to several critically endangered species of flora and fauna. They were built by the indigenous people of Meghalaya, using the living roots of Ficus trees planted on both sides of a river.

Notes:
The Defence Forces of the United States and Philippines launched their largest joint military drills in the Philippines named ‘Balikatan 2022’.
The 12-day war games involve nearly 9,000 Filipino and American soldiers. It will cover maritime security, live-fire training, amphibious operation and counter-terrorism, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Notes:
The Karnataka government has announced Vinaya Samarasya Yojana, an awareness programme meant to eradicate untouchability in Gram Panchayats across the state.
The scheme has been named after a three-year-old Dalit boy Vinay, whose family was slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 by the village leaders last year for the boy’s act of entering into a local temple.