Current Affairs Quiz - March 2022

Notes:
The Government e-Market (GeM) portal was launched in 2016, for online purchases of goods and services by all the central government ministries and departments.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GeM announced that the portal has crossed Rs 1 lakh crore during this fiscal year. GeM is among the top five e-public procurement systems globally. The top five states that are buying from the portal are Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.

Notes:
The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system, located in Australia. As per a new study, fish in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are losing their colour.
The study revealed that relationship between the colouration of the fish communities and the environment is likely to be impacted by global environmental change.

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:
Union Minister for Culture, Tourism & DONER G Kishan Reddy inaugurated the three-day North-East festival called ‘Ishan Manthan’ in New Delhi.
It included discussion on the indigenous faith of North East India, discussions on the unsung freedom fighters of the North East among others. The event will also provide information about films, art and handicrafts of the North East.

Notes:
The Udaan project was launched by the Rajasthan government in collaboration with a consulting group ‘IPE Global’.
The project aims to keep girls in schools through their enrolment at the secondary level and also ensures that the eligible ones get their scholarships. It has strengthened the scholarship delivery system through IT-enabled services.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has approved a draft legislation to provide a regulatory framework for India’s research activities in Antarctica and protect the environment in the continent.
The Indian Antarctica Bill was piloted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The Indian Antarctic programme, which began in 1981, has completed 40 scientific expeditions and built three permanent research base stations in Antarctica. Maitri and Bharati are fully operational at present.

Notes:
‘Prasthan’ is an offshore security exercise, conducted by the Indian Navy every six months. It includes participation from the Indian Air Force, Coast Guard, ONGC, Mumbai Port Trust, Customs, state fisheries department, Marine Police among others.
This exercise aims to ensure offshore security and to integrate efforts of all maritime stakeholders involved in offshore defence.

Notes:
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar released a book titled Indian Agriculture towards 2030: Pathways for Enhancing Farmers’ Income, Nutritional Security and Sustainable Food and Farm Systems.
The book captures the outcomes of the dialogue by NITI Aayog and the Ministries of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare; and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and facilitated by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN.

Notes:
The Lok Sabha passed a bill to include Darlong, a tribal clan in Tripura in the list of Scheduled Tribes. The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2022, was an amendment to the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
The Bill, which was tabled in Parliament by Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda, sought to include the Darlong community as a sub-tribe of the Kuki tribal community.

Notes:
Tipu Sultan commissioned numerous significant paintings and many of those are being auctioned at huge sums.
A painting titled ‘The Battle of Pollilur’ is expected to fetch between £5,00,000 and £8,00,000. It is a 32-foot long monumental painting depicting the victory of the Mysore army led by Haidar Ali and his son Tipu, against the British troops of the East India Company in the Battle of Pollilur, 1780.