Current Affairs Quiz - March 2022

Notes:
The Fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-4) was held recently at Bali, Indonesia.
It had been decided that 10 types of products contain mercury that can be phased out, while the use of four types of products with mercury should be reviewed at COP-5 in Geneva, Switzerland. ‘Bali Declaration’ was unveiled to prevent illegal mercury trade.

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:
The ‘National Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey’ was recently released by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. He also released the country’s ‘annual TB report’
As per the report, Delhi had the highest prevalence (747) in 2019-2021 while Gujarat had the lowest (137). TB prevalence among India’s adults was 312 per 100,000 in 2019-2021. For every 2.84 persons with TB, only 1 was registered in the national surveillance system.

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:
Earth Hour was observed from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m on March 26. It is the world’s largest movement for the environment where people across the globe unite to take a stand against climate change by turning off non-essential lights for one hour.
It commenced as a symbolic lights-out event in Sydney in 2007, and then was observed every year on the last Saturday of March in more than 180 countries. It unites millions of people in the effort to decarbonise the planet. The theme for this year’s global event is “Shape our Future”.

Notes:
The ILO Governing Body has elected Gilbert F. Houngbo as the Organization’s 11th Director-General. Houngbo, who is currently President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will assume office in October 2022.
He is also the first African to hold the Director-General post of ILO. The current Director-General, Guy Ryder, from the United Kingdom, has held the office since 2012.

Notes:
Indian Team emerged as the Champions of the 2022 SAFF U-18 Women’s Championships, despite losing 0-1 to Bangladesh.
The result was declared because of a better goal difference. India enjoyed a better goal difference of +11 in comparison to +3 of Bangladesh. The valuable player of the tournament and the highest goal scorer was Lynda Kom who scored five goals.

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.