Current Affairs Quiz - March 2022

Notes:
The Union Budget 2022-23 proposed that 5-7% biomass pellets will be used in thermal power plants, resulting in CO2 saving of 38 MMT annually
The Ministry of Power has mandated blending of biomass pellets made primarily of agro residue along with coal, under the “Revised Policy for Biomass Utilization for power generation through Co–firing in Coal based Power Plants”. The obligation shall increase to 7% with effect from two years after the date of issue of this order.

Notes:
The new Common University Education Test (CUET), to be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), is compulsory for all the Central Universities.
The exam will be a computer-based, multiple-choice test.  The University Grants Commission (UGC) also asks all state, deemed-to-be, and private universities to use the test scores for admissions to undergraduate programmes across the country.

Notes:
The World Meteorological Day is observed to commemorate the day on which ‘World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)’ was founded. WMO now has 193 member countries and territories.
WMO has been observing World Meteorological Day since 1961 on March 23. The theme of this year’s World Meteorological Day is ‘Early Warning and Early Action.

Notes:
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit is hosted by Sri Lanka in 2022.
BIMSTEC Charter and BIMSTEC Master plan for Transport Connectivity are proposed to be signed during the Sri Lanka Summit. BIMSTEC was established in 1997, and it comprises seven member states Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

Notes:
The Supreme Court recently ruled that State Legislatures have the power to tax lotteries organised by other states.
A lottery conducted by Government of India, states or authorised by a state or conducted by private entities is an activity falling within the nomenclature of ‘betting and gambling’.

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 Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has decided to extend the PMGKAY till September 2022.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), 5 kg of food grains (wheat, rice, coarse grain) is provided to each beneficiary each month free of cost. Phase-V of the scheme was to end in March 2022.

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:
The Union Government has appointed CS Rajan as Chairman and Managing Director of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) for a period of six months.
Till March-end, the company has resolved debt amounting to Rs 55,000 crore. Out of which, Rs 21,000 crore has been discharged by way of monetisation of assets and debt repayment. The resolved debt amounts to 90% of the total debt that was expected to be resolved.

Notes:
The National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS) was established under Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in 2019.
NESTS recently celebrated its 4th Foundation Day on 2nd April in Jharkhand. The Institution was created to provide high quality education to the tribal students in their own environment. Ministry of Tribal Affairs and NESTS have targeted to complete construction of all 452 new schools and pending schools under the old scheme by 2025.