Current Affairs Quiz - May 2022

Notes:
The US Food and Drug Administration issued a proposal to ban menthol cigarettes and flavoured cigars.
It aims to reduce smoking in the American population as well as to reducing tobacco-related health disparities. As per a US government survey 85 per cent of African Americans smoke menthol cigarettes. The proposed ban does not cover electronic cigarettes.

Notes:
State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) Report is a flagship publication of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
As per the 2022 edition of the report, released during the World Forestry Congress, the world has lost 420 million hectares (mha), approximately 10.34 per cent of its total forest area in the last 30 years. It also warned that 15 per cent of 250 emerging infectious diseases have been linked to forests.

Notes:
P-75 India (P-75I) is the second project to build submarines for the Indian Navy, after first phase of P-75, signed in 2005 with France.
The P-75I phase seeks the construction of six conventional submarines with better sensors and weapons and the Air Independent Propulsion System (AIP).  France’s Naval Group recently exited from the project as the French Navy does not use AIP, which was required by the Indian Navy. The announcement came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to France.

Notes:
The Central government recently published the Civil Registration System (CRS) report 2020 based on birth and death reports.
According to CRS, death registration has increased by 4.75 lakh in the year 2020 as compared to 2019. Bihar saw the maximum increase in the death rate with 18.3 per cent followed by Maharashtra (16.6 per cent). The country registered a 73.7 per cent birth rate.

Notes:
Global Report on Food Crises an annual report launched today by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC).
It is an international alliance of the United Nations, the European Union, governmental and non-governmental agencies working to tackle food crises together. As per the report, around 193 million people in 53 countries or territories experienced acute food insecurity at crisis or worse levels in 2021, with an increase of 40 million people than that of 2020.

Notes:
The Punjab government recently announced Rs 1,500 incentive per acre for farmers opting for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR).
Last year, 18% of the total rice area in the state was under DSR while the government target was 10 lakh hectares. According to the studies by Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), DSR technique can help save 15% to 20% water and sometimes to 23%. It can also solve labour shortage problem as paddy seeds are sown directly with machine, without paddy nursery and transplantation.

Notes:
The Delhi Cabinet had passed an ambitious Delhi Startup Policy which aims to turn the capital into an international startup hub.
The vision is to enable Delhi to emerge as a “Global Innovation Hub and the most preferred destination for Startups by 2030”. The government intends to encourage, facilitate and support 15,000 startups by 2030. A Startup Policy Monitoring Committee will be formed to oversee the Policy. It will be headed by the Finance Minister of the Delhi Government.

Notes:
India’s largest lithium-ion battery plant is located in the state of Gujarat. Nexcharge, the joint venture of Indian battery maker Exide Industries and Switzerland’s Leclanche SA have started mass production in the plant.
It has a total installed capacity of 1.5 Gigawatt hours (GWh) to produce batteries for automobiles and energy storage applications. Nexcharge has so far invested 2.5 billion rupees in building and setting up the plant.

Notes:
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently gave security clearance to the new promoters of Jet Airways to resume commercial operations in the country.
The Jalan-Kalrock consortium is currently the promoter of Jet Airways, which was owned and run by Naresh Goyal for over 20 years before it became bankrupt.

Notes:
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd first became the first Indian company to cross USD 100 billion annual revenue.
For the fiscal 2021-22, Reliance reported a net profit of ₹60,705 crore on a revenue of ₹7.92 lakh crore (USD 102 billion). The earnings rose due to the high oil refining margins, growth in telecom and digital services and strong retail business. Rise in broadband subscribers, online retail and new energy investment are also the reasons for rise in earnings.