Current Affairs Quiz - May 2022

Notes:
Maharashtra has announced to set up a ‘Gene bank project’, to conserve native and endangered animals, crops, marine and biological species. It will be implemented by the Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board (MSBB) and Rs 172.39 crore has been allocated for the next five years.
The project will work on seven themes — marine, crop, veterinary, freshwater, grassland biodiversity, protection and management of forest right areas, and regeneration of forests. The project will focus on mitigating the impact on the food chain due to climate change.

Notes:
The World Bank has approved a USD 47 million project to support the Government of India’s Mission Karmayogi program.
The project will develop competency frameworks for Central Ministries, Departments and Agencies, developing an online training platform to deliver training content and evaluate the effectiveness of training. Mission Karmayogi is a national program to build civil service capacity.

Notes:
Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) reduced the time taken for allotment and listing after closure of issue of REIT and InvIT units to six working days from 12 days at present.
The new rule will apply to a public issue of units of Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), which opens on or after June 1. The decision aims to streamline the process of public issue of units of REIT and InvIT.

Notes:
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) launched M15 petrol on a pilot basis in Assam’s Tinsukia district. It has a 15 per cent blend of methanol with petrol.
Methanol is being manufactured by Assam Petrochemical Ltd near the Digboi refinery. The government had earlier extended the timeline for the disbursement of loans and completion of projects related to ethanol. The Government also provides financial assistance in the form of interest subvention.

Notes:
Union Bank becomes India’s first public sector bank to go live on Account Aggregator (AA) framework. AAs are licensed by the RBI to enable data flow between Financial Information Providers (FIPs) and Financial Information Users (FIUs).
The framework facilitates sharing of financial information on a real-time basis between regulated entities. Private sector banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are already live as FIPs and FIUs.

Notes:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the country’s first greenfield grain-based ethanol plant in Purnea.
The 105-crore plant by Eastern India Biofuels is the first one developed since the Centre gave approval to Bihar’s ethanol production and promotion policy-2021. The state government has proposed opening at least 17 ethanol plants over the next two years.

Notes:
The Bach Long Bridge, meaning ‘the white dragon’ is claimed to be the world’s longest glass-bottomed bridge. This is Vietnam’s third glass-bottomed bridge.
The Bach Long Bridge which stretches to over 600 metres surpasses the 526-metre long bridge in Guangdong, China. The white pedestrian bridge is made of three layers of thick French-produced tempered glass that can support up to 450 people at a time.

Notes:
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has six members, out of which three are external, and the other three members are RBI governor who is the Chairperson of MPC, the Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy, and one officer of RBI nominated by the central board.
Recently, the Reserve Bank of India’s central board approved the nomination of Rajiv Ranjan as an ex-officio member of the Monetary Policy Committee. He replaces Mridul Saggar, who retired last month.

Notes:
Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) hosted the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI), in New Delhi, in both offline and online modes.
It is being hosted in collaboration with the United States government. The conference was attended by the Prime Ministers of India, Australia and Japan, as well as Presidents of Ghana and Madagascar. India launched the initiative on ‘Infrastructure for Resilient Island States’ at COP26 2021

Notes:
Due to food poisoning, a 16-year-old died and 40 others were hospitalised in Kerala. As per the district medical officer, the severe food poisoning was caused by a bacterium called ‘Shigella’.
This pathogen can cause intestinal infection which is contagious and can spread through contaminated food or water. The primary symptoms for the infection is diarrhoea and can be accompanied by stomach pain, fever, vomiting.