Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2022

Notes:
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) announced a collaboration deal with Google to promote Sanskrit.
ICCR and Google signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to advance the tech major’s artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) language technology for translating Sanskrit literature to many other languages and vice-versa.

Notes:
India is the leading exporter of Basmati Rice to the global market, as it exported 3,948,161 MT of Basmati Rice worth Rs. 26,416 Crores during 2021-22.
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) recently organised ‘Kisan Sampark Yatra’ in Haryana and Punjab to obtain feedback on the three newly released IARI Basmati varieties. Pusa Basmati 1847, Pusa Basmati 1885 and Pusa Basmati 1886 were by ICAR-IARI with inbuilt resistance to Bacterial blight and blast diseases.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh government notified fresh safety guidelines to institutionalise preventive measures to check accidental leakage of toxic gases and dangerous chemicals in factories.
The new guidelines were issued under the AP Fire Service Act, 1999. In May 2020, leak of styrene vapour from a Polymer plant near Visakhapatnam left 12 persons dead and around 1,000 people sick. There was a leak of poisonous gas from a apparel manufacturing unit two times this year.

Notes:
Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Narayan Rane inaugurated the Khadi Fest – 2022 Exhibition in Mumbai.
The Khadi Fest – 2022 has been organized by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. This time the exhibition has been organized after a gap of two years. In 2021-22, KVIC registered record exports of more than Rs.257 crore.

Notes:
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was named as the recipient of Nansen Award given by UN High Commissioner for Refugees
The former scientist, who led her country for 16 years, was awarded for offering haven to over 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers fleeing violence during Syrian conflict, when other countries were turning their backs on them.

Notes:
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and the Commonwealth Games Australia unveiled the sport programme for the Victoria 2026 CWG.
It features 20 sports and 26 disciplines, including nine fully integrated para sports. Shooting, which was controversially dropped from the Birmingham CWG, is included in the 2026 edition in Victoria, Australia. Shooting has been the strongest sport of India recently.

Notes:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out searches against cyber criminals involved in financial crimes at 105 locations across India.
Named as ‘Operation Chakra’, the action was taken after inputs from Interpol, FBI, Royal Canadian Mountain Police and Australian Federal Police. A large amount of digital evidence, cash and gold have been recovered during these searches.

Notes:
The Baltic Pipe natural gas pipeline was officially opened at a ceremony in Szczecin, Poland. The project was initiated by Poland in 2016 following the Crimean War, which triggered an energy crisis.
Leaders from Poland, Norway and Denmark attended the ceremony for launch of the gas transmission system, which is expected to end Poland and Europe’s dependency on Russian gas. The 900-kilometer pipeline will transport natural gas from Norway via Denmark and through Baltic Sea to Poland.

Notes:
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Dun & Bradstreet, business decision data and analytics provider, partnered to launch a SIDBI -D&B Sustainability Perception Index (SIDBI – D&B SPeX) for MSMEs.
The customised index will be presented as a quantitative measurement for policy makers and enablers to nudge businesses towards adopting an ESG framework in their business strategy.

Notes:
As per the recent report of blockchain researcher Chainalysis, the Middle East and North Africa are the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency markets.
While the MENA region is one of the smallest crypto markets, it has grown rapidly to USD 566 billion between July 2021 and June 2022. The volume of crypto received in the region jumped 48% in the year to June.