Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2022

Notes:
In an important judgment, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to distinguish between married and unmarried women while allowing abortion when the foetus is between 20-24 weeks.
The court also said the term ‘woman’ in the judgment included persons other than cisgender women. ‘Cisgender’ is used to define people whose gender identity and expression match the identity assigned to them at birth. For transgender people, their sense of gender identity does not match the one assigned to them at birth.

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:
A global alert has been issued over four cough syrups after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned they could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in Gambia.
A popular tourist destination Gambia detected an increase in cases of acute kidney injury among children under the age of five. It also lacks a laboratory to check the safety of medicines.

Notes:
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an intergovernmental organization of 13 countries. It is headquartered at Vienna, Austria.
OPEC and its Russia-led allies have agreed to cut oil production by two million barrels a day at its Vienna meeting. This is the deepest cuts to oil production since the 2020 COVID pandemic. The cut is expected spur a recovery in oil prices that have dropped on fears of a global economic recession, rising US interest rates.

Notes:
Tribal bodies from Jharkhand threatened to launch an agitation across five states if its demand for ‘Sarna’, a distinct religious category, was not heeded by the Centre.
The indigenous people are nature-worshippers and are neither Hindus, nor Muslims or Christians. The tribal people are residing in 250 blocks of 50 districts in Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and West Bengal.

Notes:
Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri co-chaired the ministerial dialogue of US-India strategic clean energy partnership (USISCEP) with US energy secretary in Washington DC.
The Union Minister will also interact with World Bank officials on climate resilient urban infrastructure. The revamped USISCEP was launched in 2021 in accordance with the US-India climate and clean energy agenda 2030 partnership.

Notes:
World Migratory Bird Day is commemorated twice a year on the second Saturday of May and the second Saturday of October.
On the second Saturday in October, people all around Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean commemorate World Migratory Bird Day.

Notes:
India ace Hockey Player Harmanpreet Singh was named the FIH Player of the Year in the men’s category for the second successive time.
He became only the fourth player to win the Player of the Year award (men’s category) in consecutive years. Albers of Netherlands have been named the FIH Player of the Year 2021-22 in the women’s category. Harmanpreet scored 18 goals from 16 games, with two hat-tricks, in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021-’22.

Notes:
On 9 October 1946, the Indian government had established the Indian Foreign Service for India’s diplomatic, consular and commercial representation overseas.
After independence, there was a transition of the Foreign and Political Department into the new Ministry of External Affairs. To mark the occasion, the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Day is celebrated on October 9 every year.

Notes:
The US and India have launched a new task force under the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP)
The task force will focus on the accelerated deployment of energy storage technologies. The Energy Storage Task Force to facilitate ongoing dialogue among government officials, industry representatives. US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is funding a study to evaluate viability of a hybrid solar and wind power plant with integrated battery energy storage in Gujarat.