Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2022

Notes:
North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea, just hours after a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier concluded joint drills off the Korean peninsula.
It is also the seventh such launch in two weeks. Japan, South Korea and USA have ramped up combined naval exercises in recent weeks.

Notes:
As per a year-long study, presence of eight leopards in the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary has been confirmed. This is seen as an indicator of its thriving ecosystem.
The sanctuary did not record any leopard sighting for many decades after 1940. In 2019, the Delhi forest department reported fresh sightings of leopard pug marks and scats in the sanctuary. The study has also shed light on the presence of mammals such as striped hyena, jungle cat, golden jackal, Indian hare, Indian boar, black buck and hog deer among others.

Notes:
According to the latest demographic sample survey by the Union Home Ministry, 54.9% of girls are married in West Bengal before attaining the age of 21 years.
In Jharkhand, the figure is 54.6% as against the national average of 29.5%. As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report, the percentage of girls getting married before attaining majority is as high as 5.8 in Jharkhand. While the percentage is 1.9 at the national level and it is at 0.0 in Kerala.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated Phase I of the Mahakal Lok Project to the nation at Shri Mahakal Lok in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.
The total cost of the entire project is around ₹850 crore. The Mahakal Path contains 108 stambhs (pillars) which depict Anand Tandav Swaroop (Dance form) of Lord Shiva.

Notes:
According to new research by Harvard University astrophysicists, both the first and second interstellar meteors, IM1 and IM2, are outliers in material strength and may have originated in supernova explosions.
IM1 was detected by U.S. government sensors in 2014, identified as interstellar object candidate in 2019, and was confirmed in 2022. The second interstellar meteor, IM2 was identified in data from the NASA’s Center for NEO Studies (CNEOS) fireball catalog.

Notes:
The World Post Day is celebrated every year on October 9 across the globe to create awareness on the role of the postal sector in daily life.
This year’s theme for the day is ‘Post for Planet’. It is also the anniversary of the founding of the Universal Postal Union in Bern, Switzerland, in 1874. With more than 1.5 lakh post offices, India Post is the largest postal network in the world.

Notes:
The country’s largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI), has unveiled its ‘Next-gen Contact Center’ for personalised customer experience.
The revamped Contact Centre will provide over 30 banking solutions in 12 languages and will be available 24×7 from home. The bank has also introduced 4-digit toll-free numbers to simplify the process.

Notes:
The Union Commerce and Industry Ministry launched the LEADS (Logistics Ease Across Different States) 2022 report.
Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat are among the 15 States and UTs categorised as achievers in the logistics index chart 2022. The index is an indicator of efficiency of logistical services necessary for promoting exports and economic growth.

Notes:
India hosted the ‘WADA Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) Symposium- 2022’ in New Delhi for the first time. It was organised by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL).
Government of India has recently enacted the anti-doping statute called the National Anti-Doping Act, 2022.

Notes:
The government has accorded infrastructure status to Data centers with more than 5 megawatt capacity of IT load.
The move helps data centre companies to get easier access to institutional credit at lower rates, and attract foreign investments. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made an announcement in the budget speech for 2022-23, that data centres will be granted infrastructure status.