Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2022

Notes:
As per the Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption report, India stands fourth in Global Crypto Adoption Index 2022.
For the second consecutive year, Vietnam is ranked first in cryptocurrency adoption and India stood at 4th place with an index score of 0.663.  United States (US) has moved up to fifth while China re-entered the top ten of the index despite its ban on all crypto currency trading.

Notes:
Maharashtra government has announced that it is planning to set up an institution on the lines of NITI Aayog.
The institution would be responsible to perform comprehensive data analysis and make decisions on various sectors in the state. NITI Aayog has also carried out an extensive study on similar issues and developed a tool, where inter-related data from various departments is analysed for a better decision-making process.

Notes:
Kazakhstan is set to host Conference on Confidence Building Measures and Interaction in Asia (CICA) Summit in capital Astana.
The country has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the CICA Summit. This year’s summit, which is to be held in the year of the 30th anniversary of CICA, will give Central Asian countries an opportunity to expand ties with India. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee attended the first CICA Summit in July 2002 in Kazakhstan.

Notes:
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairperson, retired Justice Arun Kumar Mishra has been elected as a member of the Governance Committee of the Asia Pacific Forum (APF).
He has also been elected as a member of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) Bureau. The GANHRI is one of the world’s largest human rights networks.

Notes:
The Ethereum crypto-currency has announced a shift of its consensus algorithm from proof-of-work (PoW) to environment-friendly proof-of-stake (PoS).
With this event called ‘The Merge’, the energy used to maintain the whole Ethereum network will drop by 99.9 percent, which will result in a 0.2 percent decrease in world electricity use.

Notes:
Defence Accounts Department (DAD) signed a memorandum of understanding with Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank, to onboard them as Service Centres under the System for Pension Administration (SPARSH) initiative.
The MoU will onboard around 8000 branches of Bank of Baroda and 6000 branches of HDFC Bank as Service Centres to provide last mile connectivity to pensioners.

Notes:
India’s Public sector lender UCO Bank is the first bank to receive the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) approval for rupee trade.
The Kolkata-based bank will open a special vostro account with Gazprombank of Russia for trade settlement in Indian rupees. In July, RBI announced its decision to allow Indian banks to settle trade in Indian currency in July. RBI also allowed trade settlements between India and other countries, including Sri Lanka and Russia.

Notes:
Dorna Sports, the international organiser of MotoGP, signed a MoU with Fairstreet Sports, promoters of the race in India.
The ‘Grand Prix of Bharat’ is scheduled to be held in 2023 at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida. The international motorcycling federation (FIM) publishes the calendar of Grandprix events every year.

Notes:
India has exported the first consignment of plant-based meat products from Kheda district of Gujarat to California in the United States.
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Authority (APEDA) facilitated the export of the first consignment of plant-based meat products under the Vegan Food category. APEDA has planned to promote a variety of vegan food products to Australia, Israel, New Zealand, and others.

Notes:
The report titled ‘Food Barons 2022, Profiteering, Digitalization and Shifting Power’ was released recently.
The report says that the geographic center of power of the food barons is shifting east. It reports that the China-based Syngenta Group is the world’s largest agrochemical input firm.