Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2022

Notes:
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw launched the Swachhta Pakhwara 2022 and released the Annual report on Environment Sustainability 2020-21.
The report is a comprehensive document highlighting the steps taken by Railways to promote green and clean energy. This report brings out the efforts of Railways Ministry towards net zero emission.

Notes:
25­-year-­old Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate has been appointed as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
She created a platform called Rise Up Movement to support African climate activists. She led an initiative to stop the deforestation of African rainforests and launched ‘Vash Greens Schools Project’, which aims to install solar panels in remote areas of her home country, Uganda.

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:
India and Egypt have agreed to identify proposals for expanding cooperation between defence industries of the two countries.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo. They signed a MoU on cooperation in the field of defence for enhancing defence cooperation across all sectors of mutual interest. The Egyptian Defence Minister was invited to India-Africa Defence Dialogue and IOR Defence Ministers’ Conclave to be held as part of Defence Expo in Gandhinagar.

Notes:
As per a recent study by the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP), out of total donations worth Rs 23,700 crore given by Indians between October 2020 and September 2021, the maximum of 64% went to religious organisations.
As per the study “How India Gives 2020-21”, the highest number of donations was made by lower-income and middle-class households. The amount donated was higher in urban areas, while the number of donations was more in India’s rural areas.

Notes:
The Assam government signed two MoUs with Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) and SIDBI Venture Capital Fund to revamp MSME sector in the state.
The agreements were signed at MSME conclave held in Guwahati. The agreement with CGTMSE aims to provide additional guarantee coverage for the loans given to Micro and Small Units in Assam. SIDBI Venture Capital Fund shall work as Investment Manager for the proposed Assam Start-up Venture Capital Fund.

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:
The Indian Army and the Defence Geo-informatics and Research Establishment (DGRE) have jointly installed India’s first Avalanche Monitoring Radar in north Sikkim.
The avalanche radar was made operational by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s wing DGRE. The radar can also be employed to detect landslides, besides being used for detection of avalanches.

Notes:
NASA’s DART mission was launched in November 2021 to test the use of a kinetic impactor to change the orbit of an asteroid.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART mission is set to make history when it crashes into an asteroid in the world’s first planetary Defense test. In the test, the spacecraft will hit the moonlet, called Dimorphos, and snap images until the moment of impact.

Notes:
As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2020 released on September 22, 2022 by Registrar General of India (RGI), India has been witnessing progressive reduction in IMR, U5MR and NMR.
Under-five mortality rate was recorded at 32 per 1000 live births in 2020 against 35 per 1000 live births in 2019. Infant Mortality rate (IMR) has also registered 2-point decline to 28 per 1000 live births in 2020 from 30 per 1000 live births in 2019.