Current Affairs Quiz 2nd March 2022 : Daily GK Update Quiz

Exp. India’s 1st ambulance for street animals launched in Chennai

India’s first ambulance for street animals has been launched in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It has been started by the Blue Cross of India in collaboration with the international animal welfare organization “Four Paw”.

Madras High Court Justice Dr Anitha Sumanth launched the ambulance. The Stray Animal Care programme will be a “hospital on wheels” with an onboard veterinarian to provide on-site treatment to injured and sick street animals.

Apart from the veterinarian, the animal ambulance will also include a para veterinary-worker-cum-driver. The ambulance will include a treatment table, two fans, an inverter, a fridge, and drawers for sterile products and bandages.

Exp. Tamil Nadu CM launched “Naan Muthalvan- Ulagai Vellum Ilaiya Tamilagam” skill development scheme for students

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin launched a skill development scheme for the students named “Naan Muthalvan- Ulagai Vellum Ilaiya Tamilagam” which means ‘I am the first – the youngest Tamil Nadu to conquer the world’, at the Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Aim: To improve the educational skills, knowledge, talent, and efficiency of 10 lakh young people annually.To make all students and youth stand out in the spheres of education, research, thought, action and talent

The word ‘Muthalvan’ also translates to the term “Chief Minister”. Under this scheme the students will be given modern-day coding and robotics classes while experts will mentor them on aspects related to physical health and behaviour.

The Guidance centres will be set up in schools while there would be a separate syllabus aimed at Classes 9 to 12.

Exp. Assam government declared entire state as “Disturbed Area” for up to 6 months

Assam government has declared entire state as ‘Disturbed Area’ for up to 6 months.This declaration has been made as per powers conferred under Section 3 of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.

Initially, it was Assam Disturbed Area Act of 1955 during agitation by Nagas in undivided Assam. This Act gave freehand to some extent to the Army that was repealed with the incorporation of the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act, 1958.

Exp. Bangladesh signed two loan agreements worth USD 292 million with ADB for flood management

Government of Bangladesh has signed two separate agreements with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for loans worth USD 292 million.

First loan worth USD 157 million is being provided to mitigate flood and riverbank erosion risks along Jamuna, Padma, and Ganges rivers. It is part of 2nd tranche of Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Program (FRERMIP).

Additionally, the Government of the Netherlands will provide USD 17.89 million in technical assistance grant, to be administered by ADB, to help finance the second tranche of the program, and promote innovations, and capacity building. ADB has also approved USD 135 million to improve access and quality of inclusive water services.

Exp. Government collected Rs 1.33 lakh crores as GST of February 2022

GST collection crossed ₹1.30-lakh crores mark for the fifth time in February 2022. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of February 2022 is ₹1,33,026 crore of which CGST is ₹24,435 crore, SGST is ₹30,779 crore, IGST is ₹67,471crore (including ₹33,837 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is ₹10,340 crore (including ₹638 crore collected on import of goods).

The February mop-up was impacted by the Omicron wave that swept through the country and hence, the gross sales tax collection was lower than the record ₹1,40,986 crore netted in January.

The revenues for the month of February 2022 are 18% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 26% higher than the GST revenues in February 2020.

Exp. Bank of Maharashtra launched “Project Banksakhi” in Odisha

Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has announced the launch of “Project Banksakhi” in Odisha in collaboration with Mahagram & Sunivesh India Finance Services Pvt. Ltd. for Online Bank Account opening.

It will provide doorstep and hassle-free access to the people of Odisha for opening bank accounts. The people of Odisha using our innovative customer-friendly financial services and best in class customer experience across digital and physical touchpoints.

Bank of Maharashtra has been catering to the banking needs of customers offering a spectrum of banking products and financial services covering Retail, Agri and MSME sectors to its more than 2 crore customers.

Exp. Union Bank of India signed agreement with Ambit Finvest for co-lending to MSMEs

Ambit Finvest private limited signed a co-lending agreement with Union Bank of India for lending to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers which enables creditworthiness of MSMEs in 11 states that are currently covered by Ambit Finvest.

Through this partnership, MSMEs that face higher interest rates or those that are excluded from other banking services, will enjoy lower interest rates and translating into lower cost of funds which would help MSMEs with increased capital deployment in business.

Aim: To facilitate fast disbursal of credit across different geographies.

Exp. Bhushan Patwardhan appointed as chairman of NAAC

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has appointed educationist and research scientist Professor Bhushan Patwardhan as chairman, of the executive committee of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bengaluru.

The position was vacant after Prof Jagadish Kumar was appointed as chairman of UGC. Prof Patwardhan is currently a national research professor designated by the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, and a distinguished professor at the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU).

NAAC is an autonomous body established by the UGC on September 5, 1994, with Prof Ram Reddy as founding chairman and Prof Arun Nigavekar as its first director. NAAC undertakes assessment and accreditation of higher educational institutions (HEI) such as colleges, universities, or other recognized institutions to assess the quality status of these institutions.

Exp. World Bank’s India head Junaid Kamal Ahmad appointed Vice President, Operations, MIGA

The World Bank’s India head and a Bangladeshi economist, Junaid Kamal Ahmad was appointed as a Vice President of the institution.

He would lead the operation side of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which offers political risk insurance, credit enhancement guarantees to help developing countries.

He would assume the new charge from April 16, 2022. He is the current World Bank country director for India.

With this appointment he became the only second Bangladeshi national to be appointed to such a high position in the World Bank. Faisal Chaudhary was the first Bangladeshi national who became the vice president on the operational side.

Exp. Samiran Gupta will head Twitter’s public policy and philanthropy efforts in India and South Asia

Samiran Gupta will lead microblogging platform Twitter’s public policy and philanthropy efforts in India and South Asia.

Prior to joining Twitter, Gupta was the head of stakeholder engagement in South Asia for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

He served there for seven years. He was also briefly the firm’s head of stakeholder engagement for the South Asia market. The news of the appointment comes almost a year after the former Public Policy Director for India and South Asia Mahima Kaul resigned.

Exp. HPCL signed MoU with SECI for renewable energy, electric mobility & alternative fuels

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has signed an MoU with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) Limited for cooperation and collaboration in the field of renewable energy, electric mobility, and alternative fuels including the development of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Projects.

The MoU was signed to realise green energy objectives and the Government of India’s efforts towards a carbon-neutral economy.

SECI has been the forefront of RE capacity and also engaged in the promotion and development of various renewable energy resources such as Solar & Wind energy, RE-based Storage Systems, Waste to Energy, trading of power, R&D Projects as well as RE base products like Green Hydrogen, green Ammonia and RE powered Electric Vehicle (EV).

Exp. IIT Kanpur developed biodegradable nanoparticle to protect crops from diseases

A team of researchers of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, (IIT-K) has developed a Novel nanoparticle-based bio-degradable-carbonoid-metabolite (BioDCM) that can protect agricultural crops from fungal and bacterial infections.

The research team was led by Santosh K Misra and Piyush Kumar from the department of biological sciences and bioengineering along with researchers C Kannan and Divya Mishra from Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Indian Institute of Rice Research, and R Balamurugan and Mou Mandal from the School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad.

Since 2021, the innovation of nanoparticles is the 2nd such innovation in the field of agriculture by researchers of IIT Kanpur. In 2021, out of the 107 patents filed by IIT Kanpur, ‘Bhu-Parikshak’, a soil-testing device was a path-breaking innovation that has proven to significantly reduce time and hassle required for testing soil in the lab.

Exp. 31st Southeast Asian Games will be held in Vietnam

The 31st Southeast Asian Games will be held in Vietnam from May 12 to 23, 2022. It is the biggest sporting event of Southeast Asia and is a biennial event.

The event was originally scheduled to take place in November 2021 however it was postponed due to the Covid pandemic. The Games will feature 40 sports with 526 events, attracting around 10,000 participants, organisers announced at a press conference here.

The Vietnamese capital Hanoi will be the main venue alongside 11 neighbouring localities including Quang Ninh, Phu Tho and Bac Ninh, Xinhua news agency reported. In 2023, the Southeast Asian Games will be held at Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The mascot of the 2021 Southeast Asian Games is “Sao La”, inspired by saola – a rare mammal native to central Vietnam. Motto- “For a Stronger South East Asia”.

Exp. Daniil Medvedev ranked the new ATP World No.1, overthrew Novak Djokovic

The Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev (8615 points), has ranked the new ATP World number 1 in the Mexican Open ATP.

He overthrew the Serbian player Novak Djokovic (8465 points – current rank 2), who held the top spot in men’s tennis for a record 361 total weeks. Last year Medvedev won his first Grand Slam title at US Open in Sep, 2021.

Medvedev is the first player outside the ‘Big Four’, Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray to hold the top spot in 18 years, three weeks and six days.

Exp. Saurabh Chaudhary won India’s first gold at ISSF World Cup in Cairo; Esha Singh won silver

Saurabh Chaudhary has clinched India’s first gold medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event at the ongoing International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Cairo, Egypt.

He defeated Michael Schwald of Germany by 16-6 in the gold medal match of Men’s 10m Air Pistol event. Apart from him, Russian Artem Chernousov bagged bronze medal at the event.

Esha Singh bagged the second medal for the country after she won a silver in the women’s 10m air pistol event.

Exp. Ladakh LG inaugurated 1st-ever Ice Wall Climbing Competition 2022

Ladakh Lt Governor RK Mathur has inaugurated first-ever Ice Wall Climbing Competition-2022, at Ganglas in Leh. It is Organized by Northwest Frontier of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

Apart from ITBF, Ladakh Police, Ladakh Mountain Guide Association, Students and team from Nubra are participating in this two-day competition. It will help in creating a rich pool of talent to participate in international competitions like winter Olympics.

Exp. 1 March: World Civil Defence Day

World Civil Defence Day is observed on 1 March each year to create awareness about the importance of civil protection and preparedness. The day is celebrated by the International Civil Defence Organisation (ICDO).

Theme 2022: “Civil defence and management of displaced populations in face of disasters and crises; role of volunteers and the fight against pandemics”.

Civil Defence Day was officially inaugurated by the International Civil Defence Organisation in 2012. March 1st was chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the day on which the

constitution of the International Civil Defence Organisation (ICDO) came into force.

The Constitution of the ICDO was adopted on 17 October 1966, came into force on 1st March 1972. It attributes the status of the intergovernmental organizations to the ICDO (United Nations, Treaty Series, volume 985, registration No. 14376).

Exp. 2 March 2022: 46th Civil Accounts Day

The 46th Civil Accounts Day has been celebrated on 2nd March 2022 at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, Janpath, New Delhi. Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman was the Chief Guest of the occasion.

Finance Minister has launched a major e-governance initiative – the Electronic Bill (e-Bill) processing system as part of ease of doing business and Digital India eco-system. A Budget 2022-23 announcement, the e- Bill system will be implemented across all Central Ministries and Departments.

Initially, the ICAS was carved out from the Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA & AS), through the promulgation of an Ordinance amending the C & AG’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 1976.

Later, the Departmentalisation of Union Accounts (Transfer of Personnel) Act, 1976 was enacted and came into force on 01 March 1976, following which the ICAS celebrates March 1 every year as the “Civil Accounts Day”.