Daily Current Affairs Quiz : February 26, 2022

ANSWER: A

• Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, launched the Ombudsman App for MGNREGA. This App is a step toward e-governance, and it will help in accountability and transparency.
• This app will help the Ombudsman in carrying out their duties in a transparent and accountable manner.
• The minister showed concern regarding the appointment of Ombudspersons, and that in many districts the appointment of an Ombudsperson has yet to be made. Hence, all states and UTs have been asked to work with the union government to make MNREGA more transparent by utilizing the Ombudsperson App.
• The Ministry of Rural Development developed this app with the aim of smooth categorization and reporting of grievances by the appointed Ombudsperson based on complaints that they have received from various sources i.e. digital, physical, and mass media, related to the MGNREGA Scheme implementation in the States and UTs.
• This app will allow for easy tracking and timely redressal of complaints by the Ombudsperson. The app will also allow the Ombudsperson to upload annual and quarterly reports to the website.

ANSWER: B

• This partnership between WEF and NIUA is significant in the light of India’s commitment of achieving net zero carbon emission by 2070, made at COP26 summit in Glasgow.
• WEF and NIUA will adapt WEF’s ‘City Sprint’ process as well as ‘Toolbox of Solutions’ for decarbonisation of five to seven Indian cities in two years.

About Sustainable Cities India Program

• The Sustainable Cities India Program is aims to enable cities to generate decarbonisation solutions in different sectors including energy and transport.
• It seeks to enable cities to decarbonise in a systematic and sustainable way, in a bid to reduce emissions and deliver equitable and resilient urban ecosystems.

World Economic Forum (WEF)

• The WEF is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation.
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It was founded on January 24, 1971 by Klaus Schwab.

ANSWER: B

• The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Pune, has discovered a new frog species Euphlyctis jaladhara which are growing in the freshwater regions along all the states spanning the Western Ghats.
• Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, Mount Carmel College (MCC), Bengaluru, tied up on the discovery.

About Euphlyctis jaladhara

• The common name of this frog is Jaladhara skittering frog and Euphlyctis jaladhara is the scientific name. This species was first discovered in freshwater bodies located near the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary in Ernakulam District of Kerala.
• This is the second skittering frog species discovered in this area. The Kerala Pond Frog (Phrynoderma Kerala) was also discovered in the same area.
• Multiple populations of this species have been discovered in forest surveys which have focused on freshwater bodies in Goa, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Conservation plans have to be made focusing on this newly discovered frog species so that the population grows.

ANSWER: B

• India has improved its overall IP score from 38.4 per cent to 38.6 per cent, and the country is ranked 43 out of 55 countries on the International Intellectual Property Index 2022.
• This index was released by the Global Innovation Policy Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
• In July 2021, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce released a Review of the Intellectual Property Rights Regime in India. This review is a welcome development and offers a comprehensive and detailed study of the strengths and weaknesses of India’s national IP environment.
• The top five countries in the ranking are: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and France.

ANSWER: D

• The Delhi Cabinet has approved to set up India’s first of its kind ‘electronic-waste eco-park’.

About country’s First e-waste eco-park

• The electronic waste eco-friendly park is to be built on 20 acres of land.
• Nearly, 2 lakh tonnes of e-waste is thrown by Delhi every year. This eco-park will recycle, refurbish and dismantle e-waste in a scientific and a safe way.
• This eco-park will act as an Integrated Facility, by engaging in dismantling, segregating, refurbishing, material-wise storage, testing and plastic recycling.
• It will also have precious metal extraction facilities, especially from Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) through high-end technologies.

ANSWER: A

• Recently State-owned National Hydropower Generation Company (NHPC) limited signed a facility agreement with HDFC bank limited to securitise return on equity (RoE) of its 540 MegaWatt (3 X 180 MegaWatt) Chamera-I Power Plant in Himachal Pradesh for 10 years.

About Chamera-I Power Station:

• Chamera-I Power Plant (3 x 180 MW) is an underground powerhouse with an installed capacity of 540 MW houses 3 units of 180 MW capacity each designed which generates 1664.56 million units of hydropower from river Ravi in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.
• The power plant comprises a 121 metre high, 295-metre long concrete arch-gravity dam with a 5-metre diameter, 6.414-kilometre long headrace tunnel.
• The beneficiary states/Union Territories (UTs) of the powerhouse are Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Delhi, Himachal Pradesh (HP), Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Punjab, Rajasthan and Chandigarh.

ANSWER: D

• Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz Garfia (18 years old) has won the Men’s Singles title at the 2022 Rio Open, defeating Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
• The 2022 Rio Open was held from 14th February to 20th February 2022 at Jockey Club Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• This is Carlos Alcaraz’s first ever Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP)500 trophy.
• 2022 Rio Open is the 8th edition of the Rio Open and it is a part of the selected group of 13 tournaments named ATP 500(ATP Tour 500) of 2022 ATP Tour.
• The first edition of the tournament was held in 2014 – “2014 Rio Open”. Spaniard Rafael Nadal was the champion of the 1st edition.