Daily Current Affairs Quiz : February 28, 2022

ANSWER: D

• The Rare Disease Day (RDD) is observed every year on the last day of February. This year in 2022 it falls on February 28, 2022. The day is observed to raise awareness for rare diseases and improve access to treatment and medical representation for individuals with rare diseases and their families.
• Rare Disease Day was first launched by European Organisation for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS)and its Council of National Alliances in 2008.
• The Rare Disease Day theme 2022: “Share Your Colors.”
• The first Rare Disease Day was coordinated by the European Organisation for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS) and held on February 29, 2008 in numerous European nations and in Canada through the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders.
• The date was chosen because February 29 is a “Rare day”.

ANSWER: C

• In India, February 27th is celebrated as the National Protein Day, to create awareness about protein deficiency and encourage people to include of this macronutrient in their diet. The day urges people to include this crucial macronutrient in their diet.
• The day also helps people to learn more about different sources of plant and animal protein. Protein Day is celebrating its third year in 2022.
• This year’s theme of India Protein Day is ‘Food Futurism‘.
• The day was launched on February 27, 2020,by the ‘Right to Protein’, a national-level public health awareness initiative to educate people about the importance of adequate protein consumption for better nutrition, health, and wellbeing.

ANSWER: C

• Indian weightlifter and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist, Mirabai Chanu has won the gold medal in the 55kg weight category at the Singapore Weightlifting International 2022.
• Chanu lifted 191kg (86kg+105kg) to stand on top of the podium.
• With this win, the 27-year-old Chanu has qualified for the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham in the 55kg weight category.
• She has also qualified for the CWG in the 49kg weight category on the basis of her Commonwealth rankings.

ANSWER: B

• The third edition of the joint military exercise “EX DHARMA GUARDIAN-2022” between India and Japan will be conducted from 27 February to 10 March 2022, at Belagavi (Belgaum), Karnataka.
• The 15th Battalion the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment of the Indian Army and 30th Infantry Regiment of Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces (JGSDF) are participating in this 12 days long joint exercise.

About the exercise:

• The military exercise will focus on operations in Jungle & Semi-Urban/Urban terrains.
• The exercise aims at enhancing the inter-operability and foster mutual understanding between the two Armies.
• Exercise DHARMA GUARDIAN is an annual military training event, being conducted in India since 2018.

ANSWER: A

• Odisha’s first tribal chief minister as well as last Congress chief minister of the state, Hemananda Biswal passed away. He was 82.
• Biswal, a Bhuyan tribal from Jharsuguda district, served as the chief minister twice from 1989 to 1990 and 1999 to 2000.
• In December 1999, he was again made chief minister after erstwhile chief minister Giridhari Gamang was replaced over his failure in relief and rehabilitation measures in the aftermath of the 1999 super cyclone that ripped through the Odisha coast.
• Biswal began his political journey as a chairman of Kirimira panchayat Samiti in the Jharsuguda district.
• He was elected to the Odisha assembly for the first time in 1974 from Laikera constituency.
• He was elected to the assembly as MLA six times from the same seat. In 2009 he was elected as an MP from Sundargarh.

ANSWER: D

• On 25 February 2022, the Ministry of Education (MoE) launched a campaign named “Bhasha Certificate Se!fie’ to encourage cultural diversity and promote multilingualism and promote the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
• This campaign is to promote the Bhasha Sangam mobile app which was developed by MoE and My Gov India.
• It encourages people to upload their selfie with the certificate from their social media accounts using the hashtag #BhashaCertificateSelfie.
• The certificate will be authorized by MoE, which will be provided in Bhasha Sangam mobile app once the user finishes all the levels of the given test.
• The app is available in 22 scheduled Indian languages. It provides the opportunity to learn more than 100 sentences of daily use in these languages.
• The 8^th Schedule to the Constitution consists of the 22 languages.

About Bhasha Sangam Initiative:

• It was launched to commemorate Rashtriya Ekta Diwas which is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel i.e 31st October.
• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MoE) under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
• It is developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
• Objective- to ensure that people acquire basic conversational skills in Indian languages other than their mother tongue.
• Three sub-initiatives under the Bhasha Sangam scheme:
• Bhasha Sangam initiative for Schools
• Bhasha Sangam Mobile App
• Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB) Mobile Quiz app

ANSWER: C

• BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure commissioned India’s first ‘Smart Managed EV (Electric Vehicle) Charging Station’ in New Delhi.
• The project is supported by Nordic Innovation, an organization promoted by the governments of Nordic countries, and executed by Fortum Charge & Drive.
• Nordic countries-Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland.
• The management and operation of Smart EV Charging Stations will be under BYPL.
• It has the capacity to charge five EVs simultaneously and the charging station can be integrated with BYPL’s SCADA system. It is located at BYPL’s 11 kV substation building in Mayur Vihar Extension Phase-I in New Delhi.
• It is also Demand Response (DR) compatible, which is an important demand side management (DSM) tool for bearing the high load.

ANSWER: C

• New Development Bank (NDB) will become the 1^st multilateral agency to open an office in the Gujarat International Finance Tec (Gift) City, Gujarat which will start its operation by the mid of May 2022.
• NDB also expects to partner with the newly launched National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID) to support crucial infrastructure projects in India.

About New Development Bank

• NDB was set up in 2014 by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa)
• It started operations in 2015 at Shanghai, China (headquarters) with the objective of mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS as well as other emerging markets.

ANSWER: D

• The ministry of external affairs set up 24×7 control centres in order to assist the evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine.
• India also launched a multi-prong evacuation plan titled ‘Operation Ganga’.
• Indian nationals will be evacuated through border crossing points with Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Slovak Republic. Ministry has activated a dedicated Twitter handle, ‘OpGanga’.
• India started the evacuation of stranded citizens on February 26, under Operation Ganga, as Russia intensified its offensive against Ukraine.
• Evacuation operation started after Ukrainian airspace was shut for civil aircraft operations from February 24. So far, Indian government has managed to fly three special flights of Air India to bring back stranded citizens.
• The India Government is bearing the cost of evacuation, amid prevailing emergency situation. Under Operation Ganga, around 15,000 stranded Indians will be evacuated from Ukraine.

ANSWER: A

• Tamil Nadu government has begun work to set up the first Dugong Conservation Reserve of India in the Palk Bay region.
• Dugongs are endangered species and are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act’s, 1972 Schedule 1.
• The size of the reserve will be spread over around 500 sq km and will be located in Palk Bay’s northern part from Adiramapattinam to Amapattinam.
• For the first 5 years, Rs 5 crore would be the initial cost for the reserve’s establishment.
• There are plans to build enhanced seagrass beds and an international conservation centre under the Climate Change Mission.

About Dugong

• The dugong is a sirenian species found along the Indian coast.
• Dugongs are related to manatees and have a similar plump appearance to them, but they have a tail that looks like a dolphin’s fluke.
• Unlike manatees, which live in freshwater, dugongs are purely marine mammals. Dugongs are also known as Sea Cows. They graze, on seagrass, in shallow coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.

The population of Dugong in India

• The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) states that only 200-250 dugongs are left, of which 150 are found in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay.
• The dugong is on the verge of becoming extinct. The Dugong population of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is less than 100. In the Gulf of Mannar, there are only a few left.
• There are only a few sporadic records in the Gulf of Kutch. They were once common in Lakshadweep but are now extinct locally.