TOP 100 MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS- JANUARY 2022

TOP 100 MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS 2021: Current Affairs are very important for every competitive exam and as we all know, in the upcoming months, many government exams are going to be held whether it is OPSC, OSSC, OSSSC, SSC, Banking, Railways, or other state exams. current affairs are asked in every examination Prelims, mains or both.

Q1) Which has become the World’s Most Downloaded App in 2021?

(1) Facebook

(2) Instagram

(3) TikTok

(4) WhatsApp

 

Q2) Which country has launched a 5-year plan to become a ‘Global Robotics Hub’?

(1) Mexico

(2) Japan

(3) China

(4) Russia

 

Q3) In which state, ‘Narendra Modi Marg’, a road has been inaugurated?

(1) Sikkim

(2) Manipur

(3) Uttar Pradesh

(4) Haryana

 

Q4) Who has become the first Asian team to win a test match in Centurion?

(1) Sri Lanka

(2) India

(3) Bangladesh

(4) England

 

Q5) Who has been honored with “World CEO Winner of the Year 2021 Award“?

(1) Sanjay Arora

(2) Soma Sankara Prasad

(3) Kishore Yedam

(4) Upendra Dwivedi

 

Q6) Who won the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 in the English language category?

(1) Namita Gokhale

(2) Bratya Basu

(3) Khalid Hussain

(4) Kiran Gaurav

 

Q7) Who has been appointed by AU Small Finance Bank as Additional Director?

(1) Anupam Ray

(2) Pankaj Saran

(3) H R Khan

(4) Harpal Singh

 

Q8) ‘Amir Subhani’ has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of which state?

(1) Rajasthan

(2) Bihar

(3) Uttar Pradesh

(4) Jharkhand

 

Q9) Who has become the Brand Ambassador of EaseMyTrip?

(1) Vijay Raaz

(2) Varun Sharma

(3) Both of the above

(4) None of these

 

Q10) Who has been appointed as the new Commissioner of Kolkata Police?

(1) Soumen Mitra

(2) Vineet Kumar Goyal

(3) Namita Gokhale

(4) Sanjeev Sharma

 

Q11) Who has been appointed as new India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Conference on Disarmament?

(1) Pankaj Sharma

(2) Anupam Ray

(3) Suhail Nigam

(4) Harjinder Singh

 

Q12) Who has been given the additional charge of Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)?

(1) Sanjay Arora

(2) Pankaj Kumar Singh

(3) Kuldeep Singh

(4) MA Ganapathi

 

Q13) Durga Shankar Mishra was appointed as the Chief Secretary of which state?

(1) Rajasthan

(2) Punjab

(3) West Bengal

(4) Uttar Pradesh

 

Q14) Pankaj Sharma has been appointed as India’s next ambassador to –

(1) Cuba

(2) Canada

(3) Mexico

(4) Barbados

 

Q15) Which country has become the fourth new member of the New Development Bank?

(1) Bangladesh

(2) Myanmar

(3) Uruguay

(4) Egypt

 

Q16) South Maubuang has become which state’s first ODF plus village?

(1) Assam

(2) Tripura

(3) Mizoram

(4) Manipur

 

Q17) India has joined hands with Israel to create how many ‘Villages of Excellence’?

(1) 125 villages

(2) 180 villages

(3) 150 villages

(4) 210 villages

 

Q18) Who has been appointed as the new Chief Economic Advisor of India?

(1) Anantha Nageshwaran

(2) Govinda Rao

(3) Dilip M. Nachane

(4) Vijay Shankar Vyas

 

Q19) Which country’s team has won the 2022 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup?

(1) South Korea

(2) Oman

(3) China

(4) Japan

 

Q20) Who is the author of a new book titled “Fearless Governance”?

(1) Kiran Bedi

(2) Jagdish Mukhi

(3) Phagu Chauhan

(4) Ganga Prasad

 

Q21) “India’s first” intelligent messenger called ‘Pops’ has been introduced by –

(1) 5paisa

(2) PhonePe

(3) MobiKwik

(4) Paytm Money

 

Q22 Which country has emerged as a top export destination for Indian pomegranates?

(1) Nepal

(2) Bangladesh

(3) Myanmar

(4) Bhutan

 

Q23) Which state has launched 1st of its kind ‘Brain Health Initiative’ to train doctors?

(1) Maharashtra

(2) Tamil Nadu

(3) Kerala

(4) Karnataka

 

Q24) Which player has won the Australian Open 2022 women’s singles title?

(1) Danielle Collins

(2) Naomi Osaka

(3) Karolína Pliskova

(4) Ashleigh Barty

 

Q25) SPMCIL has set up two new bank note printing lines. Where are these two located?

(1) Nashik and Dewas

(2) Salboni and Nashik

(3) Dwas and Mysore

(4) Mysore and Salboni

 

Q26) Argentina won the 2022 Women’s Pan Am Cup by defeated which team?

(1) Chile

(2) Peru

(3) Argentina

(4) Spain

 

Q27) What is the theme for World Leprosy Day 2022?

(1) Ending the stigma

(2) Beat Leprosy, Stigma

(3) United for Dignity

(4) Ending prejudice

 

Q28) How much amount has been paid by India towards United Nations regular budget assessment for the year 2022?

(1) $31.7 million

(2) $17.5 million

(3) $20.3 million

(4) $29.9 million

 

Q29) Tata Sky has announced to change its name to what?

(1) Tata Go

(2) Tata Play

(3) Tata Plus

(4) Tata Start

 

Q30) Which country’s AirAsia has changed its name to Capital A?

(1) Indonesia

(2) Singapore

(3) Malaysia

(4) Thailand

 

Q31) Who has launched the ‘NIPER Research Portal’?

(1) Narendra Modi

(2) Mansukh Mandaviya

(3) Piysuh Goyal

(4) Amit Shah

 

Q32) Which country has declared an environmental emergency due to the oil spill?

(1) Iraq

(2) Saudi Arabia

(3) Peru

(4) Indonesia

 

Q33) Who has inaugurated the ‘Pandit Jasraj Cultural Foundation’?

(1) Ram Nath Kovind

(2) Narendra Modi

(3) Piyush Goyal

(4) Amit Shah

 

Q34) Who has been chosen as the guest nation in the 12th Hyderabad Literature Festival?

(1) Norway

(2) France

(3) UK

(4) USA

 

Q35) As per recent report, What percentage of Indian girls are suffering from Anemia?

(1) 39%

(2) 46%

(3) 42%

(4) 55%

 

Q36) World’s Largest Canal Lock has been inaugurated in which country?

(1) Portugal

(2) Netherlands

(3) Germany

(4) Belgium

 

Q37) India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging station has been inaugurated in which city?

(1) Kolkata

(2) Hyderabad

(3) Delhi

(4) Gurgaon

 

Q38) The Global Gold demand in 2021 was increased by what percentage?

(1) 10%

(2) 13%

(3) 15%

(4) 21%

 

Q39) Ramgarh Wildlife Sanctuary has been notified as the 4th Tiger Reserve of which state?

(1) Rajasthan

(2) Odisha

(3) Andhra Pradesh

(4) Karnataka

 

Q40) Which state’s Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve have won the 2022 TX2 award?

(1) Andhra Pradesh

(2) Kerala

(3) Tamil Nadu

(4) Telangana

 

Q41) Xiomara Castro has become the first-ever female President of which nation?

(1) Cuba

(2) Honduras

(3) Mexico

(4) Colombia

 

Q42) Who has launched ‘Digital Sansad App’ to make live proceedings accessible to citizens?

(1) Om Birla

(2) Venkaiah Naidu

(3) Kiren Rijiju

(4) Narendra Modi

 

Q43) Who is the author is the book titled “The $10 Trillion Dream”?

(1) Ravikant Singh

(2) Amit Meena

(3) Subhash Garg

(4) Vipul Bansal

 

Q44) Which company has announced $1 billion investment in Bharti Airtel?

(1) Amazon

(2) Microsoft

(3) Apple

(4) Google

 

Q45) Which institute has developed a COVID-19 diagnosis technique using chest X-ray images?

(1) IIT Madras

(2) IIT Kanpur

(3) IIT Bombay

(4) IIT Jodhpur

 

Q46) Where has Reliance Jio BP set up India’s largest EV charging hub?

(1) Gurgaon

(2) Delhi

(3) Chandigarh

(4) Hyderabad

 

Q47) Which country’s famous Kathakali dancer Milena Salvini has passed away?

(1) Italy

(2) Germany

(3) France

(4) Belgium

 

Q48) Where has the first edition of Odisha Open Badminton started?

(1) Puri

(2) Cuttack

(3) Bhuvaneshwar

(4) Rourkela

 

Q49) Who has written the book ‘A Little Boy of India’?

(1) Pallavi Aiyar

(2) Ruskin Bond

(3) Mridula Ramesh

(4) Jhumpa Lahiri

 

Q50) Who has been appointed as MD of Wipro for Southeast Asia?

(1) Amish Mehta

(2) Sabyasachi Das

(3) Badrinath Srinivasan

(4) Santrupt Misra

 

Q51) Which state government has approved the formation of 13 new districts?

(1) Andhra Pradesh

(2) Maharashtra

(3) Rajasthan

(4) Tamil Nadu

 

Q52) How many aircraft took part in the Republic Day Flypast 2022?

(1) 79 aircrafts

(2) 75 aircrafts

(3) 90 aircrafts

(4) 50 aircrafts

 

Q53) Who has become the first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot in the Republic Day parade?

(1) Bhawana Kanth

(2) Shivangi Singh

(3) Ankita Singh

(4) Avani Chaturvedi

 

Q54) Air India has been acquired by Tata Sons for what deal price?

(1) ₹18,000 crore

(2) ₹15,000 crore

(3) ₹21,000 crore

(4) ₹25,000 crore

 

Q55) How many Gallantry awards have been conferred by the President of India in 2022?

(1) 400

(2) 190

(3) 221

(4) 384

 

Q56) Who has become the new chairman of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL)?

(1) Vinodanand Jha

(2) Rahul Mittal

(3) Pushp Kumar Joshi

(4) None of these

 

Q57) Which state government has announced to set up women protection cell in each district?

(1) Kerala

(2) Chhattisgarh

(3) Karnataka

(4) Odisha

 

Q58) Which company is the title sponsor of Maharashtra Open Tennis Tournament?

(1) Reliance

(2) TATA

(3) Infosys

(4) Wipro

 

Q59) Russia-China-Iran conducts joint naval exercise CHIRU-2Q22 in –

(1) Gulf of Oman

(2) Persian Gulf

(3) Arabian Sea

(4) Gulf of Aden

 

Q60) India’s 1st Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat will be posthumously honoured with which award?

(1) Bharat Ratna

(2) Padma Vibhushan

(3) Padma Bhushan

(4) None of these

 

Q61) G Balasubramaniam is next High Commissioner of India to –

(1) Chad

(2) Benin

(3) Niger

(4) Nigeria

 

Q62) Which minister has released the pictorial comic book ‘India’s Women Unsung Heroes’?

(1) Meenakshi Lekhi

(2) Pralhad Joshi

(3) Kiren Rijiju

(4) Ashwini Vaishnaw

 

Q63) Social activist Anil Awachat passes away at 77. He also was author at which language?

(1) Kannada

(2) Marathi

(3) Telugu

(4) Malayalam

 

Q64) Former Indian ______ Team Captain Charanjit Singh passes away at 90.

(1) Cricket

(2) Football

(3) Kabaddi

(4) Hockey

 

Q65) Which film has been nominated for Oscar 2022?

(1) Jai Bhim

(2) Marakkar

(3) Both of the above

(4) None of these

 

Q66) How many Padma Awards are given in 2022?

(1) 115

(2) 131

(3) 128

(4) 119

 

Q67) What is India’s rank in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021?

(1) 79th

(2) 85th

(3) 86th

(4) 97th

 

Q68) Which brand become ‘Most Valuable Brand in 2022’, as per “Brand Finance 2022 Global 500 report“?

(1) Google

(2) Apple

(3) Microsoft

(4) Amazon

 

Q69) Name of maritime exercise recently conducted by Western Naval Command?

(1) PASCHIM LEHAR

(2) PRASTHAN

(3) VARUNA

(4) VIJAY PRAHAR

 

Q70) Which country recently delivered 70,000 AK-203 Kalashnikov assault rifles to India?

(1) Italy

(2) France

(3) Germany

(4) Russia

 

Q71) PMC Bank (Transferor Bank) has been amalagamated with which bank?

(1) Unity Small Finance Bank

(2) Yes Bank

(3) RBL Bank

(4) Punjab Gramin Bank

 

Q72) CDRI has developed ‘Omicron’ testing kit named –

(1) Omon

(2) CoviOmi

(3) Mylab OMI

(4) OM

 

Q73) Which Union Minister has launched a mobile app called “MyCGHS“?

(1) Mansukh Mandaviya

(2) Rajnath Singh

(3) G. Kishan Reddy

(4) Bhupendra Yadav

 

Q74) Which organization has won the “Global Healthy Workplace Award“?

(1) Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)

(2) Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL)

(3) Coal India Limited (CIL)

(4) Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)

 

Q75) Which award was recently rejected by the former CM of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharya?

(1) Padma Shree

(2) Padma Vibhushan

(3) Padma Bhushan

(4) Bharat Ratna

 

Q76) Recently which Govt. approves 15% reservation for women in non-gazetted police posts?

(1) West Bengal

(2) Delhi

(3) Chattisgarh

(4) J&K

 

Q77) Spices Board of India has launched India’s first portal for spice exports. What is the name of the portal?

(1) Spice Xchange India

(2) Spice Trade India

(3) Spice Export India

(4) Spice Chat India

 

Q78) Which bank has launched EASY PAY integrated Debit Card facility in a Fitness Watch?

(1) Bank of Baroda

(2) Karur Vysya Bank

(3) City Union Bank

(4) Indian Overseas Bank

 

Q79) Recently, Which state has got its first-ever scientific bird atlas?

(1) Andhra Pradesh

(2) Telangana

(3) Kerala

(4) Karnataka

 

Q80) India’s 1st graphene innovation center will soon be established in –

(1) Goa

(2) Odisha

(3) Tamil Nadu

(4) Kerala

 

Q81) Who has been awarded with ‘Assam Baibhav 2021′?

(1) Ratan Tata

(2) Sunil Bharti

(3) Azim Premji

(4) Uday Kotak

 

Q82) India has sought the UNESCO World Heritage tag for ‘Living Root Bridge’ built in which state?

(1) Gujarat

(2) Ladakh

(3) Meghalaya

(4) Tripura

 

Q83) Which company is expected to unveil the world’s fastest supercomputer by mid-2022?

(1) Meta

(2) Google

(3) Amazon

(4) Microsoft

 

Q84) Which country’s President Armen Sarkissian has announced his resignation?

(1) Iran

(2) Turkey

(3) Georgia

(4) Armenia

 

Q85) Indian military has inked contract deal with which country to purchase AT4 anti-armour weapon?

(1) Sweden

(2) Israel

(3) France

(4) Russia

 

Q86) What is the new name of the Lucknow IPL team?

(1) Lucknow Super Giants

(2) Lucknow Tuskers

(3) Lucknow Nawab

(4) Lucknow Chargers

 

Q87) Jio has tied up with which country’s University of Oulu to accelerate 6G research?

(1) Australia

(2) Finland

(3) Israel

(4) Norway

 

Q88) DGCA has imposed a fine of ₹20 lakh on which international airport?

(1) Chandigarh International Airport

(2) Vijayawada International Airport

(3) Kolkata International Airport

(4) None of these

 

Q89) Which Indian film has won the Best Film Award at the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival?

(1) Thappad

(2) Koozhangal

(3) Gulabo Sitabo

(4) Aina Jhyal

 

Q90) ‘Magh Mela-2022’ is an annual religious fair held in which state?

(1) Uttar Pradesh

(2) Bihar

(3) Gujarat

(4) West Bengal

 

Q91) Which technology platform launched the ‘JagrukVoter’ campaign?

(1) Facebook

(2) Microsoft

(3) Twitter

(4) Google

 

Q92) Which country is the host of first India-Central Asia summit?

(1) India

(2) Kazakhstan

(3) Kyrgyzstan

(4) Tajikistan

 

Q93) ‘Gyanodaya Godda’, is a school education initiative of which state?

(1) Assam

(2) West Bengal

(3) Jharkhand

(4) Bihar

 

Q94) Recently, Which space agency has launched 49 Star Link satellites?

(1) NASA

(2) CNSA

(3) SpaceX

(4) ISRO

 

Q95) Neeraj Chopra to be awarded with which of the following award?

(1) Uttam Yudh Seva Medal

(2) Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal

(3) Yudh Seva Medal

(4) Vishist Seva Medal

 

Q96) Which state/UT’s team has won 9th National Women’s Ice Hockey Championship?

(1) Ladakh

(2) Delhi

(3) Telangana

(4) Chandigarh

 

Q97) Union Government has approved to set up a Plastic Park in which city?

(1) Kochi

(2) Mangaluru

(3) Indore

(4) Ahmadabad

 

Q98) Who has been named ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year 2021?

(1) Smriti Mandhana

(2) Tammy Beaumont

(3) Lizelle Lee

(4) Mitali Raj

 

Q99) Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar 2022 has been given to how many children?

(1) 29 Children

(2) 35 Children

(3) 22 Children

(4) 18 Children

 

Q100) The Deep Space Food Challenge has been launched by which space agency?

(1) ISRO

(2) NASA

(3) SpaceX

(4) Roscosmos

 

Q101) Who is the Chairperson of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Adjudicating Authority?

(1) Vinay Mittal

(2) Rajni Razdan

(3) Vinodanand Jha

(4) Deepak Gupta

 

Q102) Recently passes away, Ramachandran Nagaswamy was a noted archaeologist from which state?

(1) Karnataka

(2) Kerala

(3) Andhra Pradesh

(4) Tamil Nadu

 

Q103) Which state has launched a one-stop website to promote electric vehicles?

(1) Uttarakhand

(2) Delhi

(3) Haryana

(4) Uttar Pradesh

 

Q104) Which country has organised the ‘Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation’?

(1) India

(2) Malaysia

(3) UK

(4) Sri Lanka

 

Q105) Which state became India’s first to Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC) Center of Excellence?

(1) Bihar

(2) Maharashtra

(3) Karnataka

(4) Kerala

 

Q106) Haryana state government has partnered with which state to revive the Saraswati river?

(1) Rajasthan

(2) Punjab

(3) Himachal Pradesh

(4) Uttarakhand

 

Q107) Which nation has emerged as the largest exporter of cucumber and gherkins in the world?

(1) China

(2) Afghanistan

(3) Bangladesh

(4) India

 

Q108) Where will a museum be built in memory of the recent 1930’s Jungle Satyagraha?

(1) Maharashtra

(2) Manipur

(3) Rajasthan

(4) Meghalaya

 

Q109) Which country has launched its first maritime domain awareness satellite constellation?

(1) Australia

(2) South Africa

(3) Israel

(4) Zimbabwe

 

Q110) Which nation’s football team had to withdraw from AFC Women’s Asia Cup 2022?

(1) China

(2) Vietnam

(3) Iran

(4) India

 

Q111) India’s 1st para-badminton academy has been set up in which city?

(1) Chennai

(2) Hyderabad

(3) Lucknow

(4) Pune

 

Q112) India’s First “District Good Governance Index” launched for 20 districts of –

(1) Assam

(2) Jammu & Kashmir

(3) Gujarat

(4) Maharashtra

 

Q113) ‘Jerry Hamlet’ has been declared as “Milk Village” of which state?

(1) Ladakh

(2) Jammu & Kashmir

(3) Uttarakhand

(4) Gujarat

 

Q114) Sara Gill has become the first transgender doctor of which country?

(1) France

(2) Pakistan

(3) Italy

(4) Bangladesh

 

Q115) Name of engine that will power India’s 1st human-carry rocket (Gaganyaan human space mission)?

(1) Angara Engine

(2) Aeon Engine

(3) Vikas Engine

(4) Falcon Engine

 

Q116) Who is the author of the book ‘Legend of Birsa Munda’?

(1) Ravi Subramanian

(2) Tuhin A. Sinha

(3) Ashwin Sanghi

(4) Shiv Khera

 

Q117) Who have been selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar 2022?

(1) Vinod Sharma

(2) Kaushik Basu

(3) Aijaz Ahmad

(4) Bibek Debroy

 

Q118) Who has won women’s singles title of Syed Modi International Tournament?

(1) PT Usha

(2) PV Sindhu

(3) Malvika Bansod

(4) Dutee Chand

 

Q119) Who has been conferred with the Netaji Award 2022 by the Netaji Research Bureau?

(1) Mario Draghi

(2) Vladimir Putin

(3) Shinzo Abe

(4) Lopez Obrador

 

Q120) Where will be conducte “Neptune Strike ’22” maritime exercise by NATO partners?

(1) Greenland Sea

(2) Caribbean Sea

(3) English Channel

(4) Mediterranean Sea

 

Q121) World Bank approves $125 million loan to which state to support poor?

(1) West Bengal

(2) Jharkhand

(3) Bihar

(4) Uttar Pradesh

 

Q122) Who has been appointed as the Independent Chairman of Unity Small Finance Bank Limited?

(1) Debadatta Chand

(2) Dinesh Khara

(3) Mallikarjuna Rao

(4) Vinod Rai

 

Q123) Which Indian film has been nominated for Best Featured Film at Oscar 2022?

(1) Jai Bhim

(2) Karnan

(3) Master

(4) Psycho

 

Q124) BSF has launched “Operation SardHawa” in which state?

(1) J&K

(2) Rajasthan

(3) Gujarat

(4) Punjab

 

Q125) As per “Climate of India during 2021” report, Which state was the most affected?

(1) West Bengal

(2) Karnataka

(3) Maharashtra

(4) Odisha

 

Q126) Former SAIL head Anil Kumar Chaudhary has been appointed as the CEO of –

(1) Indiabulls

(2) Essar Capital

(3) Bajaj Finance

(4) Tata Capital

 

Q127) Indian Government granted $500 million LoC to which country to purchase petroleum products?

(1) Nepal

(2) Mauritius

(3) Bangladesh

(4) Sri Lanka

 

Q128) Who becomes first Indian to complete NASA’s IASP programme?

(1) Swati Mohan

(2) Yogita Shah

(3) Jahnavi Dangeti

(4) Sirisha Bandla

 

Q129) Which state government has launched a mobile app called “Apna Kangra” to promote local handicrafts?

(1) Punjab

(2) Haryana

(3) Himachal Pradesh

(4) Gujarat

 

Q130) Which country has successfully test-flights its “Arrow 3” advanced air defense system?

(1) France

(2) Israel

(3) Italy

(4) Russia

 

Q131) Statue of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose has been installed in which place on Netaji’s birthday?

(1) Lal Qila

(2) India Gate

(3) Pairlament

(4) Gate Way of India

 

Q132) Which state has got the first open synthetic track and football turf at 11000 feet?

(1) Uttarakhand

(2) Ladakh

(3) Jammu and Kashmir

(4) None of these

 

Q133) Who has started the “Koyla Darpan portal“?

(1) Ajay Bhatt

(2) Dr Anil Kumar Jain

(3) Rajnath Singh

(4) Ajay Kumar

 

Q134) Which state’s Sundarvan Mini Zoo has launched the ‘Adopt an Animal’ initiative?

(1) Assam

(2) Odisha

(3) Gujarat

(4) Maharashtra

 

Q135) The report titled ‘Banking on Electric Vehicles in India’ has been released by –

(1) FICCI

(2) SBI

(3) NPCI

(4) NITI Aayog

 

Q136) Legendary sportsperson Subhas Bhowmick has passed away at 72. He was associated with which sports?

(1) Football

(2) Cricket

(3) Hockey

(4) Golf

 

Q137) Who has become India’s 1st UN Development Programme (UNDP) Youth Climate Champion?

(1) Sejal Kumar

(2) Prajakta Koli

(3) Ashish Chanchlani

(4) Ranveer Allahbadia

 

Q138) Researchers have recently name which species of animal after Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg?

(1) Indian cobra

(2) Monarch butterfly

(3) Whale shark

(4) Rainfrog

 

Q139) Mia Mottley has been sworn 2nd time as the Prime Minister of –

(1) Barbados

(2) Australia

(3) South Korea

(4) Canada

 

Q140) Who has become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world?

(1) Pratima Jain

(2) Zara Rutherford

(3) Shreya Mohanty

(4) Erin Sills

 

Q141) Who has topped the list of ‘Most popular World leader in 2022’?

(1) Narendra Modi

(2) Justin Trudeau

(3) Scott Morrison

(4) Joe Biden

 

Q142) PM Modi will unveil 216-foot statue of saint Ramanujacharya in –

(1) Bengaluru

(2) Hyderabad

(3) Chennai

(4) Varanasi

 

Q143) Who has inaugurated ‘Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ki Ore’ programme?

(1) Piyush Goyal

(2) Rajnath Singh

(3) Narendra Modi

(4) Amit Shah

 

Q144) Who has become the highest run-scorer of India in ODIs?

(1) Shikhar Dhawan

(2) Virat Kohli

(3) Rohit Sharma

(4) KL Rahul

 

Q145) Who has been roped in as the new Chairman of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO)?

(1) Prem Chandra Munshi

(2) Mangi Lal Danga

(3) Simachal Padhya

(4) Dileep Sanghani

 

Q146) Sushmita Sen wins International Association of Working Women Award for which film?

(1) Aaghaaz

(2) Chingaari

(3) Nirbaak

(4) Aarya 2

 

Q147) Major Hari Pal Singh Ahluwalia has passed away. He was a professional –

(1) Historian

(2) Economist

(3) Cricketer

(4) Mountaineer

 

Q148) What amount of line of credit has been extended to Mauritius for Metro Express Project?

(1) $180-million

(2) $190-million

(3) $170-million

(4) $200-million

 

Q149) Who has been roped in as the Ambassador of Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG)?

(1) Sanjay Rana

(2) Dinesh Bhatia

(3) Vijay Shekhar Sharma

(4) Rudrendra Tandon

 

Q150) World’s oldest person Saturnino de la Fuente García has died at the age of 112 years. He was from –

(1) Italy

(2) Spain

(3) Switzerland

(4) Finland

 

Q151) Which company has became new Title Sponsor & Technology Partner of ‘Toronto Waterfront Marathon’?

(1) Infosys

(2) L&T

(3) TCS

(4) Wipro

 

Q152) Who has been appointed as new MD of National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL)?

(1) Sanjay Arora

(2) Samant Goel

(3) Arvind Kumar

(4) Chanchal Kumar

 

Q153) Whose statue was unveiled in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh in January 2022?

(1) Ajay Singh Jasrotia

(2) Saurabh Kalia

(3) Vikram Batra

(4) Manoj Kumar Pandey

 

Q154) Which Indian-American golfer has won the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic?

(1) Nikhil Kumar

(2) Akshay Bhatia

(3) Megha Ganne

(4) Rajeev Ram

 

Q155) First BRICS Sherpas meeting of 2022 held under the Chairship of –

(1) India

(2) Brazil

(3) China

(4) Russia

 

Q156) “Nusantara” has been selected as the new capital of –

(1) Malaysia

(2) Indonesia

(3) Brunei

(4) Vietnam

 

Q157) Who has been named as the captain of the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year 2021?

(1) Virat Kohli

(2) Babar Azam

(3) Joe Root

(4) Steve Smith

 

Q158) Recently, Indian Navy and Japanese Navy undertook the maritime partnership exercise in –

(1) Indian Ocean

(2) Arabian Sea

(3) Bay of Bengal

(4) Pacific Ocean

 

Q159) Who among the following has announced her retirement after the 2022 season?

(1) Sania Mirza

(2) Saina Nehwal

(3) Mitali Raj

(4) Mary Kom

 

Q160) Who has been appointed as the President of ‘Bombay Industries Association’?

(1) Neena Gupta

(2) Nevil Sanghvi

(3) Mohit Jain

(4) Ajit Kumar Seth

 

Q161) Which word has been picked up as Children’s Word of the Year 2021 by Oxford University?

(1) Wellbeing

(2) Anxiety

(3) Isolate

(4) Challenging

 

Q162) By whom the new biography of Subhash Chandra Bose will be launched in February?

(1) Adisha Das

(2) Chandrachur Ghose

(3) Karan Puri

(4) Nirad Chaudhuri

 

Q163) Which company is purchasing the gaming company Activision Blizzard Inc?

(1) Meta

(2) Sony

(3) Google

(4) Microsoft

 

Q164) What is the Digital Payments Index (DPI) for September 2021 as per RBI data?

(1) 304.06

(2) 270.59

(3) 459.38

(4) 367.87

 

Q165) Who has been honored with the prestigious Genesis Award in 2022?

(1) Renu Bhatia

(2) K P Aravindan

(3) Albert Bourla

(4) Rabbi Lord

 

Q166) Who has been appointed as the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Employment?

(1) Ashok Kumar

(2) Ajit Vinayak Gupte

(3) Shashank Goyal

(4) Man Mohan Bhanot

 

Q167) Dimitar Kovacevski has been elected as the Prime Minister of –

(1) Greece

(2) Bulgaria

(3) Serbia

(4) North Macedonia

 

Q168) India’s 1st Intelligent Chronic Disease Patients Habit Tracking System has been inaugurated by –

(1) Nitin Gadkari

(2) Piyush Goyal

(3) Pralhad Joshi

(4) Rajnath Singh

 

Q169) India’s 1st weather hazard and vulnerability atlas has been launched by –

(1) NCS

(2) IMD

(3) IITM

(4) NITI Aayog

 

Q170) Which state is going to introduce English Medium in all government schools from next academic year?

(1) Kerala

(2) Maharashtra

(3) Telangana

(4) Karnataka

 

Q171) Famous Indian tigress ‘Collarwali’ recently passed away at which state?

(1) Madhya Pradesh

(2) Maharashtra

(3) Karnataka

(4) West Bengal

 

Q172) Who has been elected as new President of EU Parliament?

(1) Hannes Heide

(2) Bettina Vollath

(3) Evelyn Regner

(4) Roberta Metsola

 

Q173) Centre appoints Vikram Dev Dutt as new CMD of –

(1) Air India

(2) Go First

(3) IndiGo

(4) SpiceJet

 

Q174) “Saa₹thi” app has been launched by which organization?

(1) NABARD

(2) SEBI

(3) IRDA

(4) LIC

 

Q175) According to the recent ILO report, how many million will global unemployment reach in 2022?

(1) 201 million

(2) 198 million

(3) 207 million

(4) 251 million

 

Q176) Who has been appointed as the Chairperson of the State Women’s Commission in Haryana?

(1) Pratima Jha

(2) K P Aravindan

(3) Renu Bhatia

(4) Preeti Bhardwaj

 

Q177) Which telecom enterprise has become the first in the industry to roll out UPI AUTOPAY?

(1) PhonePe

(2) Paytm

(3) Jio

(4) Freecharge

 

Q178) What was the profession of Narayan Debnath who has passed away recently?

(1) Comic artist

(2) Singer

(3) Politician

(4) Filmmaker

 

Q179) Who has signed a letter of intent with Formula E to host the World Championship?

(1) Telangana

(2) Tamil Nadu

(3) Andhra Pradesh

(4) Karnataka

 

Q180) Which medal has been won by Sumit Bhale in the International Folk Art Festival?

(1) Silver

(2) Bronze

(3) Gold

(4) None of these

 

ANSWER:

 

S1. Ans. (3) TikTok

Sol. TikTok remains the most downloaded app in the world (and in the US) in 2021, according to Apptopia.

In June 2020, the Indian government banned the popular short-form video app TikTok amid border tensions with China.

As for mobile games, “Brain Story: Tricky Puzzle“, “Poppy Rope Game“, “Metro Parkour“, “Free Fire” and “ROBLOX” ranked the top five in downloads.

Top 10 most downloaded apps in 2021 throughout the world

 

TikTok – 656 million

Instagram – 545 million

Facebook – 416 million

WhatsApp – 395 million

Telegram – 329 million

Snapchat – 327 million

Zoom – 300 million

Messenger – 268 million

CapCut – 255 million

Spotify – 203 million

 

S2. Ans. (3) China

Sol. China has announced a five-year roadmap to achieve its goal of becoming a global robotics innovation hub by the year 2025.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed operating income from the country’s robotics industry is expected to grow by around 20% per year between 2021 and 2025.

From 2016 to 2020, the sector expanded at an average growth rate of 15%. Last year, operating income surpassed 100 billion yuan ($15.69 billion) for the first time.

As per the 2021 World Robot Report, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan were the top three most automated countries in Asia-Pacific.

 

S3. Ans. (1) Sikkim

Sol. A second road linking Tsomgo lake and Nathula border pass with Gangtok renamed as ‘Narendra Modi Marg’ was officially inaugurated by Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad.

This road, constructed by Border Roads Organisation, has reduced the distance between Gangtok and Tsomgo lake by 15 km.

Earlier it is called Jawaharlal Nehru Road.

Earlier, Motera cricket stadium, Gujarat, was named after PM Modi.

 

S4. Ans. (2) India

Sol. After crushing South Africa by 113 runs in the first Test match, Virat Kohli’s India have become the first Asian team to win the red-ball match at Centurion.

Apart from India, England and Australia are the only two visiting nations to overpower South Africa at Centurion in 2000 and 2014 sequentially.

However, no Asian team held any such record which makes India the third visiting nation to win the Test match at the iconic ground.

 

S5. Ans. (3) Kishore Yedam

Sol. The most prominent C-level executive awards have crowned Kishore Kumar Yedam as ‘World CEO Winner of the Year 2021’.

The World CEO Rankings (TWCR) are online awards owned by Plus Media Group.

The Awards are launched to acknowledge the best CEOs worldwide through the strict nomination process and three-month-long voting season.

 

S6. Ans. (1) Namita Gokhale

Sol. Eminent author Namita Gokhale, Punjabi writer Khalid Hussain and TMC MLA Bratya Basu are among the 20 winners of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 announced on December 30, 2021, by Sahitya Akademi.

English writer Namita Gokhale won the award for her novel ‘Things to Leave Behind’. She is among the authors who have been honored with Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 in 20 different languages.

The annual Sahitya Akademi Award included seven books of poetry, five short stories, two novels, two plays, and one book each of autobiography, biography, epic poetry, and criticism.

Sahitya Akademi Award was established in 1954 and it comprises a plaque and a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000. The aim of the Sahitya Akademi Award is to recognize and promote excellence in Indian writing as well as also acknowledge the new trends in literature.

 

S7. Ans. (3) H R Khan

Sol.AU Small Finance Bank on December 28 said it has appointed Harun Rashid Khan as Non-Executive Independent Director (Additional Director) on the Board, for a period of three years, effective immediately.

Khan is a former Deputy Governor and the Executive Director at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and has over four decades experience in Banking & Finance, Payment and Settlement systems, Economics and Financial Markets, said AU in a stock exchange announcement.

AU started its banking operations in April 2017 and as on September 30, 2021, it has established operations across 811 banking touchpoints serving 21.3 lakh customers in 15 states and 2 union territories, the release said. The bank has over 23,400 employees.

 

S8. Ans. (2) Bihar

Sol. Nitish government has appointed IAS officer Amir Subhani as the new Chief Secretary of Bihar.

Subhani, a 1987 batch IAS officer, will now take charge of the bureaucracy in the state.

Subhani, who was the state’s development commissioner before his elevation, will retire in April 2024.

 

S9. Ans. 3) Both of the above

Sol.Bollywood actors Vijay Raaz & Varun Sharma have been named as brand ambassador for com (Easy Trip Planners Ltd), an online travel company based in India.

EaseMyTrip founded by Nishant Pitti and Rikant Pitti in 2008 was started as the Business-to-Business (B2B) portal and entered into the business-to-consumer (B2C) segment in 2011.

 

S10. Ans. (2) Vineet Kumar Goyal

Sol. Senior IPS officer Vineet Kumar Goyal is the new commissioner of police of Kolkata.

He is a 1994 batch IPS officer who was posted as the additional director general (ADG) Special Task Force (STF) of West Bengal Police.

The current commissioner of Police, Soumen Mitra, will retire from service tomorrow on December 31.

 

S11. Ans. (2) Anupam Ray

Sol. Anupam Ray has been appointed as India’s new permanent representative at UN Conference on Disarmament.

Indian Foreign Service officer, Anupam Ray is currently serving as a joint secretary in the MEA’s headquarters in Delhi.

Ray will succeed Pankaj Sharma, who has been appointed as India’s next ambassador to Mexico.

UN Conference on Disarmament is headquartered in Geneva.

 

S12. Ans. (1) Sanjay Arora

Sol.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) director-general Sanjay Arora will hold the additional charge of another border guarding force SSB.

He will replace the current chief of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Kumar Rajesh Chandra who is set to retire on December 31, 2021.

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) is primarily tasked to guard unfenced Indian borders with Nepal and Bhutan.

 

S13. Ans. (4) Uttar Pradesh

Sol. Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra was appointed as the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh on 29 Dec 2021.

Mishra will succeed incumbent chief secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari, a 1985-batch IAS officer.

The Personnel Ministry named Manoj Joshi as the new Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary in place of Durga Shankar Mishra.

 

S14. Ans. (3) Mexico

Sol. Pankaj Sharma, an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1991 batch, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Mexico.

He is presently the Permanent Representative of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva.

Pankaj Sharma will replace Mridul Kumar as the new ambassador.

 

S15. Ans. (4) Egypt

Sol. India on December 29, 2021, welcomed Egypt as the new member of the BRICS New Development Bank.

With this, Egypt has now become a fourth new member to be admitted to BRICS NDB.

The BRICS group includes five major emerging countries around the world- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and the multilateral bank BRICS NDB was established by these rising economies to finance the sustainable development projects.

Before Egypt joined the multilateral bank, earlier, in September 2021, India had welcomed Bangladesh, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the new members of the BRICS New Development Bank.

 

S16. Ans. (3) Mizoram

Sol. South Maubuang in the Aibawk block of Aizawl district in Mizoram has been declared as the model ODF Plus village.

The village has fulfilled all the criteria as per SBM-G Phase II guidelines and all households and institutions have functional toilets and measures in place for effective management of solid and liquid waste.

It has a population of 649 individuals from 116 households has emerged as the first ODF Plus village in the State of Mizoram.

 

S17. Ans. (3) 150 villages

Sol. The Government of India has joined hands with the Government of Israel to create 150 ‘Villages of Excellence’ in 12 States of the country, to help farmers to adopt latest technology in the farm sector.

Israel would provide Technical assistance and other expertise to make agriculture a more profitable business.

The initiative will be under taken in phased manner.

75 villages out of 150 would be taken up in 2022. The remaining villages would be taken up subsequently.

 

S18. Ans. (1) Anantha Nageshwaran

Sol. V Anantha Nageswaran has been appointed as the new chief economic advisor (CEA) to the Government of India.

This post was lying vacant since December 17, 2021, when KV Subramanian left the office.

V Anantha Nageswaran is a former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC).

The search panel for the selection of CEA is headed by 15th Finance Commission chief NK Singh.

The CEA is the ex-officio cadre controlling authority of the Indian Economic Service. Also, the economic survey is prepared under the guidance of the Chief Economic Adviser.

 

S19. Ans. (4) Japan

Sol. India defeated China, 2-0 to win bronze medal at the 2022 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup tournament on January 28, 2022.

Japan defeated South Korea 4-2 in the final to win their third title at Women’s Hockey Asia Cup tournament.

The 2022 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup was the 10th edition of the quadrennial Women’s Hockey Asia Cup.

The tournament was held from January 21 to 28, 2022 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman.

The international women’s field hockey championship of Asia is organized by the Asian Hockey Federation.

 

S20. Ans.  (1) Kiran Bedi

Sol. The Book titled ‘Fearless Governance’ authored by Dr Kiran Bedi has been released.

Kiran Bedi is the former Lt Governor of Puducherry and IPS (retd).

This book is based on the ground realities of nearly five years of service of Dr. Bedi as Lt. Governor of Puducherry and her vast experience of 40 years in the Indian Police Service.

 

S21. Ans.  (4) Paytm Money

Sol. Paytm Money has introduced “India’s first” intelligent messenger called ‘Pops’.

Messenger ‘Pops’ will allow its user to receive specific information related to their stocks, analysis about their portfolio, market news, and important market movements, all in one place.

One97 Communications Limited owns the Paytm Money platform.

 

S22. Ans. (2) Bangladesh

Sol. Bangladesh has emerged as the most popular destination for Indian pomegranates over the last few years.

Last fiscal, India had exported 68,502.9 tonnes of pomegranates out of which 36,906.77 tonnes had gone to Bangladesh.

In the current fiscal, India has exported 53,524.31 tonnes of pomegranates out of which 31,185.84 tonnes have been exported to Bangladesh.

The ease of transport and the relatively relaxed quality norms are the main contributors in making Bangladesh a major export destination.

Pomegranates are mostly grown in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat.

The Agriculture department registers plots for export and ensures that fruits meet the prescribed residue content criteria.

 

S23. Ans. (4) Karnataka

Sol. K Sudhakar, Minister of Medical Education and Health of Karnataka, virtually launched Brain Health Initiative a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, undertaken by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in association with the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog).

The initiative aims to help people to cope with mental health issues. Under this initiative, doctors will be trained in screening and treating mental health patients.

On a pilot basis, the initiative was launched in Bengaluru, Kolar, and Chikkaballapur

 

S24. Ans. (4) Ashleigh Barty

Sol. In tennis, World Number 1 Ashleigh Barty of Australia defeated Danielle Collins of the US, 6-3 7-6, to win women’s singles final title at the Australian Open 2022 on January 29, 2022.

With this win the 25-year-old Barty has become the first Australian woman in 44 years to win a Grand Slam title at home.

Before this, Chris O’Neil was the last Australian woman to lift Australian Open in 1978.

This is the 15th career title and third Grand Slam title won by Barty after French Open in 2019 and Wimbledon in 2021.

 

S25. Ans. (1) Nashik and Dewas

Sol. Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) has set up ‘new bank note printing lines’ at its Currency Note Press, Nashik and Bank Note Press, Dewas.

SPMCIL is a Government of India-owned Miniratna company and is engaged in the manufacture/production of Currency and Bank Notes, Security Paper.

In India, we have four printing presses for printing and supply of Banknotes. These are at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, Nasik in Maharashtra (owned by SPMCIL) Mysore in Karnataka, and Salboni in West Bengal (owned by Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL)).

 

S26. Ans. (1) Chile

Sol. Argentina defeated Chile, 4-2 to win its 6th women’s field hockey championship title at the 2022 Women’s Pan American Cup.

The Women’s Pan American Cup is the quadrennial international championship of the Americas organized by Pan American Hockey Federation.

The 2022 Women’s Pan Am Cup was the sixth edition of the championship. It was held from January 19 to 29, 2022 in Santiago, Chile.

With this win both Argentina and Chile has sealed automatic qualification spots at the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup, Spain and Netherlands 2022.

 

S27. Ans. (3) United for Dignity

Sol. World Leprosy Day is observed globally on the last Sunday of January every year.

In 2022, World Leprosy Day falls on January 30, 2022.

Theme 2022: “United for Dignity”

In India, World Leprosy Day is celebrated every year on 30 January, the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death.

The day aims to raise global awareness of this deadly ancient disease and call attention to the fact that it can be prevented, treated, and cured.

The day was initiated in 1954 by French philanthropist and writer, Raoul Follereau as a tribute to the life of the Mahatma Gandhi who had compassion for people afflicted with leprosy.

 

S28. Ans. (4) $29.9 million

Sol. India has paid its United Nations regular budget assessment for the year 2022 in full with a payment of $29.9 million on January 21, 2022.

With this India joins ‘2022 Honour Roll’ list of Member States that have paid their @UN Regular Budget Assessments in full.

So far 31 Member States out of 193 have paid their regular budget assessments in full as of 26 January 2022.

Honour Roll 2022 will recognise Member States that have paid their regular budget assessments in full within the 30-day due period specified in Financial Regulation 3.5 (i.e. by 9 February 2022). By its resolution 76/238 of 24 December 2021, the General Assembly adopted the scale of assessments for the contributions of Member States to the regular budget of the United Nations for 2022, 2023 and 2024.

 

S29. Ans.   (2) Tata Play

Sol. Tata Sky has announced that it is changing its name to Tata Play after over 15 years of its existence.

The new name signifies the expanded range of products and services offered by the company.

Currently, Tata Sky has a total of 23 million connections and 19 million active subscribers.

Tata Sky, the company that started operating in 2004 was launched as an 80:20 joint venture between Tata Sons and 21st Century Fox.

 

S30. Ans. (3) Malaysia

Sol. Malaysia’s AirAsia Group Bhd said on 28th January 2022, it had changed its name to Capital A Bhd to reflect its growing portfolio of businesses beyond the core budget airline.

The airline business has been hard-hit during the pandemic due to strict travel rules in Asia.

 

S31. Ans. (2) Mansukh Mandaviya

Sol.India is the third-largest pharmaceutical manufacturing country and to make the research more purposeful and meaningful in the sector, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has launched the Research Portal of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER).

The Research Portal has been developed with an aim to disseminate the information about all the NIPERs and their research activities, patents filed and Publication information in one place so that industry and other stakeholders know about them. The platform will track the research and tasks of all NIPERS.

The goal of this portal is to authenticate the availability of ongoing research work.

 

S32. Ans. (3) Peru

Sol. The Peruvian government has declared a 90-day “environmental emergency” in damaged coastal territories, after an oil spill that saw 6,000 barrels of crude oil pour into the sea.

The oil spill came out of a tanker belonging to the Spanish energy firm Repsol.

The incident occurred at the La Pampilla refinery, some 30 kilometers (around 19 miles) north of the Peruvian capital of Lima in the Ventanilla district of the port city of Callao.

The Italian-flagged “Mare Doricum” tanker was transporting 965,000 barrels of crude oil when it was hit.

 

S33. Ans. (2) Narendra Modi

Sol. On January 28, 2022, Pandit Jasraj Cultural Foundation was launched marking the occasion of 92nd birth anniversary of late Indian classical vocalist, Pandit Jasraj.

During the launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at the online event and remembered him.

Pandit Jasraj Cultural Foundation has been founded by Pandit Jasraj’s son, Shaarang Dev Pandit and his daughter, Durga Jasraj. Foundation was launched with the objective of protecting, preserving, developing and promoting the National Heritage, Art & Culture of India.

Pandit Jasraj was an Indian classical vocalist. He belonged the Mewati gharana.

 

S34. Ans. (3) UK

Sol. The 2nd virtual outing of the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) has been live from 28 January 2022.

The 12th edition of the literary evert, which goes on till the 30th of January, consists of book discussions, panel sessions and other literary events streamsed live through its YouTube channel.

The United Kingdom is the guest nation for this year’s Hyderabad Literature Festival.

Hyderabad Literature Festival 2022 is dedicated to the late Ajay Gandhi, founder of Manthan, a thought-provoking discussion platform and a close supporter of the festival since 2013.

 

S35. Ans.  (2) 46%

Sol. Data Analytics Report based on results conducted on haemoglobin samples received from January 2015 till November 2021 showed that 46% of girl children below 15 years were anaemic.

Over 13% of the samples tested were found severely anaemic.

A total of 8,57,003 samples of girls were tested by SRL Diagnostics in a span of seven years.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-(III), more than half of women in India (55%) have anaemia. In India, Fifty five per cent of adolescent girls are anaemic.

Among all the states, Assam is the worst affected with 72% of married women being anaemic, followed by Haryana (69.7%) and Jharkhand (68.4%).

Globally, Anaemia affects 62 billion people, which corresponds to 24.8% of the population.

 

S36. Ans. (2) Netherlands

Sol. The World’s Largest Canal Lock has been inaugurated at Ijmuiden, a small port city, in the Port of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The sea lock was inaugurated by Dutch King Willen-Alexander on January 26, 2022.

The Ijmuiden sea lock is 500-meter (1,640-feet) long and 70-meter wide.

The overall cost of constructing the project is $338 million.

 

S37. Ans. (4) Gurgaon

Sol. India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging station has been inaugurated in Sector 52 of Gurugram at Delhi-Jaipur National Highway, on January 28, 2022.

The charging station has been installed and operated by tech-piloting company Alektrify.

The new station has a capacity of 100 charging points for four-wheelers. This includes 72 units as AC slow chargers and 24 units as DC fast chargers.

Before this, the largest EV charging station in India was located in Navi Mumbai, comprising 16 AC and 4 DC chargers.

 

S38. Ans. (1) 10%

Sol.  The World Gold Council (WGC) in its ‘Gold Demand Trends 2021’ Report has informed that the global gold demand rose 10% in 2021 to 4,021.3 tonnes.

The overall gold demand during 2020 stood at 3,658.8 tonnes.

Meanwhile, India’s total gold demand surged by 78.6 percent to 797.3 tonnes in 2021 from 446.4 tonnes during 2020.

 

S39. Ans. (1) Rajasthan

Sol.  Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary has recently been announced to be notified as the 4th tiger reserve of Rajasthan.

This Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary will be spread over an area of 1,071 square kilometres.

This Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary was established in the year 1982. There are 8 villages in the main areas of the sanctuary.

 

S40. Ans. (3) Tamil Nadu

Sol.  The Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Erode district of Tamil Nadu and Bardia National Park in Nepal have jointly won the prestigious TX2 Award for 2022, for doubling their tiger populations since 2010.

Sathyamangalam was designated a Tiger Reserve in 2013. The population of tigers increased from only 25 tigers in 2011 to an estimated 80 individuals currently.

Similarly, the tiger population in Bardia National Park increased by almost five-fold from less than 20 tigers in 2009 to 87 in 2018.

The TX2 awards recognise and celebrate sites that have demonstrated conservation excellence or made significant progress towards tiger recovery since 2010 and contributed towards the TX2 goal.

The TX2 stands for ‘Tigers times two’.

 

S41. Ans. (2) Honduras

Sol. Xiomara Castro was on January 27, 2021 sworn in as the first-ever female President of Honduras.

Castro is also a former first lady, as she is the wife of former Honduras President Manuel Zelaya who was ousted in a coup in 2009.

She is also the first President of the country who is not a member of either the Liberal Party or the National Party since democracy was restored in the Central American country in 1982.

In 2013, 2017, and 2021 Honduran general elections, Xiomara Castro represented the left-wing Libre Party, running as the party’s candidate for Honduras President in 2013 and 2021.

 

S42. Ans. (1) Om Birla

Sol.The Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla launched the official mobile application of the Parliament named ‘Digital Sansad App’ on January 27, 2022, to allow citizens to access live proceedings of the House, including the Union Budget 2022

The app will make the Parliament and Parliamentary proceedings accessible not only to the members but also to the public of the country.

Through the Digital Sansad App, citizens can check what their members of Parliament are doing, what debates they are participating in and what they are saying.

Using the app, parliamentarians can also digitally log their attendance.

 

S43. Ans.  (3) Subhash Garg

Sol.  The former finance secretary of India, Subhash Chandra Garg has announced his debut book named “The $10 Trillion Dream”.

The book is scheduled to hit stands towards the end of February 2022.

The new book explores the critical policy issues that India faces today and suggests reforms for it to become a $10 trillion economy by the mid-2030s.

It is published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI).

 

S44. Ans. (4) Google

Sol. Indian telecom company Bharti Airtel and Google have announced a long-term partnership agreement on January 28, 2022 to accelerate the growth of India’s digital ecosystem.

Under the deal, Google will invest $1 billion in Airtel.

From the total investment, Google will invest $700 million to acquire 1.28 percent stake in Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Remaining $300 million will go toward multi-year commercial agreements with Airtel, including devices built together by the two tech giants.

The $1 billion funding is part of Google’s $10 billion ‘Google for India Digitization Fund’, launched in 2020.

 

S45. Ans. (4) IIT Jodhpur

Sol. A group of researchers from IIT Jodhpur have developed an automated Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution for COVID-19 diagnosis using chest X-ray images.

The research is part of the RAKSHAK project under NM-CPS DST and iHuB Drishti at IIT Jodhpur.

They have proposed ‘COMiT-Net’, a deep-learning algorithm that can learn abnormalities present in the chest x-ray images and differentiate between a Covid-affected lung and a normal one.

The AI algorithm is also capable of identifying the infected regions of lungs.

 

S46. Ans.  (2) Delhi

Sol. Jio-bp, the Indian joint venture formed by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and BP, has opened one of India’s largest EV charging hubs in Delhi.

The new charging hub fits into Jio-bp’s strategy to develop a national network of mobility stations and support the fueling transition. The JV aims to be a leader in the Indian charging space.

BluSmart has the largest fleet of EV cabs and the largest network of EV fast charging stations across Delhi.

India’s market for fuels and mobility is rapidly growing. It is expected to be the fastest-growing fuels market in the world over the next 20 years.

 

S47. Ans.  (3) France

Sol. Noted Kathakali dancer Milena Salvini from France, known for teaching Indian classical dance, has passed away. She was 84.

Salvini was born in Italy but moved to France for learning music.

In 1962, Salvini obtained a two-year scholarship training in Kathakali at the Kerala Kalamandalam.

In 1975 she opened the Mandapa Centre in Paris to teach Indian classical dance.

The Government of India conferred the Padma Shri upon Salvini in 2019 for her contribution to the field of performing arts.

 

S48. Ans. (2) Cuttack

Sol. The Odisha Open 2022, a Badminton World Federation (BWF) event will begin from 25th January 2022, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack.

Reportedly, the 2022 Odisha Open is a Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 100 tournament. It is the third tournament of the 2022 BWF World Tour and is the first edition of the Odisha Open.

This tournament is organized by the Badminton Association of India with sanctions from the Badminton World Federation.

 

S49. Ans. (2) Ruskin Bond

Sol. Author Ruskin Bond has come up with his book, “A Little Book of India: Celebrating 75 years of Independence“.

It pays homage to the country that has been his home for 84 years.

It has been published by Penguin Random House India.

Ruskin is the recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award, Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.

 

S50. Ans. (3) Badrinath Srinivasan

Sol. Wipro Limited has appointed Badrinath Srinivasan as the Managing Director for Southeast Asia.

He will focus on Wipro’s vision for business growth, revenue expansion, client and influencer relationships, talent development, and brand building.

He will also strengthen the key markets of Southeast Asia, focusing on large deals and strategic transformational engagements.

 

S51. Ans. (1) Andhra Pradesh

Sol.The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has 13 new districts notified by the government under AP Districts Formation Act, Section 3(5).

The new districts have been formed based on Parliamentary constituencies.

Adding to the existing 13 districts, the total number of districts in Andhra Pradesh is now 26.

The cabinet decision came late on 25th January 2022 following which planning secretary GSRKR Vijaykumar handed over the recommendations to chief secretary Sameer Sharma. The notification was issued subsequently to be released in all districts.

Here is the list of the new and the respective headquarters.

Srikakulam – Srikakulam

Vizianagaram – Vizianagaram

Manyam Dist – Parvathipuram (new)

Alluri Sitharama Raju District – Paderu (new)

Visakhapatnam – Visakhapatnam

Anakapalli – Anakapalli (new)

Kakinada – Kakinada (new)

Kona Seema – Amalapuram (new)

East Godavari – Rajamahendravaram

West Godavari – Bheemavaram

Eluru – Eluru (new)

Krishna – Machilipatnam

NTR District – Vijayawada (new)

Guntur – Guntur

Bapatla – Bapatla (new)

Palnadu – Narsaraopeta (new)

Prakasam – Ongole

SPS Nellore – Nellore

Kurnool – Kurnool

Nandyal – Nandyal (new)

Ananthapuram – Ananthapuram

Sri Satyasai District – Puttaparthy (new)

YSR Kadapa – Kadapa

Annamayya District – Rayachoty (new)

Chittoor – Chittoor

Sri Balaji Dist. – Tirupati (new)

 

S52. Ans. (2) 75 aircrafts

Sol. The Republic Day Flypast comprised 75 aircraft and helicopters making different formations as they fly past Rajpath.

The flypast included the current modern aircraft/helicopters like Rafale, Sukhoi, Jaguar, Mi-17, Sarang, Apache and Dakota displaying various formations including Amrit, Eklavya, Rahat, Meghna, Trishul, Tiranga and Vijay.

75 aircraft, helicopters flew past Rajpath in different formations with precision at tremendous speeds.

For the first time, the defence ministry presented videos from the cockpit as the helicopters and aircraft flew over Rajpath.

 

S53. Ans. (2) Shivangi Singh

Sol. India’s first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot Shivangi Singh was part of the Indian Air Force tableau at the Republic Day parade on 26th January 2022.

She is only the second woman fighter jet pilot to be part of the Indian Air Force (IAF) tableau.

Ms Singh, who is from Varanasi, joined the IAF in 2017 and was commissioned in the IAF’s second batch of women fighter pilots. She had been flying MiG-21 Bison aircraft before flying the Rafale.

She is part of the IAF’s Golden Arrows squadron based out of Ambala in Punjab.

The IAF tableau was based on the theme — ‘Indian Air Force transforming for the future’.

Last year, Flight Lieutenant Bhawna Kanth became the first female fighter jet pilot to be part of the IAF tableau.

 

S54. Ans. (1) ₹18,000 crore

Sol. The Government of India officially handed over India’s flag carrier, Air India to Talace Private Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Group, on January 27, 2022, almost 69 years after acquiring the conglomerate.

The total value of the deal is ₹18,000 crore (US$2.4 billion).

The strategic disinvestment transaction of Air India includes transfer of 100 percent stake of GoI in Air India to Tata Sons, along with management control.

The transaction covers three entities namely, Air India, Air India Express and Air India SATS (AI SATS).

Under the deal, Tata group will also be handed over Air India Express and 50 percent stake in ground handling arm AI SATS.

The Air India airline was founded by R. D. Tata in 1932 as Tata Air Services and later renamed to Tata Airlines.

After World War II, on 29 July 1946, Tata Airlines became a public limited company under the name Air India

In 1953, the Government of India passed the Air Corporations Act and purchased a majority stake in the carrier

In 2007, Air India and Indian Airlines were merged under Air India Limited

On 28 June 2017, the Government of India approved the privatisation of Air India.

Finally, on 8 October 2021, Air India was sold to Talace Private Limited, a subsidiary (special purpose vehicle (SPV)) of the Tata Group’s holding company Tata Sons.

This will be the third airline brand owned by Tata Group.

 

S55. Ans.  (4) 384

Sol. The President has approved awards of 384 Gallantry and other Defence decorations to Armed Forces personnel and others on the occasion of 73rd Republic Day celebrations.

These include 12 Shaurya Chakras including, 29 Param Vishisht Seva Medals, 4 Uttam Yudh Seva Medals, 53 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals, 13 Yudh Seva Medals, 3 Bar to Vishisht Seva Medals, 122 Vishisht Seva Medals, 3 Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry).

Besides, 81 Sena Medals (Gallantry), 2 Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry), 40 Sena Medals for Devotion to Duty, Eight Nao Sena Medals and 14 Vayu Sena Medals have been approved Devotion to Duty.

Out of the total 12 Shaurya Chakra Awardees, 9 of them have been awarded posthumously. They include Subedar Sreejith M of 17th Battalion of the Madras Regiment, Havildar Anil Kumar Tomar, Rajput Regiment, the 44th Batallion. The Rashtriya Rifles and Havildar Pinku Kumar, the Jat Regiment, 34th Battalion the Rashtriya Rifles.

Olympian Neeraj Chopra who is a Subedar in the Indian Army has been honored with Param Vishisht Seva Medal on the eve of Republic Day. Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal for India in the javelin throw event at Tokyo Olympics.

 

S56. Ans. (3) Pushp Kumar Joshi

Sol.  Pushp Kumar Joshi has been picked by to be new chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), the nation’s third largest oil refining and fuel marketing company.

Joshi, who is currently Director – Human Resources at HPCL – was picked after PESB interviewed 10 candidates on January 24, the headhunter said in a notice.

The recommendation will now go to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Joshi, 58, has been on the board of HPCL for almost a decade now. He will replace Mukesh Kumar Surana, who superannuates on April 30 this year.

 

S57. Ans. (2) Chhattisgarh

Sol.Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on 26th January 2022, has launched a scheme under which first two daughters of labourers will be provided financial assistance for education and employment.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel announced this special scheme – meant to empower women — on the occasion of 73rd Republic Day celebrations on 26th January 2022 at Jagdalpur’s Lalbagh Parade ground in Bastar.

Under the scheme, ₹20,000 will be deposited in the bank account of each of the first two daughters of the labourers registered with the ‘Chhattisgarh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board’.

 

S58. Ans.  (2) TATA

Sol. Tata Motors will continue to support the Tata Open Maharashtra tennis tournament, for the fourth consecutive year.

The event will be held from January 31 to February 6, 2022 at the Balewadi stadium in Pune.

The prestigious IMG-owned tournament, organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association and licensed by Rise World, was also supported by Tata from 2002-2004 when it was held in Chennai.

 

S59. Ans. (1) Gulf of Oman

Sol. The Russian, Chinese and Iranian navies undertook naval exercises CHIRU-2Q22 in the Gulf of Oman from January 18 to 22, 2022.

The maritime drills conducted in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean aimed at deepening practical cooperation among the navies of the three countries.

The participants practiced various tactics and operations, such as rescuing ablaze vessels, saving hijacked vessels, shooting at targets, nocturnal shooting at aerial targets, and other tactical maneuvers as a part of the drill.

 

S60. Ans. (2) Padma Vibhushan

Sol. India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat will be posthumously honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award.

The CDS had died in a tragic helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu in December 2021.

 

S61. Ans. (4) Nigeria

Sol. The Ministry of External Affairs has announced on January 27, 2022, that G Balasubramaniam has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Nigeria.

Balasubramaniam has been currently serving as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

G Balasubramaniam is expected to take up his latest assignment shortly. 

 

S62. Ans.  (1) Meenakshi Lekhi

Sol. The Minister of State for Culture Meenakshi Lekhi released the pictorial comic book ‘India’s Women Unsung Heroes’.

The comic book has been prepared by the Ministry of Culture in partnership with Amar Chitra Katha.

The latest comic book portrays the tales of valour of India’s forgotten women freedom fighter. It is a fitting tribute to them as it celebrates the lives of women who lit the flame of rebellion in the country.

The Minister further informed that the book contains the stories of queens who had battled imperialism and also dedicated their lives to Maa Bharati.

 

S63. Ans. (2) Marathi

Sol.  Renowned Marathi author and social activist Anil Awachat has passed away due to a prolonged illness.

He was 77.

Dr Awachat was the founder of a de-addiction center called Muktangan Rehabilitation Center in Pune in 1986.

He was known for his several Marathi books like “Manasa”, Swatahavishayi, “Gard”, “Karyarat”, “Karyamagna” and “Kutuhalapoti”.

 

S64. Ans. (4) Hockey

Sol. The former Hockey mid-fielder Charanjit Singh has passed away at his residence in Una, Himachal Pradesh, after suffering a cardiac arrest and prolonged age-related illnesses. He was 90.

Charanjit Singh was the Captain of the Indian hockey team which won gold in the Tokyo Olympics of 1964,

He was also a member of the Indian team which won silver medals in the 1960 Games in Rome, and in the 1962 Asian Games at Jakarta.

 

S65. Ans. (3) Both of the above

Sol. Indian Movie’s Jai Bhim and Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham have been officially shortlisted for the Oscars 2022.

Jai Bhim is the fourth Indian film to get nominated for Oscars after Mother India, Salaam Bombay, and Lagaan.

Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham has been also nominated for the Global Community Oscar Awards 2021.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has released the list of 276 films eligible for the awards this year.

Not just Jai Bhim and Marakkar, directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Writing with Fire, a film about a newspaper run by Dalit women, has been shortlisted in the Best Documentary Feature category at the Oscars 2022.

The nominations will be announced on February 8. The 94th Academy Awards will be held on March 27.

 

S66. Ans. (3) 128

Sol. The Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian Awards in India. They are conferred in three categories namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

The awards are announced every year on the occasion of Republic Day on January 26, in various disciplines/ fields of activities, such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.

The 2022 Padma Award has been conferred upon 128 winners.

These includes four Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan awardees, and 107 Padma Shri awardees.

34 out of 128 awardees are women, while ten persons are Indian origin and Non-Resident Indians.

 

S67. Ans. (2) 85th

Sol. Transparency International has released the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021 in which India has been ranked at 85th spot (Score of 40).

The ranking has been topped jointly by three countries- Denmark, Finland and New Zealand. (Score of 88)

Last year (for 2020) India was ranked 86th with a score of 40.

This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reveals that corruption levels are at a worldwide standstill. The global average remains unchanged for the tenth year in a row, at just 43 out of 100 points.

 

S68. Ans. (2) Apple

Sol. Apple has retained its position as the most valuable brand in 2022 as well, according to the Brand Finance 2022 Global 500 report.

The brand valuation of Apple was recorded at $355.1 billion in 2022, which is an increase of 35% from last year.

This is the highest brand value ever recorded in the Brand Finance Global 500 ranking history.

Other brands in top 10 are: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Walmart, Samsung, Facebook, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Huawei and Verizon respectively.

TikTok (18th) has been named the world’s fastest-growing brand in the list. Its brand value increased from $18.7 billion in 2021 to $59.0 billion in 2022.

Tech remained most valuable industry in the list in terms of sector. This was followed by Retail, Banking, Media and Telecoms in top 5 respectively.

The Indian conglomerate Tata Group emerged as the most valuable brand from India and also in South Asia. It is only brand from the country in the top 100. Global Rank – 78, Brand value – $23.9 billion.

 

S69. Ans. (1) PASCHIM LEHAR

Sol. Western Naval Command of the Indian Navy conducted a joint maritime exercise Paschim Lehar (XPL-2022) off the West Coast which concluded on January 25, 2022.

The exercise continued for 20 days and was conducted with an aim to enhance Inter-Service synergy among the Indian Navy, IAF, Indian Army and Coast Guard.

The Western Naval Command (HQ- Mumbai) is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. Other two are Eastern Naval Command (HQ- Visakhapatnam) and Southern Naval Command (HQ- Kochi)

 

S70. Ans. (4) Russia

Sol. Russia delivered all the contracted 70,000 AK-203 Kalashnikov assault rifles to the Indian Armed Forces on January 25, 2022.

The Indian Armed Forces had placed an order for 670,000 rifles, for which the contract was signed on December 06, 2021 between India and Kalashnikov (Russian defense manufacturing unit).

The total cost of the contract is around ₹5,124 crore.

The contract included procuring 70,000 rifles off the shelf.

The remaining 600,000 rifles will be manufactured by an Indo-Russian joint venture company, Indo-Russia Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL), based at Amethi, Uttar Pradesh India under transfer of technology (ToT). [at Korwa Rifle Factory, Amethi]

The lightweight AK-203 Rifles will replace military’s in-service INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) Rifle, which are in service for over three decades since 1998.

 

S71. Ans. (1) Unity Small Finance Bank

Sol. The Government of India on January 25, 2022 has sanctioned and notified the Scheme for the amalgamation of the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Ltd. (PMC Bank) with Unity Small Finance Bank Ltd. (USFBL).

This means that from January 25, 2022 all the branches of the PMC Bank will function as branches of Unity Small Finance Bank Ltd.

Unity Small Finance Bank Limited is promoted by Centrum Financial Services Limited along with Resilient Innovation Private Limited. Both the promotors have infused capital of ₹1105.10 crore in the bank.

After the amalgamation of PMC Bank with Unity SFB, Unity SFB will pay the customers of PMC Bank the amount it receives from DICGC (maximum upto amount insured by DICGC i.e ₹5 Lakh) in installments of 10 years.

Section 45 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 empowers the Reserve Bank of India to prepare a scheme of reconstruction or amalgamation of banking companies (which include co-operative banks).

 

S72. Ans. (4) OM

Sol. CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) has developed an indigenous RT-PCR diagnostic kit, ‘Om’, for the testing of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

It is the first kit made by any government institution, and the third to be made indigenously, for specific testing of Omicron.

Currently, two more such kits developed by private players are available in the market. The kit will give test results in around two hours.

Om enables quick and cost-effective detection of omicron variants over genome sequencing for a large population. It was made within two months and will cost around ₹150.

 

S73. Ans. (1) Mansukh Mandaviya

Sol.  The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the revamped website and mobile app of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) on January 24, 2022.

The website is www.cghs.gov.in and the mobile app is called “MyCGHS”.

The new features will benefit more than 40 lakh beneficiaries with real-time information from the convenience of their homes.

The website has been made 3U compliant, where u stands for Usable, User-Centric and Universally Accessible.

 

S74. Ans. (2) Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL)

Sol. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IndianOil) has emerged as the first Indian PSU to win the Global Healthy Workplace Award 2021 in the ‘Large Scale Industry’

The award acknowledges IndianOil’s unwavering focus on upholding best healthy practices at the workplace.

The award also honours the company’s extensive endeavours to support its employees’ mental and physical wellbeing to nurture a happy, positive and productive workplace.

The award was announced during the 9th Global Healthy Workplace Summit organised between 17th and 18th November 2021.

 

S75. Ans. (3) Padma Bhushan

Sol. Veteran CPI(M) leader and former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on 25th January 2021, rejected the Padma Bhushan award.

“I know nothing about this award. No one has told me anything about it. If they have decided to offer Padma Bhushan to me, I refuse to accept it,” Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said in a statement.

Buddhadeb Vattacharjee is an Indian politician and a former member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011.

 

S76. Ans. (4) J&K

Sol.Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha announced 15 percent reservation for Women in non-gazetted posts of J&K Police on the occasion of National Girl Child Day on January 24,2022.

This landmark decision will further strengthen women empowerment in the Union Territory.

He said, the Jammu and Kashmir government is committed to ensure social and economic empowerment of women while addressing long-standing inequalities to build a more just and resilient society.

 

S77. Ans. (1) Spice Xchange India

Sol. The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash inaugurated India’s first portal for spice exports named ‘Spice Xchange India’ at a hybrid event held in Kochi.

The spicexchangeindia.com portal has been launched by the Spices Board of India.

The portal is a 3D virtual platform, that makes use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology to connect India’s spice exporters with buyers from around the world.

 

S78. Ans. (3) City Union Bank

Sol. City Union Bank, in partnership with GOQii (smarttech-enabled preventive healthcare platform) and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced the launch of RuPay On –The-Go Payment solution through their Debit Card in a Fitness Watch.

CUB EASY PAY is a payment method by City Union Bank. Now the bank has integrated this feature of Debit Card in a Fitness Watch. For this Customers need to hold this wristwatch in front of the PoS device during payment like tapping the card on PoS. For payments above ₹5,000, customers need to tap and enter their PIN.

In December 2021, City Union Bank had launched CUB Easy Pay Keychain, a wearable payment device that allows to tap and pay purchases on merchant PoS.

 

S79. Ans. (3) Kerala

Sol. Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), the first-of-its-kind State-level bird atlas in India, has created solid baseline data about the distribution and abundance of bird species across all major habitats, giving an impetus to futuristic studies

It is being conducted as a citizen science-driven exercise with the participation of over 1,000 volunteers of the birdwatching community KBA has been prepared based on systematic surveys held twice over 60 days a year.

 

S80. Ans.  (4) Kerala

Sol. The India’s first graphene innovation centre will soon be established by the Digital University Kerala (DUK).

The university has joined hands with the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Thrissur, to set up the India Innovation Centre for Graphene in the State.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT has accorded sanction for a ₹86.41-crore project in this regard.

 

S81. Ans. (1) Ratan Tata

Sol. The state government of Assam has conferred its highest civilian award ‘Assam Baibhav’ for the year 2021 on industrialist and philanthropist Ratan Tata.

Mr Tata has been awarded for “his exceptional contribution towards furthering cancer care in Assam”.

The award was presented by Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi on January 24, 2022.

Assam Baibhav is the highest civilian award in the State of Assam

The award carries a cash prize of ₹5 lakh ($6,600). The recipient can avail medical treatment throughout his life at government expense.

Assam Baibhav was officially launched by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on December 02, 2021, on the occasion of “Asom diwas” (Assam Day).

 

S82. Ans. (3) Meghalaya

Sol. A living root bridge is suspension bridge across small streams. They are built using living plant roots.

These root bridges are common in Meghalaya.

They are hand made. They are built using rubber of fig trees. They are built by the local Jaintia and Khasi people.

Recently, the India has sought UNESCO World Heritage Tag.

 

S83. Ans. (1) Meta

Sol. Meta, Facebook parent company, has said that its newly unveiled artificial intelligence supercomputer will be the fastest in the world by mid-2022.

In an official statement on January 24, 2022, Meta said that the company is introducing AI Research SuperCluster (RSC), which is believed to be among the fastest AI Supercomputers running today.

It will be the fastest in the world once fully built out in mid-2022.

Earlier in October 2021, the social media company had changed its name to Meta to reflect its focus on metaverse, which will be the successor to the mobile internet.

 

S84. Ans. (4) Armenia

Sol. The President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian has announced his resignation on 23 January 2022.

As per Sarkissian, his office is not granted sufficient powers to allow him to be an effective head of state.

Armen Sarkissian served as the 4th president of Armenia from 9 April 2018 to 23 January 2022.

He had also served as Prime Minister of Armenia from 4 November 1996 to 20 March 1997.

 

S85. Ans. (1) Sweden

Sol. The Indian armed forces have signed a contract with the Swedish defence company ‘Saab’ for the supply of single-shot anti-armour weapon AT4.

Saab was selected through a competitive program for the supply of the AT4CS AST weapon, which will be used by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force.

The AT4CS AST (CS- (Confined Space); AST- Anti Structure Tandem-warheads) is a lightweight and fully disposable weapon.

It can be fired from confined spaces such as from inside buildings, bunkers and other urban environments.

The weight of AT4CS AST is around 9 kg with an effective range of 200m.

 

S86. Ans. (1) Lucknow Super Giants

Sol. The Lucknow IPL team, owned by RPSG Group, will be called Lucknow Super Giants.

Sanjiv Goenka, Lucknow IPL Team owner and RPSG Group Chairman unveiled the new name of the Lucknow IPL team in a video message on January 24, 2022.

The Lucknow IPL team had decided to crowdsource its name from the fans under ‘Naam banao naam kamao’

The India opener KL Rahul has been chosen as the captain of the new Lucknow IPL team and will be paid ₹17 crore.

 

S87. Ans. (2) Finland

Sol. Jio Platforms (JPL) signed a pact with the University of Oulu, Finland, to accelerate research and standardization in 6G technology.

JPL and the University of Oulu will collaborate in Research and Development (R&D) of aerial and space communication, holographic beamforming, 3D-connected intelligence in cybersecurity, microelectronics, and photonics.

The collaboration will develop competency with 6G enabled products in the defence, automotive, white goods, industrial machinery, consumer goods, efficient manufacturing, novel personal smart device environments, and experiences such as urban computing and autonomous traffic settings.

 

S88. Ans. (3) Kolkata International Airport

Sol. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a penalty of ₹20 lakh on Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBIA).

It has been fined for violating safety norms by neglecting runway maintenance.

The fine imposed on NSCBIA is the highest so far.

 

S89. Ans.  (2) Koozhangal

Sol. P S Vinothraj directed film Koozhangal from India won the best film award in the Asian Film Competition section at the 20th Dhaka International Film Festival which concluded in Dhaka. Apart from this, four more Indian entries were included among the 17 awards given away for the films during the concluding session.

The best actor award was given to Jayasurya for Ranjith Sankar-directed film Sunny.

The Best Script Writer Award went to Indranil Roychowdhury and Sugata Sinha for Indranil Roychowdhury-directed India-Bangladesh film Mayar Jonjal. The special audience award was given to Aimee Baruah Directed film Semkhor. Best Actor Award went to Jayasurya for Ranjith Sankar-directed film Sunny.

Sujit Bidari directed film Aina Jhyal Ko Putali from Nepal got the best director award.

In the Women film maker’s section, the best feature film award was given to Maryam Bahrololumi-directed film Shahrbanoo (Lady from the City) from Iran.

Two Bangladeshi films, Nurul Alam Atique-directed Lal Moroger Jhuti and N Rashed Chowdhury-directed Chandrabati Kotha got the Audience Award.

Information and Broadcasting Minister of Bangladesh Hasan Mahmud gave away the awards as Chief Guest during the concluding session organized at the National Museum auditorium in Dhaka.

The 9-day long festival featured 225 films drawn from 70 countries.

 

S90. Ans. (1) Uttar Pradesh

Sol.  The 47-day annual religious fair ‘Magh Mela-2022’ has been inaugurated with thousands of pilgrims taking holy dip on the banks of the Sangam in Prayagraj.

Sangam is a sacred confluence of the three rivers namely Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

The fair is usually held to mark the occasion of Makar Sankranti.

 

S91. Ans. (3) Twitter

Sol.  Micro-blogging platform Twitter launched the ‘JagrukVoter’ campaign, which aims to empower citizens with right knowledge before they vote.

The series of initiatives aims to enhance engagement of the platform with voters.

It includes the launch of a customized emoji, with notification and reminder, to support the conversation around #AssemblyElections2022.

 

S92. Ans.  (1) India

Sol.  India Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the first India-Central Asia summit in a virtual format on January 27, 2022.

As per the External Affairs Ministry, the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will participate in the virtual summit.

Earlier, India had invited the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to be chief guests of Republic Day celebrations in 2022.

 

S93. Ans. (3) Jharkhand

Sol.‘Gyanodaya Godda’ is a school education initiative launched by Eckovation, along with Jharkand’s Godda district administration and other partners.

It aims to enhance infrastructure and resources at schools.

The initiative has been named for the Silver Award at the prestigious National E-governance Awards during the 24th National e-Governance Conference held in Hyderabad.

Mon district of Nagaland won the National award under the category of ‘Use of ICT in the Management of COVID-19’.

 

S94. Ans. (3) SpaceX

Sol.  Elon Musk-founded SpaceX has successfully launched 49 more Starlink satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket to take the total number to more than 2,000.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US, on January 19.

About nine minutes later, the rocket’s first stage returned back to Earth for a pin-point touchdown on a SpaceX drone ship called “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.

 

S95. Ans. (4) Vishist Seva Medal

Sol.Subedar Neeraj Chopra was awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal on 25th January 2022 for his distinguished service.

Along with Chopra, 18 other serving and retired personnel of the Indian Army have been awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal.

Chopra was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2018 and Vishist Seva Medal (VSM) in 2020 for his excellence in sports.

He was created history last year by winning India’s first athletics gold medal in Olympics.

 

S96. Ans.  (1) Ladakh

Sol.The women’s team from Ladakh has lifted the 9th National Women’s Ice Hockey Championship in Himachal Pradesh on January 21, 2022.

The championship was organised by the Ice Hockey Association of India at Kaza area in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh from January 15 to 21, 2022.

A total of six teams participated in the championship from Delhi, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Telangana and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

The current President of the Association is Surinder Mohan Bali.

 

S97. Ans. (2) Mangaluru

Sol. The Central Government recently approved to build a plastic park at Ganjimutt, Mangaluru, Karnataka.

The park will be created at ₹62.77 crores.

It is to be built by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) land.

Of the total estimated cost of 77 crores of rupees, the union government will share 50%, that is, 31.38 crores of rupees. The rest of the 50% is to be borne by the KIADB.

 

S98. Ans. (1) Smriti Mandhana

Sol.The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the winners of 17th edition of ICC Awards for the year 2021 to recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months, between January 01, 2021 and December 31, 2021.

The winners are listed below:

Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)

Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)

ICC Umpire of the Year – Marais Erasmus

ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)

ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)

ICC Emerging Men’s Cricketer of the Year – Janneman Malan (South Africa)

ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year – Fatima Sana (Pakistan)

ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year – Zeeshan Maqsood (Oman)

ICC Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Year – Andrea-Mae Zepeda (Austria)

ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)

ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)

ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)

ICC Teams of the Year

The ICC Women’s T20I Team of 2021: Smriti Mandhana (IND), Tammy Beaumont (ENG), Danni Wyatt (ENG), Gaby Lewis (IRE), Nat Sciver (ENG, C) Amy Jones (ENG, WK), Laura Wolvaardt (SA), Marizanne Kapp (SA), Sophie Ecclestone (ENG), Loryn Phiri (ZIM) and Shabnim Ismail (SA).

The ICC Men’s T20I Team of 2021: Jos Butler (ENG), Mohammad Rizwan (PAK, WK), Babar Azam (PAK, C), Aiden Markram (SA), Mitchell Marsh (AUS), David Miller (SA), Wanindu Hasaranga (SL), Tabraiz Shamsi (SA), Josh Hazlewood (AUS), Mustafizur Rahman (BANG) and Shaheen Afridi (PAK).

The ICC Men’s ODI Team of 2021: Paul Stirling (IRE), Janneman Malan (SA), Babar Azam (PAK, C), Fakhar Zaman (PAK), Rassie van der Dussen (SA), Shakib Al-Hasan (BANG), Mushfiqur Rahim (BANG, WK), Wanindu Hasaranga (SL), Mustafizur Rahman (BANG), Simi Singh (IRE) and Dushmantha Chameera (SL)

 

S99. Ans. (1) 29 Children

Sol. The Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) for the year 2022 has been conferred to 29 children.

These winners include 15 Boys and 14 Girls, belonging to 21 States and UTs.

The PMRBP award is given by the Government of India to the children with exceptional abilities and outstanding accomplishments in 6 categories.

 

S100. Ans. (2) NASA

Sol. The US Space agency, NASA, has launched Phase 2 of the challenge called as ‘Deep Space Food Challenge’ in coordination with the Canadian Space Agency.

The competition invites teams to design, build, and demonstrate innovative and sustainable prototypes of food production technologies and produce food for judging.

The technology will help future astronauts to produce nutritious, tasty, and satisfying meals on long-duration space missions, that require minimal resources and produce minimal waste.

The Phase 2 of the challenge includes a prize of $1 million.

Phase 1 of the Challenge ended in October 2021 and 18 teams were awarded a total of $450,000.

 

S101. Ans. (3) Vinodanand Jha

Sol. Vinodanand Jha has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Adjudicating Authority, for a period of 5 years.

Jha is a 1983-batch retired IRS officer, who was serving as the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax in Pune before this.

The PMLA Adjudicating Authority is a three-member body whose mandated is to adjudicate the cases of attachment of assets orders issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and order for its continuity and further confiscation or release, considering the merits of the investigation.

 

S102. Ans. (4) Tamil Nadu

Sol. Noted Indian historian, archaeologist and epigraphist from Tamil Nadu, Ramachandran Nagaswamy, has passed away. He was 91.

He first director of Tamil Nadu government’s Department of Archaeology.

Nagaswamy was known for his work on temple inscriptions and art history of Tamil Nadu.

In 2018, Nagaswamy was conferred with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award.

Nagaswamy has authored more than 100 books and his latest book was ‘Senthamizh Naadum Pandbum’, published in January 2022.

 

S103. Ans. (2) Delhi

Sol.The Delhi Government recently launched the one-stop website to promote electric vehicles.

The website is delhi.gov.in. The website is open for manufacturers, buyers, charging station explorers.

The main features of the website are EV search, EV calculator and EV dashboard.

The website also provides information about the public charging stations in the capital. So far, Delhi has installed 377 charging points. They are spread across 170 locations.

 

S104. Ans. (2) Malaysia

Sol.  Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav addressed the 4th Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation.

The government of Malaysia and Global Tiger Forum (GTF) has organized the 4th Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation.

The draft declaration on tiger conservation for Global Tiger Summit was finalized at a “Pre-Tiger Summit” in New Delhi in 2010.

India is home to over 70% of the tiger population globally. It has 51 tiger reserves in 18 states.

 

S105. Ans. (3) Karnataka

Sol. Government of Karnataka has launched India’s first AVGC Center of Excellence (CoE) (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics) in Mahadevapura, Bengaluru, Karnataka.

AVGC CoE was launched with pioneering high technology digital media hub under its Innovate Karnataka initiative. It is funded by Department of Electronics Information Technology Biotechnology and Science & Technology.

Karnataka became India’s first state to set up such an AVGC CoE, it is also the biggest center in Asia.

 

S106. Ans. (3) Himachal Pradesh

Sol. The state governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to revive the Saraswati river.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur in Panchkula on January 21, 2022.

Under the MoU, the Haryana Government will construct a dam and a reservoir in Adi Badri area near Yamunanagar district, which is situated on the border of Himachal Pradesh.

The cost of the project is estimated at ₹215.33 crore and will be borne entirely by Haryana government.

Adi-Badri is considered as the origin of the Saraswati river.

It is planned that the dam will be delivered 224 hectare metre water from Som river, which starts from Himachal Pradesh and falls into the Yamuna river in Yamunanagar.

Out of the 224 hectare metre water, 62 hectare metre water will be given to Himachal Pradesh and the remaining 162 hectare metre water will be used for the Saraswati river in Haryana throughout the year.

 

S107. Ans.  (4) India

Sol. India has emerged as the largest exporter of cucumber and gherkins in the world.

India has exported cucumber and gherkins to the tune of over one lakh 23 thousand Metric Tonnes with a value of 114 million US dollar during April to October 2020-21.

In 2020-21, India had shipped over 2 lakh 23 thousand Metric Tonnes of cucumber and gherkins with a value of 223 million US dollar.

Gherkins are exported under two categories — cucumbers and gherkins. Gherkins is currently exported to more than 20 countries including USA, France, Germany, Australia, Spain, South Korea, Canada, Japan, Belgium, Russia and China.

 

S108. Ans. (1) Maharashtra

Sol. Union Ministry of Culture has started the process to set up a museum at Pusad in Maharashtra to commemorate a `jungle satyagraha’ led by RSS founder Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1930.

MP Rakesh Sinha, who had demanded that a museum be built at `Satyagraha Sthal’ at Pusad in Yavatmal district as part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Independence.

 

S109. Ans. (2) South Africa

Sol. South Africa has launched its first satellite constellation developed entirely in the continent of Africa.

Three locally produced nanosatellites, which made up the country’s first Maritime Domain Awareness Satellite (MDASat) constellation, were launched from Cape Canaveral in the United States, as part of American aerospace company SpaceX’s Transporter-3 mission.

Transporter-3, SpaceX’s third dedicated rideshare mission, carried a total of 105 spacecraft for various organisations and governments, including CubeSats, microsats, PocketQubes and orbital transfer vehicles.

 

S110. Ans. (4) India

Sol. The Indian women’s football team has withdrawn from the ongoing AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 after several players tested positive for COVID-19.

Hosts India were considered to be withdrawn from the tournament after they were unable to field 13 players in their match against Chinese Taipei.

All of India’s matches stand cancelled and will be considered as null and void.

 

S111. Ans. (3) Lucknow

Sol. India’s first para-badminton academy has been set up in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It has all the advanced equipment and facilities.

The set up will improve India’s medal prospects at the 2024 Paralympics to be held in Paris, France at Stade de France stadium.

The badminton center has been launched by the head national coach of Indian para-badminton team, Gaurav Khanna, in association with Ageas Federal Life Insurance.

 

S112. Ans.(2) Jammu & Kashmir

Sol. The Union Minister of Home and Cooperation Amit Shah has virtually released India’s First “District Good Governance Index” for 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu district has topped the Index.

The top 5 districts in the District Good Governance Index” are (1) Jammu, (2) Doda, (3) Samba, (4) Pulwama and (5) Srinagar.

This index has been prepared by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in collaboration with the Government of Jammu & Kashmir.

The District Good Governance Index (DGGI) is a framework document comprising of performance under ten governance sectors having 58 indicators with 116 data points.

 

S113. Ans.(2) Jammu & Kashmir

Sol. In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the administration has declared Jerri Hamlet in Reasi district as the first ‘Milk Village’ of the Union Territory and sanctioned 57 more dairy farms under the Integrated Dairy Development Scheme (IDDS) for the hamlet.

The village, which houses 73 individual dairy units with 370 cows, will give the local farmers financial security.

After being declared as ‘Milk Village’, a total of 57 units have been sanctioned under the IDDS for the village. Under the IDDS, dairy units of five animals are provided with a 50 per cent subsidy.

The scheme also has a provision for milking machine, bulk milk cooling unit at 50% subsidy (maximum ₹5 lakh), paneer making machine, khoya making, Dahi making, cream separator, ice cream making machine, butter and ghee making machine (max subsidy ₹3. 5 lakh), milk van (maximum subsidy ₹2 lakh), milk ATM subsidy of ₹5 lakh.

 

S114. Ans.(2) Pakistan

Sol. Leading activist Sarah Gill has become Pakistan’s first transgender doctor after clearing the MBBS (Final) examination from Karachi’s Jinnah Medical and Dental College.

Gill, 23, is also associated with an NGO working for the welfare of the transgender community in Pakistan.

Dr Gill has been described as a “beacon of hope” for the country’s neglected transgender community to pursue their dreams.

 

S115. Ans.(3) Vikas Engine

Sol. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully test-fired the Vikas engine that would power India’s first human-carry rocket (Gaganyaan human space mission).

This qualification test of the Vikas Engine for the Gaganyaan human space mission was conducted by ISRO at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.

More such tests on Vikas Engine will be conducted in the future by ISRO.

 

S116. Ans.(2) Tuhin A. Sinha

Sol. Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari released a book titled ‘The Legend of Birsa Munda’, authored by Tuhin A Sinha and co-authored by Ankita Verma.

The Book is the story of a lesser-known tribal hero, Birsa Munda, who courageously fought against the oppressive British Raj for the rights of his tribal community.

 

S117. Ans.(1) Vinod Sharma

Sol. Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (in the Institutional category) and Professor Vinod Sharma (in the Individual category) have  been selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for their excellent work in Disaster Management for the year 2022.

Government of India has instituted an annual award known as Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar, to recognize and honour the invaluable contribution and selfless service rendered by individuals and organizations in India in the field of disaster management.

The award is announced every year on 23rd January, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. This year marks the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

 

S118. Ans. (2) PV Sindhu

Sol. In badminton, ace Indian shuttler PV Sindhu bagged the women’s singles title at the Syed Modi International Tournament on January 23, 2022, in Lucknow.

Sindhu beat fellow Indian Malvika Bansod 21-13 21-16 to win her second Syed Modi title after 2017.

The 2022 Syed Modi International badminton tournament was held at Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh from 18 to 23 January 2022.

Men’s singles final was declared a ‘No Match’ between Arnaud Merkle and Lucas Claerbout, after one of the finalists tested positive for Covid-19.

Mixed Doubles Syed Modi title – Ishaan Bhatnagar- Tanisha Castro.

 

S119. Ans.(3) Shinzo Abe

Sol. The former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been conferred with the Netaji Award 2022 by the Netaji Research Bureau, based in Kolkata.

The award was presented by the Bureau on January 23, 2022 to commemorate 125th birth anniversary celebration of the legendary freedom fighter, Subhas Chandra Bose at his Elgin Road residence in Kolkata.

The award was accepted by Consul General of Japan in Kolkata, Nakamura Yutaka on behalf of Abe.

Japanese Ambassador to India – Satoshi Suzuki

Netaji Research Bureau was founded by Dr Sisir Kumar Bose in 1957.

The current Director of Netaji Research Bureau is Sugata Bose, the grand-nephew of Netaji.

 

S120. Ans. (4) Mediterranean Sea

Sol.The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) member countries will be conducting a 12-day maritime exercise in the Mediterranean Sea from January 24, 2022.

The name of the maritime exercise is “Neptune Strike ’22”.

The naval drill will end on February 04, 2022.

The main purpose of this exercise will be to demonstrate and test NATO’s wide range of maritime capabilities.

 

S121. Ans.  (1) West Bengal

Sol. The World Bank has sanctioned a loan worth $125 million (about ₹1,000 crore) to the government of West Bengal to support its effort to help the poor and vulnerable groups access social protection services.

The loan has been provided under the ‘West Bengal Building State Capability for Inclusive Social Protection’ operation, on January 19, 2022.

The financial assistance will help the state administration to improve services such as medical help through telemedicine, support for the elderly and differently-abled, financial inclusion of citizens with digital payments and disbursement of benefits for public schemes.

 

S122. Ans.(4) Vinod Rai

Sol. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai as the Independent Chairman of Unity Small Finance Bank Limited (Unity Bank).

Unity Small Finance Bank is a joint venture of the Centrum Group and fintech firm BharatPe, in the ratio 51:49 respectively.

 

S123. Ans.(1) Jai Bhim

Sol. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the list of 276 films that is eligible for consideration at the 94th Oscars, on 20th January 2022.

Among these films, Suriya’s hard-hitting Tamil socio-drama Jai Bhim is India’s entry into The Academy.

‘Jai Bhim’ which has gained a nomination for best feature film, is in competition with other acclaimed flicks like ‘Jockey,’ ‘Cruella,’ ‘Dune, ‘Eternals,’ ‘Godzilla VS Kong,’ ‘King Richard,’ among other movies.

The courtroom drama directed by TCJ Gnanavel is inspired by a real-life incident from the 1990s in Tamil Nadu.

Jai Bhim is the fourth Indian film to get nominated for Oscars after Mother India, Salaam Bombay, and Lagaan.

Malayalam superstar Mohanlal’s latest period drama Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham has also officially made it to the Oscars 2021 list. The film has been nominated for the Global Community Oscar Awards 2021.

 

S124. Ans.(2) Rajasthan

Sol. The Border Security Force, BSF launches Operation SardHawa.

Under the operation, the BSF increases the surveillance in the Pakistan border. It is usually launched in the Rajasthan border, especially in the Jaisalmer region. It is a regular annual exercise. It is launched in the month of January.

The Operation SardHawa is conducted during winters and Operation GaramHawa is conducted during summers.

This year, the Operation SardHawa is to be conducted between January 23 and January 28.

 

S125. Ans.(3) Maharashtra

Sol. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) published its “Climate of India during 2021” report on January 21, 2022.

As per report, year 2021 was the fifth warmest year in India since country-wide records started in India in 1901.

India reported a loss of 1,750 lives because of extreme weather events in 2021.

Maharashtra was the most adversely affected state, with 350 deaths.

Among extreme weather events, lightning & thunderstorms was responsible for highest 787 lives followed by floods, heavy rains, and landslides, causing deaths of 759 people.

Cyclones was responsible for 172 deaths in different states in 2021.

 

S126. Ans.(2) Essar Capital

Sol. Essar Capital Ltd, the investment manager of Essar Global Fund Ltd, has appointed former chairman and managing director of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) Anil Kumar Chaudhary as chief executive officer for its metals & mining business.

Chaudhary has also been the chairman of International Coal Ventures Ltd. (ICVL) and Mjunction Services Ltd.

He had also held the post of the president of Steel Research and Technology Mission of India (SRTMI).

Currently, he is the chairman of Minerals and Metals Committee of PHDCCI.

 

S127. Ans.(4) Sri Lanka

Sol.The Government of India has offered financial assistance to Sri Lanka to purchase petroleum products.

In this regard, India has offered a $500 million Line of Credit (LoC) to Sri Lanka.

Due to this, the island nation will be able to purchase petroleum products as the nation is struggling to avail fuel and facing an energy crisis.

The support was granted by Union External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar.

The signed document was further received by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Gamini Lakshman Peiris.

 

S128. Ans. (3) Jahnavi Dangeti

Sol. Jahnavi Dangeti, a 19-year-old engineering student from Andhra Pradesh has created history by becoming first and only Indian to undergo and complete the International Air and Space Program (IASP) at NASA Launch Operations’ Kennedy Space Centre in Alabama, the U.S.

Jahnavi was one among only 20 young people from all over the world selected for IASP programme.

Jahnavi, who hails from Palakollu, of West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh is currently pursuing her engineering second year from a private university in Punjab.

 

S129. Ans.(3) Himachal Pradesh

Sol.  Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has launched ‘Apna Kangra’ app and hampers handcrafted by self help groups at Dharamsala in Kangra district.

He said that this hamper will have the collection of products of different self help groups from district Kangra.

He said that Apna Kangra App would provide a unique experience for any tourist who plans to explore various destinations in Kangra.

 

S130. Ans.(2) Israel

Sol. The Israeli Defence Ministry conducted successful test flight of the “Arrow-3” anti-ballistic missile system and its interceptors on January 18, 2022.

The Arrow 3 interceptor is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside of the earth’s atmosphere.

The advanced Arrow weapon system (AWS) is jointly funded, developed and produced by Israel and the United States, through Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Boeing.

 

S131. Ans.(2) India Gate

Sol. January 23 is being observed as Parakram Diwas in India, to mark the birth anniversary of the legendary freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

As a part of this year-long celebration, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated a hologram statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at India Gate in New Delhi.

The hologram statue will be replaced by a grand granite statue of Netaji, once the statue is completed.

The statue is being installed on 125th birth anniversary as a tribute to the immense contribution of Netaji in the country’s freedom struggle and would be a symbol of the country’s indebtedness to him.

 

S132. Ans. (2) Ladakh

Sol. The sports lovers in Ladakh are now ready to experience the all-new synthetic track and open Astroturf for a football stadium under the Khelo India Programme initiative of the Government of India.

The estimated cost to build this synthetic track and football turf is ₹10.68 crores and built at an altitude of 11,000 ft approx.

The construction has been done in the Spituk belt at Leh.

 

S133. Ans.2) Dr Anil Kumar Jain

Sol. On 21st January 2022 portal “Koyla Darpan” was launched by Anil Kumar Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Coal.

Portal has been launched to provide Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to the Coal Sector on a single online platform.

 

S134. Ans.(3) Gujarat

Sol. In the wake of COVID-19 posing financial hardship, a Gujarat-based NGO has launched an initiative for animals to provide some financial respite.

The NGO running Ahmedabad’s Sundarvan mini-zoo has launched ‘adopt an animal’ initiative to overcome financial hardships during the pandemic.

“Under this initiative, the adopter will bear monthly maintenance cost of the adopted animal and we are getting a good response,” Zoo Coordinator Deep Shah said.

 

S135. Ans.(4) NITI Aayog

Sol. NITI Aayog has released a report titled ‘Banking on Electric Vehicles in India’ on January 22, 2022, which outlines the need and importance of inclusion of Electric Vehicles in RBIs priority-sector lending guidelines.

The report has been developed by NITI Aayog in collaboration with US-based non-profit organisation Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and RMI India.

The report has indicated electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and commercial four-wheelers as early segments to prioritise under Priority Sector Lending.

Suggestion has also been made to recognise Electric Vehicles as an infrastructure sub-sector by the Finance Ministry and the incorporation of electric vehicles as a separate reporting category under RBI.

RBIs priority-sector lending mandate helps to improve the supply of formal credit towards areas of national priority.

 

S136. Ans.(1) Football

Sol.  Former India footballer Subhas Bhowmick died at the age of 72 years due to prolonged illness. He was born in West Bengal.

He was part of the Indian Football team that won a bronze medal at the 1970 Asian Games (held in Bangkok). He also scored a hat-trick against the Philippines in the Merdeka Cup in 1971.

He has also served as the coach for football teams like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.

 

S137. Ans.(2) Prajakta Koli

Sol. Actress Prajakta Koli has become India’s first UN Development Programme (UNDP) Youth Climate Champion.

As UNDP India Youth Climate Champion, she will create awareness on the adverse impacts of climate change, global warming and biodiversity loss.

She has been honored with this title for her work towards mental health, women’s rights and girl child education.

UNDP said that it has a long-term vision to reinforce maximum youth participation in climate action.

 

S138. Ans.(4) Rainfrog

Sol. A team of researchers have named a new species of Rainfrog, discovered in the tropical rainforests of Panama, after Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

The tiny rainfrog species has been named as Pristimantis gretathunbergae, or simply known as the Greta Thunberg Rainfrog.

The unique known species of frog was discovered in 2012 in Panama’s Mount Chucantí by an international team led by Dr Abel Batista and Dr Konrad Mebert and was thought to be part of already categorised Pristimantis family.

In 2018, through DNA analysis the team confirmed that the frog is a new species.

 

S139. Ans.(1) Mia Mottley

Sol. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley was sworn in for a second term in office on 20 January, 2022, following a landslide victory by her party in the 2022 election.

Mottley is serving as the Prime Minister of Barbados since 2018.

She is the leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008.

Mottley is the first woman prime minister of the country as well as first PM under a republic system.

 

S140. Ans. (2) Zara Rutherford

Sol. The 19-year-old, who has dual British-Belgian nationality, Zara Rutherford has become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.

She travelled 31 countries across five continents to achieve the feat.

Rutherford has also become the first woman to fly alone around the world in a microlight plane.

She is also the first Belgian to circumnavigate the globe solo by air.

 

S141. Ans. (1) Narendra Modi

Sol. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has grabbed a top spot in a global rating amongst the world leaders with an approval rating of 71 percent.

In the list of the most popular leaders in the world which consisted of 13 leaders, US President Joe Biden has been ranked at number 6.

Notably, this is not the first time that Prime Minister Modi has topped the global approval ratings. In November 2021 also, PM Modi was the most approved leader in the world.

Most popular leader in the world 2022: Full list

 

S142. Ans. (2) Hyderabad

Sol.  PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate a 216-foot statue of Ramanujacharya in a sitting position in Hyderabad on February 5, 2022, to celebrate the 1,000th birth anniversary of the saint.

Ramanujacharya was a 11th century saint and a revolutionary social reformer.

The statue will be called as the ‘Statue of Equality’.

It is located in a 45-acre complex at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad in Telangana.

The project is built at a cost of ₹1,000-crore, which was funded entirely by donations from devotees globally.

President Ram Nath Kovind will unveil the inner chamber of the statue of Ramanujacharya on February 13, 2022.

The Statue of Equality is the world’s second-tallest statue in a sitting position.

The Buddha statue in Thailand is considered as the world’s tallest statue in a sitting pose.

 

S143. Ans. (3) Narendra Modi

Sol. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated ‘Azadi Ke Amrit Mahotsav se Swarnim Bharat Ki Ore’ programme on January 20, 2022 via video conferencing.

The national level program includes seven yearlong initiatives dedicated to celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav by the Brahma Kumaris.

More than 30 campaigns and over 15000 programs and events will be conducted under these initiative by the Brahma Kumaris.

The seven initiatives of Brahma Kumaris include: (1) My India Healthy India, (2) Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Self Reliant Farmers, (3) Women: Flag Bearers of India, (4) Power of Peace Bus Campaign, (5) Andekha Bharat Cycle Rally, (6) United India Motor Bike (7) Campaign Green initiatives under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Brahma Kumaris is organising the event on the occasion of the 53rd Ascension Anniversary of Pitashree Prajapita Brahma, Founding Father of Brahma Kumaris.

 

S144. Ans. (2) Virat Kohli

Sol.  Star batter Virat Kohli on 19th January 2021, surpassed the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 5065 runs to become the Indian player with most runs in away One-day Internationals.

He achieved the feat during the first ODI against South Africa here. Kohli made 51 off 63 balls, with the help of three boundaries.

Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (5,518) holds the top spot for most runs in overseas ODIs.

 

S145. Ans.(4) Dileep Sanghani

Sol.  The board of directors of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) has unanimously elected Dileep Sanghani as the 17th Chairman of the Cooperative on January 19, 2022.

Dileep Sanghani succeeds Balvinder Singh Nakai, who passed away earlier on October 11, 2021.

Prior to this, Sanghani was serving as vice-chairman of IFFCO since 2019.

 

S146. Ans.(4) Aarya 2

Sol.  Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen has been conferred with the International Association of Working Women Award at the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF) 2021.

The former Miss Universe has been felicitated for outstanding performance by a female actor in a TV series for her show ‘Aarya 2’.

The Aarya 2 series is created by Ram Madhvani and had released on December 10, 2021 on Disney+Hotstar.

The DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF) 2021 is organised virtually from January 16 to January 30, to showcase the best in alternative cinema from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and Sri Lanka.

 

S147. Ans.(4) Mountaineer

Sol.  Founder of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) that was set up at Vasant Kunj, Delhi in 1993, a professional mountaineer, and Padma Shri recipient, Major HPS Ahluwalia (Retired) passed away at the age of 85.

At the age of 26, Major Ahluwalia was part of the first Indian expedition to summit Mount Everest in 1965, and he climbed the summit on May 29, 1965.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan (2002) and Padma Shri (1965) for his contributions and received India’s second-highest sporting honour, the Arjuna Award (1965). He also received the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award (2009).

 

S148. Ans. (2) $190-million

Sol.  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated the India-assisted Social Housing Units Project in Mauritius through video-conferencing on January 20, 2022.

The two leaders also launched the Civil Service College and the 8MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius, being undertaken with India’s development support.

An agreement was exchanged in which India is extending a $190-million line of credit to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, in defence sector, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Government of Mauritius (GoM) have signed a contract, under which HAL will export one Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH)-MkIII for the Mauritius Police Force.

Mauritius already operates a ALH and Dornier Do-228 aircraft built by HAL.

 

S149. Ans. (3) Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Sol.

The Universal Acceptance Steering Group appointed Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, as its UA Ambassador.

Universal Acceptance Steering Group, is an international organization that works on developing and recommending standards for languages script which are not currently used for accessing the internet.

The group is supported by the global internet body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

 

S150. Ans.(2) Spain

Sol. Guinness World Records holder for oldest person living (male), Saturnino de la Fuente García (Spain) has passed away at the age of 112 years and 341 days.

Saturnino claimed the record as the oldest person living (male) in September 2021 when he was exactly 112 years and 211 days.

He was born on February 11, 1909, in the Puente Castro neighbourhood of León in Spain.

 

S151. Ans. (3) TCS

Sol. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) signed a partnership agreement with Canada Running Series to become the new title sponsor & official technology consulting partner of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon and Virtual Race through November 2026.

Under the agreement TCS and Canada Running Series (CRS) aim to modernize marathon running in Canada through a new official race app.

The app is equipped with Augmented Reality (AR) features and it will track the performance of both in-person and virtual runners on the same racecourse.

The organization includes Trans Canada Trail and Trees for Life Canada as the charity partners of TCS & CRS.

 

S152. Ans. (4) Chanchal Kumar

Sol. Chanchal Kumar has been appointed as the Managing Director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL), under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).

He is appointed in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary. He is a 1992 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, presently Principal Secretary of Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The ACC has also approved the extension in the central deputation tenure of Ashutosh Jindal, Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat for 1 year beyond 16th February 2022 to 16th February 2023.

 

S153. Ans. (3) Vikram Batra

Sol. The statue of Kargil War hero Captain Vikram Batra was unveiled in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh on 19 January 2022.

On 7 July 1999, Captain Batra made the supreme sacrifice during the Kargil War and captured Point 4875.

Point 4875 is a mountain top near the Line of Control (LoC).

It is also known as Batra Top after a soldier.

 

S154. Ans.(2) Akshay Bhatia

Sol. Young Indian origin golfer Akshay Bhatia won the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour at Sandals Emerald Bay.

The win made him the third-youngest player to win a Korn Ferry Tour event since the Tour’s establishment in 1990.

Bhatia’s 14-under 274 marked the second-lowest 72-hole score in the event’s five-season history. Paul Haley II, who was second at -12, recorded his third runner-up finish and seventh top-10 in his last 35 Korn Ferry Tour starts.

 

S155. Ans.  (3) China

Sol. The first BRICS Sherpas meeting of 2022 was held virtually on January 18-19 2022, with the members thanking India for its BRICS chairship in 2021.

China has taken on the rotating chairmanship of BRICS in 2022.

BRICS is a grouping of five major emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

 

S156. Ans.(2) Indonesia

Sol. Indonesia passed a bill replacing its capital Jakarta with East Kalimantan, situated to the east of Borneo Island. The new capital city of the country will be called Nusantara.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo had first announced the plan to move the capital city from Jakarta in 2019.

Widodo had cited increasing environmental issues that Jakarta has been facing along with financial inequality while announcing the plan to change the capital in 2019. Jakarta has been the capital of Indonesia since 1949.

 

S157. Ans.(2) Babar Azam

Sol.  The ICC Men’s ODI Team of the year 2021 has been revealed and Pakistani skipper Babar Azam has been named as the captain of the team.

While Pakistan’s Babar Azam has been named the captain of the team after scoring 405 runs in just 6 matches in 2021.

Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim has been named as the wicketkeeper of the ICC ODI Team of the Year 2021.

The openers include Ireland’s Paul Stirling and South Africa’s Janneman Malan after their vital contributions to their respective teams.

The ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year 2021 does not feature any player from India, Australia, England and New Zealand.

The ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year 2021 includes two Indians, veteran batter Mithali Raj and pacer Jhulan Goswami. England’s Heather Knight has been named the captain of the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year 2021, while Australia’s Alyssa Healy has been named as the wicketkeeper.

Mithali Raj has made it into the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the year 2021 for making a valuable contribution to the Indian team when it struggled as a unit. Though she did not score any century this year, she did score six half-centuries.

The ICC Women’s ODI Team of the year 2021 includes two Indians, three South Africans, two England players, two West Indies cricketers, one Pakistani cricketer and one Australian.

 

S158. Ans.(3) Bay of Bengal

Sol. A Maritime Partnership Exercise was held between Indian Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) in the Bay of Bengal in a non-contact mode amid COVID-19.

The Indian side was represented by Indian Naval Ships (INS) Shivalik and INS Kadmatt while JMSDF Ships Uraga and Hirado the participated from Japanese side.

Aim: Strengthening bilateral relations, promoting defence cooperation, enhancing mutual understanding and interoperability, and sharing best practices between IN and JMSDF.

 

S159. Ans.1) Sania Mirza

Sol.  Sania Mirza, an Indian Tennis Superstar, has announced that she will be retiring at the end of the 2022 season. She made the announcement after the first-round defeat in Women’s Doubles at the Australian Open 2022.

Mirza, while talking about her retirement, stated that she feels that her recovery is taking longer and that she is also putting her 3-years old son at risk by traveling so much with him.

She informed that she made the decision to retire from Tennis in December 2021.

Sania Mirza who is currently ranked 68th in the world is a former World No. 1 in doubles. She also attained a career-best ranking of 27 in Singles.

Sania Mirza who became the first Indian to win Grand Slam, won a major in women’s doubles at the Australian Open 2016.

 

S160. Ans.(2) Nevil Sanghvi

Sol.  Bombay Industries Association (BIA), one of India’s most renowned and prestigious business associations, 18th January, had its 58th Installation Ceremony.

BIA which is stepping into its 75th year, witnessed last year’s President Mr. Sanjay Shah handing over the office to Nevil Sanghvi during the ceremony.

The event, held in Mumbai, also witnessed several virtual participants, who enthusiastically cheered for the new appointment.

 

S161. Ans.(2) Anxiety

Sol. The Oxford University Press (OUP) has picked up ‘Anxiety’ as the Children’s Word of the Year 2021, based on their recent research.

The word was selected based on a survey conducted on around 8,000 children aged 7-14 from 85 schools in the United Kingdom, who were asked to choose the words they most often used while talking about health and wellbeing.

Apart from “anxiety” (21%), “Challenging” (19%), “isolate” (14%), “Wellbeing” (13%) and “resilience” (12%) were the children’s top five words.

In 2020, Coronavirus was the Children’s Word of the Year by OUP.

OUP is the university press of the University of Oxford, and the largest university press in the world, and the second oldest after Cambridge University Press.

 

S162. Ans.(2) Chandrachur Ghose

Sol.  The Republic Day celebrations in India will now begin from January 23 every year instead of the 24th.

The decision has been taken to include the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose.

The Birth Anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose is observed as Parakram Divas in India.

The latest move is in line with PM Modi’s vision of celebrating the important aspects of India’s rich history and culture.

Earlier, the Government had also announced to celebrate August 14 as the Partition Horrors Remembrance Day and 31st October as Ekta Divas National Unity Day.

 

S163. Ans.(4) Microsoft

Sol. Microsoft Corp. is set to acquire game making company, Activision Blizzard Inc., in an all-cash transaction for $68.7 billion. ($95.00 per share).

This acquisition will boost the competitiveness of Microsoft in mobile gaming business and virtual-reality technology, across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.

Activision Blizzard is famous as the maker of Candy Crush and Call of Duty, Xbox, among other leading video games.

Upon the completion of the deal, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.

This is the biggest deal ever by Microsoft and also the largest-ever deal in the history of the gaming industry.

 

S164. Ans. (1) 304.06

Sol. The Reserve Bank of India has announced Digital Payments Index (DPI) for September 2021 at 06 as against 270.59 for March 2021.

RBI has introduced Digital Payments Index in January 2021 with March 2018 as the base year to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country. This means that the DPI score for March 2018 is set at 100.

RBI has started publishing the Digital Payments Index (DPI) on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of 4 months. This means that the DPI will be released by RBI for March and September every year in the months of July and January respectively.

 

S165. Ans. (3) Albert Bourla

Sol. The global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Albert Bourla, has been awarded with the prestigious Genesis Prize 2022on January 19, 2022.

He has been awarded for his efforts in leading the development of a COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine).

The award comes with cash prize of $1 million.

The annual prize is awarded to Jewish people who have achieved significant professional success, in recognition of their accomplishments, contributions to humanity, and commitment to Jewish values and/or to the State of Israel.

It is widely referred to as the “Jewish Nobel Prize”

 

S166. Ans.(3) Shashank Goyal

Sol. The appointment of Shashank Goel, IAS of 90 batch was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet as the Additional Secretary in Labour and Employment Ministry.

Shailesh Kumar Singh has been appointed as the Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises he is an IAS of 91 batch.

Manish Kumar Gupta has been appointed by the Government as Vice-Chairman, Delhi Development Authority in the rank of Additional Secretary.

IAS of 92 batch, Chanchal Kumar is appointed as the Managing Director, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.

 

S167. Ans. (4) North Macedonia

Sol. After more than two months of political turmoil, North Macedonia’s Parliament has elected Social Democrat technocrat Dimitar Kovacevski as Prime Minister.

Former Deputy Finance Minister Kovacevski took over Zoran Zaev, who stepped down the last month after his party’s heavy defeat in municipal elections.

 

S168. Ans. (1) Nitin Gadkari

Sol. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated Madhavbaug’s, Power MAP. It is India’s first Intelligent Chronic Disease Patients Habit Tracking System.

Power MAP is a medical analytics application. It is developed by Madhavbaug to help doctors in getting necessary medical intelligence regarding a patient’s clinical parameters.

This application integrates various medical services like pathology labs, dietitians, exercise experts, stress counsellors and other specialized consultants.

It will also provide in-depth medical analysis of a patient’s current health status and its comparison with historical data.

Power MAP will provide access to medical professionals at a very low cost.

Madhavbaug (Vaidya Sane Ayurved Labs Ltd) is a medical institution that treats chronic diseases by amalgamating technology with the traditional healing of Ayurveda.

 

S169. Ans.(2) IMD

Sol. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has launched the first climate hazard and vulnerability atlas of India.

This atlas is based on 14 extreme weather events and the risks they pose to the local population, livelihoods, and economy of each district.

The climate vulnerability atlas of India has been developed by the scientists at Climate Research and Services (CRS) office.

The hazards and vulnerability values have been calculated based on the historical climate data.

Each weather phenomenon’s month-wise hazard levels have been enlisted in this atlas.

This atlas provides a range of vulnerability with risks ranging from nil, low, moderate, high, and very high categories for every Indian district.

According to this atlas, lightning caused the highest casualty in India.

 

S170. Ans. (3) Telangana

Sol.The Telangana cabinet has decided to introduce English medium in all government schools in the state from the academic year 2022-23 and regulate fee in private schools, junior and degree colleges.

Further, the government has also decided to draw up an action plan to train teachers who will impart education in English to students at the primary level, to make an attractive environment for the children, and to keep the school clean and tidy.

At the meeting, the cabinet also gave its nod to “Mana Vooru Mana Badi” (Our Village-Our School) scheme at a cost of ₹7,289 crore for better infrastructure facilities and quality education in the government schools.

 

S171. Ans. (1) Madhya Pradesh

Sol. India’s “Supermom” tigress, popularly known as ‘Collarwali’, has passed away at Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Madhya Pradesh, due to old-age.

It was over 16 years old.

‘Collarwali’ tigress was known for giving birth to 29 cubs during her lifetime, which is believed to be a world record.

The official name given to the tigress by the forest department was T-15 but she was fondly called ‘Collarwali’ by the native people

She gained Collarwali title as she became the first tigress in the park to be fitted with a radio collar in 2008.

Madhya Pradesh also gained identity as a ‘Tiger State’ due to the significant contribution of this supermom.

 

S172. Ans.(4) Roberta Metsola

Sol. The European Parliament has elected Maltese politician Roberta Metsola as its new president on January 18, 2022.

The 43-year-old is the only third woman and the youngest president ever to run the chamber.

She is also the first Maltese person to hold the office.

Metsola replaces David Sassoli, who passed away recently at the age of 65.

The Parliament is composed of 705 members, and has headquarter in Strasbourg, France. It is the only directly-elected institution of European Union (EU).

 

S173. Ans. (1) Air India

Sol. Senior bureaucrat Vikram Dev Dutt has been appointed as the chairman and managing director (CMD) of Air India Ltd, on January 18, 2022.

Dutt is a 1993-batch IAS officer of AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre.

Prior to this, he was the Principal Secretary (Tourism) in Delhi government.

 

S174. Ans. (2) SEBI

Sol.The capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has launched a new mobile app named Saa₹thi on investor education on January 19, 2022.

In the app Saa₹thi, ₹ is denoted using the Indian Rupee (INR) symbol.

The main aim of this app is to create awareness among investors about the basic concepts of securities market and empower the investors with knowledge about securities market, KYC process, trading and settlement, mutual funds, recent market developments, investor grievances redressal mechanism, etc.

 

S175. Ans. (3) 207 million

Sol.The International Labour Organisation (ILO) released its report titled “World Employment and Social Outlook”.

In the report, ILO has projected global unemployment of 207 million in 2022.

Global unemployment will reach to 207 million in 2022. It is almost 21 million more than 2019.

Total hours worked in 2022 will be about 2% below than the pre-pandemic level.

There will be deficiency of 52 million full-time equivalent jobs in 2022.

 

S176. Ans. (3) Renu Bhatia

Sol.On January 17, 2022, Haryana Government appointed Renu Bhatia of NIT Faridabad as the Chairperson of the State Commission for Women.

He has been appointed for three years.

With this appointment, the post of the Chairperson of the Women’s Commission, which has been lying vacant for a year, has been filled.

Renu Bhatia is BJP leader and resident of Faridabad.

She has been active in BJP for a long time and she has also been the Deputy Mayor of Faridabad Municipal Corporation.

Preeti Bhardwaj has been re-appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the State Commission for Women and her tenure has been extended by one year.

 

S177. Ans.  (3) Jio

Sol. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Jio have announced that UPI AUTOPAY has now been introduced for the telecom industry with Jio.

Jio’s integration with UPI AUTOPAY has made it the first player in the telecom industry to go live with the unique e-mandate feature that was launched by NPCI.

Using the UPI AutoPay launched by NPCI, customers can now enable recurring e-mandate using any UPI application for recurring payments such as mobile bills, electricity bills, EMI payments, entertainment/OTT subscriptions, insurance, mutual funds among others.

 

S178. Ans.(1) Comic artist

Sol. Cartoonist Narayan Debnath, the creator of popular Bengali comic characters ‘Nonte Phonte’, ‘Bantul The Great’, ‘Handa Bhonda’, passed away in Kolkata at the age of 97.

Narayan Debnath was awarded Padma Shree in 2021.

He was an Indian comics artist, illustrator, and writer.

Debnath was the creator of the popular Bengali comic strips of ‘Bantul The Great’ (1965), Handa Bhonda (1962), and Nonte Phonte (1969).

 

S179. Ans. (1) Telangana

Sol. Formula E, the most prominent name in the electric car racing space, signed an agreement with the Government of Telangana to make Hyderabad a host city.

Although ideated just 10 years ago in 2011 and the first race held in 2014, its viewership per race is more than half of Formula 1 and is increasing every year quite rapidly.

Currently, Formula E boasts of a cumulative viewership of 500 million.

Currently, there are more than 20 cities that are being considered for a chance to host a Formula E street race.

A team from Formula E including Alberto Longo, the Co-Founder and Chief Championship Officer and Agus Zomano, Track and Overlay Director are on a two-day visit to the city and have expressed their intent to consider Hyderabad for the next season.

 

S180. Ans. (3) Gold

Sol. Sumit Bhale from Maharashtra has won the gold medal at International Folk Art Festival in Dubai.

He is a young Lavni artist from Maharashtra. He led the entire state of Maharashtra in International Folk Art Festival in Dubai.

Lavni is a performing art that is a mixture of dance, music and acting. It forms a basic and necessary part of the rural culture of Maharashtra.

Initially, it was meant for the entertainment of warriors. It used to be performed at camps of soldiers.