Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2022

Notes:
The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, and is located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia.
As per a recent study, Arctic is heating four times faster than the rest of the planet. The study also found that Barents Sea is alarmingly warming seven times faster than the global average. Another WMO report says that the sea level along the Indian coast is rising faster than the global average rate due to warming of the Arctic.

Notes:
According to Section 45ZL of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Reserve Bank publishes the minutes of the proceedings of the meeting on the fourteenth day after every meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.
As per the minutes of the MPC meeting released recently, Governor Shaktikanta Das along with other members proposed a 50 basis points hike in repo rate to 5.40 per cent.

Notes:
After the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a visit to Taiwan, the US has stated that formal trade talks will soon begin with Taiwan.
As per the US press release, the first round of bilateral talks would start in early September. The topics of discussion will include trade facilitation, digital trade, and anti-corruption standards.

Notes:
Young Indian footballer Manisha Kalyan recently became the first Indian footballer to play at the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
She made her debut for Apollon Ladies FC in the European Club competition in Cyprus. She has also become the fourth Indian woman footballer to sign for an overseas club. Recently, she was awarded the AIFF Woman Footballer of the year for 2021-22.

Notes:
The Border Road Organization (BRO) has planned to build steel slag road in Arunachal Pradesh on a pilot project basis.
The Steel Slag Road, which can survive heavy rain and difficult weather conditions, is the first of its kind project of the BRO. This Road project will help to connect the strategic locations in the Northeast India.

Notes:
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot inaugurated the Rajiv Gandhi Centre of Advance Technology (R-CAT).
R-CAT will conduct training programmes on advanced and emerging Information technologies for graduates. The centre will give industry standard certificates to successful candidates.

Notes:
India’s Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Paraguay.
He also visited a place called ‘Casa de la Independencia’ from where the South American country’s Independence movement started more than two centuries ago.

Notes:
India has recently nominated the dance form Garba to be inscribed on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list.
The inclusion of ‘Durga Puja’ on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage representative was made last year. India was elected by UNESCO to serve on the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in July.

Notes:
A team of researchers has found a new species of long-fingered bats in India and Sri Lanka, named as ‘Miniopterus phillipsi’.
This is similar to a thick-thumbed bat species found in Meghalaya. The bat was named after W W A Philips in recognition of his contributions to studies on the mammals of Sri Lanka and South Asia. The specimens for this species were collected from Idulgashinna cave in Sri Lanka.

Notes:
The government issued an order directing all companies to sell their products under a single brand name of ‘Bharat’, under the ‘One Nation, One Fertiliser’ plan, to bring uniformity.
The fertilisers will have brand name as ‘Bharat Urea’, ‘Bharat DAP’, ‘Bharat MOP’ and ‘Bharat NPK’ irrespective of the company that manufactures it, both in the public or the private sector.The logo of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janurvarak Pariyojana (PMBJP) will also have to be displayed on the bags.