Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2022

Notes:
After the recent Monetary Policy Committee Meeting of RBI, the Central Bank cut the 2022-23 growth projection to 7 per cent from its previous estimate of 7.2 per cent.
RBI also made the fourth rate hike in this financial year, as the Repo rate was hiked by 50 bps to 5.9%. The standing deposit facility (SDF) rate stands adjusted to 5.65 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.15 per cent.

Notes:
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines for engaging ‘Professors of Practice’ or distinguished experts from different fields at Higher Education institutions.
As per the guidelines, these professors are not required to have the educational qualifications generally mandated for teaching and they can be paid through corporate sponsorship or an honorarium. Distinguished experts with an experience of at least 15 years will be eligible for the scheme.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched new initiatives to stop the spread of invasive malaria vectors in Africa.
Anopheles stephensi is the primary mosquito vector, responsible for causing malaria in urban environments. The initiative aims to support a regional response to Anopheles stephensi on the African continent. The WHO had also released Global Vector Control Response 2017-2030.

Notes:
The Bannerman’s Turaco, known in the Oku language as the Fen, is a bird deep cultural value for the people in Cameroon.
It has a heavy yellow bill with a dark red culmen and exposed nostrils. It also has a loud, distinctive call that can be heard up to 1 kilometre. As per experts, the bird, which is already under IUCN List of Threatened Species, could disappear entirely, if forest disappears. The number of birds estimated to be 1,500, are falling due to habitat destruction and tradition of hunting birds for feathers.

Notes:
Telangana won the first prize under the Large States category under Swachh Survekshan Gramin (SSG) 2022.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu presented the awards which looked into the sanitation status of rural areas. Haryana was named the second and Tamil Nadu the third best state in the SSG Awards 2022.  In the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin, the aim is to make all six lakh villages in India free of open defecation.

Notes:
Every year, on 2 October, the International Day of Non-Violence is observed across the world. This special day marks the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The main objective of this day is to spread awareness about the idea of non-violence. In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed the resolution to commemorate the International Day of Non-Violence. This year, the UN has selected the slogan of ‘Say No to Violence’.

Notes:
India’s Mars orbiter craft has completed eight years in its orbit, beyond its designed mission life of six months.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is the maiden interplanetary mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in September 2014 in its first attempt. ISRO is yet to announce its plans on a follow-on ‘Mangalyaan’ mission to the Mars.

Notes:
British Prime Minister Liz Truss was forced into reversing the plans to cut the highest rate of income tax for the wealthy.
Earlier the Government made an announcement of a stimulus package that includes 45 billion pounds (USD 50 billion) in tax cuts, to be paid by government borrowing. This decision has sent the pound to a record low position against the dollar.

Notes:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk presented a prototype humanoid robot named ‘Optimus’ that shares artificial intelligence software and sensors with its cars’ Autopilot driver assistance features.
The Optimus robot is designed for mass production in millions of units. It carries a 2.3kWh battery pack, runs on a Tesla SoC, and contains Wi-Fi and LTE connectivity. The human-like hands with ‘Biologically Inspired Design’ will make them suitable for picking up objects of various shapes and sizes, holding a bag, and containing a precision grip on small parts.

Notes:
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami announced the repeal of the decision to denotify the Shivalik Elephant Reserve.
Two years ago, the state decided to chop around 10,000 trees in the Shivalik Elephant Reserve reserve to ‘expand’ the airport in Dehradun. The decision was taken for the larger good of the state’s flora and fauna’.