27 December 2022

Q1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed a Currency Swap Agreement with which country’s monetary authority?

C – Explanation:

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed a Currency Swap Agreement with the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) under the SAARC Currency Swap Framework.
  This agreement will enable the MMA to make withdrawals in multiple tranches up to a maximum of USD 200 million from the RBI.

Q2. Dina Boluarte was recently selected as the first female President of which country?

B – Explanation:

• Dina Boluarte was appointed as Peru’s first female president amid a political crisis when her predecessor and former boss Pedro Castillo was ousted in an impeachment trial.
  Peru’s leftist president Pedro Castillo was ousted by lawmakers and detained by police after he tried to illegally shut down Congress.

Q3. Which Union Ministry is set to launch India’s first-ever surety bonds insurance product to boost infrastructure?

A – Explanation:

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) will launch India’s first-ever surety bonds insurance product to boost liquidity in the infrastructure sector, as per Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
  The surety bonds will help in boosting the liquidity in the infrastructure sector by providing relief to the contractors’ working capital stuck in bank guarantees.

Q4. Which institution has approved USD 780 million loan to expand Chennai metro rail network?

B – Explanation:

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved financing of USD 780 million to build new lines for Chennai’s metro rail and improve the network’s connectivity with bus and feeder services.
  The project will construct 10.1 km of an elevated section, nine metro stations, 10 km of the underground section among others. The stations will be disaster- and climate-resilient and responsive to the needs of the elderly, women, children, and the differently abled.

Q5. Which state/UT is the host of 9th World Ayurveda Congress and Arogya Expo 2022?

B – Explanation:

• The 9th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) and Arogya Expo 2022was inaugurated today at Panaji, Goa. It aims to showcase the efficacy of AYUSH systems of medicine at Global level.
  The third edition of the ‘Ayushman’ comic book series was also released on this occasion.  A MoU was signed between All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) and Rosenberg’s European Academy of Ayurveda, Germany for advanced studies in traditional Indian medicine systems.

Q6.Which institution released the report titled ‘Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector’?

B – Explanation:

• The World Bank recently released a report titled ‘Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector’.
  The report was released during the two-day ‘India Climate and Development Partners’ Meet’ being organised by World Bank in partnership with the Kerala government. As per the report, the country is experiencing higher temperatures that arrive earlier and stay far longer. India could become one of the first places in the world to experience heat waves that break the human survivability limit.

Q7.Which country has recorded deaths of children by the bacterial infection ‘Strep A’?

B – Explanation:

• At least six children have died of a common bacterial infection, Strep A, in the United Kingdom. When the bacteria enter the bloodstream, the infection can get severe and it is called invasive Group A Strep (iGAS).
  The symptoms of Strep A include fever, skin rashes and a sore easily treated with antibiotics. As many as 851 cases of Strep A were reported in a week of November, compared to an average of 186 for the same time in preceding years

Q8.Which institution released the report titled ‘Preventing injuries and violence: an overview’?

B – Explanation:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) released a new report titled ‘Preventing injuries and violence: an overview’.
  The report says that injuries and violence cause about 12, 000 deaths around the world each day. It also highlighted the need for scaling up efforts for prevention of injury related deaths, which account for 1 in 12 deaths worldwide. Road traffic injuries, homicide and suicide were listed among the top 5 causes of death among people aged 5-29 years.

Q9.Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, which was seen in the news, is located in which state?

B – Explanation:

• Supreme Court exempted Maharashtra’s Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) from its earlier order mandating the creation of a 1 km eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) around all protected areas in India.
  It also stated that practical difficulties and ground realities will have to be taken into account before having a uniform order for creating ESZs as mandated. The Sanctuary is located in the suburbs of Mumbai.

Q10.What is the rank of India in the ‘Arton Capital Passport Index 2022’?

B – Explanation:

• Passport Index 2022, published by Arton Capital, is the ranking of the world’s strongest and weakest passports.
  India has ranked 87 in the world’s strongest passport list, while UAE ranked first, followed by Germany, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Spain France. While Afghanistan stood last, Pakistan stood at 94.