Daily GK and Current Affairs Quiz – 9th & 10th January 2022

Correct Answer- B. SBI General Insurance Company

Explanation- State Bank of India General Insurance Company Ltd has launched a campaign titled ‘#BahaneChhodoTaxBachao’ to increase awareness around the need to buy health insurance to save tax. It will also highlight the other benefits of opting for health insurance. The campaign aims to increase the awareness of how buying health insurance can help people save tax which is crucial and seasonal in the last quarter of the financial year for all Indians. The campaign will also underline the other benefits of opting for health insurance.

The campaign is in a quirky Vox Pop format featuring anchor Rudraksh Singh aka Rudy is seen travelling across major cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata and asks the lamest excuse that people have to offer for not buying/opting for health insurance. The idea here is to find out ‘India ka lamest excuse’ for not opting for health insurance. Health insurance not just prevents a medical emergency but also benefit from saving tax under section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Important Points:

• SBI General Insurance Founded: 24 February 2009;
• SBI General Insurance Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra;
• SBI General Insurance MD & CEO: Prakash Chandra Kandpal;
• SBI General Insurance Tagline: Suraksha Aur Bharosa Dono.

Correct Answer- C. 95 lakh rupees

Explanation– The Election Commission of India has increased the existing election expenditure limit for candidates in Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies, due to the rise in inflation. The new limits will be applicable in all upcoming elections in the country. The previous major revision in the election expenditure limit was done in 2014. It was further increased by 10% in 2020. EC had formed a Committee to study the cost factors and other related issues, and make suitable recommendations.

Parliamentary constituencies poll expenditure ceiling:

The ceiling on parliamentary poll expenditure has been raised from 70 lakh to 95 lakh rupees in bigger states and 54 lakh to 75 lakhs in smaller states.The bigger states include Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka.The smaller states include Goa, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and UTs.The ceiling on poll expenditure in UT of Jammu and Kashmir has been raised to 95 lakhs.

Assembly constituencies poll expenditure limits:

For Assembly constituencies, expenditure limits have been enhanced from 28 lakh rupees to 40 lakh rupees in bigger states and from 20 lakhs to 28 lakhs in smaller states.

Correct Answer- B. Hyderabad

Explanation- Union Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh has inaugurated the 24th National Conference on e-Governance in Hyderabad, Telangana. The theme of the two-day Conference is ‘India’s Techade: Digital Governance in a Post Pandemic World’. The conference has been organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), in association with the State Government of Telangana.

About the conference:

The conference would provide considerable momentum to the e-governance initiatives across the country, providing opportunities for civil servants and industry captains to showcase their successful interventions in e-governance in improving end to end service delivery. Delegates from 28 states and 9 Union Territories along with academia, research institutions, IT industry would be participating in the conference through virtual mode.

Correct Answer- A. OmiSure

Explanation– The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a testing kit for detecting the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The covid kit developed by Tata is called ‘OmiSure’ and will be an enhancement for the detection of the Omicron variant. The kit is manufactured by Tata Medical and Diagnostics. The tests have been performed as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Responsibility for batch-to-batch consistency lies with the manufacturer.

About the test kit:

The Tata Medical and Diagnostics has developed a kit ‘OmiSure’ that can detect the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 in nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal specimens during the RT-PCR tests. The test kit is compatible with all standard Real-Time PCR Machines. The test run time of this kit is 85 minutes. The result turnaround time, including sample collection and RNA extraction, is 130 minutes.

Correct Answer- C. Neil Nongkynrih

Explanation- Founder of Shillong Chamber Choir (SCC) and renowned Indian concert pianist Neil Nongkynrih passed away. In 2010, SCC performed for former US President Barack Obama & Michelle Obama during their visit to India. SCC’s version of ‘Vande Maataram’ was played during the live telecast program Indian space rocket Chandrayaan – 2’s landing on the moon. In 2015, he was awarded the Padma Shri – India’s fourth-highest civilian honour.

Correct Answer- C.  Tamil Nadu

Explanation- Fourteen-year-old Bharath Subramaniyam has become the73rd Grandmaster of India.The Chennai-based teenager completed his final GM Norm and crossed the requisite 2500 rating at Vergani Cup Open in Italy. Subramaniyam finished seventh overall in the event held at Cattolica by scoring 6.5 points from nine rounds.To achieve the Grandmaster (GM) title, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points.

Correct Answer- B. Rafael Nadal

Explanation- In Tennis, 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal defeated American Maxime Cressy in the Men’s Singles final of the Melbourne Summer Set ATP 250 event.It was Nadal’s 89th tour-level crown as the Spaniard saved a set point in the first set tie-break and rallied from a game down in the 2nd set against Cressy.The Spaniard, playing his first competitive tournament since August, was largely untroubled as he wrapped up the win in an hour 48 minutes.In women category, former world number one Simona Halep defeated Veronika Kudermetova 6-2 6-3 at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 final to claim her 23rd career title.

Correct Answer –B. 40,000-tonne

Explanation: India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) Vikrant began another set of sea trials.It is planned to be inducted in August 2022.The 40,000-tonne aircraft carrier is the largest and most complex warship to be built in India.It successfully completed a five-day maiden sea voyage in August and underwent 10-day sea trials in October 2021.According to the Navy, IAC-1 will operate the MiG-29K and Kamov-31 helicopters; Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH); and the soon-to-be-inducted MH-60R multirole helicopters.

Correct Answer – D. Canada

Explanation- Felix Auger-Aliassime clinched the ATP Cup title for Canada with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 singles victory over Roberto Bautista Agut to give his country an insurmountable 2-0 lead against Spain.Denis Shapovalov opened the match for Canada with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Pablo Carreno Busta.Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov won a deciding doubles against Russia on Saturday in the semifinals to knock out the defending champions.And with the title on the line, they played their best tennis to defeat two-time finalists Spain.

Correct Answer- B. Lyricist

Explanation- Oscar-winning lyricist and composer, Marilyn Bergman (93) passed away at her home in Los Angeles.Bergman and her collaborator husband Alan, was nominated for 16 Academy Awards over the course of her career, winning three.The song “The Way We Were” from the Barbara Streisand movie of the same name was one of those Oscar wins, which also won two Grammys.The collaborating team of the Bergmans also won two other Oscars for their songs, “Windmills of Your Mind” and the score for Yentl, which also starred Streisand.

Correct Answer- D. Urjit Patel

Explanation– Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel has been appointed as a Vice President of the Beijing-based multilateral funding institution AIIB. India is a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with the secondhighest voting share after China. Patel will be one of the 5 Vice Presidents of the AIIB with a three-year tenure. He will succeed outgoing Vice President D.J. Pandian

Additional Information

Nirmala Sitharaman has participated in the 6th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in October 2021. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a multilateral development bank that aims to improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. The bank currently has 104 members, including 17 prospective members from around the world.

• President of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Jin Liqun.
• Headquarters of AIIB: Beijing, China.
• AIIB established: 16 January 2016

Correct Answer – D. Bharath Subramaniyam

Explanation- Bharath Subramaniyam on 9 January 2022 became India’s 73rd Chess Grandmaster, securing the third and final GM norm at an event in Italy. He scored 6.5 points from nine rounds along with four others to finish seventh overall in the event held at Cattolica. To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points.

Additional Information

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway defended his title and won the FIDE World Championship in Dubai in December 2021.  Indian Grandmaster (GM) P Iniyan has won the 5th Rujna Zora chess tournament held at Serbia in November 2021. World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen has won the inaugural Meltwater Champions Chess Tour in October 2021. The financial services company, Mastercard Inc. has named Magnus Carlsen, the highest-rated chess player of all time, as its global brand ambassador in September 2021.

Correct Answer – C. China

Explanation– Three Chinese astronauts in the core module of the country’s under-construction space station have successfully completed the manual rendezvous and docking experiment with the Tianzhou-2 cargo craft for the first time.The experiment was the first time that the three Chinese astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, Ye Guangfu, and Wang Yaping, used manual teleoperation equipment to operate the cargo craft.

Additional Information

China has set up the new multi-module Tiangong station in outer space. The space station operates in low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 340-450 km above Earth’s surface. China launched a three-person crew for a mission of six-month onboard the Shenzhou-13 spaceship to its space station on October 16, 2021. Chinese astronauts have successfully performed China’s first tandem spacewalk on July 4, 2021. China has planned to send its first crewed mission to MARS in the year 2033.

Correct Answer: A. ​ 10 January

Explanation: Every year on January 10, World Hindi Day or the Vishwa Hindi Diwas is observed worldwide.The word Hindi originated from the Persian word Hind, meaning the land of the Indus river. On this day in 1975, the first World Hindi Conference took place in Nagpur, Maharashtra. In 2006, then PM Dr.Manmohan Singh declared January 10 as World Hindi Day.  National Hindi Diwas is celebrated on 14 Sep.

Correct Answer: D. ​ Ash Barty

Explanation- In Tennis, World No.1 Ash Barty won the Adelaide International by defeating Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 in the Women’s Singles final at Cannebara on 9 January 2022. This was Barty’s 14th career singles title and second in Adelaide. Barty defeated 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and 2020 French Open winner Iga Swiatek of Poland in the earlier events before winning the title.

Important Points

She has won 21 of her last 25 matches on Australian soil. Barty and Storm Sanders will face Darija Jurak Schreiber and Andreja Klepac in the Adelaide doubles final before she heads to the Sydney Tennis Classic, ahead of the Australian Open on January 17.

Correct Answer: D. Both 1 and 2

Explanation- National Health Mission, Assam in collaboration with Piramal Swasthya and Cisco launched project “Niramay” on 8 Jan 2022.It has been launched to demonstrate the integration of digital health technology to strengthen public health care delivery in the state. This initiative is based on Piramal Swasthya’s indigenous integrated health technology platform ‘AMRIT’.

Important Points

The demonstration of the technology at the Health and Wellness Centers, Block Primary Health Center, and District Hospital level seeks to facilitate delivery of health and health-related services. The services include medical care, health data, and information through digital technology and telemedicine service. This project will work towards strengthening digital infrastructure to enable telemedicine interactions, rapid diagnostics, patient’s health records, and data collection at the grass-root level in three aspirational districts in Assam.

Correct Answer: B. Jammu and Kashmir

Explanation:The Jammu and Kashmir Government has signed an MoU with Century Financial in Dubai for a $100 million investment in the state under which hotels and commercial-cum-residential complexes would be built. The investment will cover 3 hotels and one commercial cum residential complex in Jammu & Kashmir. The MoU was signed in a special event presided by the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha.

Additional Information

Jammu and Kashmir:

• Lieutenant Governor – Manoj Sinha.
• Number of Districts – 20.
• Dams – Baglihar Dam (Chenab River), Dulhasti Dam (Chenab River), Uri-II Dam (Jhelum River).
• National Parks – Dachigam National Park, Salim Ali National Park, Kazinag National Park, Kishtwar High Altitude National Park

Correct Answer: D. ​ 1997

Explanation: Vikram Kothari, Managing Director of Rotomac Group, passed away in January 2022. In the year 1997, he was awarded as the best exporter by the Prime Minister. Once known as ‘India’s pen king’, he rose to fame with the launch of the writing instrument brand Rotomac, in 1992. Kothari also owned the brand Dum Pan Masala.

Correct Answer: A. ​ Ayesha Malik

Explanation- Pakistan will appoint the first woman judge of the Supreme Court. Lahore High Court judge Ayesha Malik will be elevated to this position. She will work as a Supreme Court judge until June 2031 before retiring at the age of 65.

Additional Information

Justice Malik became a high court judge in March 2012, and currently, she is number four on the Lahore High Court (LHC) judge seniority list.

Pakistan: 

• Capital – Islamabad.
• Currency – Pakistani rupee.
• National Sport – Field hockey