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December 30, 2022: National Current Affairs MCQs
1. Three army men martyred, two militants killed in Kurram
• Three Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred in the Arawali area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa`s Kurram district on December 29, 2022 in a gunfight with militants, the military`s media wing said in a statement.
• Separately, two people were killed in South Waziristan district when security forces opened fire at a car when its driver f ailed to stop at a checkpoint.
• The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) identified the martyred soldiers as Subedar Shuja Muhammad, 43, who belonged to Khairpur; Naik Muhammad Ramzan, 32, who hailed from Khuzdar; and Sepoy Abdul Rehman, 30, a resident of Sukkur.
• It said that `an exchange of fire took place between terrorists and security forces in the general area of Arawali, Kurram district
2. Screening of inbound passengers suggested amid fresh Covid threat
• Amid the scare of coronavirus that has once again alerted the country, the government has ordered strict screening at airports along with increased testing across the country to stop the spread of the virus.
• The Sindh government has also written to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to make testing mandatory for all inbound passengers and quarantine the positive cases A meeting of the NCOC on Thursday also decided to increase fumigation and use sanitisers at the airports and carry out genome sequencing of positive cases to determine the variants of the virus.
• The meeting, held at the National Institute of Health (NIH), was chaired by Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel
3. Cabinet approves three depts merger in new social protection dept
• The Punjab Cabinet has approved monitoring of all the 129 social protection programmes under the single Social Protection Authority (SPA) along with merger of the Zakat & Usher, Social Welfare and Baitul Maal departments to establish a consolidated Department of Social Protection.
• The cabinet granted approval of the Punjab Social Protection Policy 2022 too.
• Chairing the eighth provincial cabinet meeting at CM`s Secretariat on Thursday, Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said the strategy for the welfare of the masses would be ensured through the first consolidated Social Protection Policy of Punjab.
• The cabinet paid tributes to PTI Chairman Imran Khan for collecting funds for the nood affectees through a telethon. The DG PDMA gave a comprehensive briefing on the assistance programme for the flood affectees
4. Overstaying foreigners to be fined, blacklisted
• The government on December 29, 2022 decided to impose fines and blacklist illegal immigrants residing in Pakistan who failed to benefit from the general amnesty ending on Dec 31.
• The interior ministry has directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to not extend the benefits offered under the scheme after the cut-off date.
• The ministry also directed NADRA to blacklist foreigners, who have been overstaying in Pakistan for more than a year after the expiry of the scheme.
• The letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said such foreigners would be given one-time permission to exit the country before placing them into the prohibited list but their exit applications would be processed after payment of the due fine
5. SBP`s forex reserves fall to eight-year low
• With the expected IMF tranche still nowhere to be seen, State Bank of Pakistan`s foreign exchange reserves on December 29, 2022 further declined by $294 million to $5.8 billion their eight years` low making it even more difficult for the country to repay its foreign debts.
• The country has been facing a worrisome scenario as the reserves are not enough to service its huge foreign debt.
• Though Finance Minister Ishaq Dar insists Pakistan will not default, the situation on the ground hardly supports his assertions.
• The central bank`s foreign exchange reserves have been persistently falling since the beginning of FY23. Analysts and experts paint a gloomy picture for the state of economy as they beheve that the country is close to default. They are not simply ready to buy the finance minister`s statement on default
