Current Affairs Quiz - July 2022

Notes:
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has Union Finance Minister as chairperson, the Union Minister of State (Finance) from the Centre. Each state can nominate a minister in-charge as a member.
The two-day meeting of the 47th Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council was recently held in Chandigarh. The Council agreed to levy 18 per cent tax on cheques, lose or in book form. Hotel accommodations below Rs 1,000 will be taxed at 12 per cent among other changes.

Notes:
ALH MK III helicopters have been indigenously manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
An advanced light helicopter (ALH) MK III squadron was commissioned in Gujarat’s Porbandar by the Director General of the Indian Coast Guard at the ICG Air Enclave. It includes advanced RADAR, electro-optical sensors, Shakti engines, advanced communication systems among others.

Notes:
The government allowed firms like ONGC and Vedanta to sell locally produced crude oil to any Indian refinery for turning it into fuel, such as petrol and diesel.
The deregulation of locally produced oil is one of the last few areas that were still under its control. The government was fixing buyers for crude produced from older fields. From October 1, the companies will have the freedom to sell crude oil in the domestic market.

Notes:
Four Indian cities namely Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai appeared in the list of top 20 sustainable cities, as per the Asia Pacific Sustainability Index 2021.
Knight Frank’s APAC Sustainably Led Cities Index rated 36 cities based on urbanisation pressure, climate risk, carbon emissions and government initiatives. Singapore, Sydney, Wellington, Perth, and Melbourne were the top five green-rated cities. Bengaluru at 14th rank in the region, was the only Indian city to achieve the ‘Gold’ standard category.

Notes:
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1978 with its headquarters at Nairobi, Kenya.
It has recently released a report World Cities Report 2022, to coincide with the Eleventh Session of the World Urban Forum held at Poland. The report says urban areas are responsible for 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Notes:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently released its financial stability report for June 2022. It is a half-yearly publication.
As per the recent report, Gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio of banks fell to six-year low of 5.9% in March 2022 while the net non-performing assets (NNPA) ratio fell to 1.7% in March 2022. Capital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) and Common Equity Tier 1 (CET-1) Ratio of SCBs were 16.7% and 13.6%, respectively, in March 2022.

Notes:
The government has decided to set up the Financial Services Institution Bureau (FSIB) to replace the Banks Board Bureau (BBB).
The BBB was entrusted with the task of selecting candidates for appointments to the senior management-level posts. Delhi High Court last year ruled that BBB couldn’t select the General Managers and directors of state-run general insurers. Former BBB chairman Sharma is set to head the new body.

Notes:
Every year on the third Saturday of September, the world celebrates ‘International Coastal Clean-Up Day.’
On September 17, 2022, the Government of India, in collaboration with other voluntary organizations and the local community, is set to launch the “Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar” cleanliness campaign along India’s entire coastline.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Digital India Week 2022 in Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The theme for Digital India Week is Catalyzing New India’s Techade.
The Prime Minister also launched ‘Digital India Bhashini’ to enable easy access to the internet and digital services in Indian languages. ‘Digital India GENESIS’ – a National Deep-tech Startup Platform, to support successful start-ups in Tier-II and Tier-III cities with a total outlay of 750 crore rupees was also launched. A global repository of key projects implemented under India Stack ‘Indiastack.global’ was launched.

Notes:
The Central Government has levied windfall tax on domestic crude oil producers. Domestic producers sell crude oil to domestic refineries at international parity prices, thus making windfall gains.
The Government also hiked the import duty on gold and imposed export duties on petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF). These are the initiatives to reduce pressure on the rupee, reduce the current account deficit (CAD), and increase the domestic supply of petroleum products. Special additional excise duties of Rs 6 and Rs 13 per litre on export of petrol and diesel were announced.