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 Group of 7 (G7) leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US have concluded a two-day summit.
They also announced goals of an open and cooperative international Climate Club towards establishing it by the end of 2022. The G7 leaders also condemned “Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine”.

Notes:
Tata Motors and Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp have formed a strategic partnership to design, develop and manufacture semiconductor solutions.
Renesas will also work with Tejas Networks, another Tata Group firm, on wireless network technologies, including 5G, as part of the partnership. The primary market for the products will be India, with plans to expand to global markets.

Notes:
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) is the voluntary self-regulatory body in advertising sector in India.
As per the annual complaints report, Education, healthcare and personal care are the most violative categories of advertisements. It processed 7,631 complaints at an increase of 25 per cent from last year.

Notes:
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry has released ‘Start-ups Ranking 2021’.
The ranking focuses on seven reform areas. Gujarat, Karnataka and Meghalaya were categorised as best performers while Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram and Ladakh have an emerging start-up ecosystem. Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir were ranked as the top performers section.

Notes:
The Union Environment Ministry directed to constitute a ‘Project screening committee’ in each state/UT with five members.
According to the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022, will meet at least twice every month and will advise the state governments on projects in a time bound manner, the rules state. The Committee is to be formed for an initial review of proposals involving diversion of forest land.

Notes:
Rahul Narwekar, a first-time MLA, was elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly defeating Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi.
The 45-year old leader is the youngest speaker of India, as of now. Earlier Eknath Shinde took over as the new Chief Minister while Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.

Notes:
Australia has committed USD5.8 million to the three-year India-Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership.
Union Minister for coal and mines Pralhad Joshi, who is on a visit to Australia, said that India and Australia will explore investment opportunities in lithium and cobalt mineral assets.

Notes:
The UK has signed its first international data sharing deal with South Korea after Brexit to promote digital trade.
The deal will allow organisations in both the countries to transfer data without any restrictions. Google, Mastercard and Microsoft were advising the UK government on this deal as part of an International Data Transfer Expert Council.