Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar have jointly unveiled a new supercomputer called Param Ananta.
It was launched in phase two of the central government’s National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). The supercomputer is capable of offering peak performance of 838 teraflops. With this, India has 15 supercomputers disclosed to the public, with a combined performance capability of 24 petaflops.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report titled ‘Tobacco: Poisoning Our Planet’ to coincide with World No Tobacco Day.
It found that the tobacco industry is responsible for the annual loss of eight million human lives, 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water, and releases about 84 million tonnes of CO2 into the Earth’s atmosphere. The report called for steps to make the industry more accountable for the destruction.

Notes:
The Global Mercy, the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, made its debut in Africa in the port of Dakar, the capital city of Senegal.
It is scheduled to stay in Senegal for four weeks to train health professionals before returning in 2023 to provide surgical care for the poor. The giant ship measures 174 meters long and 28.6 meters wide and it comprises of 12 decks.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet expanded the scope of the public procurement portal Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to allow cooperative societies to register as buyers.
This would help cooperatives in getting competitive prices through an open and transparent process. Over 8,54,000 registered cooperatives and their 270 million members will be benefitted. The registration of cooperatives as buyers was not covered within the existing mandate of GeM, so far.

Notes:
The Times Higher Education (THE) released the 2022 edition of the Asia University Rankings with universities from 31 countries and territories.
India is the third most-represented country, with 71 universities making it to the list. Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore is the only institute to make the top-50 list at 42^nd rank. JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (65^th), IIT Ropar (68) and IIT Indore (87) were in top 100 list.

Notes:
Railway Protection Force (RPF) launched a pan India drive “Operation Mahila Suraksha” was launched from May 3 to May 31, 2022.
During this drive, RPF has arrested more than 7,000 persons who were travelling in the coaches reserved for women without being authorised. RPF also rescued 150 women from becoming victims of human trafficking. Another pan India initiative “Meri Saheli” is also operational to provide safety and security to lady passengers.

Notes:
India’s Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is on a three-nation tour, reached Senegal, a West African country.
India signed three MoUs with the country on 1) visa-free regime for Diplomatic and Official passport holders; 2)renewal of Cultural Exchange Progarmme (CEP) for the period 2022-26 and 3) bilateral cooperation in youth matters.

Notes:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a global initiative Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE) Movement, on the occasion of World Environment Day through video conferencing.
The idea of LiFE was originally introduced by the Prime Minister during the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties COP-26 in Glasgow. ‘LiFE Global Call for Papers’ was initiated inviting ideas and suggestions to adopt an environment-conscious lifestyle.

Notes:
‘Ex SAMPRITI-X’, a joint military training exercise between India and Bangladesh commenced in Bangladesh, as part of bilateral defence cooperation.
The military training exercise is aimed at strengthening the features of interoperability and cooperation between both armies. The Indian contingent is represented by a battalion of the Dogra regiment.

Notes:
UIDAI has announced that it would provide IPPB postmen with the necessary digital devices such as a desktop or laptop-based Aadhar kit to update the necessary details of Aadhar card holders.
UIDAI also plans to onboard over 13,000 banking correspondents currently working with the Common Service Centre (CSC) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.