Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
Israel has signed a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates, its first big trade pact with an Arab state.
The agreement, which aimed at boosting trade between the two Middle Eastern nations, would encourage more Israeli companies to set up offices in the UAE, particularly in Dubai. The deal with Israel is UAE’s second bilateral free trade agreement after a similar accord with India in February.

Notes:
Indian Council for Cultural Relations organised a ten days programme named ‘Gen-Next Democracy Network’ concluded.
Under the Gen Next Democracy Network programme, Youth from various democratic countries come to India and get acquainted with India’s heritage, culture and functioning of Indian democracy. ICCR is an autonomous organisation involved in India’s global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries.

Notes:
Russia has launched a new “Foreign debt payment system”, an arrangement similar to that used for payments for its gas supplies to pay its dollar-denominated foreign debts.
Russia will offer the holders of its Eurobond obligations to accept a payment system bypassing the Western financial infrastructure. Russia has not defaulted on its international debts since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution when the Soviet Union was created.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed ‘Garib Kalyan Sammelan’ in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, marking the completion of eight years of the government.
The programme is organised across the country at state capitals, district headquarters, and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). The Prime Minister also released the 11th instalment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme of around Rs. 21,000 crore to more than 10 crore beneficiary farmer families.

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:
GST revenue for May was recorded at nearly Rs 1.41 lakh crore, a 44 per cent increase over the same month last year, as per the Finance Ministry.
This is the fourth time that the monthly GST collection has crossed Rs 1.40 lakh crore mark since the inception of GST and the third straight month since March 2022. In March GST revenues were at Rs 1.42 lakh crore, while in February it was at Rs 1.33 lakh crore.

Notes:
IIM-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has partnered with an e-marketplace for agricultural land, SFarms India, to develop a farm land price index based on the sales and purchases done on the platform.
The ‘IIM-Ahmedabad SFarmsIndia Land Price Index (ISALPI)’ records and presents the data on prices of agricultural land in the country. It can be used by local governments to compensate people who lose land for highway expansion

Notes:
The Supreme Court directed that every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of a minimum one km starting from their demarcated boundaries.
As per the Environment Ministry guidelines, the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) would act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to those involving lesser protection.

Notes:
China successfully launched its third manned mission to its new space station, sending three astronauts to continue construction work for six months.
China’s Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced that the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft was launched by a Long March 2F rocket. The team will live and work at the Tiangong Space Station’s Tianhe core module for six months.

Notes:
Sony has announced that it formed a new company to build and supply devices that allow small satellites in orbit to communicate with one another via laser beams.
The devices will work between satellites in space and satellites communicating with ground stations. There are around 12,000 satellites in orbit, a number that is projected to increase rapidly in the coming years