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 Centre has recently proposed a scheme worth Rs 1,000 crore to invite private companies to set up manufacturing zones in power and renewable energy (RE) equipment.
The Ministries of power and new and renewable energy have jointly proposed a scheme for establishment of three manufacturing zones, in which two would be brownfield on already developed land and one greenfield manufacturing zone in a coastal area of the country.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the RBI Annual Report 2021-22. As per the report, the total number of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) of all denominations detected in the banking sector increased to 2,30,971 pieces.
There was an increase of 16.4 per cent, 16.5 per cent, 11.7 per cent, 101.9 per cent and 54.6 per cent in the counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 200, Rs 500 and Rs 2,000, respectively. The total expenditure on security printing during 2021-2022 was ₹4,984.8 crore as against ₹4,012.1 crore in the previous year.

Notes:
National Statistical Office (NSO) marginally slashed its year-on-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 8.7 per cent, down from 8.9 per cent estimated in February.
The fourth quarter (January-March period of 2021-22) GDP growth was recorded at 4.1 per cent. The economy witnessed a 6.6 per cent contraction in 2020-21. The latest GDP growth estimate is lower than the second advance estimate of 8.9 per cent (released in February) and first advance estimate of 9.2 per cent (released in January).

Notes:
World No Tobacco Day is observed on May 31 every year to create awareness of the dangers of smoking, tobacco companies and their business practices.
This year’s theme for World No Tobacco Day 2022 is ‘Tobacco: A Threat to our Environment.’ Nearly 3.5 million hectares of land are destroyed every year to grow tobacco. As per the United Nations, consumption of tobacco kills more than 8 million people every year.

Notes:
The 118th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) comprising Indus Commissioners of India and Pakistan was recently organised.
During the meeting, the annual report for the year ending on March 31, 2022, was finalised and signed. The next meeting of the PIC would be held in Pakistan. According to the of the Indus Waters Treaty, around 33-million-acre feet water of eastern rivers- Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi is allocated to India for unrestricted use annually, and about 135 MAF of western rivers-Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab to Pakistan.

Notes:
Soft robots are robots that are flexible and unlike traditional robots can be used to perform more delicate functions.
Soft robots can be programmed to execute specific tasks such as reaching into difficult gaps or holding onto delicate objects.

Notes:
The forest department of Bihar has recently established an elephant rescue centre at Bihar’s Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) to rehabilitate stray and injured elephants.
The reserve is located in Bihar’s West Champaran district, with Nepal to its north and Uttar Pradesh to its west. In the last few years, several elephants stray into the reserve from the neighbouring Chitwan National Park in Nepal.

Notes:
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and India’s public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati are exploring the feasibility of a technology called ‘direct-to-mobile’ (D2M) broadcasting.
It allows broadcasting video and other forms of multimedia content directly to mobile phones, without the need of an active internet connection. The technology is also expected to improve consumption of broadband and utilisation of spectrum.

Notes:
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a framework for scale-based regulation for NBFCs wherein the structure comprises four layers based on their size, activity, and perceived riskiness.
RBI recently announced specified rates of provision for outstanding loans extended by ‘NBFC-Upper Layer’.  The guidelines are for provisioning for standard assets by large Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) due to their key role in the financial system.