Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

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 second-year anniversary of ‘National AI Portal’ (INDIAai) is celebrated on May 30, 2022. The portal is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and NASSCOM. INDIAai released a book on the basics of AI titled ‘AI for Everyone’.
The portal focuses on promoting a unified AI ecosystem in the country and use AI for economic growth. The portal has a repository of over 1000 articles on AI and several news stories, reports, case studies and videos. It has the databases featuring details of government initiatives and start-ups related to AI.

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:
World Milk Day was established by the (FAO) Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in the year 2001. It is celebrated to recognize the importance of milk as a global food and to celebrate the dairy sector.
FAO organised the ‘Enjoy Dairy Rally’ to celebrate the World Milk Day. This year’s theme highlighted the work being done to accelerate climate action and help reduce the dairy sector’s impact on the planet. The day aims to raise awareness of the action towards Dairy Net Zero.

Notes:
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has topped the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the most highly compensated CEOs.
In 2021 Musk received compensation worth almost USD 23.5 billion while Tesla ranked 65 on this year’s Fortune 500 list. Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook received USD 770.5 million in 2021 and Jensen Huang, the NVIDIA chief, received USD 561 million in 2021.

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:
Croatia is set to adopt the euro currency from the start of 2023 after meeting all the criteria to join the European Commission.
This move will make Croatia the 20th European country to use the single currency. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement that Croatia has made a step towards adopting the Euro common currency.

Notes:
Denmark is set to join the European Union’s defence policy after it held a referendum for the decision. Denmark is the only EU member that is not part of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).
The Denmark government has succeeded in abolishing an exemption secured in a 1993 referendum on the Maastricht Treaty. Sweden and Finland also placed historic bids to join NATO, which will be taken up at the upcoming summit.

Notes:
India and Israel adopted a ‘Vision statement’ for strengthening defence cooperation in future. The statement marked 30 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Israeli counterpart held bilateral talks in New Delhi. The two leaders discussed defence cooperation and the global and regional defence scenario. Israel recently signed the instrument of ratification of the International Solar Alliance.

Notes:
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched “Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas” (SHRESTHA).
It aims to provide quality education and opportunities for the poorest Scheduled Caste students. Under this scheme, a certain number of meritorious SC students per year will be selected through a National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS), conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). They will be admitted in the good private residential schools, affiliated to CBSE.