Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
The Indian Coast Guard’s Eastern Region inducted the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Mark III, the first aircraft of the newly created “840 Squadron”.
It was indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Mark III by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). HAL has delivered 13 out of 16 such aircraft to the Indian Coast Guard till date.

Notes:
Spain has been facing wildfires amid an unusual heat wave in the Western Europe region. In Spain’s northwest province of Zamora, over 30,000 hectares have been consumed. The fire in the north-western Sierra de Culebra mountain range has caused significant damage.
Germany has also been hit by wild fires and heat wave due to climate change.

Notes:
The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 21 June as the International Day of the Celebration of the Solstice.
It aims to celebrate the unity of cultural heritage and traditions, as well as to strengthen ties among people. The seasonal movement of the Sun’s daily path appears to stand still at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction. There are two solstices that occur annually namely the Summer Solstice around June 21 and Winter Solstice around December 21.

Notes:
The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is the nodal agency responsible for protecting India’s critical information infrastructure. It was established in 2014 under Section 70A of the IT Act, 2000. It is part of the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), an intelligence agency under the NSA.

Notes:
The Russian enclave Kaliningrad is located on the Baltic Sea. It is sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. It was captured by the USSR from Nazi Germany in April 1945. It became part of the USSR territory as the result of the Potsdam Agreement. It was recently in news because of a row after Lithuania decided to ban goods part of EU sanctions from moving through its territory to reach Kaliningrad.

Notes:
According to the latest data of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the United States is India’s largest trading partner. The bilateral trade is worth 119.42 billion USD. India’s second largest trading partner is China.

Notes:
The Spitsbergen treaty or the Svalbard Treaty recognizes sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard, which is located between mainland Norway and the North Pole. It provides citizens of signatory countries the equal right to exploit the archipelago’s resources. However, only two countries – Norway and Russia – have utilised this benefit.

Notes:
The Varada River in central Karnataka is a tributary of Tungabhadra River. The state government of Karnataka is currently facing criticism from environmentalists for the proposed Bedti-Varada river linking project. The Bedti-Varada river-linking project seeks to pump about 524 million cubic metres (mcm) of water from Sirsi in Uttara Kannada to arid regions of Raichur and Koppal districts. It has met with strong opposition from local activists, who say that project will destroy 2,125 acres of forests in the ecologically sensitive parts of Western Ghats.

Notes:
The Ambubachi Mela is a 4-day long festival held every year at the Kamakhya Temple, which is situated at Assam’s Guwahati. It celebrates the goddess of motherhood and fertility. It marks Goddess Kamakhya experiencing the menstrual cycle.

Notes:
A draft notification was approved by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways recently for the introduction of Bharat New Car Assessment Program (Bharat-NCAP). Under this initiative, cars will be given star ratings based on their performance in crash tests.