Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
The first-ever India-EU Security and Defence Consultations was held in Brussels, in continuation to a decision taken at the India-EU summit in July 2020.
India and the European Union discussed increasing maritime security cooperation and co-development of defence equipment. India’s participation in Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) was also discussed.

Notes:
Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index eased to 7.04 per cent in May from 7.79 per cent in April this year.
As per the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation data, inflation slipped mainly due to easing prices in Food & Beverages and Fuel & light sections. Food & Beverages have a weight of more than 54 percent in Consumer Price Index.

Notes:
India’s Union Cabinet has approved the proposal on the agreement between the Government of India and the United Nations on a ‘Way Finding Application’ to be used in the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).
The Office is housed at the historic Palais des Nations. In view of the complexity of buildings and huge participation, India announced to develop the ‘Way Finding Application’ to UN on the occasion of its 75th anniversary in 2020. The estimated outlay for development and maintenance of the App is USD 2 Million.

Notes:
A new species of snail – Haploptychius sahyadriensis, a third in the genus Haploptychius, has been found in the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra.
The species is endemic to Vishalgad Conservation Reserve in Kolhapur. Haploptychius sahyadriensis is different from the other Indian and South-East Asian species. It has been named after the type locality of the species in the northern part of the Western Ghats, which is Sahyadri in Sanskrit. India has 1,450 snails and slugs with the highest diversity in north-eastern India.

Notes:
World Blood Donor Day is observed every year on 14 June. The theme of this year is ‘Blood donation: An act of solidarity’.
The Day was created to raise global awareness of the need for safe blood for transfusion, highlight the critical contribution of voluntary, blood donors, support national blood transfusion services, blood donor organizations and other related NGOs.

Notes:
The United States has announced a funding of USD 122 million for India, to prevent avoidable epidemics, early detection of disease threats, and rapid and effective response.
The total funding will be distributed to three top health research institutions- ICMR, National Institute of Virology (NIV) and National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) over a period of five years.

Notes:
The first-ever girl Panchayat of India named ‘Balika Panchayat’ was organised in several villages of Gujarat’s Kutch district.
This is an initiative of the Women and Child Development Welfare department of the Gujarat Government under the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign. Balika Panchayat is managed by people in the 11-21 age group and aims to promote the social and political development of girl children.

Notes:
18 June is marked as the International Day for Countering Hate Speech. In July 2021, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution “promoting inter-religious and intercultural dialogue and tolerance in countering hate speech”.
Hate speech goes against the core principles of the UN Charter such as equality, peace, and respect for human dignity leading to social disharmony.

Notes:
The Multinational Peacekeeping Exercise “Ex Khaan Quest -2022” was conducted at Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia.
The exercise provided a platform for mutual learning and sharing best practices amongst the armies from 16 Nations. The Indian contingent consisting of personnel from the Ladakh Scouts participated in the exercise. Mock tactical operations as per United Nations (UN) mandate among other exercise were held.

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.