Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) recently notified the cost inflation index (CII) for FY 2022-23 as 331.
For the previous year (FY 2021-22) CII was notified as 317. The CII is used to calculate an asset’s inflation-adjusted cost price, with which Long-term capital gains or losses are then calculated. This notification will apply to the Assessment Year 2023-24 and future years.

Notes:
Microsoft has shut down its iconic Internet Explorer (IE) browser after 27 years. It was one of the oldest browsers launched in the year 1995.
Microsoft has asked its users to switch to its modern Edge browser, while the virtual version of the older browser will be available to users. In 2022, Chrome is the most popular and widely used browser in the world with over 70 % market share.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently released a document titled “Payments Vision 2025”, with guidelines on payments.
The document also focussed on the architecture of digital finance. It includes regulations for BigTechs and fintechs in payments; guidelines on payments involving ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) services; introducing the central bank digital currency (CBDC); and linking credit cards and credit components of banking products to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Notes:
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras have developed a robot to clean septic tanks without human intervention.
Named HomoSEP, the product development was further supported by GAIL (India). Initially, ten units are planned to be deployed across Tamil Nadu. The robots have been developed to eliminate manual scavenging.

Notes:
Union Minister Bhupender Yadav addressed the Plenary Session of 110th International Labour Conference in Geneva.
The International labour Conference sets the international labour standards and the broad policies of the ILO. It is the largest international gathering attended by representatives of governments, employers and workers from the 187 ILO Member States.

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 ‘Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC)’ functions under the aegis of Ministry of Labour and Employment.
ESIC has announced that its Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme will be implemented throughout the country by the end of 2022. The health insurance scheme is fully implemented in 443 districts and partially implemented in 153 districts. As many as 148 districts are not covered under the ESI Scheme at present.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has declared IT resources of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) as ‘critical information infrastructure’.
The Information Technology Act of 2000 defines ‘Critical Information Infrastructure’ as a “computer resource, the incapacitation or destruction of which shall have debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health or safety”. The government has the power to declare any data, database, IT network or communications infrastructure as CII.

Notes:
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) notified the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom in 2021, aimed towards incentivising design-led manufacturing in the sector.
Recently the DoT has extended the PLI scheme by one year, and has amended the scheme to raise the incentive rate by an additional 1 per cent. The Centre will provide additional incentives of over Rs 4,000 crore.

Notes:
UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize or the Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education was established in 2005 with the help of the Kingdom of Bahrain. It gives recognition to the innovative use of ICT in the education sector.