Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
NPCI International, the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lyra Network of France for ‘Acceptance of UPI & Rupay Card in France.
India is doing 5.5 billion UPI transactions in a month. France is the first Western country with which India has partnered to expand its UPI services.

Notes:
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is marked every year on 17 June across the world. The day focuses on turning degraded land into healthy or fertile soil to combat desertification.
The theme for World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is – Rising up from drought together. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is a Convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Centre for Brain Research (CBR) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus, Bengaluru.
The Centre has been set up at a cost of Rs 280 crore. It is developed as the first research facility which focuses on conducting vital research to provide evidence-based public health interventions to manage age-related brain disorders.

Notes:
Article 263 of the Indian Constitution allows the President to establish the Inter-State Council, which brings together government entities on a common platform for discussing various governance issues. The Inter-State Council was established in 1990. Its chairman is the Prime Minister and its members include chief ministers and administrators of states and union territories.

Notes:
Noc Kupaly is celebrated by Poland and other Slavic countries during the shortest night of the year (summer solstice). This pagan festival celebrates the idea of fertility and purification. The celebrations involve bonfire lighting, herb collecting and bathing in a river.

Notes:
The UNSC 1267 committee was set up in the year 1999. It was strengthened in 2001 following the 9/11 attack. Its members include both the permanent and non-permanent members of the UNSC. It is also known as Da’esh and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.

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:
The Economic Recovery Act of 1948 or the Marshall Plan was signed by President Truman to enable the United States to provide economic aid required for the infrastructure restoration in postwar Europe.

Notes:
South Africa was the last member country to join the BRICS in the year 2010. Other BRICS countries are Brazil, Russia, India and China. Together, these countries account for around 40 per cent of the global population and some 30 per cent of the global GDP.

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.