Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

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:
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:
Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) recently clarified that the Padma Bridgeis not part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
It is a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of the Ganges. When completed it will be the largest bridge in Bangladesh and the first fixed river crossing for road traffic. BRI or the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative is a flagship programme of President Xi Jinping for trade and connectivity and India has raised concerns over the BRI projects.

Notes:
A 300kg stingray caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia is the biggest freshwater fish ever documented in the world.
Though there is no official database of the world’s biggest freshwater fish, the previous largest recorded fish was a 293kg Mekong giant catfish caught in Thailand in 2005. The Mekong River flows from the Tibetan Plateau through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Notes:
Sri Lankan cabinet passed the 21st Amendment to the Constitution to empower Parliament over the executive president.
The 21st Amendment is expected to dissolve the section, which gives unfettered powers to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after abolishing the 19th Amendment that will strengthen Parliament. It also includes reforms including barring dual citizens from contesting elections to hold public office.

Notes:
Swadesh Darshan Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Tourism for the integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits in India. Under this central sector scheme, central financial assistance will be provided to states and union territories for the infrastructural development of the tourist circuits.

Notes:
Ukraine’s Snake Island or Zmiinyi Island is situated in the Black Sea, close to the Danube Delta. This X-shaped island is less than 700 meters from end to end. A village named Bile was founded in 2007 to reaffirm the status of the island as being inhabited.

Notes:
The UNGA has adopted the resolution to designate June 24 as the International Day of Women in Diplomacy. Its purpose is to promote the full and equal participation of women at all levels of diplomacy.

Notes:
The 1973 Roe v Wade ruling of the US Supreme Court held that laws that severely restrict or deny a woman’s access to abortion violates the Constitution’s right to privacy. The US Supreme Court had recently reversed this landmark ruling, allowing individual states to permit or restrict the procedure themselves.