Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
Two countries – Ukraine and Republic of Moldova – were granted the status of candidate country by the European Council. This paves the way towards them becoming the members of the European Bloc.

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.

Notes:
LGBTQ Pride Month is celebrated every year in the month of June. It commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan – which is recognized as the starting point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.
Initially, the last Sunday in June was celebrated as ‘Gay Pride Day’. This soon grew to encompass month-long celebrations across the country. These events also include memorials for those who have lost their lives because of persecutions, hate crimes or HIV/AIDS.

Notes:
June 25 was designated as the Day of the Seafarer (DotS) by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN agency responsible for regulating global shipping industry.
It was observed for the first time in the year 2011. The day recognizes the importance of sea transport and honours seafarers for their contribution towards the global economic growth despite the risks involved. The theme for this year’s DotS is “Your voyage – then and now, share your journey”.

Notes:
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is the apex government body responsible for laying down policies related to disaster management in India. It is chaired by Prime Minister and has nine other members.
NDMA was set up as per the Disaster Management Act, 2005. As Assam faces floods and rain-induced landslides, NDMA has recently released dos and don’ts before, during and after the floods. It also provided tips to follow during the evacuation process.

Notes:
Launched in 2018, BepiColombo is the joint mission of the European Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission has two individual orbiters – ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Jaxa’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter.
It is the first European mission to Mercury and the first to send two spacecraft to take complementary measurements of the planet and study its environment at the same time. This joint mission recently made its second gravity assist flyby of the Mercury.

Notes:
Ministry of Education released the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2019-20, and noted that schools across India performed poorly under the category of digital learning.
The top performing districts were Jaipur, Sikar and Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. The PGI-D structure has 600 points, under six categories – Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction, Infrastructure Facilities & Student’s Entitlements, School Safety & Child Protection, Digital Learning and Governance Process.

Notes:
Centre for Neuroscience (CNS), IISc reseachers have developed algorithm to study brain activity. Using ‘Regularized, Accelerated, Linear Fascicle Evaluation, or ReAl-LiFE’ algorithm, enormous amounts of data generated from diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) scans of the human brain can be analysed.
Using ReAL-LiFE, the team could evaluate dMRI data over 150 times faster than existing state-of-the-art algorithms.

Notes:
Veteran lyricist, author and journalist, Chowalloor Krishnankutty passed away at the age of 86. He has authored over 3000 devotional songs and authored over 200 books.
He won several awards including the Kerala Sahithya Academy Award for satire, Poonthanam Jnanapana among others. Chowalloor Krishanankutty also produced documentaries on well-known Kathakali artists. He served as the Vice-Chairman of the Kerala Kalamandalam.

Notes:
India successfully tested the indigenously-designed Abhyas – a High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT).
The trial was carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Odisha’s Chandipur. Earlier, DRDO and the Army successfully tested an indigenously-developed anti-tank guided missile in Maharashtra.