Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
Gotland is an island belonging to Sweden in the Baltic Sea. A new ‘smart road’ capable of charging big electric vehicles has been constructed in this island. The threat of electrical shocks from these wires is eliminated as they are buried under the road.

Notes:
Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is an initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
It is a government-backed platform that seeks to democratise e-commerce by shifting it from a platform-centric model to an open network for buying and selling goods and services. This enables a buyer registered in one participating e-commerce site to purchase goods from a seller registered in another participating e-commerce.

Notes:
The research wing of the Uttarakhand Forest Department has discovered a rare carnivorous plant species named Utricularia Furcellata in the Uttarakhand’s Mandal Valley.
This discovery is significant as this plant is found for the first time in western Himalayan region. The plant belongs to the genus bladderworts. It uses complex plant structures to trap targets ranging from protozoa to insects, mosquito larvae and tadpoles. It uses the mechanical process of creating a vacuum or negative pressure area to attract preys into the trap door.

Notes:
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) launched its annual ranking of the world’s most liveable cities- Global Liveability Index for 2022.
173 cities were ranked based on a range of criteria, including infrastructure, availability to green space, political stability, crime rates, and health care. Vienna (Austria), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Zurich (Switzerland) were the top three cities in the index.

Notes:
India’s national standard body, the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) has formulated and published standards for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
BIS functions under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. The new standards are released for test specifications for Lithium-ion Traction Battery Packs and Systems for Electrically Propelled Road Vehicles, considering real-life scenarios.

Notes:
The DRDO and the Indian Navy have successfully tested the indigenous ship-borne weapon system Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM).
The VL-SRSAM was designed based on Astra missile. It was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, as the first air-to-air missile. Astra is also an all weather beyond-visual-range missile.

Notes:
Jammu and Kashmir has been selected by the Ministry for External Affairs (MEA) for meetings during the G-20 summit, to be hosted by India in 2023.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has constituted a five-member high-powered panel for overall coordination of G20 meetings to be held in the union territory. This will be the first major international summit to be held in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of its special status.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday urged the Group of Seven (G7) countries to consider investing in India’s emerging market for clean energy technologies.
He represented India as a partner country in the G7 Summit in Germany  after being invited by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Indonesia, Argentina, Senegal and South Africa also attended the summit as partner countries. G7 is an informal grouping of industrialised economies- the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Notes:
Iran’s state-run shipping company has started its first transfer of Russian goods to India, using a new trade corridor.
The route grants India easy access to a region stretching from North Europe, Caucasus to mineral rich Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan. This 7,200 km long-pending multi-modal transportation corridor via Iran is also expected to boost Russia–India bilateral trade.

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.