Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
Pattachitra painting is the traditional painting of Odisha and West Bengal. These scroll paintings trace their origin to 12th century. They mainly depict Hindu mythology and are closely related to Jagannath and Vaishnava sect. It was recently in news as Odisha Chief Minister Naveen gave a Pattachitra to Pope Francis in Vatican City as a gift. This pattachitra was created by artist Apindra Swain and his family who belong to craft village of Raghurajpur in Puri district. Raghurajpur is world famous for Pattachitra paintings.

Notes:
Kempe Gowda was a chieftain under the Vijayanagar Empire, who was known for the fortification of Karnataka’s capital, Bengaluru in 1537.
His birth anniversary is observed every year across Karnataka on June 27 since 2017. In his honour, Kempe Gowda International Award was instituted earlier this year, to recognize the contributions towards development of Bengaluru. The recipients of the inaugural edition of this award are former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, Infosys founder NR Narayan Murthy and veteran badminton player Prakash Padukone.

Notes:
The Patna Marine Drive is a 20.5 km long expressway which is currently being constructed in Bihar. The first phase of this project was inaugurated recently by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The expressway is also known as the Ganga driveway. It is expected to be completed by the start of 2024. The project commenced in 2013 on the birth anniversary of Indian independence activist Jayaprakash Narayan. The cost of this project is estimated to be Rs.3,160 crore.

Notes:
June 27 is celebrated as the Micro-Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Day. The day is aimed at raising public awareness of the contribution of MSMEs to global economic growth and sustainable development.
The United Nations General Assembly declared the day in the year 2017. According to the UN, formal and informal MSMEs account for 70 per cent of the total employment and 50 per cent of the GDP. Moreover, the sector makes up for 90 per cent of all firms.

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The 14th BRICS Summit, which was convened under Chairship of Chinese President Xi Jinping in a virtual format, concluded with the Beijing Declaration.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led India’s participation at the Summit. The declaration supported talks between Russia and Ukraine. They expressed support for United Nations agencies and Red Cross to provide humanitarian assistance. The summit called for finalisation and adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism within the UN framework.

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An informal inter-governmental grouping called the Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP) was launched by the United States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
It is a five-nation ‘informal mechanism’ to support Pacific islands and to boost diplomatic, economic ties in the region. The Indo-Pacific region accounts for 63 per cent of the global GDP and 46 per cent of the world’s merchandise trade.

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The World Bank approved a USD 250 million loan for the Indian government’s road safety programme to addresses the high road accident fatality rate in the country.
The loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity of 18 years. According to a World Bank study, road crashes are estimated to cost the Indian economy between 5% and 7% of GDP a year.

Notes:
Tapan Deka has been appointed the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India’s central intelligence agency. He was serving as the Special Director in IB.
Current chief of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Samant Goel has been given another extension of one year in his tenure which comes to an end on June 30.

Notes:
Social media giant Meta and Ministry of Tribal Affairs announced to extend their collaboration to launch the second phase of Going Online As Leaders (GOAL) programme.
The first phase of GOAL involved digital mentorship programme to tribal youth. In the second phase 10 lakh women and youth entrepreneurs will be mentored. The programme will create a platform for more than 50,000 self-help groups and 10 lakh families associated with TRIFED to market their products globally.

Notes:
Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) provided Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) India’s first home-grown mRNA Covid-19 vaccine by Gennova Biopharma.
The vaccine can be administered for emergency use in 18 years and above. Unlike other mRNA vaccines which require being stored at sub-zero temperatures, this mRNA vaccine can be stored at 2-8 degrees.