Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

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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.

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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has renamed the Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) as the Central Bureau of Communication. The BOC was set up in 2017 following the merger of the ministry’s erstwhile media units.

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Former Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta recently became the new Director Generation of the NIA – India’s premier counter-terrorist task force. Earlier, Director-General of CRPF Kuliep Singh was given the additional charge of the NIA following the retirement of Y C Modi.

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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.

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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.

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Odisha’s Dhenkanal forest department has announced plans to install automatic sirens near its national highway to protect elephants from accidents.
These sensor-based sirens will ring and a red light will turn on when elephants cross the road to alert drivers within a distance of up to 1 kilometre.  The pilot project has been initiated by ‘Change’, a voluntary organization.

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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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State Bank of India’s latest Ecowrap recent report stated that ‘Income inequality in India has been on a decline since FY17’.
The report noted that India also fared well during coronavirus pandemic in terms of navigating income shocks across population.  Sikkim and Goa led the states with a ratio of per capita income exceeding 3.

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IRS officer Nitin Gupta has been appointed as the new Chairperson of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
He is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the 1986 batch of the Income Tax cadre, serving as the Member (investigation) in the CBDT Board. The post of the CBDT chief was being held in an additional capacity by Board member and 1986-batch IRS officer Sangeeta Singh. The CBDT is headed by a Chairman and can have six members.

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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.