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:
Observed on June 23, UN Public Service Day aims to recognize the importance of public institutions and public servants in ensuring the development of all sectors across the globe.
The 2022 theme is “Building back better from COVID-19: Enhancing innovative partnerships to meet the Sustainable Development Goals”.

Notes:
A joint India-UK Commonwealth Diplomatic Academy programme was recently announced by the foreign ministers of the UK and India.
It aims to equip diplomats from all Commonwealth member states with expertise and skills required for addressing emerging challenges that have global-level impact. This academy programme will be hosted in New Delhi. This was announced during the 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which was held in Rwanda, East Africa from June 24 to 25.

Notes:
Kerala government is set to launch MEDISEP scheme from July 1, 2022. It is a medical insurance scheme for state government employees, pensioners and their eligible family members.
It will provide cashless medical assistance with a comprehensive coverage of up to Rs.3 lakhs per year.

Notes:
A new species of jumping spider christened Pseudomogrus sudhii was discovered by a group of researchers in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan’s Desert National Park. The new species was named after the renowned arachnologist Sudhikumar.
This 4-millimetre-long spider is found only in India and United Arab Emirates. The male members of this species have dark brown head covered with small white hairs, black eye region and a dark band along the pale-yellow coloured abdomen. The females’ head is yellow with black eyes and white spotted light-yellow abdomen.

Notes:
NITI Aayog released a report titled ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ recently. The Indian gig workforce is expected to expand to 23.5 million workers by 2029-30, a 200 per cent jump from 7.7 million now.
The report estimates that gig workers will form 4.1 per cent of the total workforce in India by 2029-2030, from 1.5 per cent now. The report stated 47 per cent of the jobs are medium-skilled, about 22 per cent are high-skilled, and about 31 per cent are low-skilled.

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.