Current Affairs Quiz - May 2022

Notes:
Bombay Stock exchange (BSE) has approved the appointment of S. S. Mundra as the Chairman of the company, subject to approval of SEBI.
Mundra retired as Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2017 after serving for three years. He was Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Baroda from where he superannuated in 2014. He served as RBI’s nominee on the Financial Stability Board and its various committees. He was also the Vice-chair of OECD’s International Network on Financial Education (INFE).

Notes:
The Supreme Court slammed Kerala as it failed to comply with January 2017 order requiring them to compensate victims who suffered effects of endosuflan pesticide.
The judgment had directed three steps – identification of victims, disbursal of ₹5 lakh compensation to each victim, and setting up medical facilities to deal with the long-term health effects arising from the effects of endosulfan. The Supreme Court banned the use of Endosulfan in 2012.

Notes:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired the high-level Ministerial meeting on ‘Global Food Security-Call to Action’ in New York.
India’s Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan expressed concern over global food insecurity in the meeting. He said that India welcomes the UN Secretary General’s initiative of establishing a Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG) and exemption of food purchases by WFP for humanitarian assistance from food export restrictions.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked all banks and ATM operators to make cardless cash withdrawal facility, known as ICCW (Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal), available at all ATMs across all banks in India.
UPI would be used for customer authorisation in such transactions, settlement would be through the National Financial Switch (NFS)/ATM networks. The card-less cash transactions shall be processed without levy of any charges.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will transfer Rs 30,307 crore as surplus to the government for 2021-22.
The decision was taken by the RBI board to maintain the contingency risk buffer at 5.50 per cent of its balance sheet. This year’s transfer is lower than the surplus transferred in the previous financial year Rs 99,126 crore for a nine-month period ended March 2021.

Notes:
Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the excise duty cut of Rs 8/litre on petrol and Rs 6/litre on diesel.
She also announced a subsidy of Rs 200 for those buying LPG cylinders under the Ujjwala Yojana. The cuts have been made in Road & Infrastructure Cess (RIC), which is not shared with states and so, the burden lies with the Centre. This duty cut has a revenue implication of Rs 1 lakh crore annually for the Centre.

Notes:
Kerala will launch a state-owned over-the-top (OTT) platform, CSpace to offer movies, short films and documentaries.
The state’s Minister for Cultural affairs unveiled the name of the OTT platform as CSpace, which is an initiative of Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC) on behalf of the state government. It is set to be launched on November 1, the state’s formation day.

Notes:
eVTOL stands for ‘Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL)’. The eVTOL aircrafts use electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically.
Union Minister for Civil Aviation, while speaking at India @ 2047, a part of the 7th edition of India Ideas Conclave announced that India would rope in eVTOL manufacturing bases in the country after U.S. Airforce and the Canadian Airforce get regulatory certifications.

Notes:
The Prime Minister of the country dedicated 5 projects worth over Rs 2,960 crore to the nation on May 26, 2022 in the presence of Governor RN Ravi, Union Minister L Murugan and Chief Minister MK Stalin. In Chennai, 1,152 houses constructed under the Light House project were inaugurated. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban, this project has been constructed at a cost of Rs 116 crore. Modi had launched the lighthouse projects on January 1, 2021 to use new technology for faster completion while making housing projects more flexible. Since then, it has been regularly reviewing the status of the project including drone-based surveillance.

Notes:
The Prime Minister recently laid the foundation stone of a multi-modal logistics park in Chennai with an estimated cost of Rs 1430 crore. The park is being designed to offer seamless intermodal freight movement apart from other unique multifunctionalities. PM Modi was recently in Chennai to lay the foundation stone for 11 projects worth Rs 31,530 crore.