Current Affairs Quiz - May 2022

Notes:
MIT astronomers have recently discovered a “black widow binary”, a rapidly spinning neutron star circling and slowly consuming a smaller companion star.
It has been found 3,000 light-years from Earth. The newly discovered black-widow binary named ZTF J1406+1222, is the tightest black-widow binary known as the pulsar and the companion locked in an orbital motion with a period of just 62 minutes.

 

Notes:
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently gave security clearance to the new promoters of Jet Airways to resume commercial operations in the country.
The Jalan-Kalrock consortium is currently the promoter of Jet Airways, which was owned and run by Naresh Goyal for over 20 years before it became bankrupt.

Notes:
A 30-year-old woman, named Priyanka Mohite is now known as the first Indian woman to climb five peaks above 8000 m.
She has achieved this success after ascending Mount Kanchenjunga, which is 8586 m above sea level and also the third highest mountain on the planet. In 2013, Mohite scaled the highest peak in the world, the Mount Everest, which stands at 8849 m. Mohite has also received the Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award 2020.

Notes:
The Union government recently notified the appointment of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia- Chief justice of Gauhati High Court, and Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala- Judge of the Gujarat High Court, as judges of the Supreme Court.
With this appointment, the Supreme Court will regain the sanctioned strength of 34 judges, as the current strength is only 32. Justice Pardiwala will also be in line to become the Chief Justice of India.

Notes:
The United States has launched “Affordable Connectivity Program” to provide subsidies on internet service to lower-income households.
It has been announced that 20 internet companies have agreed to provide discounted service to people with low incomes. The USD 14.2 billion funding for the program is a part of the USD 1 trillion infrastructure package passed by Congress last year. With the new program, about 48 million households will be eligible for USD 30 monthly plans for 100 megabits per second or higher speed.

Notes:
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has opposed a petition by Delhi Police to match a suspect’s picture and fingerprints from the crime scene with the Aadhaar database to help identify the accused.
Section 33 of the Aadhaar Act says that the identity information can be disclosed if such an order is made by a high court or Supreme Court judge, after giving an opportunity of hearing to the UIDAI and the Aadhaar-holder. However, core biometric information shall not be disclosed under this subsection.

Notes:
The winners of Pulitzer Prize 2022 in journalism, books, drama and music were announced recently and India has received four awards.
Ace photographer Danish Siddiqui was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer in the category of Feature Photography. Other Indian winners are Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, and Amit Dave. All the four are awarded the prestigious prize for their images of the impact of Covid on India.

Notes:
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service became the first in Asia to join NATO’s cyber defence group. South Korea has been under Cyber-threats from China and North Korea.
NIS was accepted as a contributing participant for NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). It was a cyber defence hub founded in Estonia, in 2008 and is focused on cyber-security research, training, and exercises.

Notes:
The Department of Consumer Affairs has directed all ride-hailing companies to become convergence partner in the National Consumer Helpline.
1915 short code has been allocated to National Consumer Helpline, to enable better grievance redressal for consumers. The ride –hailing companies including Ola, Uber and Rapido were also asked to comply with Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and E-commerce Rules, 2020.

Notes:
Annada Shankar Smarak Samman is presented by the Pashimbanga Bangla Academy for literary works of Bengali language.
Recently, a Bengali folk culture researcher Ratna Rashid Banerjee returned the award as a mark of protest against the academy’s decision to confer a special award to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s book Kabita Bitan.