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:
In the India leg of the annual Global Backyard Bird Count (GBCC) coordinated by Bird Count India, participants counted birds from a particular location.
Over 3000 birders uploaded 41,694 checklists and recorded 1,017 species, which is 75% of the total number of species known to occur in the country. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands recorded four new species in the top five namely the Andaman coucal, red-whiskered bulbul, white-throated kingfisher, and brown shrike.

Notes:
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said that a budget of Rs 363 crore has been allotted to take up the world’s largest film restoration project.
The project is undertaken under National Film Heritage Mission of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. About 2200 Indian films would undergo restoration at the National Film Archive of India (NFAI).

Notes:
Union Minister for MSME Narayan Rane launched the second phase of MSME RuPay Credit Card during the National conference of MSME- Development Institutes, Testing Centres and Technology Centres.
The second phase of MSME RuPAY Credit Card has been launched in asociation with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of Baroda, SBM Bank (India) and HDFC Bank.

Notes:
AI Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) recently entered into an MoU with Boeing for maintenance of its critical equipment on key defence platforms used by the Navy and VVIP aircrafts operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
This is in line with the commitment made in the India-US ministerial dialogue to strengthen MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) capabilities in India.

Notes:
An MoU was recently signed between Ministry of Rural Development and Amazon Seller Services Private Limited.
The alliance will enable Self Help Group (SHG) entrepreneurs under National Rural Livelihood Mission -NRLM to offer their products to the buyers across India through ‘Amazon-Saheli’ Storefront. This step will finally help SHG women achieve good price for their products.

Notes:
The rocket carrying NASA’s Endurance mission was successfully launched from Norway. According to NASA, the Endurance mission will attempt to measure Earth’s global electric potential.
As the electric potential is expected to be very weak, it is difficult to measure. It is also considered as one reason Earth can support life. The mission will measure electrons escaping from Earth’s atmosphere.

Notes:
Union Tourism Minister, G. Kishan Reddy inaugurated the first Incredible India International Cruise Conference (IIICC) in Mumbai.
He also invited domestic and international tourists to ‘Come, Cruise in India.’ It was jointly organised by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the Government of India and FICCI. Eight Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were signed during the conference.

Notes:
The Chittagong or Chhatogram port is one of the important seaports of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered India to use the Chittagong Port when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met her Dhaka.
Due to the sea port’s close proximity, the port facility has the potential to boost economic activity in the North-East Indian states including Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram, as it provides close access to global shipping lanes.

Notes:
Former Australia cricketer and two-time World Cup winner Andrew Symonds recently passed away in a car crash. He played all three formats of cricket as a batting all-rounder.
The 46-year-old featured in 198 ODIs, scoring six centuries and 30 half-centuries. He also contributed 133 wickets. ‘Roy: Going For Broke’ was his auto-biography written with Stephen Gray.