Current Affairs Quiz - May 2022

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:
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 Belfast Agreement or Good Friday Agreement (GFA) was signed in 1998 to end the political conflicts of Northern Ireland.
Recently, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson cited this power sharing agreement. He said that the Post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland are unviable and need urgent reform to unblock the province’s power-sharing Assembly.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to pay an official visit to Lumbini in Nepal on May 16 on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.
As per the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Prime Minister is visiting Nepal at the invitation of its Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. At Lumbini, Queen Mahamayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama at around 563 BCE.

Notes:
Foxtail orchid or Kopou Phool is the State Flower of Assam. Foxtail Orchid (Rhynchostylis retusa) is used in the Bohag Bihu festival of the state.
A private orchid garden is being maintained by a farmer and conservationist of Assam. It includes a number of Foxtail orchids and other orchid breeds like rhynchostlis retusa white, Dendrobium lituiflorum yellow, Vanda ampullaceal among others.

Notes:
International Museum Day is celebrated by museums across the globe on May 18th, to generate awareness about the significant role of museums in community building, national and international cooperation as well as cultural exchange.
The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi is organizing week-long celebrations with educational activities and programs under the theme of this year’s Museum Day – ‘Power of Museums’.

Notes:
Central African Republic (CAR) recently became the second country after El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. CAR’s President Faustin-Archange Touadera announced that the measure would enable “strong and inclusive growth”.
With a population of 5 million, CAR is among the poorest countries on the globe. As per World Bank, 71% of its population was living below the international poverty line.  As per the IMF, adopting the unregulated asset as a legal tender posed major legal, and economic policy challenges.

Notes:
The Indian Government has banned wheat exports with effect from May 13, citing a risk to food security, partly due to the war in Ukraine.
Wheat prices in India have risen to record highs, well above the government’s minimum support price. India’s wheat harvest has also suffered from record heat-wave. Rising food and energy prices pushed India’s retail inflation to an eight-year high in April.

Notes:
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has recently passed away at the age of 73. The Ministry of Presidential Affairs announced that there will be 40 days of official mourning in the country.
The United Arab Emirates’ de facto ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected as the new President by the Federal Supreme Council.

Notes:
The researchers at the University of Florida (UF) in the US demonstrated that plants can successfully sprout and grow in lunar soil.
Plants were grown in Moon’s soil, also known as lunar regolith, brought back to Earth by astronauts in the Apollo missions. Arabidopsis plant is used in the research as its genetic code is fully mapped. This is a step towards producing food and oxygen on the Moon during future space missions.