Current Affairs Quiz - May 2022

Notes:
The Supreme Court Bench of Justices invoked the extraordinary power conferred on the court under Article 142 of the Constitution, to order the release of Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A G Perarivalan.
The Apex court cited the inordinate delay and lack of decision making by the Tamil Nadu Governor in pardoning Perarivalan under Article 161 of the Constitution.

Notes:
The Election Commission of India announced that it will lead ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ in partnership with 100 democratic countries. The cohort aims to share experience and expertise with poll management bodies of various nations.
‘Summit for Democracy’ started as a two-day virtual event hosted by the United States in December 2021. The United States proposed a “Year of Action” and to host a ‘Leaders’ Summit for Democracy’ at the end of 2022. In the India-led Cohort, New Zealand, Finland and the EU have expressed interest to partner.

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 Yagachi reservoir located in the Hassan district of Karnataka was full for the first time in May. Due to the heavy rains in the catchment area, the water level reached 3164.06 ft against the maximum of 3164.90 ft.
Yagachi River arises in the Western Ghats near Chickmagaluru, flows through Belur, Hassan District, where it becomes a tributary of the Hemavati River.

Notes:
International Day for Biological Diversity is observed on May 22 every year. The theme for this year is “Building a shared future for all life”.
The United Nations proclaimed the day, which aims to spread awareness about issues of biodiversity in the world. Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate change Bhupender Yadav inaugurated Biological Diversity Exhibition at Chennai.

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:
World Turtle Day is celebrated on 23 May globally, to raise awareness about the ways to help turtles to survive in their natural habitat.
The theme for World Turtle Day 2022 is – ‘Shellebrate!’, to ask everyone to love and save Turtles. This special day was founded by the American Tortoise Rescue (ATR), a non-profit organisation in 1990.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a committee to evaluate the efficacy, adequacy and quality of customer service in banks, NBFCs, and other entities regulated by it
The six-member committee is headed by former RBI deputy governor B P Kanungo. The committee has been asked to submit a report within three months from the date of its first meeting.

Notes:
MyGov announced that citizens will be able to use the MyGov Helpdesk on WhatsApp, to access the Digilocker service.
‘Digilocker’ is a flagship initiative under Digital India programme, which provides access to authentic digital documents, in their digital document wallet. The documents issued in DigiLocker system are deemed to be at par with original physical documents. Now, citizens can create and authente their Digilocker account, download documents in WhatsApp.

Notes:
ONGC has become the first exploration and production (E&P) company in India to trade domestic gas on the Indian Gas Exchange (IGX).
The first online trade was made recently by ONGC on India’s first automated national level Gas Exchange, IGX. The gas traded is from ONGC Krishna Godavari block.