General Knowledge & Current Affairs
June 2022 - 20th to 26th
- IAF releases details on Agnipath recruitment scheme; process to begin from June 24
- New Delhi: Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor to cut commute time by 15 mins
- Polio Immunisation 2022 starts in 11 states & UTs across country
- Aadhaar number to be linked to voters list
- Agnipath’: Army announces recruitment, registration from next month
- PM inaugurates the Centre for Brain Research and lays the foundation Stone for Bagchi Parthasarathy Multispeciality Hospital at IISc Bengaluru
- PM inaugurates new campus of Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics (BASE) University in Bengaluru
- Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah addresses the National Conference on Cyber Safety and National Security in New Delhi
- Indian Coast Guard inducts indigenously designed, developed Advanced Light Helicopter Mk-III in Chennai
- NEW CHIEF JUSTICES
– Justice Satish Chandra Sharma: Delhi High Court
– Justice Vipin Sanghi: Uttarakhand HC
– Justice Ujjal Bhuyan: Telangana HC
– Justice Amjad Ahtesham Sayed: Himachal Pradesh HC
– Justice Shinde Sambhaji Shiwaji: Rajasthan HC
– Justice Rashmin Manharbhai Chhaya: Gauhati HC - Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha will be the opposition candidate for the Presidential Election
- Diplomat Ruchira Kamboj to become India’s Permanent Representative to UN
- YOGA DAY AWARDS
– Prime Minister’s award for outstanding contribution for promotion of Yoga announced
– Individual winners: Bhikkhu Sanghasena from Ladakh and Marcus Vinicius Rojo Rodrigues from Brazil
– Organisation winners: The Divine Life Society from Uttarakhand and British Wheel of Yoga from UK - Former Jharkhand Governor & Odisha minister Draupadi Murmu named candidate of be BJP-led NDA for Presidential polls
- Australian Deputy PM and Minister for Defence Richard Marles visits India
- EAM S. Jaishankar to lead Indian delegation to Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda from June 22 to 25
- PM addresses BRICS Business Forum virtually
- Centre flags off Bharat Gaurav train connecting India and Nepal operating on the Ramayana Circuit
- ‘Jyotirgamaya’ festival showcasing talent of unsung performers being held in New Delhi
- Illegal to use police personnel as orderlies for domestic work: Madras HC
- GSAT-24 satellite (4180 kg), built by ISRO for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), launched by French company Arianespace from Kourou in French Guiana (South America)
- IPS officer Dinkar Gupta appointed director general of National Investigation Agency (NIA)
- Maharashtra: Rebel Shiv Sena MLAs declare Eknath Shinde as their leader
- External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar addresses CHOGM Foreign Ministers’ plenary in Kigali, Rwanda
- Home Ministry extends FCRA validity of NGOs with pending renewal till Sept 30
- Indian Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat meets Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing
- No entry of medium, heavy vehicles into Delhi from October 1
- Tamil Nadu government dispatches second consignment of relief materials to Sri Lanka worth Rs.67.70 crore
- IPS Officer Tapan Kumar Deka appointed as Director of Intelligence Bureau
- Tenure of R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) Chief extended by one year
- Former IAS Officer Parameswaran Iyer appointed as CEO of NITI Aayog
- India test-fires Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) from an Indian Naval Ship (INS) off the coast of Chandipur in Odisha; meant for neutralising various aerial threats at close ranges including sea-skimming targets
- IAF participates in Tactical Leadership Programme at Egyptian Air Force Weapon School in Cairo
- S. M Krishna, Narayana Murthy, Prakash Padukone selected for ‘Kempegowda International Award’ in Karnataka
- Death penalty valid, judges cannot find ways to avoid it: SC
- J&K to host G-20 meeting next year
- Passport Seva Divas celebrated on June 24
- CM Patnaik shares Odisha’s achievements on food security at WFP HQ in Rome
- Sajid Mir, 26/11 Mumbai terror attack handler, once claimed to be dead, arrested in Pakistan
- Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh leaves for Portugal to take part in “2022 UN Ocean Conference” at Lisbon
- UP Lok Sabha byelections: BJP wins Rampur and Azamgarh seats earlier held by SP
- Punjab Lok Sabha byelection: Simranjit Singh Mann of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) wins Sangrur seat earlier held by AAP
- Tripura Assembly byelection: BJP’s Tripura CM Manik Saha wins from Town Bardowali
ECONOMY & CORPORATE - Tata Power Solar Systems commissions India’s largest floating solar power project of 101.6-Megawatt Peak (MWp) in Kerala backwaters
- International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict observed on June 19
- World Sickle Cell Awareness Day observed on June 19
- British journalist Dom Phillips confirmed dead in Brazil; he and his guide had gone missing on a book research trip in the Amazon
- Colombia: Gustavo Petro elected new President
- Wildfires gut more than 30,00 hectares in Spain
- World Refugee Day celebrated on June 20
- Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov’s Nobel Peace Prize medal fetches record $103.5 million in auction
- World’s largest recorded freshwater fish weighing 300 kg caught in Cambodia
- International Day of Yoga celebrated on June 21, theme: ‘Yoga for humanity’
- World Music Day celebrated on June 21
- International Day of the Celebration of the Solstice observed on June 21
- Afghanistan: Earthquake of magnitude 6.1 hits Paktika province; over 900 killed
- Russia warns Lithuania of serious consequences after it banned rail transfer of some goods to Kaliningrad
- South Korea launches first satellite with homegrown Nuri rocket
- Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter deal gets board endorsement
- UN Convention on Biological Diversity talks to move from China’s Kunming to Montreal over pandemic-related delays
- BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) annual summit held virtually; hosted by China
- Germany triggers gas alarm stage, accuses Russia of ‘economic attack’ for cutting gas flows
- International Widows’ Day observed on June 23
- United Nations Public Service Day celebrated on June 23
- Ukraine asks its forces to withdraw from Sievierodonetsk city in eastern Luhansk region
- European Union grants candidate status to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia; the three countries will be required to carry out a series of political and economic reforms to obtain EU membership
- Austrian capital Vienna named world’s most livable city by the Economist; Syrian capital Damascus is least livable
- Xi Jinping announces additional $1 billion for Global Development Fund
- Pakistan announces 10% super tax on large-scale industries like cement, steel, automobiles
- US Senate passes bipartisan gun-safety legislation by a wide margin
- PM Sheikh Hasina inaugurates 6.15 km ‘Padma Bridge’; Bangladesh’s longest that will connect capital Dhaka to underdeveloped northwestern region of the country
- BRICS call for Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism
- Sri Lanka limits foreign currency possession by individuals to USD 10,000 to support dwindling forex reserve
- Day of the Seafarer celebrated on June 25 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO)
- Afghanistan: India reopens Embassy in Kabul, sends aid
- US Supreme Court overrules women’s constitutional right to abortion
- US President Joe Biden signs the breakthrough gun safety legislation that enhances background checks on young gun buyers between 18 and 21 years of age
- UK, US, Japan and Canada to ban Russia gold imports amid Ukraine war
- International Day in Support of Victims of Torture observed on June 26
- International Day against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking observed on June 26
- Govt. to implement Employees’ State Insurance Scheme in entire country by year-end
- Govt. tags IT assets of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and UPI managing entity NPCI as ‘critical information infrastructure
- RBI unveils “Payments Vision 2025” with a core theme of ‘E-Payments for Everyone, Everywhere, Everytime’ (4Es)
- Hardeep S. Puri launches National Initiative for Promotion of Upskilling of Nirman workers (NIPUN); over 1 lakh construction workers will be trained in partnership with the NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) under DAY-NULM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission)
- Ration card portability implemented across India with Assam being last to operationalise
- Expedite NPA resolution, focus on credit growth: Finance ministry to PSBs
- Govt dept to collaborate with SBI to create integrated pension portal
- Apollo Hospitals partners with Imperial Hospital, Bangladesh; to manage 375-bed multispeciality tertiary care hospital in Chittagong
- India had current account deficit of 1.2% of GDP in 2021-22; had surplus of 0.9% in 2020-21: RBI
- Country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 30.3 billion in 2021-22: RBI
- RBI stops non-bank payment instrument (PPI) issuers from loading wallets, cards via credit lines
- Yes Bank launches FDs linked to repo rate
- India stands 4th in global gold recycling; recycled 75 tonnes in 2021: WGC
- Bengaluru: Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai inaugurates largest IKEA store in India
- RBI proposes norms for outsourcing of IT services by banks, NBFCs; regulated entities (REs) will not require prior approval from the central bank for the outsourcing of IT and IT-enabled services
- World Bank approves $245-million loan for the railway logistics project to help reduce India’s high carbon emissions
- Seven companies have built ONDC (open network for digital commerce) compatible apps: Piyush Goyal
- Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah addresses National Conclave of Scheduled and Multi-State Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies on Future Role of Urban Cooperative Credit Sector in New Delhi
- PM inaugurates Vanijya Bhawan– the new premises of Commerce & Industry Ministry – in New Delhi
- PM launches NIRYAT (National Import-Export Record for Yearly Analysis of Trade) portal, a one-stop platform for stakeholders to get all necessary information related to India’s foreign trade
- ONGC Videsh Limited announces new discovery in Colombia
- Gautam Adani and his family pledge to donate Rs 60,000 cr for social causes
- IOC unveils indoor solar cook top Surya Nutan
- CBI starts biggest banking fraud probe; registers a case against Dewan Housing Finance Corporation promoters Kapil Wadhawan, Dheeraj Wadhawan and others for defrauding a consortium of 17 banks to the tune of Rs. 34,615 crores
- India’s foreign exchange reserves declined $5.9 billion to $590.59 billion for the week ended June 17
- National Conference on the development of the Space Start-up Ecosystem in India held in Bengaluru
- Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari approves draft of Bharat-NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) car safety rating system
- RBI extends deadline for tokenisation of debit and credit cards by another three months to September 30
- Tokenisation is a process by which card details are replaced by a unique code or token, allowing online purchases to go through without exposing sensitive card details
- National Logistics Excellence Awards given in 12 categories by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal
- Coal India Ltd. ventures into power generation; to set up 660-MW unit in Chhattisgarh
- Media & entertainment industry set to hit Rs.4.3-trn revenues by 2026: PwC
- Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to set up ‘BRO Cafes’ in border areas to boost tourism
- Government notifies GST compensation cess extension to March 2026
- Cochin Shipyard delivers two Autonomous Electric Barges to Norway-based ASKO Maritime AS
- Toyota, Suzuki to make hybrid vehicles in India
- Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) issues performance standards for electric vehicle batteries
- COLOMBIA
Gustavo Petro, a former leftist guerrilla and an ex-mayor of capital Bogotá, won Presidential election in Colombia. He will be the first left-wing president of the country. - FRANCE
Emmanuel Macron suffered a serious political reverse when his electoral grouping, Ensemble, lost its majority in France’s parliamentary election. Only recently re-elected as president, Macron faces the prospect of a second term in which he will find it hard to advance his legislative agenda. - LITHUANIA
Russia threatened Lithuania with “seriously negative” consequences for blocking rail shipments of goods subject to sanctions from Russia to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Lithuania says it is enforcing EU rules. - US
President Joe Biden signed into law the first major federal gun safety legislation passed in decades after it was passed by the parliament. The new law enhances background checks on young gun buyers between 18 and 21 years of age. - ISRAEL
Israel’s unwieldy eight-party coalition government collapsed, paving the way to the country’s fifth election in four years. Under a prior arrangement Yair Lapid, who has been serving as foreign minister, will take over as a caretaker prime minister from Naftali Bennett. - SAUDI ARABIA
Muhammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, visited Turkey for the first time in years, hoping to normalise relations that were damaged when a Saudi journalist was murdered in 2018 at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. He met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who would welcome Saudi cash to prop up a tottering economy. - RWANDA
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, a gathering of leaders of Commonwealth countries, was held in Rwandan capital Kigali. Global press coverage focused on the host’s dismal human rights record, which has come under renewed scrutiny because Britain’s government is trying to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. - AFGHANISTAN
An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 in Afghanistan’s southeast, near the border with Pakistan, killed at least 1,000 people. The landlocked country’s eastern province of Paktika was the most affected. - SOUTH KOREA
South Korea launched satellites into orbit using its own Nuri rocket for the first time, a big advance in its ambition to become a space power. The first test of the rocket ended in failure last October when an engine burned out. - UK
The British government gave its formal assent to the extradition to America of Julian Assange, who has been charged under America’s Espionage Act for publishing classified material on WikiLeaks.
- 2022 Indonesia Open badminton in Jakarta Winners — Men’s singles: Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, Women’s singles: Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu-ying, Men’s doubles: China’s Liu Yuchen & Ou Xuanyi, Women’s doubles: Japan’s Nami Matsuyama & Chiharu Shida and Mixed doubles: China’s Zheng Siwei & Huang Yaqiong.
- Basketball: Golden State Warriors defeat Golden State Warriors to win NBA Finals crown in Boston
- Women’s weightlifting: Bindyarani Devi improves upon her National records in 55kg
- Sunil Chhetri becomes joint fifth highest goalscorer in international football history with 84 goals
- B. Aishwarya creates new national record in women’s triple jump: 14.14m
- Neeraj Chopra wins gold in javelin with throw of 86.69m at the Kuortane Games in Finland
- Torch relay for 44th Chess Olympiad launched by PM at Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi
- Former athlete Hari Chand dies at 69; won gold in 5000m & 10,000m at Bangkok Asian Games in 1978
- England’s Matt Fitzpatrick wins 2022 United States Open Championship in Boston
- Red Bull’s Max Verstappen wins Formula One Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal
- Asian Track Cycling Championships in New Delhi: India finish with best-ever nine senior medals
- International Olympic Day celebrated on June 23; theme: ‘Together for a peaceful world’
- Former Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar becomes first woman president of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA).
- Indian duo of Jyoti Surekha and Abhishek Verma win gold in Archery World Cup Stage-3 mixed team event in Pairs
- FIFA Under 17 Women’s World Cup to be held in India from 11th October to 30th October
- Madhya Pradesh (536 and 108/4) clinch first ever Ranji Trophy title with six-wicket win against Mumbai (374 and 269) at Bengaluru
- Indian women’s recurve team bag silver medal in World Cup Stage 3 in Paris
