Current Affairs Quiz - June 2022

Notes:
Israel has signed a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates, its first big trade pact with an Arab state.
The agreement, which aimed at boosting trade between the two Middle Eastern nations, would encourage more Israeli companies to set up offices in the UAE, particularly in Dubai. The deal with Israel is UAE’s second bilateral free trade agreement after a similar accord with India in February.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the ‘Scholarship for PMCARES Children’ under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, as a central sector scheme.
Under the Scheme, Scholarship of Rs 20,000/- per child per annum will be provided, including monthly allowance of  ₹1,000 and annual academic allowance of Rs. 8,000 to cover the entire school fees, cost of the books and uniform, shoes and other educational equipment.

Notes:
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is on a visit to Gabon, Senegal, and Qatar, the first visit from India at the level of Vice President to the three countries.
Libreville is the capital of the Central- African country Gabon. The Vice President reiterated the commitment of the Government of India to be Gabon’s reliable partner. The bilateral trade between the countries reached USD 1.12 billion in 2021-22.

Notes:
India’s first liquid-mirror telescope, the International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) has been set up on the campus of the Devasthal Observatory of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in Nainital, Uttarakhand.
The telescope will observe asteroids, supernovae, space debris and all other celestial objects from an altitude of 2,450 metres in the Himalayas. It is the first liquid-telescope globally to be designed exclusively for astronomical purposes.

Notes:
The Martin Ennals Foundation has decided to posthumously pay homage to Father Stan Swamy. He was a Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist from Jharkhand who had been arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. He worked closely with Adivasi communities to safeguard their land, forest and labour rights.
The Geneva-based foundation presents the award regarded as the Nobel Prize for human rights defenders every year. The recipients of this year’s awards include Daouda Diallo from Burkina Faso, Pham Doan Trang from Vietnam and Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja of Bahrain.

Notes:
The species, Eublepharis pictus, also known as the Painted Leopard Gecko, was originally found in Visakhapatnam in 2017.
The species, which was considered as East Indian Leopard Gecko (Eublepharis hardwickii), has now been identified as a member of a new species. It appears to be common in the forests of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The two species appear to be separated by the Brahmani River.

Notes:
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment launched “Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas” (SHRESTHA).
It aims to provide quality education and opportunities for the poorest Scheduled Caste students. Under this scheme, a certain number of meritorious SC students per year will be selected through a National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS), conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). They will be admitted in the good private residential schools, affiliated to CBSE.

Notes:
The Government has approved 8.1 per cent rate of interest on employees’ provident fund (EPF) deposits for the year 2021-22, from 8.5 per cent provided in the previous year.
The 8.1 per cent EPF rate of interest is the lowest since 1977-78, when it stood at 8 per cent. The interest rate on EPF deposits was decided by the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) and was ratified by the finance ministry 2021.

Notes:
‘Farishtey Dilli Ke’ scheme was launched in October 2019, to encourage people to rescue those who have met with road accidents.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that about 13,000 lives have been saved by good samaritans under the ‘Farishtey Dilli Ke’ scheme. Under the scheme, the Delhi government incurs the expenditure for treating eligible road accident victims and gives incentives to those who helped them.

Notes:
National Cadet Corps (NCC) has launched the recent phase of its nationwide flagship campaign ‘Puneet Sagar Abhiyan’ from May 30 to June 5 2022 (the World Environment Day).
Puneet Sagar Abhiyan was launched by NCC to clean Sea Shores and other water bodies including rivers and lakes, of plastic and other waste. It aims to increase awareness among the local population about importance of keeping the beaches and river fronts clean.