Current Affairs Quiz - May 2022

Notes:
Reliance Industries Ltd climbed two spots to No. 53 on Forbes’ latest Global 2000 list of public companies worldwide. It is the top-ranked Indian firm on the list.
Forbes Global 2000 ranks the largest companies in the world using four metrics: sales, profits, assets and market value. Reliance is followed by State Bank of India at rank 105, HDFC Bank at rank 153 and ICICI Bank at rank 204. Other top 10 Indian firms on the list include ONGC, HDFC, IOC, TCS, Tata Steel and Axis Bank.

Notes:
The International Monetary Fund lifted the yuan’s weighting in the Special Drawing Rights currency basket. SDRs are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by IMF.
The IMF raised the yuan’s weighting to 12.28% from 10.92% in its first regular review of the SDR evaluation. The weighting of the US dollar rose to 43.38% from 41.73%, while those of euro, Japanese yen and British pound declined.

Notes:
Somali legislators have elected former leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the African country’s next president.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who served as Somalia’s president between 2012 and 2017, won the contest in the capital, Mogadishu. Over 165 votes were in favour of Mohamud, more than the number required to defeat incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

Notes:
The ‘India International Centre for Buddhist Culture & Heritage’ is set to be built at Lumbini, Nepal, by the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), India with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture (India).
International Buddhist Confederation, is a grantee body under the Ministry of Culture. The Buddhist Centre will be the first ‘Net Zero Emission’ building in Nepal.

Notes:
According to the latest data from OICA, the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, India has overtaken Germany to become the fourth largest automotive market.
OICA is the international trade association formed of 39 national automotive industry trade associations. India saw 37.5 lakh vehicles sold in 2021, more than 26 % compared to Germany (29.7 lakh vehicles).

Notes:
Senior IAS officer Nidhi Chibber has been appointed as the chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
Nidhi Chibber, a 1994 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, is currently Additional Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries. She succeeds the incumbent chairperson Dr Vineet Joshi IAS, as per the order issued by the Personnel Ministry.

Notes:
The Supreme Court ruled in a landmark judgment that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council’s recommendations are not binding on the Centre and the states.
The Supreme Court struck down the integrated GST (IGST) levy in an ocean freight case and ruled that the recommendations have only persuasive value. It said Parliament and the state legislatures had equal powers to legislate on GST and the Council must work in a harmonious manner.

Notes:
The State of Inequality in India Report was released by Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
It has been prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness with information on inequities across sectors of health, education, household characteristics and the labour market. As per the report, while earnings have risen over the years, the benefits of that growth have largely remained concentrated and this has marginalised the poor further.

Notes:
The Union Government has announced the formation of the Cotton Council of India under the Chairmanship of Suresh Bhai Kotak.
The veteran businessperson is also called as the ‘Cotton Man of India’. The council will have representation from Textiles, Agriculture, Commerce, and Finance Ministries along with Cotton Corporation of India and Cotton Research Institute.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw approved an Rs 8.34 crore collaborative initiative on Hyperloop Technology with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras.
Hyperloop is a new system transportation that proposes using magnetic levitation technology in tubes to enable speeds similar to aeroplanes. The Railways will collaborate with the institute to set up a Centre of Excellence for Hyperloop Technology.