Daily Current Affairs Quiz: June 08, 2022

ANSWER: D

• Blue Duke, a native butterfly species of Sikkim, edged past another contender Krishna Peacock to be announced as the State Butterfly of Sikkim.
• The two butterflies, among the 720-odd butterfly species, had been shortlisted for the State Butterfly nominations.

About the Blue Duke:

• The Blue Duke represents Sikkim with its two unique colours blue representing the sky and white depicting the snow clad mountains of the Himalayas, it is befitting to Sikkim and its unique identity.
• Blue Duke is found at an altitude below 1,500 metres in the Himalayas.
• Blue Duke which is also called Bassarona durga durga is unique to Sikkim and Eastern Himalayas, first discovered in the State in 1858.
• Blue Duke falls in the Schedule 2 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and is a highly protected species of butterfly in the Himalayas.

ANSWER: D

• Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2022was released by the Times Higher Education (THE). 
• The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Banglore continued to be the best institute of the country. It ranked at 42nd place.

  Top 4 universities under top 100:

1. Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (42nd)
2. JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research (65th)
3. Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (68th)
4. Indian Institute of Technology Indore (87th)

• There are 17 Indian universities in the top 200 as compared to 18 last year.

ANSWER: C

• World Health Organization Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland;
• World Health Organization Founded: 7 April 1948.
• World Food Safety Day is celebrated globally on June 7 every year as per the World Health Organization (WHO). 
• World Food Safety Day aims to transform food systems to deliver better health sustainably and prevent foodborne diseases.
• This day also provides an opportunity to strengthen efforts to ensure that the food we eat is safe and reduce the burden of foodborne illnesses globally.
• The theme of this year is ‘Safer food, better health’. 

ANSWER: C

• Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director, Mukesh Ambani has regained the position of India as well as Asia’s richest man, replacing Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani. 
• According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ambani who has a net worth of $99.7 billion added $9.69 billion in 2022. Mr Ambani is followed by Gautam Adani on the global billionaire list.
• Adani is ranked ninth with Net worth$98.7 billion in the Bloomberg Billionaire index.

Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Globally

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk remains the world’s richest person with a net fortune of $227 billion.
• Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is the second richest man with a $149 billion net worth, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• LVMH’s Bernard Arnault with $138 billion net worth is the third richest person in the world followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates with $124 billion net fortune in the fourth position and Warren Buffett in the fifth position with a net worth of $114 billion.

ANSWER: D

• According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves increased by USD 3.854 billion to USD 601.363 billion, owing to a substantial growth in the country’s foreign currency assets.
• After decreasing for ten weeks in a row, the country’s currency reserves have climbed for the second week in a row.
• During the week, foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 4.23 billion.

KEY POINTS:

• According to the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly statistical supplement, all components of the forex reserves climbed for the week ending May 27, led by a strong increase in foreign currency assets.
• The effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-dollar currencies held in foreign exchange reserves, such as the Euro, the British Pound Sterling, and the Japanese Yen, is included in the foreign currency assets when expressed in US dollar terms.
• During the week concluded, the value of gold reserves grew by USD 253 million.
• The value of India’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased by USD 132 million to USD 18.438 billion, and India’s reserve position in the IMF climbed by USD 18 million to USD 5.019 billion.

ANSWER: D

• India and Canada have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen bilateral collaboration on climate change, environmental preservation, and conservation. 
• On the sidelines of the Stockholm+50 summit, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and his Canadian colleague Steven Guilbeault signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

About Stockholm+50 summit:

• The Stockholm+50 Summit, which will take place in Stockholm in June 2022, will bring together leaders of state and government to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Conference.
• This summit, which is based on the Decade of Action, comes after months of deliberations and talks with governments, organizations, and civil society participants.

Key Points:

• The gathering is being hosted to honour the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Summit, the world’s first environmental conference.
• Under the terms of the agreement, the two countries will work together, share information and expertise, and support each other’s goals in a variety of areas, including increasing renewable energy capacity, decarbonizing heavy industries, reducing plastic pollution, promoting chemical safety, and ensuring sustainable consumption.

ANSWER: C

• The amended rules will allow serving or retired Lt General-rank officers to be eligible for the post, but with the condition that the age at the time of appointment is under 62 years.
• Effectively, the Chiefs of the three armed forces, who retire at 62 years or after putting in 3 years of service (whichever is earlier), will not be eligible unless they get selected before the retirement date or retire before they reach 62.

Eligibility age for post capped at 62 years

• Serving or retd Lt General, Air Marshal & Vice Admiral under 62 yrs to be eligible for CDS post.
• These officers can be considered for top post along with serving chiefs of tri-services.
• Post vacant since the death of Gen Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash on December 8 last year.
• Government issued separate notifications as part of Air Force Act, Army Act and Navy Act.

Age criteria rules out recently retired Chiefs

• Govt can extend the service of CDS maximum till 65 years of age.
• Tenure of 3 service Chiefs is 3 years of service or till they turn 62, whichever is earlier.
• The 3 Chiefs who retired recently — Gen MM Naravane, Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria — will not be eligible as they are over 62

ANSWER: A

• The EPI has been prepared by researchers of the Yale Centre for Environmental Law & Policy and the Centre for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute, Columbia University.
• The ranking is based on an assessment of 40 performance indicators, including climate change, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and environmental public health and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• India, for the first time, comes in at the very bottom of the 2022 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranking of 180 countries.
• The US, the largest historical polluter, is ranked 43rd, while the current biggest emitter China has been ranked at the 160th position.
• Denmark, the UK, Finland, Malta and Sweden occupy the top five slots, while countries from south and southeast Asia are placed at the bottom five.
• India’s lowest rank is attributed to its air pollution and rapidly rising GHG emissions.

ANSWER: D

• Himachal Pradesh has emerged the fourth best state in the country on food safety parameters with Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra at top three positions.
• Himachal Pradesh has improved its rank in the annual national food safety rankings released by the Food Safety and Standards Association of India from 12th in 2019 and sixth in 2020 to fourth in 2021.
• The fourth edition of the rankings under the State Food Safety Index were released by Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to mark the World Food Safety Day.
• In 2020, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, UP and Himachal Pradesh had topped the charts in that order.

ANSWER: B

• A state-level awareness programme will be organised in Shimla on the occasion of the International Drug Prevention Day on June 26 to create awareness among public about the ill-effects of consuming drugs and substances.
• The Principal Secretary (Subhasish Panda) to CM directed officers to ensure the participation of every section of society in the programme so that it could be taken forward like a campaign.
• Painting competitions, marathons, oath on drug prevention, skits, cultural programme, awareness exhibition and various programmes would be organised on drug prevention themes.
• The programme would also be organised at the District level.