ANSWER- D

• On May 24 2022, The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the 8th edition of Swachh
• Survekshan 2023 (SS 2023) under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 (SBMU 2.0). It is an annual cleanliness survey with the theme of “Waste to Wealth” for garbage free cities.

Key Points:

• Under the SS 2023, the Mayors of the cities are also being encouraged to participate in the ranking and felicitate the cleanest wards.
• In addition to that, the cities would also be assessed on dedicated indicators on the issues of ‘open urination’ (Yellow Spots) and ‘open spitting’ (Red Spots)

ANSWER – B

• Oil giant Saudi Aramco has surpassed Apple Inc. to become the world’s most valuable company due to the recent surge in oil prices.
• Aramco traded near its highest level on record with a market capitalization of about USD 2.43 trillion, surpassing that of Apple for the first time since 2020. Apple Inc. fell 5.2% to close at USD 146.50 per share, giving it a valuation of USD 2.37 trillion.

ANSWER- A

• On 10 May 2022, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee received the Bangla Academy Award for her ‘relentless literary pursuit’. The award was presented for her book “Kabita Bitan”, which pays tribute to the best writers of West Bengal and the book contains a collectio n of over 900 poems.

ANSWER- B

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) member states has re-elected Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for a second 5 year term as the Director-General (DG) of WHO. His new mandate as DG will officially commence on
• August 16 2022. His re-election was confirmed during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva,
• Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was first elected as DG of WHO in 2017.

ANSWER- D

• A new book titled “Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure” authored by Ruskin Bond, was published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI) on Ruskin Bond’s 88th birthday (19th May 2022).

About Ruskin Bond:

• Ruskin Bond, India’s famous Children’s book author, was born in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh) and grew up in
• Jamnagar (Gujarat), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), New Delhi and Shimla (Himachal Pradesh).

ANSWER- D

• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched India’s first Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) in the state of Odisha. It will be implemented in 90 schools across two smart cities Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in the first phase.
• OVEP launched in 27 schools in Rourkela and 63 schools in Bhubaneswar.
• Objective – This values-based curriculum was initiated to help children become active, healthy and responsible citizens.

ANSWER- C

• During the UN International Biodiversity Day (22 May), Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) released the
• People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) for the city, the first-of-its-kind report of any Indian metro.
• The Biodiversity Register is prepared by the Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) of the civic body under the supervision of the state biodiversity board and with help from NGOs.
• Kolkata is the first major metro to prepare the PBR.
• Chandigarh and Indore are other important cities which have prepared the document.

ANSWER – A

• Kerala government has empowered local bodies to cull wild boars that pose a threat to agriculture crops or human life.
• The secretaries of the local bodies concerned will act as the delegated officers.

ANSWER- C

• It is a state-of the art Supercomputer at NIT Tiruchirappalli under Phase 2 of National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). Majority of the components used to build PARAM PORUL have been manufactured and assembled within the country.
• It is based on Direct Contact Liquid Cooling technology to obtain a high power usage effectiveness and thereby reducing the operational cost.
• Under NSM, till date 15 supercomputers have been installed across the nation with a computing capacity of 24 petaflops.
• PARAM Shivay was the first Supercomputer assembled indigenously.

ANSWER- B

• Government has announced financial support for development and commercialisation of Indigenous S Band Tunable Magnetron for Particle Accelerators with capability to treat even a 2 mm brain tumor.
• Magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that works as a self-excited microwave oscillator.
• It is developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI).
• Uses: It can be used for Non-Destructive Testing of materials, in Radiation Therapy Machines for Cancer Treatment, Radars etc.

ANSWER- C

• Russia has installed a new administration and started to introduce the Rouble as a currency in Kherson Region of Ukraine.
• Adjacent to Crimea (annexed by Russia in 2014), Kherson region lies in Southern Ukraine on west bank of River Dnieper.
• In 1778, it became the first naval base and shipyard of Russian Navy on the Black sea coast.