Monthly Current Affairs June 2022

RBI, Banking and Economy

• Housing price index records slower annual growth in Q4: RBI 
  • The y-o-y movements in HPI varied widely across the cities - ranging from a growth of 19.2% (Kolkata) to a contraction of 11.3% (Bengaluru). 

• RBI specifies provisioning norms for NBFC-Upper Layer
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has aligned provisioning norms for standard assets of large non-banking financial companies with that for commercial banks.
  • The new norms on standard asset provisioning will come into effect from October 1.

• Former SBI official appointed member of advisory committee of SIFL & SEFL
  • The RBI appointed Venkat Nageswar Chalasani, former Deputy Managing Director of SBI, as a member of the Advisory Committee of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL).

SEBI and FINANCIAL AWARENESS

• Religare Enterprises, Religare Finvest settle SEBI case; pay Rs 10.5 cr
  • Religare Enterprises and Religare Finvest settled with SEBI a case pertaining to alleged financial mismanagement and diversion of funds after collectively paying Rs 10.5 crore towards settlement fees.

• SEBI levies Rs 10.9 cr fine on seven entities in Teledata Technology GDR manipulation case
  • Capital markets regulator SEBI has imposed a penalty totalling Rs 10.9 crore on seven entities, including Teledata Technology Solutions Ltd, in a case pertaining to irregularities in the issuance of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) of the company.

• Principal AMC ceases to exist as an Mutual Fund: SEBI
  • Capital markets regulator SEBI announced that Principal Mutual Fund (Principal AMC) will cease to exist as a mutual fund from June 2.
  • The AMC had informed the markets regulator that it wants to surrender the registration granted by the regulator.

NABARD & Agriculture

• Kharif MSP hiked 4-9% for 2022-23 season
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the increase in MSPs for all 14 kharif (summer) crops for 2022-23 crop year.
  • The government raised the minimum support price (MSP) of kharif crops for the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) by around 4-9 per cent , a move aimed at encouraging farmers to bring more area under cultivation and boost their income.

• Investment of Rs 7,243 Crore Done Under Fishery Scheme PMMSY and launch of PMMSY dashboard
  • Shri Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying launched the PMMSY MIS dashboard on 7th June 2022.
  • The investment of Rs 7,242.90 crore has been made in last two years under Padhan Mantri Matsya Samapada Yojana (PMMSY).

• FCI to supply 17.5 MT fortified rice to 291 districts under PDS in FY23
  • The Food Corporation of India (FCI) will distribute 5 million tonne (MT) of fortified rice under the public distribution system (PDS) in 291 districts in the current fiscal.

NATIONAL

• “Har Ghar Dastak 2.0” campaign
  • To accelerate the pace and coverage of COVID19 vaccination across States and UTs “HarGharDastak campaign 2.0” has commenced across the country and it will be implemented from 1st June 2022 to 31st July 2022.
  • The objective of the ‘Har GharDastak2.0’ Abhiyan is to vaccinate and cover the eligible population groups for first, second and precaution doses through door-to-door campaigns.

• POSOCO signs MoU with IMD
  • National grid operator POSOCO signed a memorandum of understanding with India Meteorological Department (IMD) .
  • Weather information provided by IMD will be used by the Power System Operators across the India for better management of Indian Power System and for the purpose of analysis.

• India and Israel signed a ‘vision Statement’
  • India and Israel signed a ‘vision Statement’ to deepen the long-standing defence cooperation.
  • Both vountries marked 30 years of Israel-India relations and reiterated their commitment to deepening defence ties.

INTERNATIONAL

• Israel signs UAE free trade deal
  • Israel has recently signed a free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates.
  • It is Israel’s first deal with an Arab country.
  • Two-way trade between Israel and the UAE last year totalled some $900 million dollars.

• UN agrees to change Turkey’s official name to ‘Türkiye’
  • The United Nations has changed the Republic of Turkey’s country name at the organisation from “Turkey” to “Türkiye”.

• North Korea test-fires salvo of missiles
  • North Korea test-fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles from multiple locations toward the sea.

STATES

• New judges for Delhi, Calcutta HCs
  • The Law Ministry elevated nine additional judges of the Madras High Court as permanent judges.
  • It extended the term of one additional judge by one more year and appointed new judges to the Delhi and Calcutta High Courts.

• ₹500 crore allocated for caste survey
  • The Bihar Cabinet allocated a budgetary outlay of ₹500 crore for Cate Survey and setting deadline of February 23 next for completion of the survey.
  • The general administration department shall be the nodal authority for the survey of castes.

• Special Health Care Abhiyan 'Anchal' launched
  • In Rajasthan, a Special Health Care Abhiyan 'Anchal' has been launched in the Karauli district for pregnant women.

REPORTS AND INDEXES

• PhonePe Pulse-BCG Report – “Digital payments in India: A $10 trillion opportunity”
  • Consultancy firm BCG and leading third-party UPI services provider Phonepe have come out with a report, called 'Digital payments in India: A $10 trillion opportunity'.
  • According to the report, digital payments in India will reach $10 trillion in value by 2026 from $3 trillion now, forecasting that cash will increasingly be used less.

• CBRE South Asia Report - “The Evolving Indian Healthcare Ecosystem; What It Means for the Real Estate Sector”
  • CBRE South Asia has released a report report titled: ‘The Evolving Indian Healthcare Ecosystem; What It Means for the Real Estate Sector'.
  • The report is on India’s healthcare sector which shows that India’s healthcare sector will require 1.3 billion sq ft space by 2030. The growth will be driven by emerging healthcare trends like heath-retail outlets apart from regular facilities.

• MFs' debt exposure to NBFCs rises 14.3% to Rs 1.7 trn in March: Report
  • According to a report by CARE Ratings, Mutual funds’ debt exposure in the form of commercial paper (CP) and corporate debt (CD) to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) rose by 14.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1.7 trillion in March.
  • The growth was on account of the issuance of CPs by NBFCs for funding investments in initial public

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• A Unique Liquid-Mirror Telescope sees first light in the Indian Himalayas
  • A telescope, commissioned at Devasthal,a hill in Uttarakhand, located at an altitude of 2450 metres will help in surveying and identifying transient or variable objects such as supernovae, gravitational lenses, space debris, and asteroids.
  • It is the first liquid mirror telescope in the country and the largest in Asia.

• Delhi airport introduces RFID tags
  • In a first in India, the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi introduced radio-frequency identification (RFID) enabled baggage tags which will give passengers real-time information about the location of their luggage.

• Corbevax gets approval as first mix-and-match booster vaccine
  • Vaccine manufacturer Biological E’s protein sub-unit Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax has become the first to be approved by the country’s drug regulator as a heterologous booster in adults.,
  • It means those who have received Covishield or Covaxin as their first or second dose can take it as a third booster shot.

DEFENCE

• 11th INDIA - ITALY MILITARY COOPERATION GROUP (MCG) MEETING
  • 11th edition of India - Italy Military Cooperation Group (MCG) meeting was held from 31 May 2022 to 01 June 22 at Rome, Italy.
  • India - Italy Military Cooperation Group (MCG) is a forum established to boost defence cooperation between the both countries through regular talks at the strategic and operational levels between Headquarters, Integrated Defence Staff and the Joint Staff HQ of Italian Armed Forces.

• HAL to convert passenger aircraft into fuel tankers
  • Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, (HAL) will convert six Boeing-767 civilian aircraft into mid-air refuellers for the Indian Air Force (IAF), for which it had entered into an agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in April.

• MOU FOR IAF HERITAGE CENTRE AT CHANDIGARH
  • An MoU was signed between UT of Chandigarh and IAF for setting up the IAF Heritage Centre at Chandigarh.
  • This Heritage Centre will have artefacts, simulator and interactive boards to highlight various facets of IAF.

EVENTS

• PM to inaugurate Biotech Startup Expo - 2022 at Pragati Maidan
  • Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Biotech Startup Expo - 2022 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi on 9th June.
  • The Biotech Startup Expo – 2022 is being organised by the Department of Biotechnology and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)

• MoS (Agriculture), Ms. Shobha Karandlaje represents India at the 12th Meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers
  • The 12th BRICS Agriculture Ministers Meeting was held virtually on 8 June 2022.
  • The meeting was attended by the Ministers for Agriculture of China, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and India.

• Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ meeting
  • Marking the 30th anniversary of India-ASEAN dialogue relations and the 10th anniversary of the country’s strategic partnership with ASEAN, India will host the Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ meeting on June 16-17.

AWARDS AND REWARDS

• President Kovind gives away gallantry awards
  • Recently resident Ram Nath Kovind awarded Kirti Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra :

• Kirti Chakra :Jammu and Kashmir Police constable Altaf Hussain Bhat (Posthumously)
• Shaurya Chakra: Group Captain Varun Singh of the India Air Force (IAF) (Posthumously)

• Father Stan Swamy to be honoured
  • Father Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist from Jharkhand will get a “special, posthumous homage” at the Martin Ennals Award in Geneva.
  • He was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case and died in July 2021.
  • The award is widely regarded as the Nobel Prize for human rights defenders.

• 30 districts awarded for exemplary planning in skill development
  • The 2nd edition of ‘Awards for Excellence in District Skill Development Planning’ (DSDP) were organised at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi .
  • Top 30 districts were awarded for their innovative best practices in skill development in the region.

SPORTS

• Shibahara and Koolhof win mixed title
  • Ena Shibahara and Wesley Koolhof won the French Open mixed doubles title.
  • The pair defeated Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Belgium's Joran Vliegen .

• Shreyas Hosur first ever Railway officer to complete ‘IRONMAN’ Triathlon
  • Shreyas Hosur, deputy financial advisor and chief accounts officer in the construction department of the South Western Railway,has become the first ever Railway officer and also the first ever officer from the non-uniformed Civil Services to complete the gruelling ‘IRONMAN’ Triathlon.
  • The event included 3.8 km Swim, 180 km Cycling and 42.2 km Running.

• Mithali Raj announces retirement
  • Mithali Raj, the world’s leading batter in women’s cricket announced her
  • She is India’s captain in women’s Tests and ODIs.
  • She has scored a cumulative 10,868 runs across the three formats.

MISCELLANEOUS

• The Gloucester shipwreck
  • The discovery of a royal shipwreck(Gloucester) was revealed recently on June 10, and has since been hailed as one of the most significant discoveries of maritime history.
  • 300 years ago a royal ship carrying the future king of England, Ireland and Scotland sank killing hundreds onboard.

• Rumeli Dhar announces her retirement
  • The right-handed batter and medium-pacer Former India women’s team captain Rumeli Dhar announced her retirement from all forms of the game.
  • She also played 78 WODIs, scoring 961 runs and taking 63 wickets.
  • She played her last ODI in 2012.

• Osaka and James launch media company
  • Naomi Osaka is launching a new media company ‘Hana Kuma (flower bear) in partnership with basketball legend LeBron James.
  • It is aimed at telling stories that cross cultural barriers.
  • It will produce stories that are “culturally specific but universal to all audiences.