ANSWER: C

 ANSWER: A

 ANSWER: D

 ANSWER: B

• The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has envisaged a special project called ‘The Language Friendship Bridge’, which plans to train five to 10 people in the official languages of Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Indonesia.
• Objective
  • To expand its cultural footprint in nations with which it has historical ties.
  • To facilitate better people-to-people exchanges.
• As of now, the ICCR has zeroed in on 10 languages: Kazakh, Uzbek, Bhutanese, Ghoti (spoken in Tibet), Burmese, Khmer (spoken in Cambodia), Thai, Sinhalese and Bahasa (spoken in both Indonesia and Malaysia).
• Implementation- ICCR has discussed two possibilities for implementing this project
  • One is to institute tie-ups wherein teachers from these countries come and teach courses in India.
  • The second approach is ICCR offering scholarships to Indian students to go and study these languages in the countries where they are spoken.

About ICCR

• The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), is an autonomous organisation under the administrative control of Ministry of External Affairs.
• It is involved in India’s global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people.
• It was founded on 9 April 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of independent India.
• Headquarters- New Delhi.
• The council also operates missions internationally.

ANSWER: D

• Union Home Minister launched VVP in Kibithoo village in Anjaw district in Arunachal Pradesh.

About Vibrant Village Programme

• VVP, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, provide funds for development of essential infrastructure and creation of livelihood opportunities.
• VVP (approved for 2022-23 to 2025-26 ) will cover Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Ladakh.
• It will cover 2,963 villages with 663 of them to be covered in the first phase.
• Vibrant Village Action Plans will be created by the district adminstration with the help of Gram Panchayats.
• There will not be overlap with Border Area Development Programme.
• Objective
  • To identify and develop the economic drivers based on local, natural, human and other resources of the border villages on the northern border;
  • Development of growth centres on ‘hub and spoke model’
  • Leveraging the tourism potential through promotion of local, cultural, traditional knowledge and heritage;
  • Development of sustainable eco-agri businesses on the concept of ‘one village-one product’

 ANSWER: C

• PM visited Theppakadu Elephant Camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

About MTR

• It is located in Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu at tri-junction of 3 states– Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• It is a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (1st Biosphere Reserve in India) along with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala) in the West, Bandipur National Park (Karnataka) in the North, Mukurthi National Park and Silent Valley in the South.
• Received accreditation of Global Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CA|TS).
• Flora-
  • The Reserve has tall grasses, commonly referred to as ‘Elephant Grass’.
  • Bamboo of the giant variety, valuable timber species like Teak, Rosewood, etc.
• Fauna:
  • Flagship Species: Tiger and Asian Elephant.
  • Other species include Common Langur, Indian Gaur, Spotted Deer, Malabar Giant Squirrel, Wild Dog among others.

 ANSWER: B

• India has no objections to the Fund giving grants to NGOs funded by George Soros, while he is put on the watchlist in India.

About UNDEF

• UNDEF was created by UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan in 2005 as a UN General Trust Fund to support democratization efforts around the world.
• It funds projects that empower civil society, promote human rights, and encourage participation of all groups in democratic processes.
• UNDEF subsists entirely on voluntary contributions from Governments.
• Composition:
  • The Advisory Board, constituted by the Secretary General, includes eight largest Member State contributors and six other states to reflect diverse geographical representation.
  • India has been a member of the Board since the beginning.

 ANSWER: A

• UIDAI – IIT Bombay join hands (under NCETIS) to develop touchless biometric capture system.
• It will allow fingerprint authentication from home alike face authentication making Universal authenticator a reality.

About NCETIS

• NCETIS is a joint initiative by IIT Bombay and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), under its flagship Digital India Programme.
• NCETIS is aimed at developing indigenous technology solutions for Internal Security forces in broad areas of Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM).

 ANSWER: C

• National Safe Motherhood Day is an annual event that is celebrated on April 11 in India.
• The White Ribbon Alliance India (WRAI) initiated this day to highlight the importance of maternal health and reduce maternal mortality rates in the country.
• India has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 12 per cent of all maternal deaths occurring in the country.
• The Indian government officially recognised National Safe Motherhood Day in 2003, to emphasise the importance of ensuring that women have access to adequate care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.
• The day was marked on April 11 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Gandhiji.

ANSWER: D

• Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery by finding the closest black hole to Earth.
• BH1 is the closest black hole ever detected till date.
  • It is situated just 1,560 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus.
• It was discovered by a team of astronomers using the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia satellite, which is designed to precisely measure the positions and movements of stars in the Milky Way
• In addition, Gaia also found the second closest black hole to Earth, Gaia BH2, which is 3800 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus.
• Black holes are formed when massive stars collapse under the force of their own gravity, creating incredibly dense objects.
  • They are so dense that their gravity is strong enough to trap anything that comes too close, including light itself.

 ANSWER: A

• Keen to give a fillip to tourism, the state government has stepped up efforts for setting up the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi ropeway which has been hanging fire for over a decade.
• The process for appointing a technical consultant has now been entrusted to Himachal Pradesh Infrastructure Development Board (HPIDB).
• Initially, the ropeway having a span of 2.5 km was supposed to have three terminal points – Rampur (lower), Toada (intermediate) and Naina Devi (upper). Later the span of the ropeway was increased to 3850 mts.
• The project is expected to reduce the traffic congestion on the land route connecting the two pilgrim centres.
• Thousands of people from Punjab and Haryana make a beeline to the hill top temple to pay their obeisance.
• The cost of the project initially pegged at Rs 85 crore has now shot up to over Rs 100 crore