Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 05, 2022

ANSWER: C

• The Government has set a target of increasing Natural Gas in the primary energy mix by 15 per cent by 2030.
• Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameshwar Teli said, at present, the use of Natural Gas is only 3 percent.
• To increase the Natural Gas usage, Mr. Teli said initiatives like the expansion of National Gas Grid to 33 thousand 500 kilometres, expansion of City Gas Distribution network, setting up of Liquefied Natural Gas terminals and allocation of domestic gas to CNG for transport and PNG for domestic purposes are taken.
• He said, by the end of May this year a total of Four thousand 531 CNG stations have been established by the authorised entities.

 ANSWER: C

• External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar participated in the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
• He said, there was strong convergence on Indo-Pacific, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea connectivity, COVID-19, terrorism, cyber security, Ukraine and Myanmar. He added that digital, health, agriculture education and green growth will drive the ASEAN-India partnership.
• On the sidelines of the event, Dr. Jaishankar met his Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry. He reaffirmed India’s commitment, as a dependable friend and reliable partner, to the economic recovery and well-being of Sri Lanka.
• The External Affairs Minister also met his Vietnamese counterpart and agreed to keep working to maintain the momentum of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

ANSWER: C

• The indigenously developed Laser-Guided Anti-Tank Guided Missiles ATGM were successfully test-fired from Main Battle Tank MBT Arjun by Defence Research and Development Organisation DRDO and Indian Army at KK Ranges with support of Armoured Corps Centre and School Ahmednagar in Maharashtra.
• The missiles hit with precision and successfully destroyed the targets at two different ranges. Telemetry systems have recorded the satisfactory flight performance of the missiles.
• The all-indigenous Laser Guided ATGM employs a tandem High Explosive Anti-Tank HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour ERA protected armoured vehicles.
• The ATGM has been developed with multi-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from the 120 mm rifled gun of MBT Arjun.

ANSWER: B

• India and the US will conduct a fortnight-long mega military exercise in Uttarakhand’s Auli in October 2022.
• The 18th edition of exercise “Yudh Abhyas” is scheduled to take place from October 14 to 31.
• The exercise is aimed at enhancing understanding, cooperation and interoperability between the two armies. The last edition of the exercise took place in October last year in Alaska in the US.
• The Indo-US defence ties have been on an upswing for the past few years. In June 2016, the US designated India a “Major Defence Partner”.
• The two countries have also inked key defence and security pacts over the past few years, including the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA).
• The agreement that allows militaries of two countries to use each other’s bases for repair and replenishment of supplies as well as provides for deeper cooperation.

ANSWER: A

• A 1,200-year-old Hindu temple in the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province has been formally opened to the public after it was reclaimed from a Christian family following a lengthy court battle, according to a federal body.
• The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), the federal body overseeing minority worship places in Pakistan, last month reclaimed possession of the Valmiki Temple situated near the famous Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore from a Christian family, which had grabbed the place of worship more than two decades ago.
• The ETPB looks after the temples and land left over by Sikhs and Hindus who migrated to India after the Partition. It oversees 200 Gurdwaras and 150 temples across Pakistan.
• Besides the Krishna Temple, the Valmiki Temple is the only functional Hindu temple in Lahore.

ANSWER: D

• The United States Senate approved Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO. The vote on easily surpassed the two-thirds majority needed to back the ratification of the accession documents, with 95 Senators voting in support.
• US President Joe Biden in a statement said that this historic vote sends an important signal of the sustained, bipartisan US commitment to NATO.
• He said, it is also to ensuring the Alliance is prepared to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.
• The Nordic countries, which had long maintained neutrality, launched a bid to join the 30-member alliance in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Earlier, France’s National Assembly voted in favor of Finland and Sweden’s NATO memberships. The French Senate had also approved it two weeks ago.
• Several countries, including Germany, Canada and Italy, have already approved the ratification.
• All 30 NATO member states must approve the accession protocols.

ANSWER: A

• Threat of terrorists using emerging technologies and ways to deal with it will top the agenda of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting to be hosted by India in October.  It is a rare occasion when such a high-profile meeting is held outside the United Nations, New York.
• The meeting is scheduled for October 29 and will see members of the 15-nation UNSC deliberating on counter-terrorism measures.
• India chairs the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) for2022.  Countries like the US, China and Russia are likely to attend the conclave.  India is halfway through the second year of its two-year term as an elected non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
• India’s tenure at the Council will end in December when the country will also preside as President of the powerful UN organ for the month.
• The current members of the UNSC are Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and the UAE, along with five permanent members China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.
• The special meeting will specifically focus on three significant areas where emerging technologies are experiencing rapid development, growing use by member states (including for security and counter-terrorism purposes), and the increasing threat of abuse for terrorism purposes, namely Internet and social media, terrorism financing, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
• It is not very frequent that the Counter-Terrorism Committee meets outside of New York but the meeting in India will be the seventh time that this is happening.
• The most recent special meeting of the CTC outside of United Nations headquarters took place in Madrid, Spain, in July 2015, focusing on foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs).
• The Committee said further that with the prevalence of technology and rapid rise in digitisation, the use of new and emerging technologies to counter-terrorism is a topic of growing interest among the member states, policymakers and researchers, particularly in the context of the increasing role played by technology in terrorism and counter-terrorism.
• The special meeting would be conducted in the six official languages of the United Nations and be open to the wider United Nations membership and other relevant stakeholders.
• India’s then Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti had in January this year assumed the Chair of the Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee for 2022. Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, the country’s new envoy to the UN, now assumes that role.

ANSWER: A

• Indian Judoka Tulika Maan claimed Silver medal in women’s 78 kg category at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. This is India’s third medal in Judo this Commonwealth Games.
• Indian weightlifter Gurdeep Singh bagged the bronze medal in the men’s 109-plus kg final with a combined weight of 390kg.
• India’s Saurav Ghosal clinched the bronze medal in squash men’s singles. This was Ghosal’s first medal at the Commonwealth Games in men’s singles.
• India’s Tejaswin Shankar won India’s first medal in athletics at the Commonwealth games 2022, by clinching a historic bronze in the men’s high jump final.
• Lovepreet Singh bagged a bronze medal in men’s 109kg weight liftling while setting a national record in the clean and jerk round.
• India is now at 7th position with 18 medals which includes five gold, six silver and 7 bronze.

ANSWER: A

• Vikas Thakur, who hails from Patnaun village of the Hamirpur district, has won a silver medal in men’s weightlifting 96-kilogram category at Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
• Thakur lifted a total weight of 346 kg. He completed a best snatch attempt of 155 kg and a clean & jerk attempt of 191 kg.
• This is Vikas Thakur’s third consecutive medal at Commonwealth Games. He won a silver in 2014 and a bronze in 2018.

ANSWER: B

• The state government has formed a committee under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor of Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan District to monitor apple prices.
• The committee will keep a check on prices for procuring apple by private stores in the state.
• As apple growers continue protests in the state, the government issued a press note and announcing the release of Rs 20 crore to pay pending subsidies for anti-hail nets and other farm equipment.
• These decisions were taken in a meeting of at high-powered committee headed by the Chief Secretary on July 30.