ANSWER: C

• In Jammu and Kashmir, the world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab River in the Kouri area of Reasi district achieved another milestone when the overarch deck of the bridge was completed with a golden joint.
• The golden joint shall now pave the way for engineers to lay tracks on the bridge. With tracks over it, Kashmir will be linked with the rest of India via rail network for the first time since Independence.
• According to the chief administrative officer of the USBRL Konkan Railways said, to achieve this feat, we had sought technical expertise from IIT-Roorkee, IIT-Delhi, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, DRDO, national remote sensing agency, GSI and other agencies.
• This is the highest railway arch in the world. The bridge is 35 meters higher than Eiffel Tower.
• Afcons is building 16 additional railway bridges for Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) in the dangerous terrain of Jammu and Kashmir in addition to the Chenab Bridge.
• The bridge comprises 93 deck segments, each weighing around 85 tonnes, launched simultaneously from both ends of the valley over the massive steel arch and work on joining five segments in full progress on the single line linking Katra (Jammu) with Qazigund (Kashmir), some 75 km away.
• The project is part of the ambitious 272-km long railway line from Udhampur to Baramulla joining Jammu with the Kashmir valley as an all-weather highspeed alternative, named the ‘Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project'(USBRL).

 What is the term ‘golden joint’?

• The term ‘golden joint’ was coined by civil engineers.  This joint is aptly named the Golden Joint. Launching of the 785 m deck over the Chenab arch bridge was carried out by joining prefabricated portions and then launching them from both ends.
• The golden joint is the last joint of the bridge deck, which connects both sides of the deck at the arch, to make it into a continuous structure. After aligning the two sections of the bridge in place, it will be fastened by means of HSFG (High Strength Friction Grip) bolts.

ANSWER: D

• India has added 11 more wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites to make total 75 Ramsar sites covering an area of 13 lakh 26 thousand 677 Hectare in the country in the 75th year of Independence.
• Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change said, the 11 new sites include, four in Tamil Nadu, three in Odisha, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one each in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Designation of these sites would help in conservation and management of wetlands and wise use of their resources.
• India is one of the Contracting Parties to Ramsar Convention, signed in Ramsar, Iran in 1971. India signed it on 1st February 1982. During 1982 to 2013, a total of 26 sites were added to the list of Ramsar sites, however, during 2014 to 2022, the country has added 49 new wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites.
• During this year itself, a total of 28 sites have been declared as Ramsar sites. Based on the date of designation mentioned on Ramsar Certificate, the number is 19 for 2022 and 14 for 2021.
• Tamil Nadu has maximum number of Ramsar sites which is 14, followed by Uttar Pradesh which has 10 numbers of Ramsar sites.

ANSWER: D

• Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh today unveiled India’s first Saline Water Lantern which uses the sea water to power the specially designed LED lamps.
• The Minister visited the SAGAR ANVESHIKA, a Coastal Research Vessel, operated and used by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai to review the progress of the implementation of the Deep Ocean Mission of India.
• The saline Water Lantern will bring “Ease of Living” to the fishing community living along the 7500 Kilometres long coastal line of India. Saline water-powered Roshini LED lamps will also boost and supplement Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s UJALA scheme.

ANSWER: C

• Kuwait has appointed an ambassador to Iran. It comes after more than six years after Kuwait recalled its top envoy to Tehran in solidarity with Saudi Arabia after it severed ties with the Islamic Republic in 2016.
• Ambassador Bader Abdullah Al-Munaikh handed his credentials to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Tehran.
• Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that Munaikh was appointed envoy to Iran.
• Iran already has an ambassador in Kuwait. The move comes as Saudi Arabia works to improve its ties with Iran.
• Riyadh broke off ties with Tehran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Iran after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shi’ite cleric.

ANSWER: D

• The Parsi New Year is also known as Navroz or Nowroz and the word means a ‘new day’.
• While in various places the event is celebrated in March, in India, the Parsi community celebrates it in August. This time, the Parsi New Year falls on August 16.
• In India, the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat have a sizeable Parsi population and the celebrations are typically seen here.

History:

• According to many scholars, the origin of the Parsi New Year lies between 3,500 and 3,000 BCE. During this period, Prophet Zarathustra established Zoroastrianism in what is present-day Iran.
• For followers of Zoroastrian philosophy, this day represents the time when everything in the universe is renewed.
• Jamshed, a monarch of the ancient Sasanian empire, is credited with introducing the Parsi calendar. Jamshed-i-Nouroz is another name for the holiday.

Significance:

• Parsi New Year is celebrated on the first day of the first month of Farvardin in the Zoroastrian calendar.
• Spring Equinox, which occurs annually on March 21, symbolises the beginning of the season.
• The Parsis in India celebrate this day in July or August because they follow the Zoroastrian calendar for religious occasions.
• The holiday, which has its roots in Persia (now Iran, post-Islamic conquest), is celebrated with zest and vigour in India.

ANSWER: C

• The 150th birth anniversary of Aurobindo Ghose was observed on 15th August.

About Aurobindo Ghose

• Birth:  August 15, 1872.
• Popularly known as yogi Rishi Aurobindo. He was a revolutionary, nationalist, poet, educationist and philosopher.
• He became a state service officer on his return to India in 1893. He worked as a professor at Baroda College.
• He also joined a revolutionary society and took a leading role in secret preparations for an uprising against the British Government in India.
• He was the first political leader in India to openly put forward, in his newspaper Bande Mataram, the idea of complete independence for the country.
• He was the first proponent of ‘Purna Swaraj’ more than 20 years before the Indian National Congress’ declaration in 1930.

Literary works: 

• He was also a journalist and his first philosophical magazine called Arya was published in 1914.
• Among his many writings are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga and Savitri.
• Death: Aurobindo Ghose died on December 5, 1950.

ANSWER: D

• The Ministry of Ayush multi-aspirational project namely ‘Ayush grid’ is going to be digitally upgraded very soon. Under the Ayush Grid project, Ayush sector will be digitalised to bring all the services on one platform. This will be technically supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Technology.
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Ministry of Ayush and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for providing technical support for digitalisation of Ayush Sector under the Ayush Grid project for a period of 3 years. This MoU is a continuation of the earlier MoU signed in the year 2019.
• As per the earlier signed MoU, organisations under MeitY like NeGD supported for development of Ayush Sanjivani mobile application, monitoring dashboard, BISAG-N for development of Ayush GIS, Ayush education related modules, DIC for development of Ayush Information Hub, website of the Ministry, Ayusoft, C-DAC for imparting training to Ayush doctors.
• The NeGD and BISAG-N provided valuable inputs in finalization of various technical documents like technical solution design & DPR of the Project.
• A high-level advisory committee (HLAC) chaired by Secretary Ayush and co-chaired by Secretary MeitY was constituted to provide advisory inputs on the Ayush Grid project.
• A working group was also constituted under the chairmanship of Sh. J. Satyanarayana (Former Secretary MeitY & Chairman UIDAI) with other experts from NITI Aayog, NHA, MeitY etc. for giving expert inputs on right architecture, identify core building blocks, leveraging development under ABDM, understanding requirement of building public private ecosystem and various technical and strategy matters for Ayush Grid project. This helped the Ministry to shape the technical construct of the project.

 What is ‘Ayush Grid’?

• The Ministry of Ayush has conceptualised the ‘Ayush Grid’ Project as part of the Digital India Programme, which leverages ‘Information and Technology’ to transform operational efficiency, improve service delivery and enhance quality of services.
• The Ayush Grid platform is envisaged to be the IT backbone allowing integration of all stakeholders and functions or services related to Ayush systems of health care.
• From a user’s perspective, the Ayush Grid is the proposed Central IT platform offering multiple IT services for all systems of medicines under Ayush i.e., Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homeopathy across functional areas, namely, healthcare delivery, education, research, capacity building, drug licensing and standardization along with media outreach.

ANSWER: C

• World Sanskrit Day is celebrated on SawanPoornima in the Hindu calendar. As per the calendar, August 12 marks the occasion.World Sanskrit Day honours the Sanskrit language and promotes its global acceptance. 

History

• Sanskrit language is said to have originated in India around 3,500 years ago. World Sanskrit Day or Sanskrit Diwas was first observed in 1969. The day aims to spread awareness about and promote the revival of Sanskrit. It acknowledges the place Sanskrit holds in Indian history and culture.
• Sanskrit, in literary terms. is divided into two different periods- the Vedic and Classical. Vedic Sanskrit is mainly a part of the Rig Veda, the Upanishads and the Puranas. The Vedas were composed from 1,000 to 500 BCE.
• Centuries later, some Europeans were impressed by Sanskrit. Among them was Sir William Jones, an English scholar who visited India in 1783 as a judge of the British Supreme Court in Calcutta. He later founded the Asiatic Society.

Significance

• The language still holds a very prominent position in Hindu religious rituals and practices. Most of the Hindu rituals are performed in Sanskrit only. Many Sanskrit institutions and universities have been opened and consequently many young students have been learning Sanskrit.

ANSWER: C

• According to the meteorological department low-intensity earthquake shook Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district on 15th August 2022.
• According to officials, there was no report of any casualty or damage to property.
• The epicentre of the earthquake of magnitude 2.5 was at a depth of 10 km in Chamba district.

ANSWER: A

• Three-day tribal festival began with great fervour at Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district. Technical Education Minister Ram Lal Markanda inaugurated the event.
• Lahaul and Spiti is abuzz with tourist activity after the opening of the Atal tunnel. Organising such events play a crucial role in attracting tourists and enable them to have a glimpse of the Lahauli culture.
• The festival also provided an opportunity to local ‘Mahila mandals’ to promote local cuisines.
• The government was making efforts to promote Himachali culture and tradition even outside the state.