Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 16, 2023

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: B

• PM Modi recently laid the foundation stone of the memorial and temple of Sant Shiromani Sri Ravidas ji on 11 acres of land in Bartuma Sagar Madhya Pradesh, at a cost of about Rs 100 crore.

ABOUT SANT RAVIDAS

• He was a prominent mystic-saint of the North Indian Bhakti movement who was venerated as a guru in the modern regions of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana.
• He taught removal of social divisions of caste and gender, and promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spiritual freedom.
• He is also the central figure within the Ravidassia religious movement.
• Begumpura City was envisioned by him as a city which is casteless, classless and does not have untouchability. There is no injustice, no worries, no terror and no torture.
• His padas, devotional songs, and other writings are mentioned in religious text of Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib.
• The Panch Vani text of the Dadu Panthi tradition within Hinduism also includes numerous poems of Sant Ravidas.
• He was also considered spiritual Guru of Meera Bai.

ANSWER: D

• National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the country’s apex advisory body on school education, has initiated the final phase of developing new textbooks by forming a 19-member committee (NSTC), with an aim to align “school syllabus, textbooks, teaching and learning materials” for students in grades 3^rd to 12^th.
• National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) chancellor MC Pant will be heading the 19-member committee.
• A professor at Princeton University and a Fields medalist, Manjul Bhargav will be its co-chair.
• Mandate– To prepare textbooks, and other teaching learning materials, which will be published and used by the NCERT for reference.
• NSTC will be accompanied by Curricular Area Groups (CAGs) in the development of the teaching-learning material for all curricular areas.
• The objective of the committee will be to align the curriculum with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE 2023), developed by the K Kasturirangan-led committee as a part of the NEP 2020.
  • The NCF-SE, now in the advanced stages, will act as the reference point and guiding road map for the syllabus and textbook developers for school-level education all over the country.

ANSWER: A

• Union minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, recently launched the direct benefit transfer (DBT) in the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS).
• An amount of approximately Rs 15 crore was disbursed to one lakh apprentices.

ABOUT NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP PROMOTION SCHEME

• It was launched in 2016.
• NAPS had replaced Apprentice Protsahan Yojna.
• A total of 25 lakh youth have been engaged as apprentices up to July 31, 2023.
• Under the NAPS, the Centre reimburses 25% of the prescribed stipend subject to a maximum of Rs 1500 per month per apprentice to the employer.
• Also government reimburses the basic training cost up to Rs. 7,500 per apprentice.
• States like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana have emerged as the top apprenticeship providers in the country with more than 0.9 million trained youth in the age group of 23-26 years.

ANSWER: D

• The National Green Tribunal, Eastern Zone, has directed the Odisha government not to go ahead with ‘illegal’ construction in and around Tampara Lake.

ABOUT TAMPARA LAKE

• It is a designated Ramasar site and one of the largest picturesque freshwater lakes of the Odisha.
• It is spread across 337.86 ha with a length of 5.8 km and a width of 670 metres in Ganjam district,
• It supports at least 60 species of birds, 46 species of fishes, at least 48 species of phytoplanktons, and more than seven species of terrestrial plants and macrophytes.
• There is a patch of forest with width of 2 km that separates Bay of Bengal from the lake.
• The wetland is an important habitat for vulnerable species such as Cyprinus carpio, common pochard (Aythya ferina), and river tern (Sterna aurantia).
• Tampara is already placed in the Wetland Atlas prepared by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2010.

ANSWER: A

• NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO-A) spacecraft made its first Earth flyby, nearly 17 years after its launch.
• Launched from Cape Canaveral on October 25, 2006, the twin STEREO spacecraft, STEREO-A (“Ahead”) and STEREO-B (“Behind”), embarked on their mission to chart Earth-like orbits around the Sun.
• Their primary objective was to provide the first stereoscopic, or multiple-perspective, view of our closest star.
• On February 6, 2011, the mission achieved a significant milestone when the two spacecraft reached a 180-degree separation in their orbits, allowing humanity to see the Sun as a complete sphere for the first time.

ANSWER: B

• India’s first ever long-range revolver, “Prabal,” is poised for launch on August 18.
• The revolver is manufactured by the state-owned enterprise Advanced Weapons and Equipment India (AWEIL), based in Kanpur.
  • AWEIL comprises of eight former factories of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), and the company’s primary focus lies in the manufacturing of small arms and artillery for the Indian armed forces, international militaries, and domestic civilian usage.
• Distinguished by its .32 bore, the Prabal revolver boasts an impressive firing range of up to 50 meters, more than twice the reach of other revolvers in India.
• A noteworthy feature of Prabal is its side swing cylinder, marking a significant advancement in revolver design.

ANSWER: D

• The Pong dam on the Beas river in Himachal Pradesh has recorded the highest-ever inflow since it became operational in 1974.
• The water inflow into the dam reached 7,30,079 (7.30 lakh) cusecs on 14^th August,2023.
• The previous highest inflow of 7,15,400 (7.15 lakh) cusecs was recorded in 1978.
• The Pong dam is situated in Talwara, on the border of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
• The primary catchment area for the dam is in Himachal Pradesh.