Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 31, 2023

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: B

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: C

• Environment ministers of the African continent have agreed to institute national and regional strategies to minimise environmental impacts in the extraction and processing of critical mineral resources.
• Fifty-four countries acknowledged key environmental challenges faced by the continent — land degradation, desertification and drought – in the Addis Ababa declaration signed on August 18, 2023.
• The declaration was a key outcome of the 19^th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) 2023 held at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• The theme for AMCEN 2023 was “Seizing Opportunities and Enhancing Collaboration to Address Environmental Challenges in Africa”.
• The declaration prioritises urgent, wide-ranging action on environmental challenges related to climate change, plastics pollution, marine protection, biodiversity conservation and natural capital.
  • These actions would minimise environmental impacts and contribute to the global goals of mitigating climate change, protecting ecosystems and promoting sustainable development.

ANSWER: A

• ISRO will be launching the Aditya L1 mission on September 2^nd.

ABOUT ADITYA L1 MISSION

• Aditya-L1 will be the 1^st Indian space mission to study the sun.
• It will be launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• Spacecraft shall be placed in a halo orbit about 1.5 million km from Earth around Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system.
• Objective– Aditya L1 will study the Sun’s corona, Sun’s photosphere, chromosphere, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun.
• The 7 payloads include:
  • Visible Line Emission Coronagraph (VLEC)
  • Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT)
  • Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS)
  • High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS)
  • Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX)
  • Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA)
  • Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers
• Note- VELC,SUIT, SoLEXS and HEL1OS are remote sensing payloads whereas ASPEX, PAPA and Magnetometers are in-situ payloads.

ANSWER: B

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Promotion of Research & Innovation in Pharma-MedTech sector (PRIP) scheme with an outlay of ₹5,000 crore for five years, from 2023-24 to 2027-28.
• The objective of the PRIP scheme is to transform the Indian Pharma MedTech sector from cost-based competitiveness to innovation-based growth by strengthening the research infrastructure in the country.
• Ministry- Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers
• The scheme will be in two parts:
  • preparing capacity in PSUs;
  • provide support to private sector for research.
• In the first components- National Institutes of Pharmaceutical, Education & Research (NIPERs) in Mohali, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Rae Bareli, Guwahati, Hajipur and Kolkata will focus on research across categories like anti-viral and anti-bacterial drug discovery and development, medical device making, R&D in bulk drugs, novel drug delivery system, phytopharmaceuticals and bilogical therapeutics.
  • ₹700 crore fund is allocated to this part.
• The second component, targeting the private sector includes development of new chemical entity (or molecular entity), complex generics and biosimilars, precision medicines (used in stem cell technology and gene therapy), medical devices (leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), orphan drugs (including rare diseases) and research on anti-microbial resistance.
  • Another ₹4,250 crore will be allocated under this component.

ANSWER: D

• A large flightless bird named Takahe, which was believed to be extinct decades ago, has made a comeback to the forests of New Zealand’s South Island.
• 18 of these birds were recently reintroduced into the Lake Wakatipu valley, an alpine area on the South Island, where they had not been spotted for nearly a century.

ABOUT TAKAHE

• Takahe is characterised as a flightless bird, nearly 50 centimetres in size.
• With an average length of around two feet and weighing 2.7 kg in males and 2.3 kg in females, the takahē is the largest living member of family Rallidae.
• They have been an intrinsic part of New Zealand’s ecosystem since the prehistoric Pleistocene era, as evidenced by fossil remains.
• Characteristics –
  • blue feathers on their bodies, green wings, and a large red beak.
  • legs are pink, and they have a white undertail.
• The influx of introduced animals by European settlers, including stoats, cats, ferrets, and rats, decimated their population.
• They were officially declared extinct in 1898.
• However, their rediscovery in 1948 breathed new life into their existence, and their numbers have been steadily growing since then.
• IUCN status – Endangered

ANSWER: B

• The Startup Guidelines for Technical Textiles – Grant for Research and Entrepreneurship across Aspiring Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT) has been approved.
• The guidelines focus on supporting individuals and companies to translate prototypes to technologies & products, including commercialization.
• It will be providing grant-in-aid of up to Rs 50 lakh for up to a period of 18 months.
• The textile ministry will additionally provide 10 per cent of total grant-in-aid to incubators.
• A minimum investment of 10 per cent of the funding from the incubatee in two equal instalments is mandated.
• Moreover, the textiles ministry has also given a nod to 26 institutes for upgrading their laboratory infrastructure and training of trainers in the application areas of technical textiles.

ABOUT TECHNICAL TEXTILES

• Technical textiles are defined as textile materials and products used primarily for their technical performance and functional properties rather than their aesthetic or decorative characteristics.
• Depending on the product characteristics, functional requirements and end-use applications the highly diversified range of technical textile are grouped into 12 segments. These are-
  • Agrotech (agro textiles)
  • Buildtech (construction textiles)
  • Clothtech (clothing textiles)
  • Geotech (geo textiles)
  • Hometech (home textiles)
  • Indutech (industrial textiles)
  • Meditech (medical textiles)
  • Mobiltech (automotive textiles)
  • Oekotech (Ecological protection textiles)
  • Packtech (packaging textiles)
  • Protech (protective textiles)
  • Sportech (sports textiles)

ANSWER: A

• PM Modi extended his greetings to the public on World Sanskrit Day.
• World Sanskrit Day or World Sanskrit Diwas is celebrated on Purnima Tithi of Shravana month.
  • This year, the Sanskrit Diwas falls on August 31^st.
  • The first World Sanskrit Day was celebrated in 1969.
• The purpose of this day’s celebration is to raise awareness and advocate for Sanskrit, one of India’s oldest and ancient languages. It is the language used by scholars and saints in ancient India to pen several revered books, especially about religious teachings and philosophy.

ANSWER:D

• The Himachal Pradesh Government has prepared a Rs 890-crore ‘disaster risk reduction and preparedness programme’ in collaboration with the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) to enhance disaster preparedness and climate resilience.
• This will include-
  • Main aim is to usher in a comprehensive approach to disaster, counter climate change.
  • Emergency operation centres will be set up in all districts.
  • Climate change vulnerability assessment for all river basins
  • Early warning systems for landslides and flashfloods
• Other initiatives include the development of early warning systems for landslides, flash floods, cloudbursts, glacial lake outburst floods and dam safety.