Daily Current Affairs Quiz: December 04, 2023

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: B

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: C

• The maiden edition of the high level virtual interaction MAHASAGAR was hosted by the Indian Navy recently.
• MAHASAGAR also another word for vast ocean, is the Indian Navy’s outreach initiative for a high level virtual interaction between Maritime Heads for Active Security And Growth for All in the Region.
• Chief of the Naval Staff interacted with Heads of Navies/ Maritime Agencies and Senior Leadership from IOR littorals, viz., Bangladesh, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
• The interaction’s theme was ‘Collective Maritime Approach towards Countering Common Challenges’, which highlights the present and necessary imperative for harmonising and collaborating capacities and capabilities in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), which is in consonance with the Government of India’s vision of SAGAR ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’.

ABOUT SAGAR

• India’s SAGAR (announced in 2015), which stands for ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region,’ is a vision and policy framework designed to enhance maritime cooperation and security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• The initiative emphasizes the importance of promoting collective security and sustainable development for the benefit of all nations in the region.
• For this, India would cooperate on the exchange of information, coastal surveillance, building of infrastructure and strengthening their capabilities.

ANSWER: B

• On the opening day of the COP28 summit of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Dubai, a loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change has been officially launched.

ABOUT LOSS AND DAMAGE FUND

• The loss and damage fund is a global financial package to ensure the rescue and rehabilitation of countries facing the cascading effects of climate change.
• The term refers to the compensation that rich nations, whose industrial growth has resulted in global warming and driven the planet into a climate crisis, must pay to poor nations, whose carbon footprint is low but are facing the brunt of rising sea levels, floods, crippling droughts, and intense cyclones, among others.
  • The changing climate has impacted lives, livelihoods, biodiversity, cultural traditions, and identities.
• It was first announced during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022.
• The World Bank will oversee the loss and damage fund in the beginning, with the source of funds being rich nations, such as the US, the UK and the EU, as well as some developing countries.
• The initial funding is estimated to be $475 million — host UAE pledged $100 million, the European Union promised $275 million, $17.5 million from the US, and $10 million from Japan.

ANSWER: C

• Pressmud, a residual byproduct in the sugar industry often known as filter cake or press cake, has been acknowledged as a valuable resource for green energy production.
  • It is the agricultural waste obtained when cane juice is repeatedly filtered before being sent for extraction of sugar.
• It can help Indian sugar mills generate extra revenue by utilising it as a feedstock for biogas production through anaerobic digestion and subsequent purification to create compressed biogas (CBG).
• Usually, the yield of pressmud falls within the range of 3-4 per cent weight by weight with the input sugarcane processed in a unit.
• Advantages
  • eliminates the complexities associated with the feedstock supply chain
  • the feedstock is sourced from one or two producers or sugar mills, as opposed to agricultural residue, which involves multiple producers / farmers within a narrow window of 45 days per year.
  • pressmud’s quality is not a concern, unlike municipal solid waste, where the presence of inorganic material can damage anaerobic digesters, leading to lower gas output.
  • it eliminates pretreatment costs as it lacks the organic polymer lignin, unlike agriresidue.
  • in terms of conversion efficiency, approximately 25 tonnes of pressmud are needed to produce a tonne of CBG.
    • In comparison, cattle dung requires 50 tonnes for the same gas output.
  • Challenges
    • Pressmud faces competition for use as fertiliser and in bio-composting.
    • The need for CBG plants to store feedstock for the entire year, given that sugar mills operate for a specific period.
    • Storing pressmud proves challenging as it undergoes gradual decomposition, resulting in the breakdown of organic compounds.
      • This increases long-term storage cost and production costs.

ANSWER: A

• The National Pollution Control Day or National Pollution Prevention Day is observed on December 2 every year in India.
• The objective of the day is to raise awareness about the different measures to control pollution and the prevention of industrial disasters.
• National Pollution Control Day is especially observed in the memory of people who died in the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984.
  • Regarded as one of the worst industrial environmental catastrophes in the history of India, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy took place on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, when a deadly gas, methyl isocyanate, leaked from Union Carbide India Limited’s pesticide facility in Madhya Pradesh.
• The theme for National Pollution Control Day 2023 is “Sustainable Development for a Clean and Healthy Planet”.

ANSWER: C

• International Day of Persons With Disabilities is annually observed on December 3^rd.
• In 1992, the annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons was announced by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 47/3.
• The day was celebrated with the aim of understanding disability issues and gaining support to ensure that their rights to well-being, dignity and equal opportunities are practiced.
• The theme for International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2023 is – United in action to rescue and achieve the SDGs for, with and by persons with disabilities.

ANSWER: D

• Bihar government launched its ambitious scheme to minimise school dropout.
• The scheme, called Mission Daksh (Dynamic Approach for Knowledge and Skill) aims at offering special Hindi, Mathematics and English classes to weak students of classes 3-8 across the state.
• A teacher will teach only five students, who cannot read and write Hindi and English fluently and are not good at basic Mathematics.
• Daksh classes were run successfully between 3.30 pm and 4.15 pm in over 60,000-plus schools across the state.