Daily Current Affairs Quiz: December 21, 2023

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: B

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: B

ANSWER: D

• The Indian Air Force successfully testfired its SAMAR air defence missile system.

ABOUT SAMAR DEFENCE SYSTEM

• SAMAR is a short-range air-defence system jointly developed by the IAF’s 7 Base Repair Depot (BRD) and 11 BRD in association with Indian private-sector companies Simran Flowtech Industries and Yamazuki Denki.
• The system provides air defence against low-flying aerial targets with a maximum striking range of 12 km.
• It can engage aerial threats with missiles operating at a speed range of 2 to 2.5 Mach.
• SAMAR employs the IAF’s shelf-life-expired Russian Vympel R-73E infrared‐guided air-to-air missiles (AAMs).
• The AAMs are refurbished and upgraded to perform surface-to-air roles and the missiles can be launched in both single and salvo mode.
• The system comprises launch beams, a fire-control unit, an electronic control unit, and auxiliary units including a self-loading knuckle crane, a power supply system, and a servo mechanism feedback unit.
• SAMAR is intended to replace the IAF’s Pechora systems, which have been in service since the 1970s.

ANSWER: C

• During the last five FYs (2018-19 to 2022-23) NCF has received Rs.3.70 crore from Non-Government Sources.

ABOUT NATIONAL CULTURE FUND (NCF)

• National Culture Fund (NCF) was set up as a Trust in 1996 under the Charitable Endowment Act, 1890.
• It aims to mobilize extra resources through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) towards promoting, protecting & preserving India’s Cultural Heritage (Tangible & Intangible).
• NCF is managed by a Council and an Executive Committee.
  • The Council is chaired by the Minister of Culture and has members representing the corporate and public sector, private foundations and non-profit organizations.
  • The Executive Committee is chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Culture.
• Donations to the National Culture Fund will be eligible for tax benefit under Income Tax Act.

ANSWER: B

• NITI Aayog, in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Global Development Network (GDN), published a report, ‘A Green and Sustainable Growth Agenda for the Global Economy’.
• It is based on the proceedings of the G20 international conference held in New Delhi featuring 40 leading experts from 14 countries across the world.

MAJOR POINTS

• It emphasized on reforming the structure of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) for improving capital mobilisation, better project implementation and making sustainable infrastructure an asset class.
• There is a global requirement of USD 3 trillion over the next decade to finance green growth and hence there is an urgent need to mobilise both public and private finance.
• Efforts should be directed towards ensuring macroeconomic stability and promoting inclusive growth alongside effective transfer, adjustment and training policies.

ANSWER: D

• In what is being dubbed a groundbreaking archaeological discovery, an international team of archaeologists has found the world’s oldest known fort which dates back to 8,000 years in a remote region of Siberia.
• Archaeologists have long associated fortresses with permanent agricultural settlements.
  • However, this cluster of fortified structures reveals that prehistoric groups, hunter-gatherers, were constructing protective edifices much earlier than originally thought.
• The site is located along the Amnya River in western Siberia and includes around 20 scattered pit-house depressions which were divided into two sections – Amnya I and Amnya II.
  • Radiocarbon dating confirmed that the settlement was first inhabited during the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age.

ANSWER: B

• Bhutan plans to build a massive “international city” in an area of over 1,000 sq. km. on its border with Assam, Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck announced recently.
• This is projected as an “economic corridor connecting South Asia with Southeast Asia via India’s northeastern States”.
• This is the first official confirmation of what is known as the ‘Gelephu Smartcity Project’.
• It is expected to follow environmental standards and sustainability as a goal, and will aim to attract “quality investment” from “specially screened” international companies.
• India is building first India-Bhutan railway line to Gelephu, which would also connect with roadways and border trading and crossing points into Assam and West Bengal, and over time, give Bhutan access to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Singapore.

ANSWER: A

• The International Gita Mahotsav 2023 commenced recently in Kurukshetra, Haryana.
• The event commenced with the Gita Aarti and worship of the holy scripture at Brahma Sarovar, echoing with verses from the Bhagavad Gita.
• The International Gita Mahotsav promises a holistic experience with global Gita recitations involving 18,000 students, cultural programmes organised by the North Region Cultural Arts Centre of Patiala and Haryana Art and Cultural Department, an International Gita Seminar, a saints’ conference, aarti at the Brahma Sarovar, Deepotsav, and cultural programmes at 164 locations.

ANSWER: C

• The US has announced the creation of an enhanced naval protection force operating in the southern Red Sea in an attempt to ward off mounting attacks from Yemen’s rebel Houthis on merchant shipping.
  • Red Sea, one of the most significant shipping routes in the world, is seeing tensions rise as a spillover of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
• Other participants in the effort included Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
• The new effort would be called Operation Prosperity Guardian.