ANSWER: C

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: B

• Ministry of Environment and Forest has issued a draft notification declaring one-kilometre area from the boundaries of the Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kangra district as an eco-sensitive zone.

 LIKELY IMPACT

• Commercial activity like the construction of hotels, resorts or any kind of polluting industry will not be allowed in the eco-sensitive zone around the Pong Dam sanctuary.
• The notification also prohibits laying of overhead electric or communication towers in eco sensitive zone.
• The establishment of saw mills, brick-kilns or commercial use of firewood would be banned in the area.

 ABOUT PONG DAM LAKE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

• Pong Dam Lake (also known as Maharana Pratap Sagar) is a manmade reservoir formed due to the construction of Pong Dam on Beas River in the wetland zone of Shivalik hills in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
• It covers an area of almost 307 sq km.
• The Pong Dam is the highest earth fill dam in India and was constructed in 1975.
• In 1983, the entire reservoir was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary by the Himachal Pradesh government.
• Pong Dam Lake was designated a Ramsar site in 2002.
• Flora– Acacia, Jamun, Shisham, Mango, Mulberry, Ficus Kachnar, Amla, and Prunus.
• Fauna– Sambar, Barking Deer, Wild Bear, Nilgai, Clawless Otter, and Leopards etc.
  • More than 420 bird species belonging to 56 families have been recorded in the lake.

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: A

• Indian Navy commissioned its latest stealth guided missile destroyer INS Imphal in Mumbai.
• INS Imphal has joined the Western Naval Command.

 ABOUT INS IMPHAL

• Imphal is the first warship to have been named after a city from the North East.
• INS Imphal is a potent and versatile platform equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors, including surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, and torpedoes.
• It is constructed by Mazagon Dock Limited, Mumbai.
• The ship is fitted with a modern surveillance radar which provides target data to the gunnery weapon systems of the ship.
• The INS Imphal is equipped with BrahMos surface-to-surface missiles, with a displacement of 7,400 tonnes and an overall length of 164 meters.
• INS Imphal is powered by Combined Gas and Gas (COGAG) propulsion.
• It is capable of achieving speeds over 30 knots (56 km/hour).
• INS Imphal boasts of a high indigenous content of medium range surface-to-air missiles, anti-submarine indigenous rocket launchers, and 76mm super rapid gun mount.
• The ship’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities are provided by indigenously developed rocket launchers, torpedo launchers, and anti-submarine warfare helicopters.

ANSWER: D

• In 1986, the Consumer Protection Act was passed and it received the assent of the President on December 24.
• Since then, National Consumer Rights Day has been celebrated on this day to commemorate the occasion.

• The six fundamental rights of the Consumer Protection Act are-
  • Right to safety, Right to choose, Right to be informed, Right to be heard, Right to seek redressal, and Right to consumer education.
• The Consumer Protection Act 2019 was passed to widen the scope of the Consumer Protection Act 1986.
  • It also includes punishment against misleading advertisements, false product descriptions, or any kind of guarantee of products and services.
  • The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is an entity established under the amended Consumer Protection Act.
    • It is tasked with imposing fines and penalties on companies engaged in false and misleading advertisements.
    • The CCPA plays a crucial role in enhancing consumer protection and ensuring accountability in businesses.

ANSWER: A

• A group of researchers from Visva-Bharati University’s botany department have discovered a bacteria capable of boosting plant growth and named it ‘Pantoea Tagorei’ after Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
• It was discovered from soil samples collected in the Jharia coal mines.
• This is a plant growth promoting bacteria which has shown immense capability to boost the cultivation of paddy, pea and chilli.
• ‘Pantoea Tagorei’ efficiently extracts potassium from soil which enhances plant growth.
• It solubilises potassium and phosphorus and fixes nitrogen which help promote plant growth.
• This bacteria marks a significant stride toward fostering environmentally friendly agricultural methods.

ANSWER: B

• Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea unless Israel stops bombing Gaza.

ABOUT STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR

• The Strait of Gibraltar separates Africa from Europe.
• It is located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
• It lies between Spain in Europe and Morocco in Africa.
• It is the only link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
• Until the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the Strait of Gibraltar served as the only access point to the Mediterranean Sea.
• It is one of the busiest waterways in the world.

ANSWER: A

• Robert M. Solow, who won a Nobel in economic science in 1987, died recently. He was 99.
• He won the prize for his theory that advances in technology, rather than increases in capital and labor, have been the primary drivers of economic growth in the United States.
• Solow taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he and a fellow Nobel laureate, Paul A. Samuelson, forged the MIT style of economic analysis, which emerged as a leading approach in the second half of the 20th century and played an important role in economic policymaking.
• His work demonstrated the power of bringing mathematics to bear on important economic debates and simplifying the analysis by focusing on a small number of variables at a time.

ANSWER: D

• Good Governance Day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The day is celebrated on the 25th of December every year to foster awareness among the people of the country about accountability in Governance and Government.