ANSWER: C

• Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Kolkata awarded Most Dependable Public Sector Company in India award 2022′ to Coal India Limited (CIL), an organization under Ministry of Coal in Energy Meet & Excellence Awards 2022 ceremony.

About Coal India Limited (CIL):

• CIL is a state owned enterprise and a Maharatna company that has expanded their operations and emerged as a global giant.
• CIL has 7 producing subsidiaries namely Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL)and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCI) and One mine planning and consultancy company that is Central Mine Planning & Design Institute(CMPDI).
• CIL also has a foreign subsidiary Coal India Africana Limitada (CIAL) in Mozambique.
• CIL has incorporated two new subsidiaries i.e. CIL NaviKamiya Urja Limited and CIL Solar PV Limited.

ANSWER: A

• Northern States Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh celebrate their Foundation Day on February 20, since 1987.
• Arunachal Pradesh is the extreme eastern part of the country, which is also known as the ‘land of the rising sun’.
• The state at the edge of the Himalayas is proud to be called the land of dawn and lit mountains. Arunachal Pradesh became the 24thstate of India.
• Mizoram was declared as a separate UT in 1972 under the Northeast Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.
• It became the 23rd state of India after the 53rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution, 1986. Mizoram, as well as the state of Arunachal Pradesh, came into existence on 20 February 1987.

ANSWER: B

• Recently, President inaugurated the three-year long celebrations of the 150^th Birth anniversary of Siddhanta Prabhupada.

About Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupad

• He was the founder of Gaudiya Math and Mission in Puri.
• Gaudiya Math is a monastic organisation to spread Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the philosophy of the medieval Vaishnava saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
• Chaitanya was a 15th Century Bhakti Saint who promoted worship of Lord Krishna as the Supreme Soul.
• Ideals propounded: Determination, Devotion to a life free of material attachment and Service to Humanity.

ANSWER: D

• A recent study has found that moths are vital to pollination in the Himalayan ecosystem of northeast India.
• The study establishes 91 species of moths as potential pollinators of 21 plant families in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the northeastern Himalayas.
• Study can help in understanding the role of these nocturnal (active at night) insect pollinators.
• Till now a majority of the pollination-related studies are based on diurnal pollinators (bees and butterflies).
• Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma.

 About Moth

• Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies.
• While the butterflies form a monophyletic group, the moths, comprising the rest of the Lepidoptera, do not.
• There are about 12,000 moth species in India.

ANSWER: C

• Astronomers at National Centre of Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune used GMRT to map distribution of atomic hydrogen gas from the galaxy hosting a fast radio burst (FRB) for the first time.
• FRBs are extremely bright radio pulses from distant galaxies that last for only a few milliseconds.

 About Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)

• GMRT is an instrument for studying astrophysical phenomena, ranging from nearby Solar system to the edge of observable Universe, at low radio frequencies (40 to 1450 MHz).
• It is operated by National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), which is part of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
• It is located near Pune.

ANSWER: A

• Recently, the PM inaugurated Asia’s biggest Bio-CNG plant – the Gobar-Dhan plant – in Indore.
• Government is working to build such plants in 75 major municipal bodies in the next 2 years.
• Municipal solid waste based Gobar-Dhan plant is in line with “garbage-free cities” under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Urban 2.0.
• Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBAR-DHAN) scheme focuses on managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste in farms to compost, biogas and bio-CNG.
• It was launched by Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation (Now Ministry of Jal Shakti) in 2018 as part of the SBM (Gramin).

ANSWER: B

• Citing decline in COVID-19 cases, ECI has restored the number of star campaigners a party can field for campaigning in the ongoing polls in five states.
• Star campaigners are nominated by political parties to campaign in a given set of constituencies for a specified duration.
• List of star campaigners must be communicated to Chief Electoral Officer and ECI within a week from the election notification date under section 77(1) of Representation of People Act (RPA), 1951.
• A recognised political party can have 40 Star campaigners and an unrecognised (but registered) political party can have 20.
• There is no law that defines who can be a star campaigner. Expenditure incurred on campaigning by such notified star campaigners is exempt from being added to the election expenditure of a candidate.
• However, this only applies when a star campaigner limits oneself to a general campaign for the political party one represents.
• If a candidate or his/her election agent shares stage with a star campaigner at a rally, then the entire expenditure on that rally, other than the travel expenses of star campaigner, is added to candidate’s expenses.

ANSWER: C

• The Padma Shri recipient Shakuntala Chowdhary passed away at the age of 102 years due to age related ailments.
• Shakuntala Choudhary was born on 25 June 1920 in Guwahati, Assam. She was also known as Shakunthala Baideo (elder sister), was an Indian social worker known for her commitment and devotion to the popularization of the Gandhian way of life.
• In 1947, she joined the Assam branch of the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust (KGNMT).
• This branch of the Trust in Guwahati, known as the Kasturba Ashram or the Sarania Ashram. It was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1946.
• She was also closely associated with Vinoba Bhave who initiated the ‘Bhoodan Movement’ in India. She worked with him in translating his lectures from Hindi to Assamese, and was an active participant in Padayatra undertaken by Vinoba Bhave in Assam during the Bhoodan movement.
• Awards-
• Jamnalal Bajaj Award ( 2010) for the Development and Welfare of Women And Children.
• Padma Shri award (2022), for distinguished service in the field of social work.
• Vavoshestha Samman – National Awards For Senior Citizens 2021.

ANSWER: A

• Chief Minister (CM) of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma launched India’s first Night Navigation mobile application (app) for ferry services on the Brahmaputra river in Guwahati, Assam.
• It was developed by the State Transport Department in association with K Raju, the principal scientist of Indian Institute of Technology Madras.
• Highlights:
• The first night journey of the IWT (Inland Water Transport) ferry between Guwahati and North Guwahati was started on 19 February 2022.
• The CM also launched ten Aadhar-based contactless services of the State Transport Department to make public service delivery time efficient and budget friendly.
• The CM also launched an e-ticketing system for Dhubri and Silchar ferry services.
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between the Common Service Centres (CSCs) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and State Transport Department to provide online services at the panchayat level.