Daily Current Affairs Quiz : January 08,2022

Answer: D

• The Centre announced that the committee to look into the lapses that led to the “exposure of the VVIP to grave security risk” will be led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, secretary (security), Cabinet Secretariat.

About the Committee

• The ministry of home affairs recently constituted a three-member committee to probe into the serious lapses in the security arrangement during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab’s Ferozepur. The ministry announced that the committee will be led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, secretary (security), Cabinet Secretariat.
• The two other members are Balbir Singh, Joint Director, intelligence bureau, and S. Suresh, IG, special protection group (SPG).
• The committee is advised to submit the report at the earliest.
• Prime Minister Modi’s scheduled visit to National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala and a programme in Ferozepur got cancelled after his convoy was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. The home ministry stated that the convoy was stuck on a flyover around 30 kilometres away from the memorial of freedom fighters as the road was blocked by some protestors.

Answer: C

• Sea Dragon is a US-led multi-national exercise designed to practice and discuss Anti-submarine warfare tactics to operate together in response to traditional and non-traditional maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

About Sea Dragon exercise

• India and its partners in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad along with Canada and South Korea are participating in the multinational exercise Sea Dragon at Guam in the Western Pacific.
• The exercise, primarily focused on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training, will involve more than 270 hours of in-flight training and activities ranging from tracking simulated targets to tracking a US Navy submarine. Each event will be graded and the country scoring the highest points will receive the Dragon Belt award.
• The wargame, being held at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, includes contingents from the Indian Navy, the US Navy, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force and the South Korean Navy.
• Two P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft of the US Navy are participating in the drill. During classroom training sessions, pilots and flight officers from all the countries will build plans and discuss tactics incorporating the capabilities and equipment of their nations.

Answer: A

• An international team of researchers has now reported a new tropical tree from the Ebo Forest in Cameroon and named it after American actor and conservationist Leonardo DiCaprio.
• The tree was assessed as ‘critically endangered’, as its habitat remains unprotected and faces threats from logging, conversion to plantations, and mining.
• The tree, named Uvariopsis dicaprio, is four metres tall, with 15 cm long leaves, and bears bunches of large, glossy, bright yellow-green flowers on its trunk. The tree is endemic to the Ebo forest and is so far only known from the lower submontane forest which has an elevation of 850 metres. The area of occupation of U. dicaprio is estimated as 4 sq. km.
• With the recognition of U. dicaprio, 20 species of Uvariopsis are now accepted and the highest species diversity is found in Cameroon.

Answer: A

• Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh, inaugurated India’s first Open Rock Museum recently.

About the open rock museum

• The museum displays around 35 different varieties of rocks from different parts of India with ages ranging from 3.3 billion years to around 55 million years. These rocks also represent the deepest part of the Earth, up to 175 km of distance from the surface of the earth.
• ‘Big Earth data’ occupies the strategic high ground in the era of knowledge economies and India is fully exploiting this new frontier, contributing to the advancement of earth science.

Answer: C

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry is set to organize the Startup India Innovation Week from January 10th to 16th 2022.

About Startup India Innovation Week

• This week-long virtual innovation celebration aims to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and is designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship across India.
• Startup India Innovation Week will have sessions ranging from topics such as Enhancing Market Access Opportunities, Discussions with Industry leaders, Best Practices by States, Capacity Building of Enablers, Reverse Pitching by Incubators, Technology Exhibitions, Corporate Connects and more.
• The programme is expected to bring together top policy makers, industry, academia, investors, startups, and all ecosystem enablers from across the globe.

Answer: B

• Union Minister of Jal Shakti Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat announced 3rd National Water Awards-2020.

About the awards

• In the Best State category, Uttar Pradesh has been awarded first prize, followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
• The first National Water Award was launched by the Jal Shakti Ministry in 2018. National Water Awards have provided a good opportunity to start-ups as well as leading organizations to engage and deliberate with senior policymakers on how to adopt the best water resources management practices in India.

Answer: B

• The Third Eye, an evidence-based policing with CCTV surveillance matrix in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial hub, had helped reduce crime by 30 per cent, said DGP Sanjay Kundu.
• Former Baddi SP Rohit Malpani (now SP, cyber crime), under whose supervision the project was implemented, received the National e-Governance Silver Award from Dr Jitender Singh, Minister of State, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, at Hyderabad today, during the 24th national conference on e-Governance.
• The project was implemented under the public-private partnership, in coordination with the industries in BBN area, without seeking any financial assistance from the government, he said.
• As many as 2,038 CCTV cameras were installed in Baddi district. “Besides initiatives such as geotagging of CCTVs on Google Maps, and surveillance through vehicle-mounted cameras, a cyber lab facilitating CCTV footage analysis was also renovated,”

Answer: C

• To protect highly endangered species, ranging from the elusive endangered pheasant western tragopan to the musk deer and the Himalayan tahr in the Great Himalayan National Park, a Unesco World Heritage site in the north-west Himalayas, is a Herculean task for a forest official
• Park authorities fear for their vulnerability to poaching from human settlements in the buffer zone known as an eco-zone.
• The Great Himalayan National Park is spread over 90,540 hectares. It comprises the upper mountain glacial and snow melt water sources of several rivers, and the catchments of water supplies that are vital to millions of downstream users.