Daily Current Affairs Quiz: July 13, 2023

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: B

• PM Modi wished for joy, harmony, health and prosperity for the citizens of Tripura on the eve of Ker Puja.
• It is a festival celebrated in Tripura that takes place two weeks after Kharchi Puja and honours Ker, a guardian god.
• In the Kokborok, a local tribal language, Ker means boundary or specific area.
• During the festival, entrances to Agartala are closed to create a protected area and people are not allowed to light fires, dance, sing or even wear shoes.
• During Ker Puja offerings, sacrifices are made to please gods for the welfare of the villages so that they can save them from calamities, epidemics and external aggression.
• It is also held in few other northeastern states, as well as in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.

ANSWER: A

• The Textiles Ministry recently revealed that 43 new implementing partners have been empanelled under the SAMARTH scheme with an additional training target of 75,000 beneficiaries and 5% increment in support to implementing partners.
• Scheme for Capacity Building in Textiles Sector (SAMARTH) is a demand driven and placement-oriented umbrella skilling programme of Ministry of Textiles.
• The implementation period of the scheme has been extended up to March 2024.
• More than 85% of the beneficiaries trained so far under the scheme are women.
• More than 70% of the beneficiaries trained in organized sector courses have been provided
• Objectives
  • To provide demand-driven, placement-oriented skilling programmes to incentivize the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors.
  • To promote skilling and skill up-gradation in the traditional sectors such as handloom, handicraft, silk and jute.
  • To provide livelihood to all sections of the society across the country.
• Under this scheme skilling programme is implemented through:
  • Textile Industry.
  • Institutions/Organizations of the Ministry of Textiles/State Governments having training infrastructure and placement tie-ups with the textile industry.
  • Reputed training institutions/ NGOs/ Societies/ Trusts/ Organizations/ Companies /Start-Ups / Entrepreneurs active in the textile sector having placement tie-ups with the textile industry.

ANSWER: A

• A team of researchers from Gandhinagar-based Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation has discovered a new species of saltwort called Salsola Oppositifolia Desfontania.
• It is a perennial shrub that grows in saline, arid to semi-arid environments of the Kutch
• It belongs to the family of Amaranthaceae.
• It is a perennial, succulent shrub that can grow one to two metres tall and have a smooth, cylindrical, woody base.
• It is rarely prostrate and unlike other species of Salsola, does not have any hairs.
• As the name oppositifolia suggests, the leaves of this plant grow opposite each other in the stem.
• It is a halophyte — a plant adapted to growing in saline conditions.
• Salsola oppositifolia Desfontania is the 6^th species of Salsola genus to be discovered in India.
  • Previously, Salsola kali, Salsola hatmanii, Salsola monoptera, Caroxylon imbricatum (Salsola baryosma) and Halogeton glomeratus (Salsola glomerata) were recorded in India.
• Salsola oppositifolia is used as a raw material for manufacturing soda ash. He said that other Salsola species are used in manufacturing lye and soaps.

ANSWER: C

• Defence Minister recently inaugurated Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)’s Regional Office in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
• The Regional Office will facilitate close defence industrial collaboration between India and Malaysia.
• It will also serve as a hub for the HAL’s engagement with the wider South-East Asian region and act as a window for other Indian Defense PSUs.

ANSWER: A

• Odisha TV, an Odia-based news station, has unveiled “Lisa,” India’s first regional AI news anchor.
• Lisa possesses the remarkable ability to speak multiple languages, including Odia, English, and others.

ANSWER: A

• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has made history by becoming the first Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) in India to receive certification for its Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS).
• The certification was awarded by the internationally accredited certification body InterCert USA.
• ONGC was also the first organization in India to adopt the Integrity Pact (IP) initiated by Transparency International in 2005.

ANSWER: B

• France has agreed to arm Ukraine with Storm Shadow/SCALP missile, the longest-range Western weapon that it has received so far.
• It can strike targets in the Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine’s east.
• The SCALP (Système de Croisière Autonome à Longue Portée) missile is jointly developed by UK and France and has a range on over 250 kms.
• It is manufactured by MBDA and used by France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
• It is a fire and forget missile, programmed before launch. Once launched, the missile cannot be controlled, its target information changed or self-destructed.

ANSWER: D

• Two moderate-intensity, back-to-back earthquakes shook Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh recently.
• The earthquakes of 3.2 and 3.1 magnitudes with a depth of 10 kilometres were reported.
• Tribal Lahaul and Spiti falls in seismic zone IV, which is a high-damage-risk zone.

Note

• Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has grouped the country into four seismic zones zones V, IV, III and II.
• Zone V expects the highest level of seismicity whereas Zone II is associated with the lowest level of seismicity.