ANSWER: B

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: A

• Recently, the Union Minister of Heavy Industries unveiled the ground-breaking “Dugdh Sanakalan Sathi Mobile App” at Mussorie, Uttarakhand.

ABOUT DUGDH SANKALAN SATHI APP

• It is designed and developed by Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited (REIL).
  • REIL is a “Mini Ratna” Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
• It aims to improve the quality of milk, foster transparency among stakeholders, and streamline operations at the grassroots village level, including Milk Cooperative Societies.
• It will inform all services to milk producers in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu and other languages.
• It will help in realizing the commitment of Government to digitize the process and facilitate Direct Benefit transfer to milk producers.
• Real-time milk price will be updated from the cloud server, ensuring transparency and eliminating human errors.
• Direct beneficiary transfers of milk payments and government subsidies to the milk producers’ bank accounts through the app.

ANSWER: C

• Six Indian Skimmer eggs laid beside a barrage in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor were washed away recently due to the strong flow of water from the dam, said conservationists.

ABOUT INDIAN SKIMMER

• It is also known as Indian scissors bill.
• They are more widespread in winter; the Indian skimmer is found in the coastal estuaries of western and eastern
  • Chambal River is an important nesting site for Indian Skimmer
• Major Threats include Habitat degradation, excessive and widespread increases in disturbances near the rivers, predation by corvids like house crows etc.
• IUCN Red List Status: Endangered

ANSWER: B

• Scientists in Chile have discovered a new species of duck-billed dinosaur that lived 72 million years ago in the far south of Chile.
• Gonkoken nanoi is the name of this new dinosaur species from an ancestral lineage of hadrosaurs, which would have migrated to the Southern Hemisphere long before more advanced forms, and it is believed that they may have even reached Antarctica.
• Gonkoken nanoi, the fifth species of dinosaur discovered in Chile, was actually found in 2013, kicking off a decade-long investigation.
• The name Gonkoken comes from the Tehuelche language, the first inhabitants of the region, and means “similar to a wild duck or a swan.”
• It is a species of herbivorous dinosaur previously unknown in the southern hemisphere.
• These were slender-looking dinosaurs, which could easily adopt a bipedal and quadrupedal posture to reach the vegetation at height and ground level.
• This type of duck-billed dinosaur was common in North America, Asia and Europe during the Cretaceous period.

ANSWER: D

• Kari Ishad mango from Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada, Karnataka has received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the Geographical Indications Registry under the Union Government.
• The GI certificate was issued to Matha Totagars Farmer Producer Company Limited.
• The mango is recognized for its exceptional attributes, including a distinctive aroma, delightful taste, generous pulp content, and desirable shape and size.

ANSWER: D

• Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Artsakh by Armenians, is a landlocked mountainous area in South Caucasus.
• It was claimed by both Azerbaijan and Armenia after the fall of Russian Empire in 1917 and has remained a point of tension ever since.
• Territory is internationally recognised as part of oil-rich Azerbaijan, but its inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians.

MAYON VOLCANO

• Recently, the Mayon volcano began expelling lava recently, forcing nearly 18,000 people to flee to emergency shelters.
• Mayon Volcano is an active volcano located in the southeastern part of Luzon, Philippines.
• It is known for its picturesque conical shape and is the most active of 24 known volcanoes in the Philippines.

ANSWER: A

• The state Tourism Department has initiated steps to launch water-based tourism and adventure activities in the Pong Dam reservoir.
  • The Pong Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Beas River in Kangra district.
• On the request of the Tourism Department, the wildlife wing of the state Forest Department has prepared a proposal to exclude two sites from the wildlife sanctuary.
• The two sites encompassing a total area of 7.5 sq km have been identified at Nangal Chowk near Dadasiba in Dehra subdivision and Matiyal in Fatehpur subdivision.
• The state Tourism Department has suggested activities like shikara rides, solar energy propelled houseboats, floating restaurants and tethered hot air ballooning in the Pong reservoir areas exempted from the wildlife sanctuary.