Daily Current Affairs Quiz: May 06, 2023

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: B

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: C

• Using optical tweezers, researchers at Raman Research Institute (RRI), attempted to study structural details of Laponite, a synthetic clay.
  • RRI is an autonomous institute funded by Department of Science and Technology.
  • Laponite is a widely used raw material in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.
• Optical tweezers grab particles, atoms, molecules, and living cells with their laser beam fingers.
• They use laser light to push small particles towards center of the beam and to hold them there.
• Optical tweezers are now widely used to investigate biological systems.
• Other Applications include: Š
  • confinement and organization (e.g. for cell sorting).
  • tracking of movement (e.g. of bacteria).
  • application and measurement of small forces.
  • altering of larger structures (such as cell membranes).
• Limitation– optical tweezers are only able to manipulate very small objects and only at very short distances.
• Arthur Ashkin — who, at 96, becomes the oldest scientist ever to be awarded a Nobel Prize — is credited with having invented “optical tweezers”.

ANSWER: A

• US Food and Drug Administration has approved GSK’s Arexvy, world’s first RSV vaccine for older adults.
• RSV belongs to the genus Orthopneumovirus within the family Pneumoviridae and order Mononegavirales.
• It is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms.
• It is characterized by its highly contagious naturee., it has a high potential to infect people.
• Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults.
• It is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children younger than 1 year of age in the United States.
• RSV is increasingly being recognized as an important pathogen in older adults.

ANSWER: A

• Legendary mridangam artist Karaikudi R Rani passed away recently.
• Born on September 11, 1945, in Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu, he shifted from vocal training initially to learning mridangam.
• He was greatly inspired by mridangam vidwan Palghat Mani Iyer.
• He received his first national award at a young age of 18 from the then President S Radhakrishnan.
• He was considered as one among the all-time greatest mridangam vidwans and had played alongside Carnatic giants like M S Subbulakshmi and D K Pattammal.

About Mridangam

• Mridangam is a popular bifacial drum of Carnatic music and is used as an accompaniment in South Indian Classical music.
• It is also known by the name of maddal or maddalam.
• It is one of the oldest Indian percussion instruments, originating 2,000 years ago.
• It is made of leather and jackwood.
• It is held across the lap and played on both ends with the hands and fingers.
• Other variations of Mridangam are mrdanga, pakhawaj, or tannumai.
• A similar instrument, the pakhavaj, is played in the Hindustani tradition of northern India, as well as in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

ANSWER: B

• Vaishakh Buddha Purnima is being celebrated on 5^th May.
• It is sacred day for Buddhists as it marks the three main events of Lord Buddha’s life – Birth, Enlightenment, and Mahaparinirvana.
• Lord Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha Gautama on the full moon day in 563 BC at Lumbini in Nepal.
• In Hinduism, Buddha is considered as the ninth avatar of Lord Vishnu.
• His birth anniversary is also known as Vaisakhi Buddha Purnima or Vesak.
• This day is commemorated by Buddhists and Hindus all over the world and is a major festival in countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, China, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
• Since 1999 it has also been recognized by United Nations (UN) as ‘UN Day of Vesak’.

ANSWER: D

• International Firefighters Day, observed on May 4^th each year, is a day dedicated to recognizing and honouring the brave individuals who put their lives on the line every day to save others.
• International Firefighters Day was established in 1999 to pay tribute to the courage and sacrifices made by firefighters worldwide.
• Over time, this day has evolved into a global event that celebrates the bravery, resilience, and selflessness of firefighters around the world.

ANSWER: D

• Three imprisoned women journalists- Niloofar Hamedi, Elaheh Mohammadi and Narges Mohammadi from Iran have been awarded the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize 2023 for their commitment to truth and accountability.
  • World Press Freedom Day is observed on 3^rd May, every year.
• The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was established in 1997.
• It is presented annually to a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to press freedom, and especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

ANSWER: C

• National Mission For Clean Ganga (NMCG) organized RCA Global Seminar.

About River Cities Alliance

• It is a dedicated platform launched in 2021, for river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers.
• The Alliance will focus on three broad themes– Networking, Capacity Building and Technical Support.
• It includes cities from both the Ganga basin and non-Ganga basin states and has expanded to 109 river cities across India and one international member city Aarhus from Denmark.
• It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Jal Shakti & Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

ANSWER: C

• The state government notified the much-awaited rules for the implementation of the old pension scheme (OPS) for its employees.
  • The Congress government had restored the OPS in its first Cabinet meeting after assuming power.
• The OPS will cover 1.36 lakh state government employees, who at present come under the New Pension Scheme (NPS).
• As per the notification issued by issued by Chief Secretary ,the new rules, called Central Civil Services (Pension) (HP Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2023, would come into force retrospectively from April 1.
• The employees appointed between May 5, 2005, and March 31, 2023, who were covered under the New Pension Scheme (NPS), would now be covered under the OPS.
• It states that the new rules shall also apply to government servants, who had retired or died between May 5, 2005, and March 31, 2023.
• Retired government servants or their eligible family members can exercise their option for pensionary benefits under these rules from April 1, 2023.