ANSWER: A

ANSWER: B

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: A

• The Prime Minister launched ‘Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat)’ platform for youth of the country on October 31^st, at Kartavya Path on the National Unity Day.

ABOUT MERA YUVA BHARAT (MY BHARAT)

• Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat), an autonomous body will benefit the youth in the age group of 15-29 years, in line with the definition of ‘Youth’ in the National Youth Policy.
  • In the case of programme components specifically meant for adolescents, the beneficiaries will be in the age group of 10-19 years.
• It is ‘Phygital Platform’ (physical + digital) comprising physical activity along with an opportunity to connect digitally.
• Nodal Ministry- Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
• ‘Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat)’ is envisioned as a pivotal, technology-driven facilitator for youth development and youth-led development, with the overarching goal of providing equitable
• It envisions a framework where the youth of our country can seamlessly connect with programs, mentors, and their local communities.
• Objectives-The primary objective of Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) is to make it a whole of Government platform dedicated to the advancement of the youth. Its objectives include-
  • Leadership Development in the Youth
  • Better alignment between the aspirations of the youth and the community needs
  • Enhanced efficiency through Convergence of existing programmes
  • Act as a one-stop shop for young people and Ministries
  • Create a centralized youth database
  • Improved two-way communication to connect youth government initiatives and activities of other stakeholder that engage with youth
  • Ensuring accessibility by creating a Phygital Ecosystem – a blend of physical and digital experiences.

ANSWER: C

• Textbooks have said for decades that haemoglobin is found in the red blood cells (RBCs), that it makes blood red, carries oxygen, and is essential for our survival.
• In a study published in Nature, scientists from China have reported that chondrocytes – cells that make cartilage, the connecting tissue between bones – also make haemoglobin and seem to depend on it for their survival.

ABOUT HEMOGLOBIN

• It is an iron-containing protein found in the red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and returns carbon dioxide from the tissues back to the lungs.
• It is made up of four protein molecules (globulin chains) that are connected together.
• Haemoglobin forms an unstable reversible bond with oxygen.
  • In oxygenated state, it is called oxyhemoglobin (bright red) and in reduced state it is called deoxyhemoglobin (purple-blue).
• It is present in RBCs of vertebrates.
• All vertebrates except cold-water ice fish transport oxygen via haemoglobin.
• Haemoglobin develops in cells in bone marrow that become RBCs.
• Haemoglobin levels vary from person to person. Men usually have higher levels than women.
• A low haemoglobin level is referred to as anemia or low red blood count.
  • Reasons include- loss of blood, nutritional deficiency, bone marrow problems, suppression by red blood cell synthesis by chemotherapy drugs, kidney failure, and abnormal hemoglobin structure (sickle cell anemia or thalassemia).

ANSWER: B

• Carbon nanoflorets made by IIT Bombay researchers can convert incident sunlight to heat with 87% efficiency.

ABOUT CARBON NANOFLORETS

• These are like tiny marigold flowers made only of carbon, which are called as the material carbon nanoflorets.
• Researchers heated a special form of silicon dust called DFNS (for dendritic fibrous nanosilica) in a furnace. Once heated, acetylene gas was introduced into the chamber.
• The white powder turned black – a sign that carbon had been deposited on the DFNS.
• The black powder was collected and treated it with a strong chemical that dissolved the DFNS away, leaving carbon particles behind.
• The structure of the silicon particles – 50-1,200 nanometers in size—resembled spikes arranged around a sphere.
• The carbon nanoflorets’ high efficiency comes from three properties
  • The nanoflorets absorb three frequencies in sunlight – infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet whereas other common materials like photovoltaic materials used in solar panels, absorb only visible and ultraviolet light.
    • More than half of the energy in sunlight arrives to the earth as infrared radiation.
    • So the nanoflorets can absorb much more energy from the sun.
  • The other two properties responsible for the material’s high light-heat conversion efficiency are a result of its shape.
    • As light falls on the material, the carbon cones ensure that very little is reflected back. Instead, most light is reflected internally.
    • The carbon nanoflorets don’t lose heat to its environment, however, thanks to long-range disorder- parts of the structure at some distance from each other possess different physical properties.
    • As a result, heat waves in the material aren’t carried over long distances, reducing the amount of heat dissipated away.

• The Indian Air Force has deployed its three S-400 air defense missile squadrons along borders with China and Pakistan.
• Indian and Russian officials are set to meet to discuss the final delivery schedule for the remaining two squadrons.
• India had signed an over ₹ 35,000 crore contract with the Russian side in 2018-19 for five squadrons of the S-400 missiles.

ANSWER: D

ABOUT S-400

• The S-400 Triumf (or SA-21 Growler) is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system.
• It is one of the world’s most advanced air defence systems that can simultaneously track numerous incoming objects.
• Developed by – Almaz Central Design Bureau of Russia.
• The first S-400 was deployed in combat in August 2007.
• It has command and control centre, automatic tracking and targeting systems, launchers and support vehicles.
• It is equipped with four different missiles that can engage enemy aircraft, ballistic missiles, and AWACS planes at 400 km, 250 km, the medium-range 120 km and the short-range 40 km.
• Radars fitted into this system can detect incoming objects from a distance of 400 kilometres and an altitude of 30 kilometres.
• The system can simultaneously engage 36 targets.

ANSWER: A

• India-born author Nandini Das has been named the winner of the 2023 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding.
• It is a leading international non-fiction prize worth GBP 25,000
• She was awarded for her book ‘Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire’.
• The work, hailed as the “true origin story of Britain and India told through England’s first diplomatic mission to the Mughal courts,” secured the top spot this year at a ceremony held at the British Academy in London.