ANSWER: B

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: C

• A long-lost tectonic plate called ‘Pontus’ has been rediscovered 20 million years after disappearing.
• The plate is known only from a few rock fragments from the mountains of Borneo and the ghostly remnants of its huge slab detected deep in Earth’s mantle.
• It was once a quarter of the size of the Pacific Ocean.
• Scientists have dubbed it the “Pontus plate” because at the time of its existence, it sat under an ocean known as the Pontus Ocean.
• Mechanism
  • Tectonic plates constantly move against one another, and the crust in oceanic plates is denser than continental plates, so oceanic plates get pushed under continental plates in a process called subduction and disappear.
  • Sometimes, however, rocks from a lost plate get incorporated into mountain-building events.
  • These remnants can point to the location and formation of ancient plates.

ABOUT TECTONIC PLATES

• Tectonic plates are large, rigid pieces of the Earth’s lithosphere, which is composed of the crust and uppermost mantle.
• They are typically composed of both continental and oceanic crust, and their thickness can vary from about 6 to 70 kilometers.
• There are primarily seven major tectonic plates: the African Plate, Antarctic Plate, Eurasian Plate, North American Plate, South American Plate, Pacific Plate, and Indo-Australian Plate.
• Additionally, there are several minor plates and microplates.

ANSWER: A

• Goan cashew has been given the geographical indication (GI) tag.
• It is native to northeast Brazil and was introduced to Goa by Portuguese in 1570.
• It occupies largest area among horticultural crops in Goa.
• It requires well-drained deep sandy loam soils.

ABOUT GI TAGS

• A GI tag is conferred upon products originating from a specific geographical region, signifying unique characteristics and qualities.
• Essentially, it serves as a trademark in the international market.
• It is given by the Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai.
• GI tag stands valid for 10 years, and can be renewed from time to time for a further period of 10 years each.

ANSWER: C

• Recently the milestone of 1 million certifications of Passport to Earning (P2E) programme was reached.
• UNICEF’s global learning-to-earning solution, Passport to Earning (P2E), has skilled and certified more than one million young people in India in areas of financial literacy and digital productivity.
• This milestone marks a major step towards helping them gain skills relevant to the future of work and life.
• Notably, 62% of all young learners who benefitted from P2E courses in India are adolescent girls and young women.
• In India, aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, P2E provides free access to certificate courses in digital productivity, financial literacy, employability skills, and other in-demand, job-ready skills.
• The P2E solution also offers provisions for online, hybrid, and offline learning models.
• The digital learning platform aims to deliver long-term sustainable skilling to 5 million youth in the age group of 14-29 in India by 2024 and then connect them to opportunities in job, self-employment and entrepreneurship to be financially independent.

ANSWER: D

• Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has recently launched two portals–
• DoNER Data Analytics Dashboard–
  • It has data of 112 schemes across 55 Departments and Ministries
  • It will help in Data-driven decision-making; Ease of operations; Centralized monitoring, etc.
  • It will keep a close watch on NER Aspirational districts, North East border districts and the most backward districts in NER.
• Poorvottar Sampark Setu portal–
  • it generates a curated list of Ministers who can be nominated for a fortnightly visit of Union Ministers to North east region.
  • This initiative is set to redefine the landscape of Ministerial visits, meticulously crafted to elevate their efficacy, transparency, and profound influence.
  • Its fundamental mission is to unequivocally ensure that the benefits of Central Government Schemes should reach to every citizen in the North East Region of India.

ANSWER: B

• Three new indigenously developed technologies are developed under the Intelligent Transportation System Endeavor for Indian Cities initiative.
• These were launched by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• These technologies are: CMOS Sensor based Camera for Industrial Application, Thermal sensor Camera for Intelligent Transportation System-(TvITS) and Online Sucro Crystal Imaging System (OSIS).
• The CMOS Sensor based Camera for Industrial Vision Applications (iViS) is an indigenous technology for automated inspection and identification of objects.
  • It supports AI based applications employing Machine Learning and Deep Learning Techniques.
• The Thermal Sensor based Camera (TvITS) is an AI powered thermal sensor based smart vision camera for road traffic applications.
  • It can provide data of stationery as well as of moving objects with high accuracy even in a completely dark environment in all weather conditions.
  • The modular design provides ease of operation and changing of lenses per need.
• The Online Sucro Crystal Imaging System (OSIS) is a system developed using the industrial camera for measurement of crystal size in sugar industries.
  • It is a very important quality parameters which is required by the sugar industries.

ANSWER: C

• The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is observed annually on October 13^th.
• It brings global attention to the critical issues of disasters and inequality.
• The history of International Day for Disaster Reduction dates back to 1989 when the United Nations General Assembly established the day to promote a culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction across the globe.
  • Since then, the day is observed annually on 13^th
• The theme of UN International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2023 is “Fighting inequality for a resilient future.”