ANSWER: B

• The first conference on Akash Tatva – Akash for Life, will be held in Dehradun.
• The thrust of the conference is to attempt to explain one tatva, Akash, the ancient wisdom associated with it and how it connects to modern science.
• This conference will present Indian thought and classical concepts of ‘Akash Tatva’ on the global stage from modern scientific perspective.”
• The main aim of the conclave is to expose the youth of India to the wisdoms of ancient science along with modern scientific advancements.
• The conference would have themes such as: ‘Earth and atmosphere: interaction of Akash, Environment’ and ‘Climate change: the role of Akash, Impact of modern technology, adaptation and mitigation measures.
• The campaign ‘Sumangalam’ is being organised across the country for finding the solutions to the environmental problems like global warming and climate With an Indian perspective.

ANSWER: A

• Union Education Ministry will organise ‘Kashi Tamil Sangamam’ – a month-long programme from 16th November 2022- to rediscover the centuries-old bond of knowledge and ancient civilisational linkage between Varanasi and Tamilnadu.
• Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed that over 2400 tamil people in 12 groups from diverse sections of society, including academics, spiritualism, philosophy, trade and commerce, agriculture, entrepreneurship, arts and artisanship will visit Kashi for eight days to get familiarised with the ancient knowledge shared by these two ancient cities.
• On this occasion, Mr Pradhan also launched a website for the registration process for this month-long event.
• The programme will be organised under the framework of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• IIT-Madras and Banaras Hindu University will be the hosting partners of this mega event.

ANSWER: C

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a penalty of over one thousand 337 crore rupees on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets. The Commission has also directed Google to modify its conduct within a defined timeline.
• In its order, the CCI said, Google has perpetuated its dominant position in the online search market resulting in denial of market access for competing search apps.
• Google has leveraged its dominant position in the app store market for Android Operating System to protect its position in online general search.

About Competition Commission of India (CCI)

• The Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007, follows the philosophy of modern competition laws.
• The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.

ANSWER: D

• UK Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned from the post just six weeks after her appointment. Speaking outside the door of her Number 10 Downing Street office today, Truss accepted that she could not deliver the promises she made when she was running for Conservative leader, having lost the faith of her party. She said there will be a Conservative leadership election to be completed within the next week. Earlier in the day, Conservative Party officials had gathered at Downing Street while a growing number of her own lawmakers called on her to quit.
• Ms Truss becomes the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, just for 45 days. George Canning previously held the record, serving 119 days in 1827 when he died.
• Appointed on the 6th of last month, forty-seven-year-old Truss was forced to sack her Finance Minister and closest political ally, Kwasi Kwarteng, and abandon almost all her economic programme after their plans for vast unfunded tax cuts crashed the pound and British bonds. Truss’s premiership came under renewed pressure after the Home Secretary resigned and a chaotic vote on fracking. There was fury yesterday around the vote and the methods used to get MPs to vote with the government.
• Meanwhile, Liz Her former leadership rival Rishi Sunak is the bookmakers’ favourite to take over in No 10, followed by Penny Mordaunt and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
• Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed he will not stand to be the next Conservative leader and UK Prime Minister.

ANSWER: A

• The Fifth Khelo India Youth Games -2022 will be held in Madhya Pradesh. The games will be held from 31st January to 11th February next year.
• This was announced by Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur at an event in New Delhi in presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
• The Khelo India Youth Games will be held at eight locations. More than 8 thousand 500 athletes and sportspersons are expected to participate in the sporting event.
• Khelo India Youth Games was stared in 2016 and provided a very effective platform to the youth of the country to showcase their performance and talents in sports.
• The games will be held at different places of the State including at Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Ujjain and Jabalpur.
• On the occasion, Madhya Pradesh Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare Yashodhara Raje Scindia and Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Nisith Pramanik were also present.
• The upcoming edition of the Khelo India Youth Games will feature a total of 27 disciplines.
• Water sports being included for the first time in the history of the games.

ANSWER: C

• A top IOC official announced  that the IOC is in talks with ten potential bidders to host the Summer Olympic Games.
• The 10 bid projects are “at very various phases and are building their objectives according to their own regional or national schedules,” De Kepper said, without naming the possible bidders.
• The following three Olympic Games will take place in 2024 in Paris, 2028 in Los Angeles, and 2032 in Brisbane.
• “We are currently working with 10 interested NOCs and regions across four continents,” IOC director general Christophe de Kepper said at the Association of National Olympic Committees meeting in Seoul, Xinhua reports.
• Egypt, India, Indonesia, Britain, and South Korea are among the nations that have indicated interest in hosting the Olympics in 2036.

ANSWER: D

• Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella formally received the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award from India’s consul general T.V Nagendra Prasad in San Fransisco, US for his distinguished service. Nadella was named one of 17 awardees earlier this year.
• Along with Satya Nadella, IT veteran Tata Sons’ CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai also received the Padma Bhushan award.
• He also discussed with India’s consul general T.V Nagendra Prasad on the critical role digital technology plays in empowering inclusive growth in India.
• He plans to visit India in January 2023, his first visit to the country in nearly three years.
• Nadella was appointed as Microsoft’s CEO in 2014 and he is the only third CEO of Microsoft after the company’s founders Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Earlier in 2021, he was also appointed as the company’s chairman, making him responsible for setting the tone for Microsoft’s future.
• He is known for revolutionizing Microsoft’s cloud business, from lagging behind Amazon to bagging multi-billion dollar US Defense Department contracts.

ANSWER: C

• India suffered an income loss of $159 billion, 5.4 per cent of its gross domestic product in the service, manufacturing, agriculture, and construction sectors due to extreme heat in 2021, according to the Climate Transparency Report 2022 compiled by an international partnership of organisations.
• Climate change-induced extreme weather events are causing significant economic losses across all sectors, with agriculture being the most vulnerable, accounting for 16 per cent of Indian GDP, and providing nearly half of the employment, the report stated.
• Several areas of Hindukush Karakoram Himalaya, the main driver of the Indian monsoon and a source of 10 major Asian rivers, experienced reduced snowfall and glacial retreat.
• Heat exposure in the country led to the loss of 167 billion potential labour hours, a 39 per cent increase from the period between 1990 and 1999.
• Extreme events such as cyclones, flash floods, floods and landslides damaged crops over 36 million hectares — a $3.75 billion loss to farmers — between 2016 and 2021.
• It is feared that the annual damage from tropical cyclones and river flooding at 3°C global warming would be 4.6 to 5.1 times than what it would be experienced at the 1.5°C level.
• Labour productivity is projected to decline by five per cent from the 1986-2006 reference period as a result of 1.5°C of global warming — 2.1 times at 2.5°C level and 2.7 times at 3°C level.
• Increased precipitation, along with change in land use with increased urbanisation, is the main cause of increase in surface run-off in India. Prolonged waterlogging may alter the soil moisture content in many places, the report stated.
• Two-thirds of Indian agriculture is rain-fed, and thus highly prone to changes in rainfall, the report pointed ominously.
• At 1.5°C level, the national maize and wheat yield is projected to decrease by three per cent and five per cent, respectively. This loss may increase by a magnitude of 2.5 times for maize and 3.2 times for wheat at 3°C of warming.
• In India, local precipitation is projected to increase by 6 per cent from the reference period of 1986-2006 at 1.5°C of warming. Under a 3°C warming scenario, precipitation will increase by 3 times the precipitation anticipated at 1.5°C of warming.
• The rainfall pattern in India has changed in the past 30 years impacting many economic activities such as agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
• Snowfall in India is expected to decrease in the 1.5°C scenario by 13 per cent when compared with the reference period’s snowfall levels. At 3°C, the decrease is expected to be 2.4 times the 1.5°C scenario.

ANSWER: D

• The educational research journey undertaken by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) in 57 years of its establishment had come across many milestones of achievements, which would remain memorable and significant for us, said Minister of State for Education Dr Subhas Sarkar.
• Sarkar was the chief guest at the event organised to mark the 57th Foundation Day of the IIAS via videoconferencing.
• He said it was the great thought of a renowned philosopher, thinker, scholar and the second President of India, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, to convert this building into an independent research centre known as the IIAS.

About Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS).

• The IIAS was established in 1964 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education and it started functioning on Oct 20, 1965.
• It is housed in a building that used to be the summer seat of the British Empire and witnessed many historic events.
• The institute has a rich library comprising over 2.25 lakh titles on different subjects, especially on social sciences.

ANSWER: D

• As many as 28 (19 per cent) out of the total 68 sitting MLAs in Himachal are facing criminal cases out of which eight (12 per cent) have serious criminal cases as per the analyses of affidavits submitted by the MLAs during 2017 Assembly polls by Himachal Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
• Roads, water and unemployment are the main issues followed by education and health while price rise ranks seventh in the list, said, coordinator, Himachal Election Watch and National Treasurer Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Dr OP Bhuraita while releasing the 37-page report on analysis of criminal background, financial, education, gender and other details of sitting MLAs.
• Fifty (74 per cent) out of 68 MLA are crorepati and the average assets of MLAs is Rs 8.45 crores. Balbir Verma from Chopal is the richest with assets worth Rs 90 crores while Kamlesh Kumari from Bhoranj is at the bottom of the list with assets of Rs 29 lakhs.
• He said that 89 per cent of voters vote on the basis of the candidate’s face, personal equation and honesty while 11 per cent vote for the party. Interestingly, 20 per cent were not aware who the MLA was while 30 per cent said that MLA has not been seen in the past five years. As per the educational qualification, out of 68 MLAs, one is VIIIth pass, 11 are Xth pass, eight and XIIth pass, 20 are graduates, 12 are professional graduates, 14 are post graduate and two are doctorate.
• The agency is also undertaking an electoral literacy campaign “I will vote and you” in view of the elections to the 14th Legislative Assembly polling for which will be held on November 12. During this month-long campaign, mass dialogues are being conducted to cover more than 1500 gram panchayats with the objective of the campaign is to make people aware of the importance of voting and motivate them not to boycott polls.
• The Supreme Court had also directed political parties to list reasons on their website, including their social media platforms for nominating candidates with criminal background within 72 hours of the selection of such candidates. This information shall also be published in one local vernacular newspaper and one national newspaper, besides official social media platforms of the political party, including Facebook & Twitter.