Daily Current Affairs Quiz: September 08, 2023

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: D

• The European Commission recently listed six tech giants — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and ByteDance — as gatekeepers under its new Digital Markets Act.
• The term ‘gatekeepers’ refers to massive internet platforms which the EU views are restricting access to core platform services, such as online search, advertising, and messaging and communications.
• The Digital Markets Act is a groundbreaking piece of legislation that aims to encourage greater competition in digital markets and ensure greater choice for consumers.
  • It aims to clamp down on anti-competitive practices from big tech players.
• The rules could lead to some big changes for the platforms of Big Tech companies.

ANSWER: B

• The presence of a leucistic sambar has been documented in the Sangama range of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka.
• This is the first recorded photographic record of a white form of sambar from this landscape though a white form of sambar deer was previously recorded in Bandipur Tiger Reserve in 2014.

ABOUT SAMBAR DEER

• Scientific name- Rusa unicolor.
• The sambar is a large deer species that is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
• Characteristics–
  • The sambar is known for its large and rugged antlers, shaggy coat, and a small but dense mane.
  • Sambar are nocturnal or crepuscular animals.
  • The males live alone for much of the year, while the females live in small herds of up to 16 individuals.
• Distribution- South Asia as far north as the south-facing slopes of the Himalayas in Nepal, Bhutan, and India, and in mainland Southeast Asia including Burma, Thailand, Indochina, the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia (Sumatra and Borneo), Taiwan, and South China.
• Threats- hunting, local insurgency, and industrial exploitation of habitat.
• The sambar is listed as a vulnerable species as per the IUCN Red List.

WHAT IS LEUCISM?

• Leucism is a condition in which the pigmentation of an animal’s skin is missing, causing white or pale skin.
• This condition can occur naturally from birth due to a phenotype (a trait of any living being) that may have formed from a defect in the animal’s development.
• It is different from albinism which is a condition that arises due to a lack of melatonin in the animal’s skin, but the animal has pink or reddish eyes. But in leucism the animal lacks the pink eyes.

ANSWER: A

• Famous Hindustani classical vocalist Malini Rajurkar passed away recently.
• She is noted for her command over the Tappa and the Tarana genre.
• She was an exponent of Gwalior gharana and one of the foremost proponents of ‘khayal’ and ‘tappa’ genre.

ANSWER: C

• International Literacy Day is celebrated annually on September 8^th.
• The day is celebrated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) at the global, regional, country, and local levels across the world.
• International Literacy Day was first celebrated in 1967.
• This year’s International Literacy Day will be celebrated worldwide under the theme, ‘Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies’.

ANSWER: D

• The industrial towns of Parwanoo and Kala Amb have made it to the top two ranks nationally under the National Clean Air Programme among category 3 states having less than 3 lakh population.
• Parwanoo received the top rank by scoring 193.6 points out of 200 while Kala Amb scored 193 points.