GK & Current Affairs Quiz: October 24, 2019

Notes:
On the occasion of 2019 International Snow Leopard Day (ISLD), the Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar  launched the first national protocol to enumerate the snow leopard population in India. It was launched at the inaugural session of the 4th steering committee meeting of the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) in Delhi. Poaching is a major threat for the snow leopards. The Project Snow Leopard is an initiative of the Environment Ministry which aims to safeguard and conserve India’s unique natural heritage of high altitude wildlife populations and their habitats by promoting conservation through participatory policies and actions. Snow leopards play a critical role in their ecosystem as top predators.

Notes:
The International Snow Leopard Day (ISLD) is celebrated every year on 23rd of October to protect and conserve the snow leopards and preserve the beautiful wildlife of the Himalayas. It is believed to have 400 to 700 snow leopards spread across Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Notes:
The Data Security Council of India (DSCI)  in partnership with  National Cyber Security Coordinator’s office has recently launched national repository ‘TechSagar’ to facilitate new opportunities for businesses and academia to collaborate, connect and innovate, in future. The TechSagar provides insights about capabilities of more than 4000 entities from industry, academia and research across 25 technology areas like Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, blockchain, cloud and virtualization, robotics and Automation and more. The online portal also allows one to sort startups by filtering the technology they work on, their headquarters.

Notes:
The Bhashan Char is an uninhabited island around 30km east of Hatiya Island in the South East Bangladesh. The island was formed about two decades ago on the mouth of river Meghna. It is in news recently because thousands of Rohingya living in Bangladesh refugee camps have agreed to move to an island in the Bay of Bengal, despite fears the site is prone to flooding. It must be noted that the Government of Bangladesh has built the relocation camp at Bhashan Char with a capacity to accommodate about 1lakh people in 1440 buildings constructed there at an estimated cost of Tk 2,300 crore.

Notes:
Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu is leading the Indian delegation at the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) at Baku, Azerbaijan on 25th to 26th of October. The theme for the Summit is – “Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world”. The theme is significant as it relates to the forthcoming 65th anniversary of Bandung Principles in 2020 and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Movement in 2021.The Ten Principles of Bandung is a political statement that encapsulate the need to promote world peace and cooperation were formulated at the Asian-African Conference in 1955.