Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2023

Notes:
Pressmud, a residual byproduct in the sugar industry often known as filter cake or press cake, has been acknowledged as a valuable resource for green energy production.
The byproduct can help Indian sugar mills generate extra revenue by utilising it as a feedstock for biogas production through anaerobic digestion and subsequent purification to create compressed biogas (CBG).

Notes:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has constituted a taskforce to examine the impact of Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 on the insurance sector.
The Ministry of Law and Justice notified the Act in 2023. The insurance regulator formed a task force headed by Randip Singh Japal, Executive Director (Non-Life), IRDAI.

Notes:
Karnataka government on signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with tech firm Meta to launch two initiatives aimed at raising awareness among students and educators about online safety and digital citizenship.
The state government plans to train 1 lakh teachers and 10 lakh students in digital safety and AR/VR skills by 2025 through this partnership with Meta.

Notes:
Sri Lanka has reached an agreement in principle with India and the Paris Club group of creditors including Japan, on a debt treatment plan.
It will help the crisis-hit island nation tap the next tranche of the International Monetary Fund’s nearly-$3 billion recovery package.

Notes:
Angadvir Singh Bajwa and Ganemat Sekhon won the mixed skeet gold for Punjab in the 66th National shooting championship.
In the women’s 50-metre rifle 3-position event, Asian Games champion Sift Kaur Samra beat Olympian Anjum Moudgil by 1.9 point for the gold.

Notes:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin unveiled a statue of pioneering anti-caste activist Iyothee Thass Pandithar in Chennai in December 2023. The statue and memorial cost Rs 2.49 crores to build. Stalin hailed Iyothee Thass as the forerunner to Periyar in politically popularizing ‘Tamizhan’ and ‘Dravidian’ identity terms. Born in 1845 in Madras, Iyothee Thass promoted Dravidian ideology through the Dravida Mahajana Sabha he founded in 1891 with Rettamalai Srinivasan. In 1876, Thass had set up the Advaidananda Sabha and launched the magazine ‘Dravida Pandian’ alongside Rev. John Rathina. A prominent activist and Siddha medicine practitioner, he organized Nilgiri Hills tribes into the freedom movement in the 1870s. His most revolutionary declaration in 1886 was that Scheduled Castes were not Hindus, inspiring their separate socio-political mobilization. This declaration laid the grounds for the later Dravida Kazhagam. Thass urged Dalits to register as ‘Casteless Dravidians’ in the 1891 census. His anti-caste activities inspired Sri Lanka’s Anagarika Dharmapala as well. After a life dedicated to social justice, Iyothee Thass passed away on May 5, 1914.

Notes:
Victims of chemical warfare in Syria are leading international efforts to set up a specialist tribunal to prosecute illegal toxic attacks that killed and maimed thousands during the civil war. This proposed Exceptional Chemical Weapons Tribunal has quietly garnered engagement from over 40 countries across continents in assessing the political, legal and logistical viability. If created through a treaty, this court based in The Hague could try perpetrators of chemical strikes worldwide, not just limited to Syria. Survivors believe such a tribunal could provide delayed justice and deter future use of prohibited weapons.

Notes:
Hydropower currently makes up around 11% of India’s energy mix, as per government data. However, experts estimate the country has a total hydroelectric potential of 145 gigawatts (GW), of which only 29% has been utilized so far. Unlike coal power, hydropower offers flexible generation as the units can rapidly adjust output to match demand fluctuations. This ability makes it well-suited to balance the intermittency of renewables like solar and wind.

Notes:
India’s Aditya L1 satellite has begun unravelling solar wind enigmas as two cutting-edge particle spectrometers commenced data gathering in recent months. The SWIS and STEPS instruments on the Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment payload have detected protons, Helium ions and energy histograms exhibiting solar wind behavior fluctuations near Sun-Earth Lagrange Point L1.
SWIS’ 360-degree coverage and directional monitoring capacities will significantly further comprehension of solar wind properties, variability and links to space weather influencing Earth. Researchers eagerly anticipate more revelations to address enduring questions about the complex solar wind and corona heating as Aditya L1 nears L1 orbital point for uninterrupted solar observation.

Notes:
Indian Navy will conduct its biggest ever multilateral exercise Milan-2024 in Vizag deploying both its aircraft carriers, INS Vikramaditya and new indigenous INS Vikrant. The event involving 50 friendly foreign navies aims to demonstrate India’s expanding military prowess as security provider in the Indian Ocean region.
Flagship participation of the carriers equipped with fighter jets and helicopters will showcase naval aviation capabilities across mission spectrums from combat preparedness to humanitarian aid.