Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2023

Notes:
The settlement where evidence of the oldest domesticated yak along with domesticated cattle was found is called Bangga. It is located in the Shannan or Lhokha prefecture of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region near the Brahmaputra river. Archaeologists discovered remains of yaks, taurine cattle and their hybrids that were domesticated by humans in Bangga some 2,500 years ago. This provides the oldest known record of yak domestication, highlighting the region’s historical significance in livestock farming.

Notes:
The Lunar Anthropocene is a proposed new geological phase in the evolution of Earth’s only natural satellite, the Moon. Proposed by researchers from the University of Kansas, it denotes the era of major human impact on the lunar environment through activities like spacecraft landings, installing scientific equipment, astronauts’ footprints etc. By arguing these anthropogenic effects have overtaken natural lunar processes, the researchers state it’s time to designate a new Anthropocene epoch specifically for the Moon similar to Earth’s age.

Notes:
The Eastern Ghats Nature Interpretation Centre is being opened in the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a forest located near Visakhapatnam, near Andhra Pradesh. The sanctuary is a tropical deciduous forest with a canopy of tree cover of mixed composition along with scrubland and meadows. It is bordered by Simhachalam hill range on the West and Gambheeram reservoir on the North-east.

Notes:
The Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) Investment Fund I is a social impact fund that aims to complete stalled and stressed residential projects. It was announced by the Finance Minister in 2019. Recently, real estate developers body NAREDCO recommended in its pre-budget submissions that the government allocate Rs 50,000 crore more to the SWAMIH fund. This fund aims to complete stalled housing projects and has benefited over 2 lakh homebuyers while unlocking projects worth Rs 94,000 crore after getting Rs 15,530 crore so far. NAREDCO contends another tranche could further revive the real estate industry and consumer sentiments.

Notes:
The popular Sunburn Electronic Dance Music Festival held annually in Goa was ruled by the Bombay High Court to have secured illegal permission from the state government in 2022. Citing violation of noise rules, lack of reasoned order for granting permission, the Court quashed last year’s nod and fined organizers. It directed officials to stringently monitor terms of approval citing past violations. With growing concerns over sustainability, this ruling puts Goa’s status as a tourist destination hosting large crowds to the test.

Notes:
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi won reelection to a third six-year term with 89.6% of the vote in a landslide victory, though the election was criticized over Egypt’s human rights record. El-Sisi has ruled Egypt for the past nine years. He faced three little-known opponents in an election overshadowed by conflict in Gaza and Egypt’s economic crisis, with high inflation and poverty. A key Western ally, former army officer El-Sisi led the 2013 overthrow of an elected Islamist president. Constitutional amendments in 2019 added two years to his second term and allowed him to run again. Turnout was 66.8% in the largely foregone conclusion election. In the months prior, El-Sisi vowed to address Egypt’s struggling economy.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh recently overtook Tamil Nadu to become the second largest economy among Indian states after Maharashtra. As per recent data, UP accounts for nearly 9.2% share of the national GDP, behind Maharashtra’s 15.7% share. Experts have credited UP’s feat to the Yogi Adityanath-led government’s industry friendly policies that have boosted investments. The state’s expanding economy highlights its success in ushering industrial growth.

Notes:
“The Great Unconformity” is the nickname given to the geological oddity where large spans of rock are missing from the Earth’s crust without explanation. A recent study attributes this to ancient glacial erosion which removed sediments, providing a likely explanation for rocks spanning 3-5 km disappearing from records.

Notes:
Russia is the world’s biggest producer of rough diamonds that the G7 nations have announced a ban on imports from starting January 1st. This is part of the bloc’s broader measures to limit Moscow’s revenues that aid its invasion of Ukraine. The G7 also plans to introduce a system to trace the origin of diamonds by September to prevent circumvention of the ban.
India, which is home to 90% of the world’s diamond cutting and polishing industry centered in Gujarat, is critical for implementation of the G7’s ban on Russian diamond imports. India has urged the G7 to delay the ban citing lack of clarity around rules to trace origins of gems and possible sensitive data sharing requirements that Indian businesses are uncomfortable with.

Notes:
IIT Guwahati researchers have developed an indigenous river model named BRAHMA-2D (Braided River Aid: Hydro-Morphological Analyzer) to understand complex flow patterns of large braided rivers like Brahmaputra. It combines advanced mathematical modeling with extensive field research to map 3D velocity changes from surface to riverbed. This model can provide valuable insights for design of sustainable structures like embankments, bridges etc along Brahmaputra river. It was successfully validated near Majuli island to demonstrate its practical applicability.