Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

P-waves

• These are the first waves detected by seismographs (instruments used to detect and record earthquakes).
• These are longitudinal waves which means they vibrate along the same direction as they travel.
• Examples of longitudinal waves include sound waves and waves in a stretched spring.

S-waves

• These waves arrive at the detector after primary waves.
• These are transverse waves which means they vibrate at a right angle to the direction in which they travel.
• Examples of transverse waves include light waves and water waves.

Difference

• Both types of seismic waves can be detected near the earthquake centre but only P-waves can be detected on the other side of the Earth.
• P-waves can travel through solids and liquids (since they are longitudinal waves) whereas S-waves can only travel through solids (as they are transverse waves).
• This means the liquid part of the core blocks the passage of S-waves.

Explanation :

• The United Nations Economic and Social Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields of the organization, specifically in regards to the 15 specialised agencies, the eight functional commissions and the five regional commissions under its jurisdiction.
• The UN Charter established ECOSOC in 1945 as one of the six main organs of the United Nations.
• It is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals.
• It consists of 54 Members States, which are elected yearly by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms.
• Seats on the Council are allocated ensuring equitable geographic rotation among the United Nations regional groups, with 14 being allocated to the African Group, 11 to the Asia-Pacific Group, 6 to the Eastern European Group, 10 to the Latin American and Caribbean Group and 13 to the Western European and Others Group.

Explanation :

• Chabahar Port is a seaport in Chabahar located on the Makran coast of Sistan and Balochistan Province, next to the Gulf of Oman and at the mouth of Strait of Hormuz.
• It serves as Iran's only oceanic port, and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and ShahidBeheshti.
• Development of the port was first proposed in 1973 by the last Shah of Iran, though development was delayed by the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
• Being close to Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, etc., it has been termed the "Golden Gate" to these land-locked countries.

Explanation :

• National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is India’s first infrastructure specific investment fund that was set up by the Government of India in February 2015.
• The objective behind creating this fund was to maximize economic impact mainly through infrastructure investment in commercially viable projects, both Greenfield and Brownfield.

Funds

Master Fund

• The Master Fund is an infrastructure fund with the objective of primarily investing in operating assets in the core infrastructure sectors such as roads, ports, airports, power etc.

Fund of Funds

• The Fund of Funds anchor and/or invest in funds managed by fund managers who have good track records in infrastructure and associated sectors in India.
• Some of the sectors of focus include Green Infrastructure, Mid-Income & Affordable Housing, Infrastructure services and allied sectors.

Strategic Investment Fund

• Strategic Investment Fund is registered as an Alternative Investment Fund II under SEBI in India.
• The objective of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund II (“Strategic Fund”) is to invest largely in equity and equity-linked instruments.
• The Strategic Fund focuses on green field and brown field investments in the core infrastructure sectors.

Explanation :

• Tangam is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language of the Tani subgroup spoken in Arunachal Pradesh state in North-East India.
• It has been marked ‘critically endangered’ by the UNESCO World Atlas of Endangered Languages (2009).

Tangam People

• It is a little-known community within the larger Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh which resides in the hamlet of Kugging in Upper Siang district’s Paindem circle.

Explanation :

• The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is an international measure of acute multidimensional poverty covering over 100 developing countries.
• The original MPI was co-designed and launched in 2010 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report Office (HDRO) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at University of Oxford. It was first published in 2010 as part of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Human Development Report (HDR).
• The MPI assesses poverty at the individual level. If a person is deprived in a third or more of ten (weighted) indicators, the global MPI identifies them as ‘MPI poor’. The extent – or intensity – of their poverty is also measured through the percentage of deprivations they are experiencing.

Dimensions

MPI uses three dimensions and ten indicators which are:

• Education: Years of schooling and child enrollment (1/6 weightage each, total 2/6);
• Health: Child mortality and nutrition (1/6 weightage each, total 2/6);
• Standard of living: Electricity, flooring, drinking water, sanitation, cooking fuel and assets (1/18 weightage each, total 2/6)

Explanation :

• Assam government has decided to upgrade the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary into a national park.

About Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary

• Located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts, the 111.19 sq km Dehing Patkai was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 2004.
• It forms the largest stretch of lowland rainforest in the country.
• Dehing is the name of the river that flows through this forest and Patkai is the hill at the foot of which the sanctuary lies.
• The Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary and a part of Dehing Patkai Rainforest, due to their importance for elephant habitat, were declared as Dehing-Patkai Elephant Reserve under Project Elephant.
• There are more than a dozen different ethnic groups living in the area including the indigenous Assamese communities, particularly Tai Phake, Khamyang, Khampti, Singpho, Nocte, Chutia, Ahom, Kaibarta, Moran and Motok, Burmese, and non-indigenous Nepali people.