Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)was preceded by an organisation formed on 31^stJuly 1961 called the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), a group consisting of Thailand, the Philippines, and the Federation of Malaya.
• ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
• Brunei Darussalam then joined on 7 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.
• Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste are the Observer countries of ASEAN.

Explanation :

• AsiatiWater Buffaloes(Bubalusbubalis) belongs to the mammalian family Bovidae.
• Wild buffaloes are now restricted to scattered populations in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar.
• In India it is mostly found in Kaziranga National Park, as per the last count in 430 sq.km.Kaziranga put the number of wild buffaloes at around 1400.
• It has been listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List.
• It is included in CITES Appendix-III and is legally protected in Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Thailand.
• It is listed under Schedule-1 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Ecological Importance

• Wild buffaloes are important to the grassland ecosystem as they help in plant rejuvenation, restoring the ecological balance.

Explanation :

• PettaThullal is a ritualistic sacred dance to celebrate the victory of good over evil in the legend of Lord Ayyappa of Sabrimala temple who killed the demon princess Mahishi.
• Also known as Petta Kettu, it is held annually on 27^th Dhanu at Erumely in the district of Kottayam in Kerala. It is performed during the Mandalam - Makaravilakku period (November, December and January) in the presence of thousands of devotees.
• Each devotee paints his body with green, black and kumkum color. The devotees carry fake weapons like mace, arrows, swords etc.
• The PettaThulal starts from Erumeli Kochambalam (small temple) and reaches the Vavur mosque in Erumeli. Here the devotees circumnavigate the mosque and make offerings and receive mala and elasu. Then they move to the famous Erumeli Petta Shri Dharmashasta Temple and end the Petta Thullal.

Explanation :

• Aflatoxin-M1 is a carcinogenic chemical compound of the aflatoxin class, a group of mycotoxins produced by three species of Fungi Aspergillus - Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, and the rare Aspergillus nomius.
• Aflatoxin M1 is the hydroxylated metabolite of aflatoxin B1 and can be found in milk or milk products obtained from livestock that have ingested contaminated feed.
• Large doses of aflatoxins can lead to acute poisoning (aflatoxicosis) and can be life threatening, usually through damage to the liver

Explanation :

• Launched in March 2019, Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) is a Facebook program in association with Union Ministry of Tribal Affair.
• It is a digitally enabled mentorship initiative that links young tribal women with successful urban women.

Aim

• It aims at inspiring, guiding and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.

• The initiative will train young girls from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh in digital literacy, life skills, leadership and entrepreneurship for a year.
• It will see on-ground trainers impart digital literacy to the identified girls through a dedicated digital skilling curriculum. Also, a set of 25 women leaders would mentor them via Facebook or WhatsApp on a fortnightly basis.

Explanation :

• Van Dhan Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister of India on 14^th April, 2018.
• The scheme is being implemented through Ministry of Tribal Affairs as Nodal Department at the Central Level and TRIFED as Nodal Agency at the National Level

Objectives

• To help increase tribal income through Value Addition. Putting stress on the important role of value addition in escalating tribal incomes.
• To promote Minor Forest Produce (MFP)-centric livelihood development of tribal gatherers and artisans.

Explanation :

• Rangdum Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery belonging to the Gelugpa sect.
• According to an inscription the monastery was built by Gelek Yashy Takpa during the reign of King Tsewang Mangyul of Ladakh in 18^th
• It is located in Suru Valley(Ladakh), which is drained by the Suru River,  a tributary of the Indus River.
• This move of ASI aims to look into the opportunities for expansion of tourism in Ladakh region, after it was made union territory.

Explanation :

• Maritime States Development Council (MSDC) is an apex advisory body for the development of the maritime sector and aims to ensure integrated development of both Major and non-Major Ports.
• It was constituted in May, 1997 to assess in consultation with State Governments, the future development of existing and new Minor Ports by the respective Maritime States either directly or through captive users and private participation.
• Further, MSDC also monitors the development of minor ports, captive ports and private ports in the Maritime States with a view to ensure their integrated development with Major Ports and to assess the requirements of other infrastructure requirements like roads/rail/IWT and make suitable recommendations to the concerned Ministers.

Explanation :

• NSG was established in 1986 by an act of Parliament- ‘National Security Guard Act, 1986’, to protect states against internal disturbances and terrorism. It is under administrative control of Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• It is a Federal Contingency World Class Zero Error Force to deal with anti-terrorist activities in all its manifestation.
• The NSG was modelled on the pattern of the SAS of the UK and GSG-9 of Germany.
• It is a task-oriented Force and has two complementary elements in the form of the Special Action Group (SAG) comprising Army personnel and the Special Ranger Groups (SRG), comprising personnel drawn from the Central Armed Police Forces / State Police Forces.
• It is trained to conduct counter terrorist operations including bomb disposal, counter hijacking tasks on land/sea/air as well as Post Blast Investigation (PBI) and Hostage Rescue missions.

Major Operations till date:

• Operation Black Thunder (Golden Temple, Amritsar, 1986 & 1988)
• Operation Ashwamedh (Indian Airlines Flight-IC427 hijacking, India, 1993)
• Operation Thunderbolt or Vajra Shakti (Akshardham Temple attack, Gujarat, 2002)
• Operation Black Tornado (Mumbai Blasts, 2008)

Explanation :

• Mamallapuram, also called Mahabalipuram or Seven Pagodas, is a town that lies along the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, 60 km south of Chennai, founded by the Pallava King—Narasimhavarman, also known as Mamalla—for whom the town was named.
• There are several famous temples at Mahabalipuram; Shore Temple and 'Ratha' Cave Temples are the most famous amongst them.
• The Five Rathas, or monolithic temples, are the remnants of seven temples, for which the town was known as Seven Pagodas. The entire assemblage collectively was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.