Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• On July 19, 2091, Deeksharambh: Guide to Student Induction Programme (SIP) was released by HRD to help new students adjust and feel comfortable in the new environment at higher education institutions. It has been prepared by University Grants Commission (UGC).
• It is intended to empower aspirant learners to face competitive world with confidence, open new horizons of life leading to character building based on universal human values and assist in developing self-awareness, compassion and oneness.
• It helps new students to learn about the institutional policies, processes, practices, culture and values, and their mentor groups are formed.

Explanation :

• The country's first garbage cafe has been launched in Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh. Under this, the Municipal Corporation will provide food to the poor and homeless in lieu of plastic waste.
• Persons fetching 1 kg plastic waste will be offered a full meal while those collecting 500 grams waste will get a substantial breakfast.
• This scheme also is part of the city’s more extensive cleanliness campaign. Ambikapur, which has been selected as the second cleanest city after Indore, plans to use the plastic for construction of roads.

Explanation :

• Statement 1: At present, the NIA can investigate offences under Acts such as the <strongstyle="color: #33ffff;">Atomic Energy Act, 1962, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967. Now it will be able to investigate cases related to human trafficking, counterfeit currency, manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, cyber-terrorism, and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. So, the given statement is incorrect.
• Statement 2: The amendment extended the NIA’s jurisdiction. Now officers of NIA will have same powers as police officers. This will be applicable across the country. So, the given statement is correct.
• Statement 3: The given statement is incorrect as the amended bill give power to NIA officers to investigate offences committed outside India. Of course, NIA’s jurisdiction will be subject to international treaties and domestic laws of other countries.
• Statement 4: The existing Act allows the Centre to constitute special courts for NIA’s trials. But the amended bill enables the Central government to designate session courts as special courts for such trials So, the given statement is correct.

Explanation :

Explanation:

• The Project is located on river Dibang, in Lower Dibang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh. The project envisages construction of a 278 m high Concrete Gravity Dam.
• The 2880 MW hydropower project will be the largest ever Hydro Electric Projectto be constructed in India.
• Arunachal Pradesh will get 12 percent free power from the project.One percent free power will be given in Local Area Development Fund (LADF).

Significance

• This MPP is envisaged as storage based hydro-electric project with flood moderation as the key objective.
• The construction of Dibang MPP shall prevent the sizeable downstream area from floods.
• After implementation of master plan of Brahmaputra Board for flood moderation of all rivers contributing to river Brahmaputra, of which Dibang MPP is one of the components, sizable area will be protected from flooding and help in mitigating the perennial damage due to floods in Assam.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

Explanation:

• Kharchi Puja is one of the most popular festivals in Tripurawhich falls in the month of July on the eighth day of the new moon.
• This festival is celebrated at Agartala (Puran Agartala) in the temple premises of fourteen gods. There are many legends associated with this Puja.
• Animal sacrifice is also an important part of this festival and includes sacrificing of goats and pigeons.

Significance:

• The puja is basically done to worship the earth. All of rituals are of tribal origin, which comprises of worshipping of 14gods and mother earth. It is performed to wipe out the sins and to clean the post menstrual phase of mother earth’s menstruation which is why the Puja is performed for 7back-to-back days.
• On day of Puja, 14 gods are carried to Saidra river by members of chantai where gods are bathed in holy water and are brought back to temple.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

The onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala, which happened on June 8, marks the beginning of the four-month monsoon season over India. It came a week after its normal date of June. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands generally start getting monsoon rainfall between May 15 and 20, and the Kerala coast generally begins to have monsoon rainfall sometime in the last week of May. A delayed onset has the potential to delay the arrival of the monsoon in other parts of the country as well, especially in South India, most of which starts getting rainfall within days of it reaching the Kerala coast. However, it does not mean that the monsoon over the entire country would be delayed.

Explanation :

A cyclone is an area of low pressure around which the winds flows counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere. Since a cyclone is also known as a low pressure center, moving in any horizontal direction away from the “Low” will result in increasing pressure. Air converges into a low pressure center which causes air to rise. The cyclone is expected to interfere with normal progression, by sucking all the moisture from the monsoon winds towards itself.

Explanation :

National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) at Hyderabad is responsible for remote sensing satellite data acquisition and processing, data dissemination, aerial remote sensing and decision support for disaster management. NRSC has a data reception station at Shadnagar near Hyderabad for acquiring data from Indian remote sensing satellites as well as others. NRSC Ground station at Shadnagar acquires Earth Observation data from Indian remote-sensing satellites as well as from different foreign satellites.

Explanation :

India is now the lowest-cost producer of solar power globally, according to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The IRENA report titled ‘Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2018’, revealed that the total installed costs of utility-scale solar PV in India is as low as $793 per kilowatt (kW) in 2018 which is 27 per cent lower than for projects commissioned in 2017.

Explanation :

The invasive Kappaphycus alvarezii seaweed, which smothers and kills coral reefs, has spread its wings to coral reef areas in Valai Island in the Gulf of Mannar (GoM) and set to invade new coral colonies in the Marine National Park.