Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• Exercise Ajeya Warrior is a joint military exercise between India and the UK. It was held for the first time in 2013.
• The aim of this exercise is to conduct army level joint training with emphasis on counter terrorism operations.
• The fifth edition of India-UK joint military exercise will be conducted at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom from 13th-26th February, 2020.

Other exercises between India and UK

• Exercise Konkan: It is an annual maritime bilateral exercise between Indian Navy and the Royal Navy of Britain.
• Exercise Indradhanush: It is a joint bilateral air exercise between India and the UK.

Explanation :

• Pangolins or scaly anteaters are mammals of the order Pholidota (from the Greek word- horny scale). Thesehave large, protective keratin scales covering their skin; they are the only known mammals with this feature
• Pangolins eat ants, termites and larvae and are often known as "the scaly anteater." Because they have no teeth, pangolins pick up food with their sticky tongues, which can sometimes reach lengths greater than the animal’s body.
• There are eight species of pangolins. Four are found is Asia—Chinese, Sunda, Indian, and Philippine pangolins—and they're listed by the IUCN as critically endangered.
• The four African species—the ground pangolin, giant pangolin, white-bellied, and black-bellied—are listed as vulnerable.

Ecological Significance

• Pangolins are known as the guardians of the forest because they protect forests from termite destruction, maintaining a balanced ecosystem.

Explanation :

• The Chindu Yakshaganam is an age-old art form popular in Armur, Bodhan, Nizamabad, Makloor, Balkonda and Morthad areas in the district of Telangana state.
• The art form dates back to second century BC, is derived from the artiste’s caste Chindu Madiga, a sub-caste of Madiga in Telangana.
• The word ‘Chindu’ in Telugu means ‘jump’. As their presentation is interspersed with leaps and jumps, gaining its name.
• Also called Chindu Bhagavatam, it is similar to Yakshaganam, a traditional theatre form particular to Karnataka State.
• The ancient art form combines dance, music, dialogues between the characters, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form and such was the aura of these artists.

Explanation :

• Repo Rate, or repurchase rate, is the key monetary policy rate of interest at which the central bank or the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends short term money to banks, essentially to control credit availability, inflation, and the economic growth.
• Repo Rate in India is the primary tool in the RBI’s Monetary and Credit Policy.
• Other policy rates, such as Reverse Repo Rate and Marginal Standing Facility Rate, are often directly linked with the Repo Rate of RBI.
• A Repo transaction for a day is known as an Overnight Repo. In such an agreement, banks sell securities to the RBI for money, and repurchase those the following day, thus, returning the money to the central bank.
• Repo Rate is the most significant rate for the common man too. Everything from interest rates on loans to returns on deposits is influenced by this crucial rate set by the RBI, which is why interest rates on home loans, car loans and other kinds of borrowings go up and down based on the direction of Repo Rate change.

Explanation :

• Mt. Aconcagua is the highest mountain in South America (6,961 meters); the highest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemispheres; and the highest mountain outside Asia.
• Aconcagua lies within Aconcagua Provincial Park in the province of Mendoza in the Republic of Argentina. The mountain lies completely within Argentina and, unlike many other Andean peaks, does not sit on the international border with Chile.
• The mountain was formed by the collision of the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate during the relatively recent Andean orogeny or period of mountain building.
• It is of volcanic origin, but it is not itself an active volcano.

Explanation :

• Recently, Kerala government made announced to impose a ban on the sale of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and incandescent (filament) bulbs starting November, 2020.
• The announcement is in line with the government project of ‘Filament-free Kerala’ envisaged in 2018 as part of the state’s Urja Kerala mission.
• The project is also part of the long-term sustainable energy policy of the government to reduce the dependence on conventional energy sources and instead maximise potential on renewable sources like solar and hydel power.

Reason

• LED bulbs are energy-efficient than filament or CFL bulbs and will, therefore, generate less waste. Also, filament bulbs contain the mercury element which, when broken, is polluting in nature.

Explanation :

• On 3^rd February, 2020, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced thatit had discovered a new natural gas field with 80 trillion standard cubic feet (tscf) of shallow gas resources.
• The reservoir, named ‘Jebel Ali’, is located between the emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which along with five other emirates form the UAE.
• The gas find is the largest since the discovery of the Galkynysh field in Turkmenistan in 2005. At 80 tscf, the new reservoir would now be ranked the fourth largest by size in the Middle East, behind the North Field in Qatar, South Pars in Iran, and the Bab field in Abu Dhabi. The Qatari and Iranian fields are part of the same deposit.

Impact

• The Jebel Ali reserve contains shallow gas, which refers to organic gas found just beneath the earth’s surface. The nature of the gas means the cost of the production is much lower than that for reaching deeper resources.
• Further, the discovery is expected to reduce the UAE’s dependence on gas supplies for electricity from Qatar, a nation with which the former has had a bitter standoff since 2017.

Explanation :

• Reverse osmosis (RO) is a process that removes foreign contaminants, solid substances, large molecules and minerals from water by using pressure to push it through specialized membranes.
• As its name implies, RO takes osmosis, a natural process that occurs in every cell-based organism—plants, animals and even people—and reverses it.
• Unlike osmosis, which is a passive process, reverse osmosis requires external force (pressure) to work.
• Pressure is applied to a highly concentrated solute solution (e.g., salt water) to pass through a membrane to a lower concentrate solution.

Application

• RO is used to produce highly purified water for drinking water systems, industrial boilers, food and beverage processing, cosmetics, pharmaceutical production, seawater desalination, and many other applications.

Explanation :

• The submarine project called “Project-75 India (P-75I)” was first approved by the defence ministry in 2007 but has been delayed due to politico-bureaucratic apathy.
• The Project 75I-class submarine is a follow-on of the Project 75 Kalvari-class submarines for the Indian Navy.
• Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire six diesel-electric submarines, which will also feature advanced air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems to enable them to stay submerged for longer duration and substantially increase their operational range.
• The French Naval Group is among the five Original Equipment Manufactures (OEM) who have been shortlisted for the Indian Navy’s project for advanced submarines under Project-75I.
• All six submarines are expected to be constructed in Indian shipyards.
• The first Scorpene submarine, Kalvari, was commissioned in 2017 and it would go for a normal refit after six years in 2023, during which time the AIP would be installed.
• Second Scorpene Khanderi was inducted in September 2019.

Explanation :

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934 was amended by Finance Act (India), 2016 to constitute MPC, to bring more transparency and accountability in fixing India's Monetary Policy.
• The committee comprises six members - three officials of the RBI and three external members nominated by the Government of India.
• The Governor of Reserve Bank of India is the chairperson ex officio of the committee.
• The MPC is responsible for fixing the benchmark interest rate in India.
• The meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee are held at least 4 times a year.