Daily Current Affairs Quiz – 10th Dec. 2020

Explanation:

The Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) was launched in 2008 as a global alliance of governments, international organizations, civil society, the conservation and scientific communities and the private sector, with the aim of working together to save wild tigers from extinction. In 2013, the scope was broadened to include Snow Leopards.

The GTI’s founding partners included the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Smithsonian Institution, Save the Tiger Fund, and International Tiger Coalition (representing more than 40 non-government organizations). The initiative is led by the 13 tiger range countries (TRCs).

In November 2010, leaders of the tiger range countries (TRCs) assembled at an International Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia to adopt the St. Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation and endorsed its implementation mechanism, called the Global Tiger Recovery Program. Their overarching goal was to double the number of wild tigers across their geographical area from about 3,200 to more than 7,000 by 2022.

Explanation:

• Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam is often called ‘Mini Kaziranga’ because of similar landscape and a sizeable population of the one-horned rhino.
• It is a wildlife sanctuary on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra in Morigaon district in Assam

Explanation:

Nearly four years ago a mysterious neurological illness, referred to as “Havana syndrome”, started to afflict American diplomats and intelligence operatives in Cuba, China, and other countries.

Now, a report by the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) has found “directed” microwave radiation to be its “plausible” cause.

What is the ‘Havana syndrome’?

In late 2016, US diplomats and other employees stationed in Havana reported feeling ill after hearing strange sounds and experiencing odd physical sensations in their hotel rooms or homes.

The symptoms included nausea, severe headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems, and hearing loss, which have since come to be known as “Havana Syndrome”.

What causes the ‘Havana syndrome’?

Directed pulsed RF energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered.

The immediate symptoms that patients reported including sensations of pain and buzzing sound apparently emanated from a particular direction, or occurred in a specific spot in a room.

Explanation

• Recently, Israel launched the Beresheet 2 projectaimed at landing an unmanned craft on the moon in 2024. Earlier, Israel’s Beresheet probe crash landed on the Moon. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Artemisis a crewed spaceflight program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that has the goal of landing “the first woman and the next man” on the Moon, specifically at the lunar south pole region by 2024. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• India has planned a new moon mission named Chandrayaan-3.It is likely to be launched in early 2021. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Explanation

• Recently, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has digitally addressed the Inter-Ministerial Conference by Partners in Population and Development (PPD).
• It is an intergovernmental initiative created specifically for the purpose of expanding and improving South-South Cooperation in the fields of reproductive health, population, and development. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• PPD was launched at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), when ten developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America formed an intergovernmental alliance to help implement the Cairo Program of Action (POA). Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The PPD is an alliance of 27 developing countries. India is a member country. Its secretariat is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.