67th BPSC Prelims: One-liners Current Affairs (Miscellaneous News)

Miscellaneous News(67th BPSC)

• Norovirus in Kerala- It is a bug similar to the diarrhoea-inducing rotavirus
• One97 Communications (Paytm) closed its offering with an issue size of Rs 18,300 crore making it the largest ever IPO of an Indian company.
• The name of Bhopal’s Habibganj railway station has been changed to Rani Kamlapati station.
  • Rani Kamlapati was the widow of Nizam Shah, whose Gond dynasty ruled the then Ginnorgarh, 55 km from Bhopal, in the 18th century. Nizam Shah built the famous seven-storeyed Kamlapati Palace in her name in Bhopal.
  • Kampalati is known to have shown great bravery in facing aggressors during her reign after her husband was killed.
  • She is known as the “last Hindu queen of Bhopal”, who did great work in the area of water management and set up parks and temples.
• Surfactants and phosphates from detergents in households and industrial laundry find their way into the river → main factor causing frothing in Delhi’s Yamuna.
• Matosinhos Manifesto: A manifesto approved by the European Space Agency (ESA) council to accelerate the use of space in Europe. It lays down a vision for the continent in terms of maintaining and expanding its activities in space.
• El Salvador, the only country to recognise Bitcoin as a legal tender, is planning to build an entire city based on the largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin. El Salvador’s “Bitcoin City” would be funded with the issuance of a $1 billion Bitcoin Bond. The city will be located along the Gulf of Fonseca near a volcano.
• Elephant collaring can help manage human-elephant conflict in Assam.
  • Radio collars are GPS-enabled collars that can relay information about an elephants’ whereabouts. They weigh roughly 8 kg and are fitted around the elephant’s neck.
• India, Maldives and Sri Lanka trilateral coast guard exercise ‘Dosti’ launched in the Maldives.
• The Bharat Gaurav scheme: Through this scheme the Railways has liberalised and simplified a part of operations that was otherwise carried out mostly by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
• Australia’s controversial Religious Discrimination Bill has been criticised by some for legalising hate, while some others are questioning the government and asking for proof that people are discriminated against on the basis of religion in the country.
• James Webb Space Telescope (NASA’s largest and most powerful space science telescope ever constructed) will search for the first formed galaxies:
  • The James Webb Space Telescope is said to be the scientific successor to the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. Webb has a larger primary mirror — about 2.5 times larger in diameter than Hubble’s mirror.
  • JWST is an engineering marvel comparable to the earth-based Event Horizon Telescope that produced the photograph of the black hole, or the LIGO that detected the gravitational waves. It is widely expected to unveil many secrets of the universe, particularly those related to the formation of stars and galaxies in the early period — the first few hundred million years — after the Big Bang.
• Kyhytysuka sachicarum– a new marine reptile discovered by researchers. The specimen, a metre-long skull, has been named Kyhytysuka sachicarum.
• Uber and WhatsApp announced a partnership today in India, allowing people to book an Uber ride via Uber’s official WhatsApp chatbot. It will make booking an Uber ride as easy as sending a WhatsApp message.
• The Facebook Protect feature will give higher security to users whose accounts on the network are more at risk of cyberattacks and perhaps even state-sponsored attacks. The focus is on journalists, human rights defenders, activists and will eventually include government officials as well.
• The Centre has said in Parliament that it will not recognise the Paika rebellion as the first War of Independence.
  • At present, the Indian Mutiny or Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 is called the first war of Independence against British Rule.
  • However, considering that the rebellion which started in 1817 continued till 1825 and “is one of the beginnings of popular uprisings against the British in India”, the minister declared that it would now be included in the curriculum of Class VIII history textbook of NCERT.
• Ebrahim Ebrahim, the Indian-origin anti-apartheid veteran, died recently. He was a member of the African National Congress (ANC), spent over 15 years in the Robben Island prison along with Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada for taking a position against the apartheid government.
• Ambergris,also known as ‘floating gold’, is a waxy substance that originates from the digestive system of the protected sperm whales. Depending on the purity and quality its price is Rs 1 to 2 crores per kilogram.
• Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) designed and developed by DRDO for IndianNavy was flight tested from ITR Chandipur. The weapon is planned for integration onboard naval ships.
• Assamese poet Nilmani Phookan Jr has won the 56th Jnanpith Award, and Konkani novelist Damodar Mauzo has won the 57th Jnanpith Award.
  • India’s highest literary award, the annual Jnanpith is bestowed on writers for “their outstanding contribution towards literature”.
• Logistics service provider Delhivery acquired California-based Transition Robotics Inc (TRI), a company focused on developing unmanned aerial system (UAS) platforms.
• The ‘Christmas party scandal’ or the ‘partygate’ probe (in UK) began after a video was leaked online, showing Boris Johnson’s senior aides joking about breaking lockdown rules to attend a Christmas party.
• Parvovirus- It is a highly contagious viral disease among puppies and dogs that can also be life-threatening. Parvovirus affects the intestinal tract of canines with puppies being more susceptible. Bloody diarrhoea, vomiting, drastic weight loss, dehydration and lethargy are some of the symptoms. The virus has reported a 90 per cent mortality rate.
  • Nearly 2,000 pet and stray dogs in Amravati city were affected by canine parvovirus virus last month with veterinarians cautioning pet owners against a severe outbreak.
• British architect-urbanist Richard Rogers,designer of the iconic Pompidou Centre in Paris, passed away. He contributed to 20thcentury world architecture and is called the shaper of city skylines.
• The National Education Alliance for Technology (NEAT), which is being implemented by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), aims to act as a bridge between edtech companies, academic institutions and students.
  • The scheme, guided by the public-private partnership model, was launched by the Ministry of Education in September 2019.
  • The initiative was taken after a Ministry of Education review noted that learning tools developed by edtech platforms that can supplement classroom teaching need to be made more accessible. → seeks to bridge digital inequality.
• Google getting sued for location-tracking: Google is being sued by several states in the United States for its “deceptive tactics” around disclosing location data and how it is collected.
• Serbians have been protesting against Rio Tinto’s (a mining company) plans to mine lithium in the Jadar valley near Lozinca town in the country.
  • Rio Tinto had discovered lithium deposits in the country in 2006, as reported by The Guardian, and had bought land in the Lozinca area in Serbia. The company had been planning to invest $2.4 billion in the project — which if completed would be one of the biggest investment projects in the country.
  • While Rio Tinto has said to be fulfilling all Serbia’s and European Union’s environmental standards, protestors have been pointing out that lithium mining in the $2.4-billion project would irrevocably pollute the drinking water.
• Microsoft Corp recently announced that it would buy Activision Blizzard (a video game company), the maker of superhit video games Call of Duty and Candy Crush, for $68.7 billion in cash.
• NeoCov: News of the emergence of a new type of coronavirus, with the potential to kill one of every three infected people, has been circulating on the internet for the last couple of days. It is being claimed that this new virus, called NeoCov, was discovered in South Africa amongst bats and it could possibly enter human cells. The news reports are apparently based on a Chinese research paper that is yet to be peer-reviewed.
• Uttar Pradesh is the country’s biggest sugarcane growing and producing state.
• The biotech firm Moderna has started trials on an mRNA vaccine for HIV, which uses a novel approach to elicit broadly neutralising HIV-1 antibodies (bNAbs) and eventually target multiple HIV strains.
• Intranasal Covid-19 vaccines aim to overcome potential difficulties with mass vaccination and reduce the cost by doing away with the need for needles and syringes.
  • The Drugs Controller General of India Friday approved the trials of intranasal booster doses against Covid-19 that is being manufactured by Bharat Biotech, the maker of Covaxin.
• Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ‘Maus’ topped Amazon best-seller list. It is based on the Holocaust experience of the author’s Jewish Pole parents.
• Facebook’s daily active users have fallen for the first time since its inception. Also recently, the Facebook-backed digital currency project Diem was shut down and its assets sold to a bank.
• Joe Biden’s ‘cancer moonshot’ project: US President Joe Biden wants to bring down cancer death rates by 50 per cent by the year 2047 in light of the progress made in cancer therapeutics, diagnostics and patient-driven care. The launch came a year after Biden lost his eldest son and a veteran of the Iraq war, Beau Biden to brain cancer in 2015.
• Recently, Abu Ibrahim al-Quraishi, the leader of the Islamic State, blew himself up during a raid by US forces in Syria.
• The ‘Ghost Army’ was deployed by the US in World War II: The existence of the ‘Ghost Army’ was unknown for about 50 years after it was formed in January 1944. The unit had a “strange mission”, to keep enemy troops in the dark about the number and location of American troops.
  • Recently, US President Joe Biden signed into law a bill titled, “Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Act”, essentially providing recognition to the ‘Ghost Army’, a tactical deception unit deployed by the US during World War II.
• The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has designated Khijadia Bird Sanctuary near Jamnagar in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh as wetlands of international importance.
• Dr Reddy’s acquiring a German medical cannabis firm: In a bid to strengthen its position in the global medical cannabis industry, Indian pharmaceutical major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has said that it will acquire German firm Nimbus Health. Nimbus has been a major player in the field of cannabis-based medicines.
• China chose Uyghur athlete to be torchbearer to light the Olympic flame at the Beijing Olympics. It is seen as China’s rejection of international criticism of its crackdown on Uyghurs.
• Austria enacted new law that makes Covid-19 vaccination mandatory.
• Lata Mangeshkar died on 6 February 2022.
• China got blue skies in time for Olympics: The blue skies greeting Olympic athletes here this month are a stark change from just a decade ago when the city’s choking air pollution was dubbed an “Airpocalypse” and blamed for scaring off tourists.
• France’s National Assembly unanimously adopted a Bill approving the return of 15 works of art sold under duress or looted by the Nazis, to their rightful Jewish owners.
  • Last year, the French government adopted a provision for the restitution of confiscated and stolen assets to people in their countries of origin.
• Australia has listed koalas as endangered species: Australia’s much-loved koalas have now been officially classified as ‘endangered’ after widespread bushfires, drought and land clearing destroyed much of their eucalyptus-rich habitat.
• The ‘Don’t say gay’ bill proposed in Florida: A controversial education bill in Florida, which seeks to outlaw all discussions surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
  • The bill, if passed, will also enable students to take legal action against a school or school district if they find that conversations about LGBTQI+ issues are taking place in the classroom.
• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued orders to ban 54 more apps, which either have originated in China or have some Chinese connection. These apps were banned for being a threat to national security. It including popular battle royale title Garena Free Fire a popular gaming app.
• Jio has formed a joint-venture with Luxembourg-based SES to deliver satellite broadband services across India.
• The National Medical Commission has suggested to medical colleges that the traditional Hippocratic Oath should be replaced by a “Charak Shapath“.
• ModifiedElephant- a hacking group that allegedly planted incriminating evidence on the personal devices of Indian journalists, human rights activists, human rights defenders, academics and lawyers.
  • The group typically weaponises malicious Microsoft Office files to deliver malware to their targets.
• The Central Consumer Protection Authority has directed GlaxoSmithKline to discontinue advertisements for Sensodyne products.
  • Dentists practising in India are not permitted to endorse any drug or product of the industry publically under the Revised Dentists (Code Of Ethics) Regulations 2014.
  • The CCPA held that the use of UK-based dentists by GSK to endorse their products “was an attempt to circumvent the law” as applicable to Indian dentists and give the impression that practising dentists in the UK are recommending its product.
• The Lassa virus/ Lassa fever: The Lassa fever-causing virus is found in West Africa and was first discovered in 1969 in Lassa, Nigeria.
  • The fever is spread by rats and is primarily found in countries in West Africa including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Nigeria where it is endemic. A person can become infected if they come in contact with household items of food that is contaminated with the urine or feces of an infected rat.
  • It can also be spread, though rarely, if a person comes in contact with a sick person’s infected bodily fluids or through mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose or the mouth. Person-to-person transmission is more common in healthcare settings.
  • The death rate associated with this disease is low, at around one per cent. But the death rate is higher for certain individuals, such as pregnant women in their third trimester.
• Ilker Ayci: the new Air India CEO.
• Former US president Donald Trump launched his own social media app — ‘Truth Social’.
• Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, the medical condition which has been in spotlight since Bappi Lahiri’s death: OSA is a disorder in which a person’s breathing stops and starts repeatedly in their sleep. It can lead to heart attacks and strokes due to depleted oxygen levels.
• The state of Texas is suing Facebook’s parent company Meta. In a lawsuit it has alleged that Facebook unlawfully captured the biometric data of Texans for commercial purposes without their informed consent.
• Recently, Apple and Google made decisions to give users greater control over the use of the data they generate online can be seen both as a boost to user privacy and as a step towards consolidating further the position of these companies.
  • Last year, Apple added the app tracking transparency (ATT) feature to iPhones and iPads, which requires apps to seek users’ permission to track their activity across other apps and websites.
  • This year, Google also announced that it would bring the Privacy Sandbox — the privacy solution that it is building for the web — to Android devices. The new solution would “limit” the sharing of user data with third parties, and operate without cross-app identifiers.
• Pakistan’s ‘draconian’ media law: A new law in Pakistan could jail social media users for up to five years for posting “fake news”.
• Researchers in Gujarat have discovered a new species of spider and named it Narsinhmehtai, in honour of Narsinh Mehta, a 15th century poet who was a devotee of Lord Krishna, and ‘to put his name on global map.
  • However, members of Nagar sub-caste group of Brahmin community, in which Mehta was born, and admirers of the poet objected to the nomenclature, arguing the bard was already a global name and that there was no need to associate his name with a spider.
• VS Gaitonde is India’s highest-selling modern artist: An untitled painting from 1969 by VS Gaitonde has sold for a record Rs 42 crore at an auction by Pundole’s in Mumbai.
  • This is the highest price that an Indian modern or contemporary artwork has been sold internationally at an auction. Gaitonde has consistently broken records in recent years, selling for the highest prices in auctions annually.
• Saudi Arabia to get its 1st women train driver. About 28,000 women have applied for 30 train-driver jobs in Saudi Arabia, the first time such a post has been advertised in a gender-neutral format in the conservative kingdom.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised a brother-sister duo (Kili and Neema Paul) from Tanzanian, now social media stars, for lip-syncing to the Indian national anthem on Republic Day and paying tribute to Lata Mangeshkar.
• BharatPe’s co-founder and managing director Ashneer Grover has resigned from the company over alleged financial irregularities.
• Sri Lanka imposed nationwide seven-and-a-half hour daily power cuts (its longest power cuts in 26 years) amid its dwindling fuel supplies.
• Russia has been accused for using cluster bombs and vacuum bombs in the ongoing war against Ukraine.
• The Philippines has raised its age of sexual consent from 12 years to 16 years.
• Ketanji Brown Jackson, set to become the first Black woman justice of the US Supreme Court.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently conducted a $ 5 billion dollar-rupee swap auction as part of its liquidity management initiative, leading to infusion of dollars and sucking out of the rupee from the financial system. The central bank’s move will reduce the pressure on inflation and strengthen the rupee which has already hit the 77 level against the US dollar.
• Zahoor Mistry, the Indian Airlines IC 814 (Hijacked in 1999) hijacker killed in Karachi recently. He was an operative of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), an anti-India terror group operating out of Pakistan and Bangladesh then.
• Daylight Saving Time:
  • The key argument is that DST is meant to save energy. It involves resetting clocks ahead by an hour in spring, and behind by an hour in autumn, and those in favour of DST argue that it means a longer evening daytime. Individuals will complete their daily work routines an hour earlier, and that extra hour of daylight means — or is supposed to mean — a lower consumption of energy.
  • It was introduced by Germany and Austria during World War I in 1916. Gradually many countries adopted it. But studies has found the health and efficiency issues due to lack of sleep because of this practice.
  • Recently, The United States Senate unanimously passed a law making daylight saving time (DST) permanent, scrapping the biannual practice of putting clocks forward and back coinciding with the arrival and departure of winter.
• The United States is sending Ukraine a surface-to-air missile, also known as MANPADS(man-portable air defence system), to help fight Russia.
• US President Joe Biden on Thursday appointed Indian-American public health expert Dr Ashish K Jha as the White House’s next Covid-19 Response Coordinator. Jha will be replacing Jeffrey D Zients, who is set to leave the administration.

©crackingcivilservices.com