41. Which Indian scientist won the ‘VinFuture special prize 2022’?
[A] Dr. Amit Singh
[B] Thalappil Pradeep
[C] Kanishka Biswas
[D] Binay Kumar Saikia
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Thalappil Pradeep]
Notes:
Indian scientist Professor Thalappil Pradeep, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras received VinFuture special prize on 20th Dec. 2022 in Hanoi.
He was awarded for innovation of a low-cost filtration system to remove arsenic and other heavy metals from groundwater. Thalappil was earlier conferred with the Padma Shri in honour of his work to develop affordable and safe drinking water solutions using nanomaterials.
42. Antim Panghal, who was seen in the news, plays which sports?
[A] Chess
[B] Wrestling
[C] Shooting
[D] Badminton
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Wrestling]
Notes:
Indian female wrestler Antim Panghal has been nominated for the honour of United World Wrestling Rising Star of the Year
In addition to Panghal, the five women across the world who were nominated for the award include Nonoka Ozaki of Japan, Amit Elor of the US, Emma Malmgren of Sweden, and Andreea Ana of Romania.
43. iNCOVACC, which was approved as an intranasal booster dose for Covid, is manufactured by which institution?
[A] Serum Institute of India
[B] Biological E Ltd
[C] Bharat Biotech
[D] Biocon
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [Bharat Biotech]
Notes:
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has approved Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine as a booster dose for those above 18 years of age.
India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine iNCOVACC will be added to the CoWin app, which is a web platform for vaccination registration in the country. At present, only Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Serum Institute’s Covishield and Covovax, Russian Sputink V and Biological E Ltd’s Corbevax are listed in the CoWin portal.
44. Union Cabinet decided to provide free food-grains to all beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA), till which date?
[A] March 2023
[B] August 2023
[C] December 2023
[D] March 2024
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [December 2023]
Notes:
Union Cabinet decided to provide free food-grains to all 81 crore beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) till December 2023.
The beneficiary families which used to pay ₹1 for coarse cereals, ₹2 for wheat and ₹3 for rice per kg will now get 35kg of food-grains free for the next one year and others will get 5kg for free in a month till December 2023. The Centre has estimated an additional amount of ₹2 lakh crore for the scheme.
45. Emperor penguins, which were seen in the news, are native to which region/ country?
[A] Antarctica
[B] Australia
[C] Greenland
[D] Iceland
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [Antarctica]
Notes:
As per a new research, two-thirds of Antarctica’s native species, including emperor penguins, are under threat of extinction or major population declines by 2100.
This is due to current trajectories of global heating. The study was conducted by scientists, conservationists and policymakers from 12 countries. It has identified emperor penguins as the Antarctic species at greatest risk of extinction, followed by other seabirds and dry soil nematodes.
46. Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Power Project, which was see in the news, was handed over by India to which country?
[A] Nepal
[B] Bangladesh
[C] Bhutan
[D] Maldives
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [Bhutan]
Notes:
India-assisted 720 Megawatts Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Power Project has been recently handed to Druk Green Power Corporation (DGPC) in Bhutan.
With this project, India and Bhutan have successfully completed four mega hydroelectric power projects. The commissioning of the project has increased Bhutan’s Electrical Power Generation Capacity by 44 per cent.
47. As per IMF’s recent Article IV Consultation report, what is the forecast for India’s economic growth in FY24?
[A] 6.1 %
[B] 7.1 %
[C] 8.1 %
[D] 8.5 %
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [6.1 %]
Notes:
As per the Article IV Consultation report is based on International Monetary Fund bilateral discussions with the Indian authorities.
As per the report, for India’s economic growth is expected to moderate to 6.1% in FY24 from 6.8% estimated for the current fiscal because of high oil prices, weaker external demand, and tighter financial conditions. IMF cautioned that the emergence of a more contagious coronavirus variant could impact trade and growth further.
48. What is the name of the digital project funded by Google to map the language diversity of India?
[A] Project Bharat
[B] Project Vaani
[C] Project Echo
[D] Project Inimai
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Project Vaani]
Notes:
The Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), ARTPARK (AI and Robotics Technology Park) and Google have partnered together for ‘Project Vaani’ Initiative.
The digital project aims to map the language diversity of India by collecting speech sets of about a million people across 773 districts. The project aims to record over 150,000 hours of speech, part of which will be transcribed in local scripts. The goal is to boost development of automatic speech recognition, speech to speech translation and natural language understanding.
49. Brijesh Damani, who was seen in the news, plays which sports?
[A] Chess
[B] Badminton
[C] Billiards
[D] Cricket
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [Billiards]
Notes:
Asian Games silver medallist Brijesh Damani won his maiden National Billiards Championship as he defeated his fellow player Dhruv Sitwala in Indore.
Indian Oil’s Brijesh had defeated B. Bhaskar of Karnataka and reigning World 6Red Champion S. Shrikrishna in quarterfinal and semifinal. At present, Brijesh has six international medals, including a silver at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
50. What species is ‘Solanum scalarium’ which was recently discovered in Australia?
[A] Potato
[B] Tomato
[C] Onion
[D] Turmeric
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Tomato]
Notes:
The newly-discovered species named ‘Solanum scalarium’ belongs to Solanum, a large genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Solanum is the most species-rich genus in the family Solanaceae and among the largest in the angiosperms or flowering plants. Solanum includes the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (brinjal or aubergine).