Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2024

Notes:
Radha Raturi, a senior IAS officer of the 1988 batch, has been appointed as the first woman chief secretary of Uttarakhand. She replaces Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and is the first woman to hold this top administrative post in the state. Raturi has an extensive administrative career, having served in undivided Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Initially aspiring to be a journalist, she eventually joined the IAS, succeeding in her third attempt at the UPSC exam.

Notes:
A ringed juvenile black-crowned night heron, found dead at a local pond in Imphal, was banded in China’s Beijing. The black-crowned night heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, is a medium-sized heron with a stocky build, weighing 727-1014 grams and measuring 58-66 cm in length. Recognizable by its black crown, gray body, and red eyes, it’s a migratory species inhabiting wetlands. Opportunistic feeders, they mainly consume fish. The species is classified as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List.

Notes:
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus won the 2024 Australian Open women’s singles title. Sabalenka defeated China’s Zheng Qinwen 6–3, 6–2 to win her second consecutive Grand Slam title. Sabalenka is the first woman to win back-to-back Australian Open titles since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013.

Notes:
Sports Development and Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin announced the ‘Kalaignar Sports Kit’ initiative, distributing sports equipment in 12,000 village panchayats to commemorate M. Karunanidhi’s birth centenary. The scheme begins on February 7 in Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu and aims to support young athletes. Udhayanidhi emphasized the government’s commitment to promoting sports, paralleling the provision of books for education. He praised Khelo India 2023 for identifying and nurturing over 5,400 talented athletes across various disciplines, enhancing India’s international competitiveness.

Notes:
Recently, Union Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi launched the C-CARES web portal for the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organization (CMPFO). Developed by C-DAC, it aims to digitize records and streamline processes for 3.3 lakh Provident Fund subscribers and 6.1 lakh pensioners in the coal sector. The portal enables online settlement of claims, ensuring transparency, faster processing, and better record management. Aligned with the vision of Digital India, it signifies a significant leap towards efficient and transparent operations in the coal sector.

Notes:
Recently, Mesolithic rock paintings were unearthed at Sitamma Loddi, Gattusingaram, in Telangana’s Peddapalli district. Discovered on a hillock in a dense forest, the paintings adorned a 1,000-foot-long, 50-foot-high sandstone rock shelter. The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, bridged the gap between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, spanning approximately 12,000-10,000 years ago. Notable for the transition from large chipped stone tools to microliths, small tools affixed to bone or wood handles for making implements like saws and sickles, it marked a pivotal era in human cultural development.

Notes:
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated the ‘Ministry of Education – AICTE Investor Network,’ a collaborative effort by AICTE and the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell. The initiative aims to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in education by offering financial support, mentoring, and strategic guidance to early-stage student or faculty-led startups. Aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, the network seeks to encourage private investment, empower educational institutions as innovation hubs, and foster a better environment for startup development.

Notes:
In February 2024, the Uttarakhand Police adopted self-balancing electric scooters to patrol the streets of Haridwar. The scooters are part of a new law enforcement method and are intended to improve safety for locals and tourists. The scooters are donated by Utkarsh Small Finance Bank and are intended to be used in crowded and narrow areas.

Notes:
Astro Sat, India’s inaugural multi-wavelength astronomy mission, successfully measured the X-ray polarization of the Cygnus X-1 black hole system. Discovered four decades ago, Cygnus X-1 is among the first confirmed black hole systems in our galaxy. The black hole is 20 times the Sun’s mass, with a companion supergiant star (40 times more massive) in a binary system. Located 400 times farther than Earth-Sun distance, the gravitational pull forms an accretion disk, generating soft X-rays.

Notes:
Rajendra Prasad Gupta is the new Advocate General of Rajasthan. In India, the Advocate General is a legal advisor to the state government. The Governor of each state appoints an Advocate General who is qualified to be appointed as a Judge of a High Court.