Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2024

Notes:
Rescue teams are searching for 48 missing migrants after their boat overturned near Spain’s Canary Islands. The Canary Islands are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1300 km south of mainland Spain and 115 km west of Morocco. They consist of two Spanish provinces: Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, the islands have rich volcanic soil. The climate is subtropical with warm temperatures and little seasonal variation. An archipelago refers to a group of islands formed by volcanic activity, tectonic movements, or sediment accumulation.

Notes:
UNESCO has accredited the Keremane Idagunji Mahaganapati Yakshagana Mandali, founded in 1934 by Late Keremane Shivarama Hegde. The objective is to educate future generations and safeguard Yakshagana from decline, ensuring its relevance and vitality. Yakshagana is a traditional theatre form that originated between the 11th and 16th centuries in coastal Karnataka and parts of Kerala. It combines dance, music, dialogues, colorful costumes, and heavy make-up, inspired by the Vaishnava Bhakti movement. The themes include stories of Lord Krishna, Vishnu, and Hindu epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Traditionally, men played all roles, but women are now included in troupes.

Notes:
BharatGen was inaugurated by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh in New Delhi as a generative AI aimed at improving public service delivery and citizen engagement. It is the world’s first government-funded multimodal large language model, focusing on developing efficient and inclusive AI in Indian languages. The project will take two years to complete and will benefit government, private, educational, and research institutions. BharatGen will support both text and speech, ensuring representation of India’s diverse languages and cultures. Its roadmap includes milestones up to July 2026 and aims to scale AI adoption across various sectors.

Notes:
A National Level Multi-Stakeholder Consultative Workshop on Sustainable Oil Palm Cultivation under the NMEO-OP was recently held. The workshop focused on enhancing oil palm cultivation and production of crude palm oil in India. It involved various stakeholders to discuss sustainable practices and strategies for implementing the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP). NMEO-OP was launched by India in August 2021 to boost oil palm cultivation and crude palm oil production. It focuses on the Northeast region and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The scheme has a financial outlay of Rs 11,040 crore, with Rs 8,844 crore from the central government. It aims to increase oil palm cultivation from 3.5 lakh hectares to 10 lakh hectares by 2025-26 and crude palm oil production to 11.20 lakh tonnes.

Notes:
The Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai granted GI tags to eight products from Assam, including ‘Bodo Jou Gwran’, a rice beer variant with about 16.11% alcohol, and ‘Bodo Napham’, a fermented fish dish. The Bodo community has a rich tradition of brewing and consuming rice beer, believing it originated from Lord Shiva.

Notes:
Swiss police arrested four people linked to the death of a 64-year-old American woman who used a “suicide pod” called Sarco on September 23, 2024. Euthanasia involves a doctor administering a lethal drug, while assisted dying allows individuals to self-administer a lethal substance with medical support. The Sarco Pod, euthanasia device, created by Dr. Philip Nitschke, is designed for peaceful and controlled assisted suicide. It promotes “death with dignity,” but its legal status varies by location. The pod is portable, enabling individuals to end their lives autonomously without medical help.

Notes:
The bigfin squid (Magnapinna) was recently filmed at a depth of 10,800 feet in the Tonga Trench. Known for its long tentacles that can stretch up to 90% of its body length, sightings of this elusive species are extremely rare, with only 20 documented cases. Scientists believe it uses its long appendages to capture prey. This deep-sea creature highlights the mysteries of ocean life and the importance of deep-sea research.

Notes:
The inaugural Kho Kho World Cup will be held in India in 2025, announced by the Kho Kho Federation of India and the International Kho Kho Federation. The event will feature 24 countries from 6 continents, with 16 teams for both men and women. To promote the sport, the KKFI plans to introduce Kho Kho in 200 schools across 10 cities and aims to register at least 50 lakh players. The tournament will include a week of matches with top athletes worldwide, aiming to elevate Kho Kho to an international level. Kho Kho, rooted in India, has a global presence, with 54 countries participating in the sport.

Notes:
Pfizer announced it will withdraw its sickle cell disease therapy, Oxbryta, from global markets due to new clinical data linking it to fatal events. Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder caused by flawed hemoglobin.
Hemoglobin carries oxygen in red blood cells (RBCs). In SCD, hemoglobin S distorts RBCs into a sickle shape, making them rigid and unable to move easily through blood vessels. This blockage disrupts blood flow and interferes with oxygen delivery to body tissues, leading to various health complications.

Notes:
The Chenchus, a Telugu-speaking tribe in the Nallamala forests of Andhra Pradesh, struggle with declining work under MGNREGA due to modernization. They are a Scheduled Tribe and have maintained their traditional lifestyle without adapting to modernity. Chenchus live in small villages called “Penta” and gather forest products like fruits, tubers, honey, and tamarind for minimal income. They rely on bows, arrows, and knives for hunting. Village elders, called “Peddamanishi,” hold authority in social matters. Chenchus have ties to the Srisailam temple and enjoy special privileges there.