1. Which state/UT launched a clean district ranking drive called MODI (Most Outstanding District Initiative)?
[A] West Bengal
[B] Assam
[C] Odisha
[D] Telangana
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Assam]
Notes:
Assam launched a clean district ranking drive called MODI (Most Outstanding District Initiative), to boost solid waste management and sanitation.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the most outstanding district will be awarded Rs 100 crore towards infrastructure development and the results will be tentatively declared by the first week of April 2024. The cabinet also approved installation of 2,000 CCTV cameras across the state.
2. Which city hosted the recent meeting of Western Zonal Council?
[A] Mumbai
[B] Gandhinagar
[C] Jodhpur
[D] Amritsar
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Gandhinagar]
Notes:
Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently chaired 26th meeting of Western Zonal Council at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
He also inaugurated an e-Resource web portal of Inter State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs. This portal will facilitate functioning of Zonal Councils. The meeting was attended by Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Administrator of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
3. Which Union Ministry extended the deadline for enabling Aadhaar-based payment for MGNREGA workers?
[A] Ministry of Rural Development
[B] Ministry of Finance
[C] Ministry of MSME
[D] Ministry of Electronics and IT
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [Ministry of Rural Development]
Notes:
As 42 per cent workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme still not eligible for Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS), the deadline for enabling Aadhaar-based payment for MGNREGA workers was extended till December 31
Earlier, the deadline was September 1 and this is the fifth extension by the Centre. This was announced by the Ministry of Rural Development.
4. Which European country has announced a ban on wearing the abaya robes in schools?
[A] Germany
[B] France
[C] Spain
[D] Portugal
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [France]
Notes:
The French government announced its decision to ban children from wearing the abaya, the loose-fitting, full- length robes worn by some Muslim women, in state-run schools.
France has enforced a ban on religious symbols in state schools since 2004, to uphold its strict brand of secularism, known as laicite.
5. Which country hosted the 19th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)?
[A] Kenya
[B] Ethiopia
[C] Nigeria
[D] Gabon
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [Ethiopia]
Notes:
The 19th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Environment ministers of the African continent have agreed to institute national and regional strategies to minimise environmental impacts in the extraction and processing of critical mineral resources.
6. When is the ‘National Small Industry Day’ observed in India?
[A] August 25
[B] August 30
[C] September 1
[D] September 3
Show Answer
Correct Answer: B [August 30]
Notes:
The Indian Government formally declared August 30 as the National Small Industry Day, a year after the Ministry of Small-Scale Industries announced a comprehensive policy package for small businesses.
The day recognises the contribution of small industries to the country’s growth and is an opportunity for the central and state governments to encourage and support small industries.
7. What is the name of the World’s Most Advanced Arabic Large Language Model, which was released recently?
[A] Gyaan
[B] Ruez
[C] Jais
[D] Rooh
Show Answer
Correct Answer: C [Jais]
Notes:
Inception, a unit of Abu Dhabi AI company G42, has released ‘Jais’, the world’s most advanced Arabic large language model.
Jais is a bilingual Arabic-English model that has been trained on a massive dataset of text and code. It can be used for a variety of tasks, such as machine translation, text summarization, and question answering. It was trained on the Condor Galaxy, the world’s largest AI supercomputer, using 116 billion Arabic tokens and 279 billion English tokens.
8. United Nations Biodiversity has urged people to use which word, instead of ‘flora and fauna’?
[A] Funga
[B] Alga
[C] Wild
[D] Species
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [Funga]
Notes:
United Nations Biodiversity has urged people globally to use the word ‘funga’ whenever they say ‘flora and fauna’, in order to highlight the importance of fungi.
Fungi, along with Animalia (animals), Plantae (plants), Protista, Archaea/Archaebacteria, and Bacteria or Eubacteria form the six ‘kingdoms’ of biology.
9. Utkela Airport has been inaugurated in which state/UT?
[A] Odisha
[B] West Bengal
[C] Assam
[D] Arunachal Pradesh
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [Odisha]
Notes:
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia inaugurated Utkela Airport and a direct flight between Utkela and Bhubaneshwar.
Utkela airport is owned by the Government of Odisha. It has been developed as a regional airport under the UDAN scheme of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India at a cost of Rs. 31.07 Crores.
10. Tharman Shanmugaratnam has been elected as President of which country?
[A] Singapore
[B] Malaysia
[C] Maldives
[D] Mauritius
Show Answer
Correct Answer: A [Singapore]
Notes:
Tharman Shanmugaratnam is the president-elect of Singapore. He was born on February 25, 1957. He is a popular politician who has won several parliamentary elections. In 2023, he resigned from all government positions and the PAP to run for the Singaporean presidential election. He won the election with 70.4% of the votes.
Shanmugaratnam was previously the Senior Minister of Singapore from 2019 to 2023. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister for eight years. He studied at the London School of Economics, Cambridge University, and Harvard University.