Daily Current Affairs Quiz 20 December 2022

a) Rajasthan

The Tal Chhapar Sanctuary is known as the home of blackbuck and a variety of birds in Rajasthan.
· The sanctuary is flanked by the Great India Desert, Thar and boasts a unique ecosystem and is an important birdwatching destination in India.

· Migratory birds in the sanctuary: Harriers, eastern imperial eagles, tawny eagle, short-toed eagle, sparrow, and little green bee-eaters, black ibis and demoiselle cranes, whereas skylarks, crested larks, ring doves, and brown doves are seen round the year.

· Fauna: Desert fox and desert cat can be spotted in the sanctuary.

Recently, the Tal Chhapar blackbuck sanctuary in Churu district of Rajasthan has received a protective cover.

d) USA

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Earth science satellite to track nearly all the water on Earth’s surface.
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft was launched atop a SpaceX rocket with a mission of three years. The satellite will measure the height of water in freshwater bodies and the ocean on more than 90 per cent of Earth’s surface. This information will provide insights on how the ocean influences climate change.

c) 1 and 2

The nuclear-capable missile, which uses a three-stage solid-fuelled engine, has been developed by DRDO. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

Medium to Intercontinental versions of Agni missile systems 1 to 5 have varying ranges, starting from 700 km for Agni-1 to 5000 km and above for Agni-5.
Agni-5 can strike targets at ranges of 5,000 to 5,500 km. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.

The missile is operated by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC). Hence, statement 3 is correct.

India successfully test-fired Agni-V ballistic missile having increased range of 5,000 km.

b) Panini

‘Ashtadhyayi’, an ancient text written by the scholar Panini towards the end of the 4th century BC. Written more than 2,000 years ago, the ‘Ashtadhyayi’ is a linguistics text that set the standard for how Sanskrit was meant to be written and spoken. It delves deep into the language’s phonetics, syntax and grammar, and also offers a ‘language machine’, where you can feed in the root and suffix of any Sanskrit word, and get grammatically correct words and sentences in return.

a) Hyderabad

Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, opened the ICMR-NARFBR (National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research) in Genome Valley in Hyderabad. NARFBR is a premier centre dedicated to the ethical care, use, and welfare of laboratory animals in research. The Centre will develop pre-clinical testing procedures for novel medications, vaccines, and diagnostics, as well as quality assurance checks.