Daily Current Affairs Quiz 20 May 2023

d) Jammu & Kashmir

Kishtwar High Altitude National Park:

· It is located in the Kishtwar district of union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

· The area was declared as a Kishtwar High Altitude National Park in 1980.

· It was majorly founded to protect the Snow Leopards that are now slowly vanishing from the nature.

Physical Features:

· The area lies in the central crystalline belt of the great Himalayas and the tract is situated on the high altitudes i.e., sub-alpine and alpine zone.

· The National Park encompasses the catchment area of Kiber, Nanth and Kiyar Nallas, all of which drain south-west into Marwah River (locally called Mariv Sudir) which later joins Chenab.

· The terrain is generally rugged and steep with narrow valleys bounded by high ridges opening out in their upper glacial parts.

· It encompasses breathtaking alpine meadows, snow-capped peaks, and lush green forests, serving as a vital ecological corridor for many wildlife species.

· It is renowned for its diverse array of flora and fauna, including several rare and endangered species.

Flora:

· It has a variety of temperature conifer forests. These include Fir, Himalayan Yew, Deodar, Blue Pine, or Kail and Spruce.

· In the alpine regions of the park extensive alpine scrub and meadows are present.

Fauna:

· The park is a renowned snow leopard reserve. Besides, it provides a habitat for Brown bear, Himalayan musk deer, Hangul, Ibex, Wild boar, Indian muntjac, Serow Capricornis, Himalayan Tahr, Bharal etc.

Recently, the research team of the Department of Wildlife Protection has confirmed the presence of snow leopard in Kishtwar High Altitude National Park through camera trap photographs.

c) Electric Mobility

E-retrofitment is the process of converting a conventional vehicle into an EV by replacing internal combustion engine with the electric powertrain.
It is expected play a major role in India’s transition to electric mobility. The Indian government has set an ambitious target of 30 per cent sales penetration of electric passenger cars by 2030.

b) RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the launch of the ‘100 Days 100 Pays’ campaign by banks recently.
It aims to trace and settle top 100 unclaimed deposits of every bank in every district of the country within 100 days. An unclaimed deposit is one which does not see any activity like the infusion of funds, withdrawal from the depositor for 10 years or more.

c) Neither 1 nor 2

The ‘Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification’ is an artificial-intelligence-based facial recognition tool shortly known as ASTR.
· ASTR is developed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under Ministry of Communications. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

ASTR is designed to identify SIMs issued using fraudulent/forged documents.
· It has the capability of running checks on subscriber databases of telecom operators to deduce multiple connections associated with the same person.

· ASTR used various techniques of facial recognition and data analytics. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

The DoT claims the tool — called Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification (ASTR) — can potentially bring down cyber frauds by detecting and blocking possible fraudulent mobile connections.

c) Cyclone Mocha

Cyclone Mocha was formed over the southeast Bay of Bengal on May 11. It is expected to be the second strongest cyclone to hit Myanmar in a decade.
Cyclone Mocha was one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the region this century. The military have announced over 20 deaths nationwide.