Daily Current Affairs Quiz 24 February 2023

d) Private military organization

The Wagner Group is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), a network of mercenaries, or a de facto private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The group operates beyond the law in Russia, where private military contractors are officially forbidden.

The organization was in news due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

a) India

India has recently joined the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C) initiative. It is a joint initiative of the United States of America and the United Arab Emirates. The US and the UAE took this global platform in November 2021. AIM4C supports investment and innovation in climate-smart agriculture and food systems. With this, India has joined over 275 partners, including 42 governments, who are collectively taking forward the mission of AIM4C.

b) North America

Whiteshield, a global strategy and public policy advisory firm, released its Global Labour Resilience Index (GLRI) 2023 during the World Government Summit.
The index is a first-of-its-kind measurement tool that assesses the capacity of an economy to limit fluctuations in employment and quickly rebound from setbacks. The report found the labour market resilience is highest in Western and Northern Europe. Countries in Europe and Asia are becoming more resilient, whereas resilience in North America is stagnating.

c) Vayulink

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has developed an indigenous data link communication named ‘Vayulink’. It uses the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) that is also known as NAVIC, to send radio communication to the base station when the signals are low.
The Vayulink system also prevents aircraft collision, provides better combat teaming and helps plan real-time basis.

d) Both 1 and 2

AstroSat is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral bands simultaneously. One of the unique features of AstroSat mission is that it enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

The objectives of the mission are – To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes, estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars, study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying beyond our galaxy, detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky, perform a limited deep field survey of the Universe in the Ultraviolet region. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has made an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to allow scientists and researchers to analyse data from the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission, AstroSat.