Daily Current Affairs Quiz 26 September 2022

a) Varanasi

Varanasi was nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital during the period 2022-2023 at the 22nd Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State Summit which saw the participation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The nomination will promote tourism and cultural and humanitarian exchanges between India and the SCO member nations.

c) Breakthrough Prize

The Breakthrough Prizes was created in 2010 by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, including a venture capitalist Milner, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, of Facebook and Sergey Brin of Google.
The 2023 winners of the Breakthrough Prizes, also known as the ‘Oscars of Science’ were announced recently in the life sciences category, one for mathematics and one for physics. The winners will split a total of more than USD 15 million.

a) 1 only

· It is developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
· The hybrid motor is more efficient, greener and safer to handle and paves the way for new propulsion technologies for future missions.

· The technology demonstration paves the way for hybrid propulsion-based sounding rockets and an exciting platform for vertical landing experiments for spent-stage recovery.

· It is a hybrid motor which is a combination of solid fuel and liquid oxidizer. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

· The motor used Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) as fuel and liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

d) Ministry of Tourism

The Ministry of Tourism had identified 15 tourist circuits under its Swadesh Darshan scheme including Ramayana Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Coastal Circuit and Desert Circuit among others.
Union Tourism and Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy announced a special tourist train to cover the ‘Ambedkar Circuit’. The train will visit key sites associated with Dr BR Ambedkar including Mhow (his birthplace called Dr. Ambedkar Nagar in Indore), London (where he resided and studied), Nagpur (also studied here), Delhi (where he passed away) and finally Mumbai (where he was cremated.)

c) Reduction of hydrofluorocarbons

US Senate recently ratified Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution, to limit use of refrigerants.
The international agreement requires participating nations to phase down production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, also known as HFCs, by 85% over the next 14 years. More than 130 countries, including China, India and Russia, have formally ratified the agreement.