Daily Current Affairs Quiz 30 April 2022

c) Vinod Rai

Padma Bhushan Vinod Rai, former (11th) Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) India, has authored a new book titled “Not Just A Nightwatchman: My Innings in the BCCI”.
i. The book features his 33-month stint as the Chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
ii. Vinod Rai,was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2016 for civil service.

c) USA

The United States Trade Representative releases the “Special 301 Report” on effectiveness of US trading partners’ protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
The recent report has placed India, China, Russia and four other countries namely Argentina, Chile, Indonesia and Venezuela on its annual Priority Watch List. All seven countries on this year’s list were also on the last year’s list. Twenty trading partners are on the Watch List.

a) Russia

Russia has reportedly deployed an army of dolphins to protect its naval base in the Black Sea. As per the US Naval Institute (USNI), two floating dolphin pens have been placed at the entrance of the Sevastopol harbour, which is Russia’s most significant naval based in the Black Sea.

c) Assam

Decorative jaapis (field hats), hand-woven gamosas and bell-metal xorais – important symbols of Assamese identity and culture are abundantly seen in political campaigns across the state.

The jaapi is a conical hat made of bamboo and covered with dried tokou leaves.

The Gamosa, which literally translates to a cloth to wipe one’s body. Used at home as a towel or in public functions to felicitate dignitaries or celebrities.

Xorai: Made of bell-metal, the xorai essentially a tray with a stand at the bottom, with or without a cover can be found in every Assamese household.

c) 2, 3

NASA and ISRO are collaborating on developing a satellite called NISAR, which will detect movements of the planet’s surface as small as 0.4 inches over areas about half the size of a tennis court.

The satellite is planned to launch in 2023 into a near-polar orbit and will scan the globe every 12 days over the course of its three-year mission of imaging the Earth’s land, ice sheets and sea ice to give an “unprecedented” view of the planet.

The name NISAR is short for NASA-ISRO-SAR. SAR here refers to the synthetic aperture radar that NASA will use to measure changes in the surface of the Earth. Essentially, SAR refers to a technique for producing high-resolution images. Because of the precision, the radar can penetrate clouds and darkness, which means that it can collect data day and night in any weather.

During the course of three years, the images will allow scientists to track changes in croplands, hazard sites and will help them to monitor crises such as volcanic eruptions. The images will be detailed enough to show local changes and broad enough to measure regional trends.