Today in History (February 28^th, 1922)

It was 28 February 1922 when the United Kingdom declared independence for Egypt by recognizing the country as an independent sovereign state

Let’s revise

A) Which one of the festival is known as ‘Women’s Sabarimala’,symbolising the strength and power of women?

1. Attukal ‘Pongala’
2. Bihu Pongal
3. Baishakhi
4. None of the above

Ans. (a)

B) Attukal ‘Pongala’ is celebrated in which state of India/Bharat?

1. Tamil Nadu
2. Kerala
3. Maharashtra
4. Manupur

Ans. (b)

C) FATF is an inter-governmental policy-making and standard-setting body. What is the main function of FATF?

1. To implement international law on sea
2. To control the flow of money for terrorism
3. To control the environmental degradation
4. To promote Financial awareness

Ans. (b)

D) Where are the headquarters of FATF located?

1. Geneva
2. New York
3. Paris
4. Washington DC

Ans.  (c)

E) Which are the list of FATF used to control the money laundering?

1. Black List and White list
2. Grey List and White list
3. Grey List and Black list
4. Red list and Black list

Ans. (c)

F) What is Raisina Dialogue, recently seen in news?

1. International treaty between 102 countries
2. A conference organised by the Government of India
3. An international language used to communicate in foreign affairs
4. None of the above

Ans. (b)

G) Raisina Dialogue was started in which year?

1. 2021
2. 2023
3. 2016
4. 2019

Ans. (c)

H) The theme of the 2024 edition of Raisina Dialogue is____

1. Recycle, reuse, redevelop, gender justice
2. Democracy, tolerance, gender justice, environment
3. Chaturanga: Conflict, Contest, Cooperate, Create
4. None of the above

Ans. (c)

I) Which one is the capital city of Latvia?

1. Riga
2. Vilnius
3. Tallinn
4. Minsk

Ans. (a)

J) Which one is not the Baltic Country?

1. Denmark
2. Latvia
3. Estonia
4. Lithuania

Ans. (a)

K) Which one is not a Nordic country?

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Iceland
4. Lithuania

Ans. (d)

Summary of Today’s News

Genome Sequencing and the Genome India Project

• The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) on Tuesday officially announced the completion of the ‘10,000 genome’ project — an attempt to create a reference database of whole genome sequences out of India.
• While India first sequenced a complete human genome in 2006, creating a database that is representative of India’s population diversity is seen as a key step to being able to learn about genetic variants that are unique to India’s population groups and use that to customize drugs and therapies.

What is Human genome sequencing?

Human genome

• The human genome is the entire set of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) residing in the nucleus of every cell of each human body.
• It carries the complete genetic information responsible for the development and functioning of the organism.
• The DNA consists of a double-stranded molecule built up by four bases – adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T).
• Every base on one strand pairs with a complementary base on the other strand (A with T and C with G).
• In all, the genome is made up of approximately 3.05 billion such base pairs.

Genome sequencing

• While the sequence or order of base pairs is identical in all humans, there are differences in the genome of every human being that makes them unique.
• The process of deciphering the order of base pairs, to decode the genetic fingerprint of a human is called genome sequencing.
• In other words, Genome sequencing is the process of determining the complete DNA sequence of an organism’s genome.
• There are several methods of genome sequencing, but the most common is called next-generation sequencing (NGS).
• NGS allows for rapid, accurate, and cost-effective sequencing of large amounts of DNA.

Leftwing Extremism

• Recently, the Union Home Minister informed that the government has adopted an offensive strategy to curb the Leftwing Extremism.

About the Leftwing Extremism (also known as Naxalism):

• It originated in 1967 from an uprising movement, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in the Naxalbari area of West Bengal.
• The followers of this movement, often referred to as ‘Naxals’, believe in the political theory derived from the teachings of Chinese political leader Mao Zedong.
• The LWE movement has affected several states in India, including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Kerala.
  • The intensity of the problem varies across these states.

First private ammunition manufacture facility opens

• In a first in the private sector, two facilities for the manufacture of ammunition and missiles were opened by Adani Defence and Aerospace in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh recently.
• The Kanpur complex is set to become one of the largest integrated ammunition manufacturing complexes in South Asia.
• The facilities will produce high-quality small, medium and large calibre ammunition for the armed forces, paramilitary forces and the police.

Mission Utkarsh

• Recently, the Union Ministry of AYUSH and Women & Child Development signed an MoU for improving the nutrition among adolescent girls.

Key points About the Mission Utkarsh:

• It is a joint public health initiative by the Ministries of Ayush and Women and Child Development.
• It is initially be launched as a pilot project in five aspirational districts across five states – Assam (Dhubri), Chhattisgarh (Bastar), Jharkhand (Paschimi Singhbhum), Maharashtra (Gadchiroli), and Rajasthan (Dhaulpur)
• It aims to control anaemia among adolescent girls using Ayurvedic interventions.