UPSC QUIZ 21.03.2024

Explanation:

• Pandavula Gutta has been officially recognized as a Geoheritage site. It is the only Geoheritage site in Telangana.
• Also, the Rajasthan government designates Ramgarh Crater in Baran district as a geo-heritage site.The recognition marks a significant milestone in preserving the region's geological legacy.

Key Facts About Pandavula Gutta

• Pandavula Konda (Pandavula Gutta) is a geological marvel situated in the Jayashankar Bhupalpally district of Telangana.
• Pandavula Gutta is rich in terms of rock shelters, and habitation from the Mesolithic period (about 10,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C.) to mediaeval times.
• Pandavula Gutta boasts Palaeolithic (500,000 BCE–10,000 BCE) cave paintings offering a glimpse into prehistoric life.
• The cave paintings depict wildlife like Bison, Antelope, Tiger, and Leopard, as well as shapes like swastika symbols, circles, squares, and weapons.
• The paintings also feature geometrical designs and impressions in green, red, yellow, and white pigment colours.

Explanation:

• A 70 million-year-old fossil of a titanosaur has been discovered in France. This huge fossil was discovered in May 2022 by paleontologist Damien Boschetto in the Montouliers forest in the village of Cruzie in southern France.
• The fossil is of an approximately 10-meter-long (32.8-foot-long) titanosaur. The recently discovered 70% complete titanosaur skeleton also yielded fossils of various dinosaurs and vertebrates during excavations.
• In these, fossils of skeletons of Rhabdodon (a herbivorous animal similar to titanosaur) and carnivorous animals like theropod and crocodile have also been found. The skeleton of the titanosaur is currently kept in the laboratory of the Cruzeiro Museum for further study.
• Before this, fossils of titanosaurs have been found in Europe. This makes this discovery especially important.
• The discovery of its complete specimen determined that It will be possible to know whether it represents a new species or a known species.

Explanation:

• The central government has extended the ban on export of de-oiled rice husk by four months till July 31, 2024.
• Its official notification has been issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.The government had banned its exports for four months in July 2023, which was later extended till March 2024.
• The main objective of imposing the ban is to reduce the continuous increase in milk prices.The de-oiled rice bran extracted from rice bran is most commonly used to feed cattle.

Negative effects

• The total export of de-oiled rice bran (DORB) is only 6% of its production.
• The ban has adversely affected paddy farmers as well as processors and exporters;
• Due to the ban, they are not able to get better returns on their produce.

Explanation:

• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) plans to introduce a Rs. 1,000-crore fund to support technology-driven agricultural startups and rural enterprises, with an additional Rs. 750 crore earmarked for pre-seed investments in untested ideas, emphasising the need to foster innovative solutions.It aims to redirect agricultural funding from traditional farmers to new players with innovative technologies, aiming to shift focus from production credit to investment credit.

Agri Startups and Associated Challenges

• An agricultural startup, or agri startup, is a young company or business venture that focuses on developing innovative solutions, technologies, or business models to address challenges and improve efficiency in the agricultural sector.

Explanation:

• Tropical cyclone Megan has subsided into a tropical low.
• It brought severe rains in Australia's northeast. The town of Borroloola was hardest hit by the cyclone.
• It made landfall near the Borroloola on the southwestern edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
• The warm months of the Southern Hemisphere, from November to April, form Australia's cyclone season.
• The season's first cyclone, Tropical Cyclone Jasper, affected the northern Queensland state coast in December.
• It was the wettest tropical cyclone in Australian history. It surpassed cyclone Peter, the wettest tropical cyclone on record in Australia.
• In January and February 2024, Tropical Cyclone Kirrily affected East Australia and the Northern Territory.
• Cyclone Megan’s formation was observed on 4 March over south of Indonesia's Sumatra or Java.
• The Gulf of Carpentaria is a sea off the northern coast of Australia.