10 PM Current Affairs Quiz #6 November 7, 2019

Explanation: China announced that a new drug, meant to potentially treat Alzheimer’s disease, will be available to Chinese patients by the end of this year. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that typically affects people older than 65. When it affects younger individuals, it is considered early onset. The disease destroys brain cells and nerves, and disrupts the message-carrying neurotransmitters. Eventually, a person with Alzheimer’s loses the ability to perform day-to-day activities. Symptoms include memory loss, difficulty in completing familiar tasks, confusion with time or place, problems in speaking and writing, decreased or poor judgment, and changes in mood and personality. Alzheimer’s disease is also the most common cause of dementia — which is a syndrome and not a disease in itself, and whose symptoms include loss of memory, thinking skills, problems with language, and changes in mood and deterioration in behavior.

Explanation: South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) is an intergovernmental organization. It is headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was established in 1982 by the governments of South Asia to promote and support protection, management and enhancement of the environment in the region. The members of SACEP include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. SACEP also acts as the Secretariat for the South Asian Seas Programme which comes under the purview of UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme.

Explanation: S-400 Triumf Missile System is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system (SAM). It can detect, track and destroy hostile strategic bombers, jets spy planes, missiles and drones at a range of 380-km. It can engage all types of aerial targets such as aircraft, ballistic and cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). It can track 100 airborne targets including super fighters such as the American built F-35 and engage six of them simultaneously. India had signed a $5 billion deal with Russia for the purchase of five S-400 systems during the 19th India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit in 2018.

Explanation: According to the report ‘Indian Tech Startup Ecosystem – Leading Tech in the 20s’ by Nasscom, India continues to be the third largest startup ecosystem across the world. India continues to be the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, having added more than 1,300 tech startups in 2019. India now hosts 24 unicorns which is the third-highest number of unicorns in a single country in the world. Unicorn is a term to describe to startups valued at $1 billion. The report has also predicted that the number of Indian unicorns could increase to 95-105 by 2025.

Explanation: Tawang Festival is an annual festival of Arunachal Pradesh. It celebrates states rich cultural heritage and includes attractions like Buddhist religious functions, indigenous sports, and traditional dances among others. The festival starts with the religious tradition known as Sebang which is the process of monks of Tawang town moving to the festival spot in rallies from the Tawang monastery. The major attractions of the festival are the Dance of Yak and the Aji-lhamu Dance.