10 PM Current Affairs Quiz #83 February 8, 2020

Explanation: The Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) scheme introduced in 2015 is a government scheme that focuses on identifying and developing the pilgrim sites across the country to enrich the religious tourism experience. Under the scheme ‘Prasad’, the Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for development and beautification of the identified pilgrimage destinations. Under the PRASAD scheme, thirteen sites have been identified for development, namely: Amritsar, Ajmer, Dwarka, Mathura, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Amaravati, Kanchipuram, Vellankanni, Kedarnath, Kamakhya and Patna.

Explanation: The Indian Army has commenced the joint field training exercise with 17 African nations held at Aundh Military Station, Pune. Dubbed as Africa-India Field Training Exercise-2019 (AFINDEX-19), training began with an opening ceremony held on 18 March. It is scheduled to conclude on 27 March. Maratha Light Infantry contingent is representing India for the first edition of this training exercise The 17 African nations are Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The aim of the AFINDEX-19 exercise is to support the participating nations in planning and conducting humanitarian mine assistance (HMA) and peacekeeping operations (PKO) as described under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

Explanation: With an aim to make Orchha part of the the ‘Golden Circle’ due to its close proximity with Delhi, the Madhya Pradesh Tourism announced a three-day ‘Namaste Orchha’ cultural festival, beginning from March 6. “Through ‘Namaste Orchha’, MP government will showcase the historic town on the offbeat destination map located on the banks of Betwa River. Namaste Orchha will celebrate the cultural diversity, natural beauty and the architectural heritage of the Orchha town by showcasing music, dance, heritage walks, local cuisine, arts and handicrafts.

Explanation: The United States announced the launch of a 27-nation International Religious Freedom Alliance, which will try to adopt a collective approach in protecting and preserving religious freedom across the world. Around 27 Countries from around the world have joined the alliance. Some of the prominent countries are Austria, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Israel, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Greece. The members of the alliance have pledged to uphold the Declaration of Principles which commits countries to object and oppose, publicly and privately, all abuses or violations of religious freedom.

Explanation: INS Karanj is the third submarine of the first batch of six Kalvari-class submarines for the Indian Navy. The submarine has been designed by French naval defence and energy group and manufactured by Mazagon Dock Limited, an Indian shipyard in Mumbai. INS Karanj is a part of Project-75I. The six submarines are (a) INS Kalvari (b) INS Khanderi (c) INS Karanj (d) INS Vela (e) INS Vagir and (f) INS Vagsheer.