UPSC Quiz – 2020 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz [Day 87]

Solution (c)

Recently, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) unveiled its first ‘woman’ astronaut, named Vyom Mitra who will ride to space in the first test flight of the human space mission, Gaganyaan.

• She is half-humanoid and her body stops at the torso and has no legs. She is capable of switching panel operations, performing Environment Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) functions, conversations with the astronauts, recognising them and solving their queries.
• The humanoid can detect and give out warnings if the environment changes within the cabin.
• She will simulate the human functions required for space before real astronauts take off before August 2022. She will be sent in a space capsule around the end of 2020 or early 2021 to study how astronauts respond to living outside earth in controlled zero-gravity conditions.
• The humanoid has been developed by the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram.

Solution (a)

• Gulf of Aden is deep water basin that forms a natural sea link between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
• Gulf of Aden forms the natural separation between the countries of Somalia and Yemen.
• Named for the seaport of Aden, in southern Yemen, the gulf is situated between the coasts of Arabia and the Horn of Africa.
• The Gulf of Aden is an extension of the Indian Ocean. Located between Africa and Asia, it forms the natural separation between the countries of Somalia and Yemen.
• The Gulf of Aden, formerly known as the Gulf of Berbera, is a gulf amidst Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea and Guardafui Channel to the east, Somalia to the south, and Djibouti to the west.
• Gulf of Aden waters flow into the Red Sea through the Bab el Mandeb (strait), and because it provides an outlet to the west for Persian Gulf Oil, it’s now one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Solution (c)

• Recently, Turkey’s highest court allowed for the conversion of the nearly 1,500 year-old Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque.  
• The centuries-old structure, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was originally a cathedral in the Byzantine empire before it was turned into a mosque in 1453, when Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces.  
• In the 1930s, however, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, shut down the mosque and turned it into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular. 
• The change in status of the Hagia Sophia comes after repeated warnings from the international community, including UNESCO, to ensure that Turkey did not proceed with these plans. 

History: Hagia Sophia 

• The construction of this iconic structure in Istanbul started in 532 AD during the reign of Justinian I, the ruler of the Byzantine Empire, when the city was known as Constantinople. The structure was originally built to become the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church and remained so for approximately 900 years. 
• In 1453, when Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces, the Hagia Sophia was ransacked by the invading forces and turned into a mosque shortly after. The structure of the monument was then subjected to several interior and exterior changes where Orthodox symbols were removed or plastered upon and minarets were added to the exterior of the structure. For a long time, the Hagia Sophia was Istanbul’s most important mosque. 
• In 1934, Atartuk ordered that the Hagia Sophia be converted into a museum. It opened to the public in 1935.  

Solution (b)

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has finalised a three- year roadmap, named Utkarsh 2022 to improve regulation and supervision, among other functions of the central bank.
• Utkarsh 2022 is a medium term strategy in line with the global central banks’ plan to strengthen the regulatory and supervisory mechanism.
• This specifically includes central bank’s proactive role to avoid any other IL&FS debt default issue in future.
• Earlier, an internal committee of RBI was formed under former Deputy Governor Viral Acharya, to identify issues that needed to be addressed over the next three years.
• The RBI board also approved the RBI’s budget for the July 2019—June 2020 period.

Solutions (a)

• A gig economy is a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements
• Examples of gig employees in the workforce could include freelancers, independent contractors, project-based workers and temporary or part-time hires.
• Global Gig Economy Index report has ranked India among the top 10 countries.
• The report says there has been an increase in freelancers in India from 11% in 2018 to 52% in 2019, thanks to various initiatives including Startup India and Skill India.