Daily Current Affairs : 22-12-2020

1.Oil and Natural gas Corporation(ONGC) open's  India's eighth producing basin

• ONGC Limited has begun crude oil production from Bengal Basin making Bengal basin  India's eighth producing basin.
• Other basins are: Krishna-Godavari (KG), Mumbai Offshore, Assam Shelf, Rajasthan, Cauvery, Assam-Arakan Fold Belt and Cambay.
• According to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, there are 26 sedimentary basins in India. Of these, 16 are onland basins, 7 located both onland and offshore, and 3 completely offshore.

Source: The Hindu

2.Sentinelese and Great Andamanese

• Anthropological Survey of India has warned of threats to these 2 endangered groups from commercial activity.
• Sentinelese and Great Andamanese both are among the 5 particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG} of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (others are Onge, Jarawa, and Shompen).
• Sentinelese with a population of about 50 to 100 live on the North Sentinel Island and their contact to the outside world is almost nil.
• Unlike the other PVTGs in the Andamans, the Great Andamanese are in contact with the general population.

Source: The Hindu

3.Four Indigenous games included in khelo India youth Games 2021

• Games include:
• Kalaripayattu: It is the martial art form of Kerala.
• Gatka: It originates from Punjab and is the traditional fighting style of the Nihang Sikh Warriors used both as self-defense as well as a sport.
• Thang-Ta: It is a Manipur martial art and is dedicated to fighting skill and worship.
• Mallakhamba: It is a traditional Indian sport, where athletes perform various types of gymnastics moves and hold various poses on a vertical wooden pole or a rope.
• It is well-known especially in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Source: The Hindu

4.Hypersonic Wind Tunnel(HWT) Test Facility

• HWT Test facility is a pressure vacuum-driven e.nclosed free jet facility having nozzles which will simulate Mach No  5to12
• Mach number is the ratio of an object's speed in a given medium to the speed of sound in that medium.
• It is an indigenous development that will play a major role in the realization of highly complex futuristic aerospace and defence systems.
• After the USA and Russia, India is the third country to have such a facility.

Source: The Hindu

5.Great conjunction

• It is an astronomical event in which Saturn and Jupiter will be brought closest in the night sky (on December 21) after nearly 400 years.
• It is also popularly referred to as''Christmas Star".
• A conjunction is a name given to any event where planets or asteroids appear to be very close together in the sky when viewed from Earth.
• Astronomers use the word "great" for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn because of the planets' sizes.

Source: The Hindu

6.Himalaya Trillium

• Also known as Nagchatri, it is a common herb in 'temperate and sub-alpine zones of the Himalayas (India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan).
• In India, It is found in Himachal  Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, and Uttarakhand.
• The plant has become one of the most traded commercial plants of the Himalayan region, due to its high medicinal quality (anti-cancer and anti-aging agent).
• Over-exploitation, long life cycle, poor capacity for seed dispersal are the main threats.
• IUCN  Status: Endangered.

Source: The Hindu

7.Tropical Montane Grasslands(TMG) 

• TMG in Shola Sky Islands the Western Ghats has suffered big reductions due to invasions by exotic trees such as acacias, pines, and eucalyptus.
• TMG is high elevation grasslands forming only 2% of all grasslands in the world.
• In India, TMG have even been classified as wastelands in forest management plans since they are unlikely
• to generate revenue.
• Among their functions Is regulating the global carbon cycle and serving as a source of water to downstream communities.

Source: The Hindu

Join our Official Telegram Channel HERE for Motivation and Fast Updates

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel HERE to watch Motivational and New videos

Join our Instagram Page HERE to receive instant updates