Daily Current Affairs MCQs : 31 December 2023 - Humanities/Arts MCQ

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over the third National Conference of Chief Secretaries in Delhi on 28 and 29 December 2023. The first conference of Chief Secretaries was held in Dharamshala in June 2022 and the second in Delhi in January 2023. The main focus of this three-day national conference will be 'Ease of Living'.

India’s debutant Sai Sudharsan was awarded the ‘Impact Fielder of the Series’ medal by India’s fielding coach Ajay Ratra after the KL Rahul-led side clinched the 3-match ODI series against South Africa 2-1.

Lucknow city, known as the 'City of Nawabs', will be developed as India's first 'AI City'. Noida has already emerged as an IT hub, on the same lines now Tier 2 cities like Lucknow are also being developed as IT hubs. According to a report by Grand View Research, the size of the global AI market was estimated at $ 137 billion in the year 2022. UP Electronics Corporation Limited has issued Expression of Interest (EOI) for the development of AI City.

Iran’s navy recently added two domestically produced sophisticated cruise missiles named Talaeieh and Nasir to its arsenal. As part of boosting its defence capabilities, Iran announced addition of advanced Talaeieh and Nasir cruise missiles, with ranges over 1000 km and 100 km respectively, to its naval forces. This came amidst growing tensions between Iran and Western powers.

The south-western African country Angola has decided to withdraw from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with effect from January 1, 2024. Angola became a member of OPEC in 2007. Earlier, Ecuador in 2020 and Qatar in 2019 had left this organization. OPEC, an organization of permanent petroleum exporting countries, was established in Baghdad in 1960. Its headquarters is in Vienna, Austria.  

Recently, unusual shiny clouds called nacreous clouds were seen in the skies over parts of Scotland, northern England, and the West Midlands. These rare clouds look like mother of pearl and shine with pale, rainbow-like colors during sunset and sunrise. This effect happens as sunlight bends around tiny ice crystals in the clouds, creating colors like a thin layer of oil on water does. The process that causes these colorful iridescent clouds is optical diffraction – when light waves interact with small particles and bend or spread out into spectral colors.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will release a special postal cover on December 27 to mark the 100th birth anniversary of late Justice Konda Madhav Reddy, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh and Mumbai High Courts and former Governor of Maharashtra. The event, organized by Justice Konda Madhava Reddy Foundation, was presided over by Governor D. Tamilisai Sundararajan will do it.

The Bab el-Mandeb, a narrow strait, has become a strategic chokepoint due to Houthi attacks on tankers passing through the Red Sea, escalating the conflict and impacting global shipping.
Bab-el-Mandeb Strait is also known as Gate of Tears in Arabic. It connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. It separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the state's first intra-district helicopter service from Bateshwar in Agra to Govardhan in Mathura. The Chief Minister was in Bateshwar to celebrate the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Chief Minister Yogi laid the foundation stone and inaugurated various projects costing Rs 10451.43 lakh.

Celebrity chef Amrita Raichand is the Health Ambassador for the Salaam Bombay Foundation’s Preventive Health Education Programme. Raichand works with the program to educate adolescents about the importance of proper nutrition and fitness.
The Salaam Bombay Foundation is a foundation that works with adolescents aged 12–17 who are growing up in Mumbai’s slums. The foundation’s model is based on two approaches to tobacco control.