Current Affair MCQ for 2025-04-15

Notes: BatEchoMon stands for Bat Echolocation Monitoring, India’s first real-time automated bat monitoring system. It was developed by Kadambari Deshpande and Vedant Barje under Jagdish Krishnaswamy at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bengaluru. It is part of the Long-Term Urban Ecological Observatory at IIHS’s School of Environment and Sustainability. BatEchoMon detects, records, analyses, and classifies bat sounds using echolocation. It uses an ultrasonic microphone, a Raspberry Pi microprocessor, solar-powered battery, and Wi-Fi unit. It activates at sunset and works through the night using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to identify bat calls.

Notes: The Africa India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) 2025 was inaugurated on 13 April 2025 in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, marking a major step in India-Africa maritime cooperation. It is a large-scale multilateral maritime exercise jointly hosted by India and Tanzania to boost ties in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Eleven nations are participating: India, Tanzania, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and South Africa. The aim is to enhance naval coordination and develop joint solutions to regional maritime challenges. It aligns with India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) visions. Indian Navy ships INS Chennai, INS Kesari, and INS Sunayna are deployed, with INS Sunayna part of the Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) SAGAR mission. The exercise runs for six days (April 13–18, 2025) with harbour and sea phases.

Notes: Camera traps at Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve in East Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh detected nine big cats, showing healthy wildlife presence. The reserve is surrounded by Tenga Reserve Forest (north), Doimara Reserve Forest (west), Nameri National Park and Tiger Reserve (south), and Papum Reserve Forest (east). It lies in the Eastern Himalayas foothills, with Kameng River on the west and north, and Pakke River on the east. The area covers 862 sq.km and has a subtropical climate with cold winters. The Nyishi tribe lives here and actively supports conservation. It won the India Biodiversity Award 2016 for the Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme.

Notes: Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), also known as Monkey Fever, is rising in Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru districts of Karnataka. It is a tick-borne viral haemorrhagic disease first reported in 1957 from Kyasanur Forest, Karnataka. It is caused by the Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus (KFDV), part of the Flavivirus genus and Flaviviridae family, linked to the tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) complex. The virus spreads through hard ticks (Hemaphysalis spinigera) and affects humans, monkeys, and rodents, but not through human-to-human contact.

Notes: India successfully tested the Mk-II(A) Laser-Directed Energy Weapon (DEW), joining the US, China, and Russia as one of the few nations with this advanced technology. It is a 30-kilowatt laser-based weapon that can destroy helicopters, swarm drones, radars, and fixed-wing drones with high precision. It is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and its lab Centre for High Energy Systems and Sciences (CHESS), Hyderabad, in collaboration with academic and industrial partners. It uses an Electro Optic (EO) system and radar to identify targets and fires a laser beam to cause structural failure in seconds. This system is fast, accurate, and helps avoid collateral damage, while also reducing the use of costly ammunition in combat.