10 PM Current Affairs Quiz #10 August 12, 2019

Explanation: The Commission may consider proposing measurable performance-based incentives for States, at the appropriate level of government, in following areas: (i) Efforts made by the States in expansion and deepening of tax net under GST; (ii) Efforts and Progress made in moving towards replacement rate of population growth; (iii) Achievements in implementation of flagship schemes of Government of India, disaster resilient infrastructure, sustainable development goals, and quality of expenditure; (iv) Progress made in increasing capital expenditure, eliminating losses of power sector, and improving the quality of such expenditure in generating future income streams;
The Commission shall use the population data of 2011 while making its recommendations.
ChairmanN.K. Singh
Former Member of Parliament and former Secretary to the Government of India
MemberShri Ajay Narayan Jha
Former Finance Secretary to the Government of India
MemberDr. Anoop Singh
Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University,USA.
MemberDr. Ashok Lahiri
Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance ,Government of India
and former Chairman (Non-executive) Bandhan Bank
Member (Part Time)Dr. Ramesh Chand
Member, NITI Aayog
SecretaryShri Arvind Mehta

Explanation: The Andhra Pradesh government decided to go ahead with the review of all PPAs. Principal advisor to Chief Minister, Ajeya Kallam, said that all PPAs signed during the term of the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) will be reviewed as they were causing huge losses to state exchequer. He said the review of all PPAs was necessary as the state agreed to pay higher tariff in the agreements signed with renewable power producers.

Explanation: A laser-guided land leveller harnesses technology to accurately flatten a field in a fraction of the time used by a traditional oxen-powered scraper. The result will be farmers save precious groundwater and increase productivity by 10 to 15%. Such hitech levellers cost at least ₹3 lakh, way beyond the reach of the average small farmer. But a new app that’s being described as “Uber for tractors” offers a solution.
“We want farmers to have affordable access to cutting-edge technology at their doorsteps,” says a senior Agriculture Ministry official. “There are now more than 38,000 custom hiring centres (CHCs) across the country, which rent out 2.5 lakh pieces of, farm equipment every year. By the end of the month, we plan to launch a new mobile app to efficiently connect farmers with these CHCs, just like Uber connects you to cabs.”

Explanation: The ninth edition of the Global Wealth Report published by the Credit Suisse Research Institute provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of information available on global household wealth. During the twelve months to mid-2018, aggregate global wealth rose by $14.0 trillion (4.6%) to a combined total of $317 trillion, outpacing population growth. Wealth per adult grew by 3.2%, raising global mean wealth to a record high of $63,100 per adult. The US contributed most to global wealth adding $6.3 trillion and taking its total to $98 trillion. This continues its unbroken run of growth in both total wealth and wealth per adult every year since 2008. Unsurprisingly, China is now clearly established in second place of the world wealth hierarchy. The country overtook Japan with respect to the number of ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individuals in 2009, total wealth in 2011 and the number of millionaires in 2014.

Explanation: Created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the objective of the IPCC is to provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC reports are also a key input into international climate change negotiations. The IPCC is an organization of governments that are members of the United Nations or WMO. The IPCC currently has 195 members. Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, IPCC scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.