10 PM Current Affairs Quiz #23 October 31, 2019

Explanation: India has improved its ranking in the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index. The index is published by the Australian Centre for Financial Studies (ACFS) in collaboration with Mercer with most of the funding from the State Government of Victoria. The primary objective of this research is to benchmark each country’s retirement income system. It covers 37 countries, is based on how they fare on providing pension and retirement benefits to citizens across different income groups.

Explanation: Atal Bhujal Yojana is a 6000 crore World Bank assisted Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. The scheme has been formulated by the government to address the criticality of groundwater resources in a major part of the country. The scheme aims to improve groundwater management in priority areas in the country through community participation. The scheme envisages active participation of the communities in various activities such as formation of Water User Associations, monitoring and disseminating ground water data among others. The funding pattern is 50:50 between Government of India (Ministry Of Jalshakti) and World Bank.

Explanation: Million Farmers’ School (MFS) Programme popularly known as Kisan Pathshala is a scheme of Uttar Pradesh Government. The scheme aims to enhance farmers’ incomes through dissemination of agriculture-related information on technology, government schemes, and modern farming methods. The scheme is an extension programme that the government of UP initiated in 2017 with a view to encourage the use of modern farming techniques to make farming more profitable, sustainable and resilient. Unlike traditional extension services, MFS integrates various facets of agricultural knowledge into a packaged format, and delivers it through village-level trainings across all districts in the state.

ANS: Recently, Australian Government has banned the climbing of Uluru desert rock,considered sacred by the local Anangu people. Uluru is also known as Ayers Rock.It is located in central Australia. It is sacred to the local Anangu people, the Aboriginal people residing in that area. The rock is a large sandstone rock formation.It is composed of coarse-grained arkose (a type of sandstone characterised by an abundance of feldspar) and some conglomerate. The rock is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The Uluru rock is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably when it glows red at dawn and sunset.

Explanation: The operation Kayla Mueller is an operation that claimed the life of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The operation was a United States led military operation in Barisha, Idlib in northwestern Syria. The operation targeted Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leadership notably its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Special Forces raid was officially code-named Operation Kayla Mueller after Kayla Mueller who was held captive, tortured by Islamic State before her death in 2015.