10 PM Current Affairs Quiz #40 December 17, 2019

ANS: B
Explanation: The government is testing a prototype of an Indian equivalent of popular messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, for secure internal use. Codenamed GIMS or Government Instant Messaging System, the platform is in the pilot testing stage across some states, including Odisha — and is learnt to have been released to the Indian Navy to be tried out on trial basis. Designed and developed by the Kerala unit of National Informatics Centre (NIC), GIMS is being packaged for employees of Central and state government departments and organisations for intra and inter organisation communications.

Explanation: Union Home Ministry has warned states about the vulnerability of the Android operating system to a bug called ‘StrandHogg’. It is a vulnerability in Android devices that allows malware to hijack legitimate apps.

Explanation: Months after countries adopted the Paris Agreement of 2015 to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to curb global warming, a self-governing civic body in Kerala’s Wayanad district wanted to set an example for community-based climate change adaptation initiative. Bouts of drought for successive years prompted Meenagnadi village panchayat to go for carbon-neutral village, an experimental intervention to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon-neutral Meenangadi project that began in 2016 has gained momentum over past three years and involved several initiatives. Over two lakh tree saplings have been planted and nursed to provide green cover to several patches of barren land; plastic waste is being collected, shredded and used for road surface work; traditional firewood kitchen stoves are being replaced with lower-emission stoves; and households are being paid annuity for growing trees.

Explanation: National Initiative for Technology Transfer (Establishment of Research Parks): Complementing the renewed focus of the Government on developing indigenous Research & Development capabilities, boosting manufacturing and creating a successful startup culture in the country, five new Research Parks at IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad, and IISc Bangalore at a total cost of Rs.75.00 crore each have been approved by the Government under Startup India Initiative in Higher Education (SIIHE) Scheme. Approval has also been accorded for continued funding of two already approved Research Parks at IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur at a cost of Rs.100 crore each. The Research Park at IIT Gandhinagar at a total cost of Rs.90 crore is being funded by the Department of Science & Technology.

Explanation: India’s retail price inflation has jumped to a 40-month high at a time when India’s growth has slowed down to a six-year low. This has prompted some economists to warn that the country could be entering into a stagflationary phase. The term Stagflation was first coined by Paul Samuelson who was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in economics. Stagflation is a condition of slow economic growth and relatively high unemployment, or economic stagnation, accompanied by rising prices, or inflation.