10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: April 10, 2020

To help support the efforts to address the COVID-19 emergency, SIDBI is supporting MSMEs manufacturing products or providing services related to fighting the Coronavirus with the launch of two schemes- the SIDBI Assistance to Facilitate Emergency response against coronavirus (SAFE scheme) and SAFE Plus. Under the schemes, loans are being extended at a low rate of interest of 5% within 48 hours. SAFE Plus has been especially introduced to provide emergency working capital against confirmed government orders, with the same rate of interest of 5%.

The GISAID Initiative promotes the international sharing of all influenza virus sequences, related clinical and epidemiological data associated with human viruses, and geographical as well as species-specific data associated with avian and other animal viruses, to help researchers understand how the viruses evolve, spread and potentially become pandemics. The GISAID platform was launched on the occasion of the Sixty-first World Health Assembly in May 2008. Created as an alternative to the public domain sharing model, GISAID’s sharing mechanism took into account the concerns of Member States by providing a publicly accessible database designed by scientist for scientist, to improve the sharing of influenza data. In 2010 the Federal Republic of Germany became the official host of the GISAID platform and EpiFlu™ database providing sustainability of the platform and stability through its public-private-partnership with the GISAID Initiative to this day.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) here has launched a project for the restoration and conservation of Myristica swamps, a vanishing ecosystem that could yield precious information about evolutionary biology and climate change. Myristica swamps are characterized by tropical freshwater swamp forests with an abundance of Myristicaceae trees, one of the most primitive of the flowering plants on earth. The evergreen, water-tolerant trees have dense stilt roots helping them stay erect in the thick, black, wet alluvial soil. The swamps also provide habitat for a rich diversity of invertebrate and vertebrate species, including amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. Scientists believe that the swamps could promote better understanding of the influence of climate change on the evolution of plants. They are considered to be living museums of ancient life.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is a composite indicator that measures changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products. The index is compiled and published monthly by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. It is implemented six weeks after the reference month ends, i.e a lag of six weeks. The Base Year of the Index of Eight Core Industries has been revised from the year 2004-05 to 2011-12 from April 2017.

Arabithittu Wildlife Sanctuary comprises of Arabithittu State Forest located in Hunsur Taluk of Mysore district of Karnataka State. It lies between latitudinal range 12º 17′ 16″ to 12º 20′ 41″ North and longitudinal range 76º 22′ 43″ to 76º 28′ 51″ East. Formerly this area was in Hunsur Territorial range. All the sides of the sanctuary are surrounded by private agricultural land except in the North east portion which belongs to the Defence Research Development Organisation of Ministry of Defence. Since the area is very small zonation is not done. Zone of influence outside the boundary is agricultural fields. The boundary of the sanctuary is consolidated by errecting chain link mesh by Defence Research Development Organisation of Ministry of Defence. Even then, the pressure for grazing land by the adjacent farmers is high. Nearby quarries in the private land have been banned from operation.

Statement 1 is correct. Convalescent plasma therapy involves transfusing certain components from the blood plasma of people who have had the disease and recovered into people who are suffering from it.

Statement 2 is correct. Once a person has had the virus and recovered, that person has developed antibodies that will stay in their blood, those antibodies, when injected into another person with the disease, recognize the virus as something to attack.

All statements are correct. Drugs and Cosmetics Rules of 1945 regulates the import, manufacture and distribution of drugs in India.

Schedule H describes the drugs which can be sold out in retail against prescription of registered medical practitioner only i.e. prescription drugs.

Schedule X describes the list of habit forming and narcotic drugs.

Schedule H1 includes antibiotics and anti-tuberculosis drugs, its sales are recorded in a separate register; prescriber, patient, drug and the quantity details are kept for three years and are open for inspection.

Statement 1 is correct. Badrinath, Dwaraka, Puri and Rameshwaram are the Char Dham Hindu pilgrimage locations in India as defined by Adi Shankaracharya.

Statement 2 is correct. Nabakalebara is a festival observed in the Shree Jagannath Temple at Puri. Nabakalebara is a symbolic recreation of the wooden forms of four Hindu deities (Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra, and Sudarshana), the ritual is performed during the eighth, 12th, or 19th year after the previous Nabakalebara.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Hargila (Greater adjutant) is limited to three breeding populations; two (Assam and Bihar) in India and one in Cambodia.

Statement 2 is correct. It is listed in the endangered category, according to the IUCN the total population of the Greater Adjutant Stork is estimated to be between 1,200 and 1,800, around 800 of them are found in Assam, and another 150 in Bihar.

Statement 1 is correct. It is a group of NGOs responding to humanitarian crises like Bangladesh Rohingya refugee crisis, Climate and food crisis in East Africa, Crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo, Crisis in Syria, Crisis in Yemen, Cyclone Idai in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, Hunger crisis in South Sudan.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Global Hunger Index report is jointly published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe (WHH). Oxfam released “Time to Care: Unpaid and Underpaid Care Work and the Global Inequality Crisis” on inequality on the WEF 2020 forum.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Import substitution’s primary objective is to provide protection to domestic industry and make the economy self sufficient, this policy limits the exposure of domestic industry against competition from international products.

Statement 2 is correct. Countries put high tariffs or put quota restrictions, i.e. limit on how much quantity of a good that can be imported into a country, to provide protection to the domestic economy from international markets.

Statement 1 is correct. “Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA) is an umbrella scheme comprising of Price Support Scheme (PSS), Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS), Pilot of Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPPS).

Statement 2 is correct. In the Price Support Scheme (PSS), physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds and Copra is done by Central Nodal Agencies with the proactive role of State governments.

Statement 3 is incorrect. NAFED, Food Corporation of India (FCI) takes up PSS operations in states /districts with help of state governments.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The statement gives the definition of fiscal deficit, Balance of payments refers to the statement of all transactions made between entities in one country and the rest of the world over a defined period of time such as over a financial year.

Statement 2 is correct. BoP includes both the current account and capital account. Current account includes trade balance and invisibles trade balance, while the capital account consists of external assistance, commercial borrowings, foreign investments.

Statement 1 is incorrect. ICMR is not a statutory body. It is the apex body in India for formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, conduct, coordinate and implement medical research for the benefit  of the society.

Statement 2 is correct. The governing body of the council is presided over by the Union Health Minister assisted by Secretary, Department of Health Research MoH&FW and Director General, ICMR.

Statement 1 is incorrect. A Public Health Emergency of International Concern is a formal declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response”.

Statement 2 is correct. The WHO Director-General declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020.