10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: April 15, 2020

Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi). About 6 million to 7 million people worldwide are estimated to be infected with Trypansoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease. Chagas disease is found mainly in endemic areas of 21 continental Latin American countries1, where it has been mostly transmitted to humans by contact with faeces or urine of triatomine bugs (vector-borne), known as ‘kissing bugs’, among many other popular names, depending on the geographical area. Chagas disease is named after Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, a Brazilian physician and researcher who discovered the disease in 1909. In May 2019, following up on decision of the 72 World Health Assembly, the World Chagas Disease Day was established to be celebrated on 14 April (the date of the year 1909 when Carlos Chagas diagnosed the first human case of the disease, a two-year old girl called Berenice).

For the first time in 144 years, the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) administration has decided to halt the ‘Durbar move’ due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. It is the name for the bi-annual shift of the secretariat and all other government offices in J&K from Srinagar (state’s summer capital) to Jammu (state’s winter capital). The secretariat is located in Srinagar from May to October and in Jammu from November to April. The practice was started by Dogra King Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1872 to escape extreme weather conditions in these places.

Recently, Telangana Chief Minister has suggested RBI to adopt the concept of Helicopter Money to help state governments tide over the current crisis and kick start economic activity in India. The term Helicopter Money was given by American Economist Milton Friedman in his paper “The Optimum Quantity of Money”. It refers to an unconventional monetary policy tool which is aimed at bringing the economy back on track by printing large sums of money and distributing it to the public.

National Innovation Foundation India (NIF) has brought out an indigenous herbal medication (dewormer) in form of commercial product for livestock owners as an alternate to chemical method of treatment of worm. In order to make the indigenous herbal dewormer titles ‘wormivet’ available for livestock owners, NIF worked on a medication in treatment of endoparasite (worm) infestation among livestock sent by Harshadbhai Patel, Gujarat, which was found to be unique. The anthelmintic activity of this medication in naturally infested helminthiasis was assessed. The results demonstrated successful impact of this medication.

Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog and National Informatics Centre (NIC) today jointly launched CollabCAD, a collaborative network, computer enabled software system, providing a total engineering solution from 2D drafting & detailing to 3D product design. The aim of this initiative is to provide a great platform to students of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) across country to create and modify 3d designs with free flow of creativity and imagination. This software would also enable students to create data across the network and concurrently access the same design data for storage and visualization. ATLs established across India, provide tinkering spaces to children to hone their innovative ideas and creativity. AIM’s collaboration with NIC’s CollabCAD is a great platform for students to utilize indigenous, state-of-the-art made-in-India software for 3D modeling/slicing to use 3D Printing. A customized version of CollabCAD for ATLs with features that are most relevant to school students to materialize their ideas and creativity into physical solutions has been developed to enable designing without constraints and, thus, allowing creativity and innovation to thrive.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Rapid tests are in news recently for their application to test for COVID-19. It is not based on polymerase chain reaction but is an antibody based test.

Statement 2 is correct. It checks for the presence of antibodies in the blood which would have developed in the presence of corona virus.

Bhopal gas tragedy, was a methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leak incident on the night of December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal

Maharashtra and Gujarat were the part of the state of Bombay, in 1960, the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed as independent states.

Nagaland was formed on 1 December 1963 by separation from Assam.

Himachal Pradesh was created with the merger of 30 princely states in 1950, and in 1956, was declared a Union Territory, it got full statehood on 25 January 1971.

The state of Goa was formed on 30 May 1987.

Act provides for the Central government to create a fund to be made available to the National Executive Committee to be applied towards meeting the expenses for emergency response.

National Institute of Disaster Management under chapter VII of the act is a premier institute for training and capacity development programs for managing natural disasters in India.

The Act creates NDRF for the purpose of specialist response to a threatening disaster situation or disaster

Statement 1 is correct. Phishing refers to criminal activity that attempts to fraudulently obtain sensitive information. It is typically carried out by email spoofing or instant messaging, it often directs users to enter personal information at a fake website which matches the look and feel of the legitimate site.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Vishing is the telephone equivalent of phishing. It is described as the act of using the telephone in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft

P-8I is a long-range, multimission maritime patrol aircraft manufactured by Boeing, for the Indian Navy. It is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon operated by the US Navy.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Referendum is a device of direct democracy wherein the citizens are directly involved in matters of governance.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Public proposing a law for enactment is called “initiative”, referendum refers to when a political question or law is put to a universal vote.

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) is a report by the International Monetary Fund that analyzes key parts of the IMF’s surveillance of economic developments and policies in its member countries. It also projects developments in the global financial markets and economic systems.

Statement 1 is not correct. The eurozone consists of 19 of the 27 European Union: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

Statement 2 is correct. The euro convergence criteria are the criteria which European Union member states are required to meet to enter the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union and adopt the euro as their currency

Statement 1 is correct. Herd immunity refers to the resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within a population that results if a sufficiently high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease.

Statement 2 is correct. Even people who aren’t vaccinated, or in whom the vaccine doesn’t trigger immunity, are protected because people around them who are immune by vaccine can act as buffers between them and an infected person