10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: April 17, 2020

Vietnam is chairing a Special Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit via video-conference due to Corona virus pandemic. The ASEAN is a regional grouping which was established in 1967 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration. The member countries of ASEAN are Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei, and Laos.

Google has launched a global Journalism Emergency Relief Fund. Its aim is to support small and medium-sized news organizations producing original news for local communities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad has added another product to the portfolio of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to combat the coronavirus by developing the ‘COVID-19 Sample Collection Kiosk’ (COVSACK). The COVSACK is a kiosk through which healthcare workers can take coronavirus samples from suspected infected patients. The patient walks into the kiosk and a nasal/oral swab is taken by healthcare professional from outside through the built-in gloves, according to a statement. The kiosk is automatically disinfected without the need for human involvement, making the process free of infection spread. The shielding screen of the kiosk cabin protects the healthcare worker from the aerosols/droplet transmission while taking the sample. This reduces the need of frequent PPE change by healthcare workers.

Fit India Active Day Programme is an initiative of Fit India in partnership with CBSE to ensure fitness of all school children through live sessions which will cover all aspects of fitness from daily workouts to yoga, nutrition to emotional well-being.

EIA is a process which studies all aspects of the environment and seeks to anticipate the impact (positive and/or negative) of a proposed project or development on the environment. EIA is mandatory under the Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986 for 29 categories of developmental activities involving investments of Rs. 50 crores and above. Environmental Impact Assessment, abbreviated as EIA is comparatively new planning and decision making device first used in the United States in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 that raised awareness of the serious environmental effects of human activities which were inadequately controlled by existing planning regulation and pollution control measures.

Statement 1 is not correct. Gulf Cooperation Council is a grouping of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf except Iraq, namely: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Statement 2 is incorrect. GCC is a regional intergovernmental political and economic union. Its major objective is to have closer economic cooperation and have a common market and currency.

Statement 1 is incorrect. There is no need to put a person in REM sleep, currently standard virtual reality systems use either virtual reality headsets or multi-projected environments to generate realistic images.

Statement 2 is correct. Its applications include entertainment (video games) and educational purposes (medical or military training).

Statement 1 is correct. IATA is a trade association of the world’s airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences that served as a forum for price fixing.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the specialized agency of the UN in aviation matters not IATA.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Air India, Indigo, Vistara and others are members of IATA.

Statement 1 is incorrect. National Testing Agency (NTA) has been established to conduct entrance examinations for admission/fellowship in higher educational institutions not recruitment exams.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The NTA is chaired by an eminent educationist who will be appointed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Statement 1 is correct. As per the The National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, the chairman and members of commission shall be from amongst the minority communities.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Initial notification of 1993 notified five religious communities viz; the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) as minority communities. Further by notification issued in 2014, Jains have also been notified as a minority community

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Constitution does not prescribe the term of AGI, as per article 76(4) “the Attorney-General shall hold office during the pleasure of the President, and shall receive such remuneration as the President may determine.”

Statement 2 is correct. Article 76(1) states “the President shall appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court to be Attorney- General for India.”

Statement 1 is correct. A fiscal stimulus package is a package of economic measures put together by a government to stimulate a slowing economy, the objective of a stimulus package is to reinvigorate the economy and prevent or reverse a recession.

Statement 2 is incorrect. It focuses on increasing government spending and lowering taxes and interest rates in order to stimulate an economy out of a recession or depression.

Statement 1 is incorrect.  It is a statutory autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament, its chairperson is appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of – the Chairman of the Council of States, the Chairman of the Press Council of India and one nominee of the President of India.

Statement 2 is correct. The act puts the Doordarshan Television Network and All India Radio under Prasar Bharti.

Statement 1 is incorrect. There is no official definition for the term but it generally refers to a nuclear test where there is no explosive chain reaction of the sort caused by an atomic bomb nuclear warhead, therefore statement 2 is correct.

Both statements are correct. Two main objectives of the food grains procurement by the government is to provide remunerative prices of produce to farmers via MSP and affordable food grains to weaker sections of the society via PDS/NFSA.