10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: April 3, 2020

The Natuna Islands is located in Indonesia’s Riau Islands province, the west side of the South China Sea. The Island overlaps with China’s nine-dash line claim under which China argues that the waters around the Natuna islands are Chinese traditional fishing grounds.

The ‘peace clause’ said that no country would be legally barred from food security programmes even if the subsidy breached the limits specified in the WTO agreement on agriculture. This ‘peace clause’ was expected to be in force for four years until 2017, by which time the protagonists hoped to find a permanent solution to the problem.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global campaign that urges countries to adopt its new online tool known as ‘AWaRe’. The tool is aimed at guiding policy-makers and health workers to use antibiotics safely and more effectively. It’s another objective is to limit drugs that are at risk of resistance. The tool ‘AWaRe’ classifies antibiotics into three groups (a) Access— antibiotics used to treat the most common and serious infections (b) Watch— antibiotics available at all times in the healthcare system and (c)Reserve— antibiotics to be used sparingly or preserved and used only as a last resort.

Scientists have finally given a unique bush tomato species a name which is native to the Australia. They named the plant Solanum plastisexum. The species name ‘Solanum Plastisexum’ comes from the Greek root meaning ‘moldable’ or ‘changeble’ combined with the Latin word for sex. The bush tomato species was first discovered by botanists in the 1970s.For decades, the plant remained unnamed and no scientists could understand the functionality of the plant. The sex of its flowers kept changing every time it was studied.

Bharat Stage Emission Standards are emission regulations implemented by the government to keep a check on emissions from motor vehicles. Introduced first in 2000, the current BS-IV norms were enforced in 2017, after BS-II and BS-III norms, which were enforced in 2005 and 2010 respectively. BS-V has been skipped in order to have a more stringent standard to curb pollution levels, apart from the gap between the enforcement of different emission standards also dwindling. BS VI or Bharat Stage VI is the new emission standard that all vehicles in the country will have to adhere to from April 1, 2020. The sale of BS-IV vehicles will also cease from this day.

Statement 1 is incorrect. According to “State of State Finances: 2019-20” report, in 2019-20, states are expected to spend 64% more than the central government.

Statement 2 is incorrect.

Statement 1 is correct. National Health Authority (NHA) is the apex body responsible for implementing India’s flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme “Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.”

Statement 2 is incorrect. NHA is not a statutory body, it has been set up by a gazette notification. The governing body is headed by the Minister of Health & Family Welfare along with a CEO for the authority.

Statement 1 is correct. Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot covers north-east India’s Himalayan states and Myanmar region.

Statement 2 is correct. It is recognised as IBA by Birdlife International, birds like lesser white-fronted goose, ferruginous duck, Baer’s pochard duck and lesser adjutant, greater adjutant, black-necked stork, and Asian Openbill stork specially migrate from Central Asia during the winter season.

Statement 3 is correct. Gangetic Dolphins can be found in the Brahmaputra river system flowing through Kaziranga National Park.

Statement 1 is correct. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay test is used as a serological antibody test to find out whether the human body is developing antibodies to fight foreign antigens.

Statement 2 is correct. It is used for HIV diagnosis, it checks for certain proteins that the body makes in response to HIV.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Section 4 grants power of licensing to the Center government only not the state government.

Statement 2 is correct. Section 5 grants power to the Center & State government on the occurrence of any public emergency, or in the interest of the public safety to intercept messages.

Statement 1 is incorrect. OTT services are media services that run through internet transmission. These are not necessarily free of charge and owner companies providing these services can charge for services.

Statement 2 is incorrect. “Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016” passed by TRAI, prohibits telecom service providers from levying discriminatory rates for data for OTTs.

Statement 1 is correct. The Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine is a vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis (TB) which is a bacterial disease.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The BCG vaccine contains live bacteria that have been weakened (attenuated), so that they stimulate the immune system but do not cause disease in healthy people.

Statement 1 is incorrect. N95 masks have better filtration efficiency than surgical masks but N99 masks are more efficient than N95 respirators.

Statement 2 is correct. The ‘N95’ designation means that when subjected to careful testing, the respirator blocks at least 95 percent of very small (0.3 micron) test particles.

Statement 3 is correct. PPEs are tools to prevent disease or injury to people, N95 are vital PPEs in the medical profession.

All are zoonotic diseases, meaning that each of the above is transmitted to humans from animals.

H1N1 is a Swine influenza common infection in pigs worldwide. COVID-19 is caused by Coronavirus that has Bat as reservoir host. Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. The Nipah virus often infects animals such as pigs and fruit bats.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The FATF Recommendations or Standards are the internationally endorsed global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Statement 2 is correct. The FATF currently comprises 37 member jurisdictions and 2 regional organisations (GCC & EC).

Statement 3 is incorrect. Pakistan is in the Grey List and not in the Blacklist (High Risk Jurisdiction to a Call for Action).