10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: April 5, 2020

An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130J transport aircraft on Thursday delivered 6.2 tonne of essential medicines and hospital consumables to Maldives under Operation Sanjeevani. These medicines and consumables were procured from eight suppliers in India but couldn’t be transported through any other means due to the 21-day lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19. “At the request of the government of Maldives, the IAF aircraft activated Operation Sanjeevani and lifted these medicines from airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Madurai before flying to the Maldives,” the statement said adding the Army facilitated the transport of these medicines and consumables from warehouses across India to the respective airports.

The government has tested an application that triggers e-mails and SMS alerts to an authorised government agency if a person has jumped quarantine or escaped from isolation, based on the person’s mobile phone’s cell tower location. The “geo-fencing” is accurate by up to 300 m. Kerala was one of the first States to use geo-fencing to track COVID-19 cases. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) shared a standard operating procedure (SOP) with all telecom service providers regarding the application called COVID-19 Quarantine Alert System (CQAS). The system will collate phone data, including the device’s location, on a common secured platform and alert the local agencies in case of a violation by COVID patients under watch or in isolation.

NASA has released new global maps mapping groundwater, soil wetness using GRACE-FO mission satellites. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission was launched in 2018.It is a successor to the original GRACE mission which orbited Earth from 2002-2017. Objective of the mission is to map Earth’s gravity field every 30 days in order to monitor changes in underground water storage, the amount of water in lakes, soil moisture, ice sheets, glaciers and sea level.

Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 authorizes State or Centre to access information of a user’s phone data in case of occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety.

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is a joint venture of four national Public-Sector Undertakings – NTPC Limited, Power Finance Corporation Limited, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited and POWERGRID Corporation of India Limited. As South Asia’s first and foremost energy efficiency leader, EESL leads the market-related activities of the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), one of the eight national missions under the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan on Climate Change.

Some institutions; because of their distinctiveness from the executive, legislature and judiciary; tasked with the protection of key constitutional values such as democracy, legality, impartiality, probity, human rights etc are called fourth branch institutions. In India, institutions of the fourth branch include the Election Commission, Lokpal, Central Bureau of Investigation,, National Human Rights Commission, Information Commission, Central Vigilance Commission, Comptroller & Auditor General, Attorney General, Public Service Commission, University Grants Commission, Finance Commission etc.

Statement 1 is correct. Paris Principles were defined at the first International Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights held in Paris on 7–9 October 1991. NHRC India complies with these principles.

Statement 2 is correct. The GANHRI Bureau consists of sixteen, ‘A’ status NHRIs, four from each region, namely, Americas, Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific. Besides the Annual General Meetings, the NHRC, India has been regularly taking part in its activities as an active Member of the GANHRI.

Statement 3 is correct. It has the powers of a civil court and can grant interim relief.

Statement 4 is correct. It can take suo-moto cognizance of any matter concerning Human Rights violation.

Statement 1 is correct. Section 3 provides penalties for disobeying any regulation or order made under the Act. These are according to section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.

Statement 2 is correct. Health is a state subject in the seventh schedule of the constitution.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The Act has been invoked by states to deal with outbreak of swine flu, malaria diseases in the past.

Statement 1 is incorrect. It empowers a district magistrate, a sub-divisional magistrate or any other executive magistrate specially empowered by the state government in this behalf to issue orders to prevent and address urgent cases of apprehended danger or nuisance.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Orders may be directed against a particular individual, or to persons residing in a particular place or area, or to the public generally.

Statement 3 is correct. No order passed under Section 144 can remain in force for more than two months from the date of the order. The state government can extend this, but not more than six months.

Statement 1 is incorrect. WHO declared H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009.

Statement 2 is incorrect. COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Statement 3 is correct. The Ministry of Home Affairs decided to treat Covid-19 as a “notified disaster”. It will enable the states to spend a larger chunk of funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to fight the pandemic.

Statement 1 is incorrect. It is not mentioned in the constitution, though it has its origins in the constitution where the Council of ministers’s responsibility to the lower house is fixed (Article 75(3)).

Statement 2 is correct. CoM needs a majority in the lower house only.

Statement 3 is incorrect. No prior recommendation by the President is needed.

Statement 4 is correct. It needs a simple majority to be passed.

Statement 1 is incorrect. It is the last resort of appeal to SC where the decision of Supreme Court itself is reviewed after rejection of Review Petition. It was evolved in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra and another case (2002).

Statement 2 is incorrect. There is no mention of curative petition in the constitution. Though SC has power to review its own decision, it is not a right of petitioner. Only when a majority of the judges conclude that the matter needs hearing should it be listed before the same Bench.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The office of ‘whip’, is mentioned neither in the Constitution of India nor in the Rules of the House nor in a Parliamentary Statute. It is based on the conventions of the parliamentary government.

Statement 2 is correct. If a legislator violates his party’s whip, he is liable to face expulsion from the House under the Anti Defection Act.

Statement 1 is correct. It is gender neutral law, different forms of sexual abuse including but not limited to sexual harassment, pornography, penetrative & non-penetrative assault are defined in the Act.

Statement 2 is correct. To monitor the implementation of the Act, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and State Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) have been made the designated authority.

Statement 3 is incorrect. “Children” according to the Act are individuals aged below 18 years.

Statement 1 is incorrect. A nominated member is shielded from Anti Defection Law if they choose to join a political party within 6 month of their nomination.

Statement 2 is correct. Only elected members vote in the President’s election but nominated members do vote in impeachment of the President.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Members are nominated to Rajya Sabha by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers.