10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: August 21, 2020

Namath Basai is a Kerala state government’s unique programme of teaching tribal children in their mother tongue.

It is implemented by the Samagra Siksha Kerala (SSK) and has succeeded in retaining tribal children in their online classes.

The SSK has distributed some 50 laptops exclusively for Namath Basai. Pre-recorded classes are offered through a YouTube channel.

Both statements are correct.

In order to encourage the cities to improve the status of urban sanitation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) started an annual ranking of the cities in the year 2016. The first Swachh Survekshan conducted in 2016 covered 73 cities and subsequently numbers of cities were added to expand the coverage. This year in 2020 the coverage of the survey includes 4242 cities (including 62 cantonment boards).

Chhattisgarh won the prestigious title of the Cleanest State of India in the > 100 ULB category while Jharkhand was adjudged the Cleanest State of India in the <100 ULB category.

Indore won the coveted title of the Cleanest City of India, Surat and Navi Mumbai won the second and third position respectively (in the > 1 lakh population category).

The Lingaraja Temple marks the culmination of the temple architecture in Bhubaneswar which was the cradle of the Kalinga School of Temple Architecture.

The temple can broadly be divided into four main halls. The Garba Griha (Sanctum Sanctorum), the Yajana Mandapa (the hall for prayers), the Natya Mandapa (dance and music hall) and the Bhoga Mandapa (where devotees can have the offering of the Lord).

Statement 1 is correct. Bindusagar Lake is located in the north side of the temple. The lake is centre of activities for the people of Old Town and is the hub of temple festivities.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Lingaraja Temple was built during the 11th century AD. The temple has been described as “One of the finest examples of purely Hindu Temple in India” by noted critic and historian James Fergusson (1808-1886).

The temple is believed to be built by the kings from the Somavamsi dynasty, with later additions from the Ganga rulers.

Kharavela was a king of Kalinga, who ruled during the first or second century BCE. He was the best-known king of the Mahameghavahana dynasty also known as the Chedi dynasty.

Statement 1 is incorrect. TRIFOOD Scheme is a joint initiative of Ministry of Food Processing Industry, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED).

Statement 2 is correct. TRIFOOD aims to enhance the income of tribals through better utilization of and value addition to the Minor Forest Produce (MFP) collected by the tribal forest gatherers. TRIFOOD Scheme, implemented in the backdrop of VanDhan Yojana will promote value addition to Minor Forest Produce (MFP).

As a start, two Minor Forest Produce (MFP) processing units are being set up in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and Raigad in Maharashtra.

The units are envisaged to be professionally operated by reputed food processors who will operate the facilities for a designated period of time under the overall administrative control of TRIFED so that the assets created are efficiently commercially utilised as per its installed capacities and designed objectives.

Since 2010 the International Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators Conference (STI Conference) has been organized under the auspice of European Network of Indicator Designers (ENID).

It provides a European and worldwide forum for presenting and discussing advances in constructing, using, and interpreting science and technology indicators. The STI Indicators conference series is devoted to bring together researchers, STI producers and users, as well as other stakeholders.

The next STI Indicators conference was to be held in September 2020 in Aarhus but has been postponed until September 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Statement 1 is correct. Adenoviruses are common viruses that cause a range of illness. They can cause cold-like symptoms, fever, sore throat, bronchitis, pneumonia, diarrhea, and pink eye (conjunctivitis).

Adenoviruses usually spread from infected people to others through: close personal contact such as touching or shaking hands, the air by coughing and sneezing, touching objects or surfaces with adenoviruses on them then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.

Statement 2 is correct. Vectors are viruses that have had the gene responsible for replication removed. Therefore, they no longer pose any threat of infection. Adenoviral vectors are considered safe, and are some of the easiest to engineer.

Scientists use vectors to transport genetic material from a different virus -the one that is being vaccinated against -into a human cell.

Sputnik V uses two types of adenoviral vectors — Ad5 and Ad26 — in the COVID-19 vaccine. In this way, they trick the body, which has developed immunity against the first type of vector and boost the effectiveness of the vaccine with the second shot using a different vector.

Oxford University and China’s Cansino Biologics are also using Adenovirus vector for developing COVID-19 vaccine.

‘National Strategy for Financial Education 2020-2025′ (NSFE) has been released by RBI recently. It has suggested a multi-stakeholder-led approach for creating a financially aware and empowered India.

The five Cs, outlined by the strategy paper, are: Content, Capacity, Community, Communication and Collaboration.

The document stresses on development of financial literacy content for school children (including curriculum and co-scholastic), teachers, young adults, women, new entrants at workplace/entrepreneurs (MSMEs), senior citizens, persons with disabilities, illiterate people.

NSFE states that the Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy (TGFIFL) would be responsible for periodic monitoring and implementation of National Strategy for Financial Education.

This NSFE for the period 2020-2025, the second one after the 2013-18 NSFE, has been prepared by the National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE) in consultation with all the Financial Sector Regulators (RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA), DFS and other stakeholders.

Option 1 is incorrect. The Mangdechhu hydroelectric project is a 720MW run-of-river power plant built on the Mangdechhu River in Trongsa Dzongkhag District of central Bhutan in collaboration with India.

Option 2 is correct. The Rampal Maitree Power Plant is ongoing project of coal-fired power station at Bagerhat District in Khulna, Bangladesh. It is being setup by BIFPCL (Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited) which is 50:50 joint venture between India’s state owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Bangladesh’s Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).

Option 3 is correct. Maitree Express and Bandhan Express are India-Bangladesh train. Maitree Express connects Dhaka in Bangladesh to Kolkata, while Bandhan Express runs between the Indian city of Kolkata and the Bangladeshi city of Khulna.

India and Bangladesh will set up a mechanism to monitor bilateral projects: Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The Lebanese political system is based on a sectarian division of constitutional powers and administrative positions, guaranteeing the representation of certain groups. It was negotiated in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia, by the surviving members of Lebanon’s 1972 parliament.

The flaws of the sect-based governance system in part led Lebanon into civil war. The 1989 Taif Agreement, which put an end to the war, reshuffled the system.

The Taif accords seeked to end the Lebanese civil war. It extends Lebanese sovereignty and authority in South Lebanon, occupied by Israel. The accords transferred the power away from the Presidency and vested it in a cabinet equally divided between the Muslims and Christians.

Statement 1 is correct. The Millennium Alliance is an innovation-driven consortium of partners (Public-Private Partnership) including the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), Facebook and Marico Innovation Foundation.

The program is currently running in its sixth year and has played a catalytic role in providing funding, capacity building, and business development support to Indian social enterprises.

Statement 2 is correct. The Millenium Alliance provides a platform to leverage Indian creativity, expertise and resources to:

– Identify game changing innovations

– Rigorously test promising solutions

– Scale innovations that work to a level that it reaches and affects the needy population.

Millennium Alliance offers three types of grants: Stage 1, Stage 2, and South-South. Funding amount for Stages 1 is fixed at Rs. 30 lakhs and, for Stage 2, it is upto Rs. 1 Crore. South-South grant size is determined on a case-by-case basis.

Recently 49 innovations in 5 focus areas received Millennium Alliance Round 6 & COVID19 Innovation Challenge-Awards.