10 PM Current Affairs Quiz : February 18, 2019

The Finance Commission is a constitutional body appointed every five years by president and consists of a chairman and four other members.15th finance commission is setup under the chairmanship of NK Singh to advise on the basis of Terms of reference (TOR).

The 15th Finance Commission (FC) will be using data from 2011 census for the devolution of taxes. Few states have expressed concern over the decision as it would result in lower resource allocation.

14th Finance commission had used 1971 Census formula which was given 17% weight i.e. more populous state will get more funds. While, 15th FC will use the 2011 Census data. Since, Southern states have reduced their fertility rate between 1971 to 2011, whereas Northern states could not achieve it. So, southern states fear they will get proportionately less funds, if 2011 Census is used.

The International Court of Justice was established in 1945 at Hague, Netherlands. It is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms of office by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. Its objective is to settle legal disputes submitted to it by (a)states (b) duly authorized international branches and (c) UN General Assembly.

The blackbuck, an antelope, was notified as the state animal of Punjab in 1989. In Punjab, it is only found in Abohar Wildlife Sanctuary. This is because semi-arid plains consisting agricultural fields, intermittent fallow lands, scattered sand dunes, sand mounds and ridges provide suitable habitat for the animal.

The hunting of blackbuck is prohibited in India under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The Zuari River is the longest river in Goa. It originates at Hemad-Barshem in the Western Ghats and drains into the Arabian Sea at Mormugao after forming an estuary.

Mormugao Port is located at the mouth of the Zuari River, in the town of Mormugao, Goa. It has a naturally protected harbour.

Helen Hobbs won the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for discovery of a mutation in a gene called PCSK9,

The PCSK9 are a new class of injectable drugs that reportedly reduce ‘bad’ cholesterol levels by up to 60% when combined with a statin (another class of drugs prescribed to help lower cholesterol levels).

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol is considered the ‘bad’ variant of cholesterol as it contributes to plaque deposition, leading to the hardening and narrowing of arteries or ‘atherosclerosis’ (thickening of artery walls owing to accumulation of white blood cells).

The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover centrepiece, Curiosity, is the most ambitious Mars mission.

Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two people on the Moon. Apollo 17 was the final mission of NASA’s Apollo mission and the last mission in which humans travelled to and walked on the Moon.

Recently, China’s Chang’e-4 lunar rover made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon. The far side of the moon is the hemisphere that never faces Earth, due to the moon’s rotation.