10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: July 13, 2020

Statement 1 is incorrect. National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), an attached office of Ministry of Home Affairs, has been created as an IT platform to assist the intelligence and law enforcement agencies in ensuring national and internal security, with the ultimate aim to counter terror.

It aims to allow investigation and law enforcement agencies to access real-time information from data stored with agencies such as the Income Tax Department, banks, insurance companies, Indian Railways, credit card transactions, and more.

Statement 2 is correct. Section 24 of the Right to Information Act, 2005 exempts intelligence and security organizations from the purview of the Act. Section 24(2) allows Central Government to notify intelligence or security organization exempt from the RTI Act. NATGRID has been notified to be exempted from the RTI Act, 2005.

Transplanting after repeated puddling is the conventional method of rice growing, while ‘Direct seeding’ means applying seed directly to the site where plants are wanted.

Statement 1 is correct. Direct seeding requires less labor. Farmers do not have to prepare a nursery, care for it, and pull the seedlings.

Statement 2 is incorrect. In direct seeding, the seeds are exposed to birds, rats, and snails. There is also greater crop-weed competition because rice plants and weeds are of similar age.

Statement 3 is correct. Direct-seeded plants mature 7 to 10 days earlier than transplanted rice. They are not subjected to stress like being pulled from the soil of the nursery and do not need to reproduce fine rootlets.

Statement 1 is correct. Itolizumab is a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody developed by Biocon Limited that selectively targets CD6 cells.

Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies produced by immune cells that are cloned from one parent immune cell. These antibodies are designed to bind to a specific type of proteins.

Humanized antibodies are antibodies from non-human species whose protein sequences have been modified to increase their similarity to antibody variants produced naturally in humans.

Statement 2 is correct. Cytokine storm is an overreaction of the immune system, generating a large number of cytokines that can cause severe damage to the lungs and other organs, and, in the worst scenario, multi-organ failure and even death.

Itolizumab, by binding to CD6, down regulates T cell activation, causes reduction in synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines and possibly plays an important role by reducing T cell infiltration at sites of inflammation.

Itolizumab has recently been approved by DGCI for emergency use in India for the treatment of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in moderate to severe ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) patients due to COVID-19.

Statement 1 is incorrect. ‘One Sun One World One Grid’ (OSOWOG) is an initiative of Govt of India through which India plans to push towards a global ecosystem of interconnected renewable energy resources that are seamlessly shared for mutual benefits and global sustainability.

The initiative is planned across three phases: Middle East-South Asia-South East Asia (MESASEA) interconnection, Solar and other Renewable Energy resources rich regions’ interconnection and Global interconnection to achieve the One Sun One World One Grid vision.

The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is “The Sun Never Sets” and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.

Statement 2 is incorrect. When the International Solar Alliance was announced in 2015, 121 nations situated between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and receiving 300 days of sunlight were deemed eligible for membership, it was later opened for all UN member countries.

Article 243W providing for Powers, authority and responsibilities of Municipalities states that the Legislature of a State may, by law, endow the Municipalities with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government and such law may contain provisions for the devolution of powers and responsibilities upon Municipalities, subject to such conditions as may be specified therein, with respect to—

(i) the preparation of plans for economic development and social justice;

(ii) the performance of functions and the implementation of schemes as may be entrusted to them including those in relation to the matters listed in the Twelfth Schedule.

The Twelfth Schedule lists 18 subjects including urban planning including town planning, Regulation of land-use and construction of buildings, planning for economic and social development, Roads and bridges Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes, Public health, sanitation conservancy and solid waste management, and others.

Minor forest produce is listed in the Eleventh Schedule which lists subjects to be devolved to Panchayats.

Option 1 is correctly matched. Lop Nur is a former salt lake, now largely dried up, located between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. It is major test site for China’s military weapons.

Option 2 is correctly matched. Hagia Sophia, Turkey was built as a Christian cathedral about 1,500 years ago and turned into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of 1453.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site became a museum in 1934 under Turkish Republic founding father Ataturk. Recently Turkish court annulled the site’s museum status; it has been decided by Turkish government to turn it into mosque.

Option 3 is incorrectly matched. Duqm is a port town on the Arabian Sea in central-eastern Oman having heavy Chinese investment.

India and the European Union have been negotiating a bilateral Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) since 2007.

The negotiations cover Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, Investment, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, Rules of Origin, Customs and Trade Facilitation etc.

The agreement is long pending due to issues over labor, environment, data security, visa regulations and government procurement.

The Constitution of India explicitly specifies some of the privileges for Houses of Parliament and of the members and committees thereof:

–Article 105: freedom of speech in Parliament; immunity to a member from any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Parliament or any committee thereof;

immunity to a person from proceedings in any court in respect of the publication by or under the authority of either House of Parliament of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.

–Article 122: Courts are prohibited from inquiring into the validity of any proceedings in Parliament on the ground of an alleged irregularity of procedure.

No officer or Member of Parliament empowered to regulate procedure or the conduct of business or to maintain order in Parliament can be subject to a court’s jurisdiction in respect of exercise by him of those powers.

-Article 361A: No person can be liable to any civil or criminal proceedings in any court for publication in a newspaper of a substantially true report of any proceedings of either House of Parliament unless the publication is proved to have been made with malice.

Further, as per the Constitution any other powers, privileges and immunities of Parliament and MP’s may be defined by Parliament.

International Comparison Program 2017 has been released recently.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The ICP is managed by the World Bank under the auspices of the United Nations Statistical Commission, and relies on a partnership of international, regional, sub-regional, and national agencies.

Statement 2 is correct. The main objectives of the ICP are to:

(i) produce purchasing power parities (PPPs) and comparable price level indexes (PLIs) for participating economies;

(ii) convert volume and per capita measures of gross domestic product (GDP) and its expenditure components into a common currency using PPPs.

Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs)  are calculated based on the price of a common basket of goods and services in each participating economy and are a measure of what an economy’s local currency can buy in another economy.

Statement 3 is correct. ICP 2017 notes that the two largest economies in the world in 2017 were China and the United States, each of whom recorded a PPP-based GDP of just under $20 trillion. Together they accounted for a third of the global economy.

South Asia is home to nearly a quarter of the world’s population and accounted for 8 percent of global GDP. India with a GDP of $8 trillion (PPP) was the third largest economy in the world.

The next ICP comparison will be conducted for reference year 2021.

Fundamental duties under article 51A: It shall be the duty of every citizen of India—

(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem;

(b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom;

(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

(d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so;

(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;

(f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;

(g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures;

(h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;

(i) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence;

(j) to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement;

(k) who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.

After the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002; article 45 reads “the State shall endeavor to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.” Further, right to education (Art. 21A) and under Fundamental duties, sub-section (k) was added.