10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: July 29, 2020

The Heads of the Governments of Tiger Range countries at St. Petersburg, Russia in 2010 had agreed to a Global Tiger Recovery Program and resolved to double tiger numbers across their global range by 2022 by signing the St. Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation.

During the said meeting it was also decided to celebrate July 29 as Global Tiger Day across the world, which is since, being celebrated to spread and generate awareness on tiger conservation.

Declaration of Astana relates to strengthening primary health care systems as an essential step toward achieving universal health coverage.

Declaration of Helsinki is a set of ethical principles regarding human experimentation developed for the medical community by the World Medical Association (WMA).

The Kafala (Sponsorship) System emerged in the 1950’s to regulate the relationship between employers and migrant workers in many countries in West Asia. It remains the routine practice in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and also in the Arab states of Jordan and Lebanon.

Under the Kafala system a migrant worker’s immigration status is legally bound to an individual employer or sponsor (kafeel) for their contract period.

The migrant worker cannot enter the country, transfer employment nor leave the country for any reason without first obtaining explicit written permission from the kafeel.

The worker must be sponsored by a kafeel in order to enter the destination country and remains tied to this kafeel throughout their stay.

Some countries claimed to abolish or reform the Kafala, but the system’s most critical vulnerabilities still remain.

Statement 1 is correct. Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) is an accreditation system designed to measure and improve the management of tiger conservation areas.

It was developed through a partnership between governments and conservation organisations to assess levels of effective management, encourage best standards of management, and to support the TX2 goal to double the number of tigers in the wild.

It is driven by the CA|TS Partnership hosted by World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), which comprises of tiger range governments, intergovernmental agencies, conservation organisations and other institutions, including Global Tiger Forum, IUCN, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and WWF among others.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Lansdowne Forest Division in Uttarakhand, India, Chitwan National Park in Nepal and Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in Russia have been awarded CA|TS Approved status.

Minister of MoEFCC recently declared that Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) framework will now be extended to all fifty tiger reserves across the country. 

Both statements are correct.

Green-Ag is a Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded project to catalyze transformative change of India’s agricultural sector to support achievement of national and global environmental benefits and conservation of critical biodiversity and forest landscapes.

It seeks to mainstream biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable land management objectives and practices into Indian agriculture.

The Green-Ag project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through its sixth funding cycle.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) is the national executing agency and FAO is the designated GEF Implementing Agency.

The Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) is the GEF Operational Focal Point and coordinates all GEF projects in the country.

Recently it was launched in Mizoram; other states covered under the project are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand.

Both statements are correct.

Department of Science & Technology in response to combat COVID-19 global pandemic in April, 2020 approved setting up of a Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH) to scout, evaluate and support the innovations and start-ups that address COVID-19 challenges.

It is an initiative by National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST).

The Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), a technology business incubator at IIT Bombay supported by DST has been identified as the Implementing Agency of the CAWACH.

The Bangalore-based Acculi Labs selected to develop a COVID risk assessment profile, has developed a mobile app Lyfas COVID score.

The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest (surface area) inland water body. It covers roughly 143,200 square miles (371,000 square kilometers) and borders five countries: Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

Both statements are correct.

The draft Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 has been released by the government.

It states that with a view to promote domestic and indigenous industry and align the DAP with the reforms enunciated in the ‘Atmanirbhar Abhiyan’, the MoD will notify a list of weapons/platforms banned for import, updated from time to time.

Leasing has been introduced as another category for acquisition in addition to the existing ‘Buy’ and ‘Make’ acquisition categories as it provides for an innovative technique for financing of equipment/platforms. Leasing provides means to possess and operate the asset without owning the asset and is useful to substitute huge initial capital outlays with periodical rental payments.

The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) has now been titled as Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

Both statements are correct.

Kalbelia dance is a folk dance of Rajasthan state also known as ‘Sapera Dance’ or ‘Snake Charmer Dance’. Kalbelia dance is particularly performed by a Rajasthani tribe called ‘Kalbelia’.

Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan are listed in the UNESCO’s representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since the year 2010. In Kalbelia dance, males play various traditional instruments and females perform the dance.

The Tuting-Tidding Suture Zone (TTSZ) is a major part of the Eastern Himalaya, where the Himalaya takes a sharp southward bend and connects with the Indo-Burma Range.

A study by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), exploring the elastic properties of rocks and seismicity in this easternmost part of India revealed that the area is generating moderate earthquakes at two different depths.

Low magnitude earthquakes are concentrated at 1-15 km depth and slightly higher greater than 4.0 magnitude earthquakes are mostly generated from 25-35 km depth. The intermediate-depth is devoid of seismicity and coincides with the zone of fluid/partial melts.

This part of the Arunachal Himalayas has gained significant importance in recent times due to the growing need of constructing roads and hydropower projects, making the need for understanding the pattern of seismicity in this region critical.

Option 1 is incorrectly matched. TheValmiki National Park/Tiger Reserve is located at the India-Nepal border in the West Champaran district of Bihar, India on the bank of river Gandak.

Option 2 is incorrectly matched. The Van Vihar National Park is in the capital city of Madhya Pradesh in Bhopal.

Option 3 is correctly matched. The Satkosia Tiger Reserve is located in the Angul district of Odisha, comprising the two adjoining Sanctuaries, the Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary and Baisipalli Sanctuary.