10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: June 12, 2020

Statement 1 is correct. The border treaty signed between the East India Company and Nepal Kingdom in 1816 is known as the Sugauli Treaty. It established the boundary between the then British India and Nepal Kingdom.

Statement 2 is incorrect. By Treaty of Titalia, 1817 the East India Company restored the territory of Sikkim which was captured by Nepal’s invasion. In return company got trading rights and passage to Tibet.

Option 1 is incorrect. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment seeks to ensure that countries put in place various institutional mechanisms to prevent the use of torture.

Each country that is party to the convention is required to carry out certain steps such as legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent torture, and ensure that torture is a criminal offence, among others.

India signed the convention on October 14, 1997 but has not ratified it so far.

Option 2 is correct. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women or CEDAW is an international human rights treaty, which requires countries to eliminate discrimination against women in all areas and promotes equal rights of men and women. The Convention was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.

India signed the convention on 30 Jul 1980 and ratified on 9 Jul 1993.

Statement 1 is correct. The Natal Indian Congress was founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1894 that aimed to fight discrimination against Indians in South Africa.

Statement 2 is correct. During the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, Gandhi gathered around 1,100 Indians and organized the Indian Ambulance Corps for the British and was awarded Kaiser-I-Hind for his services.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned many times in Africa. He was imprisoned once for refusing to take out a registration certificate, or a pass in terms of the Transvaal Asiatic Registration Act (TARA), and instigated others to do the same. In 1908, he was sentenced to jail for organising the non-violent movements. In 1909, he was sentenced to a three-month jail term in Volkshurst and Pretoria.

Statement 1 is correct. Maguri Motapung beel is located south of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, Assam. It derives its name, ‘Maguri’, from the local term for an invasive catfish, and Motapung is the name of the village nearby.

Beel means wetland in Assamese.

Statement 2 is correct. Maguri Motapung Beels are listed as Important Bird Area by Birdlife International.

Sugauli is also known for Sugauli Treaty, is in Purvi Champaran district of Bihar.

Kalapani is in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand state.

Chushul Valley is in Union territory of Ladakh.

All statements are incorrect regarding the Canine Distemper Virus.

Canine distemper is a viral disease that affects a wide variety of animal families, including domestic and wild species of dogs, coyotes, foxes, lions etc. Most terrestrial carnivores are susceptible to natural CDV infection.

There are no known cases of humans becoming infected with distemper. CDV is not a zoonotic disease.

In September 2018, an epizootic infection caused by canine distemper virus emerged in an Asiatic lion population in India that led to death of several Lions in the Gir forest.

Several vaccines against canine distemper for dogs have developed and are available.

Statement 1 is correct. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mandated by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC); it emerged from the 2005 UN reform process. The UPR report by NHRC is submitted to the Human Rights Council mandated by the United Nations to hold the Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights situations in all 193 member countries.

This report though is not the sole basis of UPR by UNHRC; country reviews are based on three documents: a national report prepared by the State under review, compilation of UN information prepared by OHCHR, summary of information received from stakeholders (including NHRIs).

Statement 2 is correct. NHRC, India has ‘A’ status of accreditation with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, GANHRI. It is given to those NHRIs, which, after a process of review every five years, are found fully compliant with the UN mandated Paris Principles.

Statement 1 is correct. Western Ghats are natural habitats for Indian Bison (Gaur) are found in many national parks/biosphere reserves in the region. They have also been sighted in Kaziranga and Manas National Park.

Statement 2 is correct. Indian Bison or Gaur (Bos gaurus) is listed as vulnerable in IUCN red list.

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was approved by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development in 2015. This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country. The parameters broadly cover “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”.

India Ranking 2020 highlights:

IIT Madras retains 1^st Position in Overall Ranking as well as in Engineering,

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru tops the University list.

IIM Ahmedabad tops in Management Category and AIIMS occupies the top slot in Medical category for third consecutive year.

Miranda College retains 1st position amongst colleges for third consecutive year.

Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, Delhi secures 1st position in “Dental” category, the dental institutions included for first time in India Rankings 2020.

The average depth of the ocean is about 12,100 feet. The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench which is approximately 36,200 feet deep.

Puerto Rico Trench in Atlantic Ocean bordering the Caribbean Sea is the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Sunda Trench also called Java Trench is a deep submarine depression in the eastern Indian Ocean. Its maximum depth is the deepest point in the Indian Ocean.