10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: June 13, 2020

A massive open online course is an internet-based course offered in variety of fields aimed at unlimited participation and open access.

Coursera, Udemy and edX are MOOC providers offering courses on wide range of subjects in association with many institutions and universities across the world.

The SWAYAM PRABHA is a group of 32 DTH channels devoted to telecasting of high-quality educational programmes on 24X7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite.

SWAYAM is a MOOC programme initiated by Government of India, a platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from Class 9 till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time.

Statement 1 is correct. Lonar crater in Buldhana district of Maharashtra is one of the youngest meteorite craters of the world.

Statement 2 is correct. Lonar Lake has salt water with value around 10.5 on pH scale.

Statement 3 is incorrect. It has been proposed but the Lonar Crater Lake is yet to be declared as Ramsar wetland site.

Statement 1 is correct. The Chairman or the Speaker of the House takes the decision to disqualify a member.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Disqualification rules apply:

-if a member of a house belonging to a political party – voluntarily gives up the membership of his political party or votes (or does not vote) in the legislature, contrary to the directions of his political party.

However, if the member has taken prior permission, or is condoned by the party within 15 days from such voting or abstention, the member shall not be disqualified.

-If an independent candidate joins a political party after the election.

-If a nominated member joins a party six months after he becomes a member of the legislature.

Statement 3 is incorrect. There are such laws in many countries, the anti-defection law in Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore disqualifies a legislator on his ceasing to be member of the party or when he is expelled.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Aarogyapath portal has been developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in partnership with Sarvodaya Infotech and institutional users and manufacturers / authorized suppliers of healthcare essentials are encouraged to register and participate actively.

Statement 2 is correct. This National Healthcare Supply Chain Portal that aims to provide real-time availability of critical healthcare supplies, would serve manufacturers, suppliers and customers.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The power of Supreme Court to issue writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari for enforcement of fundamental rights is enshrined is part of fundamental rights itself under article 32(2).

The power of High Courts to issue such writs is under article 226 and not part of fundamental rights.

Statement 2 is correct. Article 32(3) of the constitution states that without prejudice to the powers of the Supreme Court, Parliament may by law empower any other court to exercise within the local limits of its jurisdiction all or any of the powers exercisable by the Supreme Court under article 32(2), i.e. issue writs.

In order to capture the information regarding movement of migrants and facilitate the smooth movement of stranded persons across States, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed an online Dashboard – National Migrant Information System (NMIS).

The online portal would maintain a central repository on migrant workers and help in speedy inter-State communication/coordination to facilitate their smooth movement to native places. It has additional advantages like contact tracing, which may be useful in overall COVID-19 response work.

Statement 1 is correct. The iFLOWS- Mumbai, a state-of the-art Integrated Flood Warning System for Mumbai has been launched recently. Floods to be estimated 3 days in advance, at ward-level and decision Support System will enable smart decision-making and field action based on risk assessment.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The system has been developed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences using its in-house expertise, in close collaboration with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC).

The system uses rain gauge data and local data such as data on land use, land topography, drainage systems, water bodies in the city, tide levels, infrastructure and population, which has been provided by BMC.

Using these as inputs, the prediction system models weather, rainfall, runoff and water movement, tide and storm surge impacts based on which early Flood Warnings for the city will be provided.

Statement 1 is incorrect. As per provisions in Section 7 of the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 loss of revenue to the States on account of implementation of Goods and Services Tax shall be payable during transition period (five years) and compensation payable to a State shall be provisionally calculated and released at the end of every two months during transition period of 5 years.

Statement 2 is incorrect. As per the section 8 of GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 the GST compensation cess can be levied on both interstate and intra state supply of goods and services.

The receipts from the cess are deposited to a GST Compensation Fund and used for compensating states for any loss due to the implementation of GST.

Both statements are incorrect.

The Nature Index is a database of author affiliation information collected from research articles. It is based on the institution’s or country’s share of articles published in the 82 prestigious scientific journals selected by an independent panel of experts and tracked by the Nature Index database. The database is compiled by Nature Research.

India has been placed at 12th position in country wise ranking. Globally the top-rated Indian institutions in this list are Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a group of 39 institutions at the 160th position and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore at the 184th position.

Statement 1 is correct. Quality Council of India (QCI) was set up in 1997 jointly by the Government of India and the Indian Industry represented by the three premier industry associations i.e. Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), to establish and operate national accreditation structure and promote quality through National Quality Campaign.

Statement 2 is incorrect. QCI functions through 5 main accreditation boards:

National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET), National Board for Quality Promotion (NBQP), National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) and the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).