10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: March 21, 2020

The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Bill, 2019 was introduced in Rajya Sabha by the Minister of State for AYUSH. The Bill seeks to repeal the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 and provide for a medical education system which ensures: (i) availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals of Indian System of Medicine, (ii) adoption of the latest medical research by medical professionals of Indian System of Medicine, (iii) periodic assessment of medical institutions, and (iv) an effective grievance redressal mechanism. There will be a uniform National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to under-graduate education in each of the disciplines of the Indian System of Medicine in all medical institutions regulated by the Bill.  The NCISM will specify the manner of conducting common counseling for admission in all such medical institutions.  The Bill proposes a common final year National Exit Test for the students graduating from medical institutions to obtain the license for practice.  Further, there will be a uniform post-graduate National Entrance Test which will be conducted separately for admission into post-graduate courses in each of the disciplines of the Indian System of Medicine in all medical institutions.

Lok Sabha has passed the Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020. It seeks to amend the Aircraft Act, 1934 which regulates the manufacture, possession, use, operation, sale, import and export of civil aircrafts, and licensing of aerodromes. The Bill converts three existing bodies under the Ministry of Civil Aviation into statutory bodies under the Act.   These three authorities are: (i) the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), (ii) the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and (iii) the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB).   Each of these bodies will be headed by a Director General who will be appointed by the centre.

India has signed an agreement with Israel for procurement of Negev light machine guns (LMG). Negev is a light machine gun (LMG) with powerful target acquisition. It was adopted by the Israeli Defense Forces in 1997. It has semi-automatic mode to provide accurate, controlled fire in close quarter battle.

The UK Government has apologised for the Windrush Scandal which involved Windrush generation being wrongly detained or deported for being illegal immigrants. The Windrush generation refers to the immigrants who came to the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries. The immigrants came at the invitation of the British government which was facing a labour shortage due to the destruction caused by World War II. They are referred to as Windrush Generation which relates to a ship named ‘Windrush’, which brought them to the UK shores in 1948.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has initiated the ‘Project NETRA. NETRA stands for Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis. It is an early warning system in space to detect space debris and to safeguard India’s functional satellites in low-earth orbits. Under NETRA,ISRO plans to put up many observational facilities such as (a)connected radars (b)telescopes (c)data processing units and a (d)Space Situational Awareness Control Centre. These facilities can spot, track and catalogue objects as small as 10 cm, up to a range of 3,400 km and equal to a space orbit of around 2,000 km.