10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: March 31, 2020

Earth Hour was started in 2007 by the World Wildlife fund for Nature (WWF). It aims to call attention towards global warming, loss of biodiversity and climate change. Earth Hour is observed on the last Saturday of March every year. Under this initiative, people switch off their lights for one hour. The theme for year 2020 was “Climate Change and sustainable development”.

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975. It is the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons.

Obligations: The treaty bans the development or acquire or transfer of

1. a) biological agents or toxins that have no justification for peaceful uses and
2. b) weapons or equipment designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes.

Members: It currently has 183 states. India signed the convention in 1973.

• The Three Seas Initiative (3SI) is a forum that brings together Twelve European Union member states between the Adriatic Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
• Members:Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
• Aim:To promote economic growth, security and a stronger and more cohesive Europe.

Project Arunank has reconstructed the Daporijo Bridge across Subansiri river in Arunachal Pradesh. It is being implemented by Border Roads Organization (BRO), an important arm of the Ministry of Defence in Arunachal Pradesh. It aims to link remote regions of the borders with well developed strategic roads. Project Arunank is named after the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Innovation of Science Pursuit for Inspire Research (INSPIRE) is one such innovative scheme proposed by the Department of Science & Technology for attraction of talent to science. The basic objective of INSPIRE would be to communicate to the youth population of the country the excitements of creative pursuit of science and attract talent to the study of science at an early stage and build the required critical human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the Science & Technology system and R&D base.

INSPIRE Scheme has included three programs and five components. They are

1. Scheme for Early Attraction of Talents for Science (SEATS),
2. Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) and
3. Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC).

Statement 1 is correct. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used in molecular biology to rapidly make millions to billions of copies of a specific DNA sample allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it to a large enough amount to study in detail. Reverse Transcriptase PCR, is a variation of the polymerase chain reaction that typically measures RNA expression levels.

Statement 2 is correct. RT-PCR is commonly used in the diagnosis and quantification of RNA virus infections like COVID-19.

Statement 1 is incorrect. ‘Fully Accessible Route’ (FAR) has been introduced by RBI to allow NRIs to invest in specified government securities.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Eligible investors can invest in specified government securities without being subject to any investment ceilings.

Statement 1 is incorrect. It is administered by UNEP. Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) is a global operation that collects information to better understand and protect the Earth’s environment.

Statement 2 is correct. GEMS arose from recommendations of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment which was held in Stockholm in 1972.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Kawal Tiger Reserve is located in Adilabad district in Telangana. Its flora Dry Deciduous Teak Forests type and fauna includes tiger, leopard, gaur, cheetal, sambar, nilgai, barking deer, chowsingha, sloth bear etc.

Statement 2 is correct. Kadam river is a minor tributary of Godavari that flows through Kawal Tiger reserve.

Option 1 is incorrectly matched. Western disturbances bring the rain in the winter season in the northern part of the country which are beneficial for Rabi crops.

Option 2 is incorrectly matched. Monsoon rains are beneficial for Kharif crops.

Option 3 is correctly matched. Zaid crops are summer season crops grown on the sub-continent on dry lands which do not have to wait for monsoons. They grow in the long duration between Rabi and Kharif crop season, mainly from March to June.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Godavari is the longest river in peninsular India. Kaveri is third longest after Godavari and Krishna rivers.

Statement 2 is correct. The Kaveri river has water flow throughout the year because it gets rainwater from south-west monsoons in the upper-catchment area and from the north-east monsoons in the lower-catchment area.

Statement 3 is correct. The Shivanasamudra Falls is on the Kaveri River, The island town of Shivanasamudra divides the river into twin waterfalls.

Option 1 is incorrectly matched. Kudumbashree Mission is a poverty alleviation scheme in Kerala under the Local Self-Government Department.

Option 2 is correctly matched. Akshara Dasoha is the mid-day meal scheme of the Karnataka government.

Option 3 is incorrectly matched. The Rythu Bandhu scheme is a welfare programme launched by the Telangana government to support farmers’ investment for two crops per year.

Statement 1 is correct. If a patient is a carrier for a disease or infection but experiences no symptoms that is called an asymptomatic patient.

Statement 2 is  not correct. According to WHO asymptomatic transmission is possible for COVID-19 but the main way the COVID-19 disease spreads is through respiratory droplets expelled by someone who is coughing. The risk of catching COVID-19 from someone with no symptoms at all is very low.

Statement 1 is correct. Serological/Antibody test’s purpose is to detect serum antibodies or antibody-like substances that appear specifically in association with certain diseases.

Statement 2 is correct. Antibody is created to recognise a specific structure on an invading foreign cell or particle. The specific structure that is recognised is called an antigen. Antibodies attach to the antigens, creating antigen-antibody complexes (immune complexes) that serve as signals for the rest of the immune system to destroy the cell or particle.

Statement 1 is correct. As per Indian Constitution(Article 311), no person who is below the rank of appointing authority can dismiss a member of all india services. Therefore only the President of India is the authority who can dismiss an IAS Officer.

Statement 2 is correct. CAT exercises original jurisdiction over all service matters concerned with: members of the all-India services, persons appointed to any civil service of the Union or civil post under the Union, civilians appointed to any defence services or posts related to defence and employees of PSUs or public sector organisations notified by the government.