10 PM Current Affairs Quiz : May 10, 2018

The Supreme Court recently made it clear that the Archaeological Survey of India “will have to be thrown out of the picture” if the Taj Mahal has to be saved. The marble structure has been turning green. Stagnation of water in the Yamuna river and high phosphorus in the riverbed had made it a breeding ground for insects that formed patches on the walls of the Taj every summer. To resolve this, the ASI suggested that the water level of the Yamuna be increased and sources of pollution be plugged immediately to stop algae formation on the river bank.But did not follow through with its suggestions. These insects disappeared during winter and reappeared in April. There were also fewer in number during the monsoon. The problem has increased since 2015. Earlier, the insects were eaten by the fish in the Yamuna but marine life has disappeared due to increasing toxicity caused by pollution.

In 2015, when countries finalised the Paris Agreement, they agreed to hold a stock-take in 2018 to assess whether the actions promised were commensurate with their objective of restricting the rise in global temperature. In November 2017, when Fiji took over the presidency of climate negotiations for a year, it proposed that the stock-take (or facilitative dialogue) be held in the spirit of Talanoa, an ancient form of conversation in the Pacific Islands, done in a story-telling format, through which people try to resolve differences without blaming each other. The Talanoa Dialogue is aimed at answering three questions: Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there?

 Licence plates                                         Type of Vehicle

1.White plates with black fonts                 A.Private cars

2.Yellow plates with black fonts                B.Commercial vehicles

3.Black plates with yellow fonts                C.Self driven rental vehicles

4.Blue plates with white fonts                   D.Embassies and High Commission

Operation Insaniyat is an initiative by the Ministry of External Affairs to provide assistance to Bangladesh which is reeling under pressure from the large influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Rohingyas are ethnic minorities who are stateless. Myanmar has refused to provide them citizenship. Faced with persecution they are fleeing to all parts of the world. Bangladesh, being an immediate neighbour has had to bear the brunt.

Recently Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Ltd. (BSCDCL) in Madhya Pradesh launched India’s first cloud-based Common Integrated Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Centre and Integrated Control and Command Centre(ICCC). It will help to monitor and administer multiple city civic utilities and citizen services across seven smart cities in Madhya Pradesh through a central cloud.

Over 20,000 troops from Army’s South Western Command in the beginning of May practiced fighting under a nuclear environment in the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges close to Suratgarh in Rajasthan. Indian Army was fine-tuning its combat readiness in the face of a nuclear weapon environment during Exercise Vijay Prahar. The aim of Vijay Prahar was to ensure the troops can annihilate the enemy in the shortest possible time even in a battle where nukes have been used.