10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: May 6, 2020

Statement 1 is correct. Pulitzer award was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, a newspaper publisher. It is given in fields of newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition

Statement 2 is incorrect. The award is administered by Columbia University, USA.

Statement 3 is incorrect. Only U.S. citizens are eligible to apply for the Prizes in Books, Drama and Music (except US History category). For the Journalism competition, entrants may be of any nationality, but work must have appeared in U.S. newspaper, magazine or news site that publishes regularly.

Statement 1 is incorrect. USA is the only country till date to have landed manned missions on Moon surface. Total 12 men have landed on moon in six missions of NASA.

Statement 2 is correct. The last crewedLunar mission was undertaken in December 1972.

Statement 3 is incorrect. All manned missions have landed on near side of the moon. Chang’e 4 unmanned spacecraft of China made the first landing on the far side of the Moon in 2019.

Trivia: All six Apollo lunar missions had a third crew member who remained on board the command module.

Statement 1 is correct. The DNA cannot be decoded directly into proteins; it is first transcribed into mRNA which carries the information for making proteins.

Statement 2 is incorrect. mRNA is synthesized in the nucleus using the nucleotide sequence of DNA as a template. The information in DNA is transferred to a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule, this process is called transcription. The flow of information occurs through the sequential processes of transcription (DNA to RNA) and translation (RNA to protein).

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Bharat stage emission standards are developed and instituted by Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Statement 2 is incorrect. India decided to skip the BS-V norms and implement the BS-VI norms directly throughout the country from April 1, 2020 to curb pollution across the country.In 13 major cities, Bharat Stage IV emission norms have been in place since April 2010 and it has been enforced for entire country since April 2017.

Indian Navy launched Operation “SamudraSetu” (Sea Bridge) as part of national efforts to repatriate stranded Indian citizens from overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statement 1 is correct. Article 215 of the constitution states “Every High Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself.” A court of record is one whose proceedings are recorded and available as evidence of fact perpetually.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Article 219 of the constitution states “every person appointed to be a Judge of a High Court shall, before he enters upon his office, make and subscribe before the Governor of the State, or some person appointed in that behalf by him, an oath or affirmation according to the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule”.

Statement 3 is correct. A Judge of a High Court is appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Higher income tax rates reduce the spending power of consumers (earning individuals) which in turn reduces the demand.

Statement 2 is correct. Lower repo rate increases liquidity by providing cheaper loans to banks,which can further pass the relaxations to individual/corporate borrowers and increase consumer spending and investment.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Herd immunity does not require every individual to be vaccinated. The Herd immunity refers to indirect protection from infectious disease that occurs when a large percentage of a population has become immune to an infection. It means that even people who aren’t vaccinated, or in whom the vaccine doesn’t trigger immunity, are protected because people around them who are immune can act as buffers between them and an infected person.

Statement 2 is correct. It can be developed in two ways: Many people contract the disease and in time build up an immune response to it (natural immunity) or many people are vaccinated against the disease to achieve immunity.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Zoonotic diseases are the once that can transfer from animals to humans. African swine fever (ASF) is a severe viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs; it does not spread from animals to humans.

Statement 2 is correct. Previous outbreaks have been reported in Africa and parts of Europe, South America, and the Caribbean. The National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, has confirmed African Swine Fever (ASF) in Assam recently. The central government has informed that it is the first instance of the disease in the country.

Degrowth is socio-economic political movement that opposes the traditional ideas of economic growth which they say have led to severe inequalities, climate change and unsustainableexploitation of resources. It proposes a sustainable growth as against the growth fueled by Consumerism. Degrowth highlights the importance of autonomy, care work, self-organization, commons, community, localized production, work sharing, happiness and conviviality.

National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP).

Statement 1 is incorrect: National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP) was initiated in 2007-08.

Statement 2 is correct: The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP) is the nodal programme of the Government to develop global competitiveness among Indian MSMEs. This programme targets at enhancing the entire value chain of the MSME sector through the following schemes:(a) Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme for MSMEs;(b) Promotion of Information & Communication Tools (ICT) in MSME sector;(c) Technology and Quality Up gradation Support to MSMEs;(d) Design Clinics scheme for MSMEs;(e) Enabling Manufacturing Sector to be Competitive through Quality Management Standards (QMS) and Quality Technology Tools (QTT);(f) Marketing Assistance and Technology Up gradation Scheme for MSMEs;(g) Setting up of Mini Tool Room under PPP Mode;(h) National campaign for building awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR);(i) Support for Entrepreneurial and Managerial Development of SMEs through Incubators.(j) Bar Code under Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme.

Salient features of NEP 2019:

• The policy aims to universalize the pre-primary education by 2025 and provide foundational literacy/numeracy for all by 2025.
• It proposes new Curricular and Pedagogical Structure, with 5+3+3+4 design covering the children in the age group 3-18 years. Under this, Pre-Primary & Grades 1-2 is considered as foundational Stage; Grades 3-5 as Preparatory Stage; Grades 6-8 as Middle Stage and Grades 9-12 as Secondary Stage. This is an academic restructuring only; there will be no physical restructuring of schools.
• Children learn languages, most quickly between 2-8 years, and multilingualism has great cognitive benefits for students. Therefore a three-language formula has been proposed.
• It proposes the teaching of other classical languages and literature, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Pali, Persian, and Prakrit in schools.
• A new independent State School Regulatory Authority (SSRA) to be created.
• It aims to consolidate 800 universities & 40,000 colleges into around 15,000 large, multidisciplinary institutions.
• The policy proposes three types of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs): Research Universities, Teaching Universities and Autonomous degree-granting colleges
• It aims to provide autonomy to all higher education institutions. Higher education institutions to be governed by Independent Boards with complete academic and administrative autonomy
• An autonomous body called the National Research Foundation (NRF) to be set up through an Act of Parliament.
• Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog or the National Education Commission – apex body – to be constituted. It will be chaired by the Prime Minister and will comprise eminent educationists, researchers, Union Ministers, representation of Chief Ministers of States, eminent professionals from various fields.
• MHRD to be re-designated as the Ministry of Education (MoE).
• Increase in public investment by the Central and State Governments to 20% of overall public expenditure over a 10 year period.

Value Added Tax.

Statement 1 is incorrect: Value Added Tax (VAT) is an indirect value added tax which was introduced into Indian taxation system on April 1, 2005. As a taxation concept, VAT replaced Sales Tax. VAT was introduced to make India a single integrated market. On June 2, 2014, VAT was implemented in all states and union territories of India, except Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands.

Statement 2 is incorrect: The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which has replaced the Central and State indirect taxes such as VAT, excise duty and service tax, was implemented on July 1, 2017.

The Long March 5B rocket is a new version of the Long March 5 launcher, China’s most powerful rocket. Designed to lift massive payloads into low Earth orbit, the Long March 5B rocket flies without a second stage and stands a bit shorter than the full-size Long March 5 configuration. The launcher’s lift capability to low Earth orbit is around 55,000 pounds, or 25 metric tons, according to Chinese state media. The Long March 5B version — using a “stage-and-a-half” launch architecture — is tailored to launch large modules for China’s planned space station.

Mouling park is named after a mountain peak nearby “Mouling” which also means red poison or red blood. Situated in the upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh and spread across 483 square km of area has Siang river flowing on the west and Siring, Subong, Semong and Krobong river on the Easter ends. There is tiger, panthers, elephant, hog deer, python, barking deer, sambal deer, buffalo and red panda which could be spotted here. Besides animals, there are several species of birds and plants as well which could be seen here. Tourist near and around the park indulge in rafting, angling and trekking. The Mouling National park is a very isolated area and there are weaker signals for communication and almost no scope of transportation either. Closest towns from this park are Along (130km) and Pasighat (180km), and all offices of the forest department are located outside the park. The weather is extremely humid in Yingkiong and in the lower elevation temperature ranges from 15 degrees Celsius to 38 degrees Celsius while in the winters the upper region experiences snowfall.