10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: November 9, 2020

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Ground Water Augmentation Awards and National Water Award were launched in the year 2007 with an objective to encourage all stakeholders for adopting innovative practices of ground water augmentation by rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge, promoting water use efficiency, recycling & re-use of water.

Last year National Water Award 2018 was successfully launched by the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and is now is organizing National Water Awards 2019.

Statement 2 is correct. The awards recognize the work done by all stakeholders including the State Governments, Districts, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Gram Panchayats, Urban Local Bodies, Water User Associations, Institutions, Corporate Sector, Individuals etc.

Statement 1 is correct. The Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and Schemes framed there under are administered by a tri-partite Board known as the Central Board of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund, consisting of representatives of Government (Both Central and State), Employers, and Employees.

The Central Board of Trustees administers a contributory provident fund, pension scheme and an insurance scheme for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India.

The EPFO is under the administrative control of Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

Statement 2 is correct. EPFO has proactively partnered with Common Service Centre (CSC) to provide facilities to submit Digital Jeevan Pramaan Patra. Further Post offices have also started collection of Digital Jeevan Pramaan. A multi- agency model adopted by EPFO empowers EPS pensioners with choice and autonomy to select the service delivery agency as per their convenience.

In this regard, a key policy change has been brought by EPFO to allow EPS pensioners to submit their Digital Pramaan Patra at any time during the year as per their convenience and not just during the months of November & December. The Life Certificate will remain valid for One year from the date of submission.

Assessment of climate change over the Indian region: A report of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) discusses the impact of human-induced global climate change on the Indian subcontinent and regional monsoon, the adjoining Indian Ocean and the Himalayas.

–India’s average temperature has risen by around 0.7°C during 1901–2018. In the recent 30-year period (1986–2015), temperatures of the warmest day and the coldest night of the year have risen by about 0.63°C and 0.4°C, respectively.

–Sea surface temperature (SST) of the tropical Indian Ocean has risen by 1°C on average during 1951–2015, markedly higher than the global average SST warming of 0.7°C, over the same period.

–The summer monsoon precipitation (June to September) over India has declined by around 6% from 1951 to 2015, with notable decreases over the Indo-Gangetic Plains and the Western Ghats.

–The overall decrease of seasonal summer monsoon rainfall during the last 6–7 decades has led to an increased propensity for droughts over India. Both the frequency and spatial extent of droughts have increased significantly during 1951–2016.

Statement 1 is incorrect. National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is a first-of-its-kind, whole-of-government exercise to provide world-class infrastructure across the country, and improve the quality of life for all citizens. It aims to improve project preparation, attract investments (both domestic and foreign) into infrastructure, and will be crucial for target of becoming a $5 trillion economy by FY 2025.

The Final Report of NIP Task Force has projected total infrastructure investment of Rs 111 lakh crore during the period FY 2020-25.

The Centre (39 per cent) and states (40 per cent) are expected to have an almost equal share in implementing the projects, while the private sector has a 21 per cent share.

Statement 2 is correct. The NIP dashboard is being hosted on the India Investment Grid (IIG).

India Investment Grid (IIG) is an interactive and dynamic online platform to showcase the best of investment opportunities in India to the global investor community. Developed and managed by Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, IIG serves as the gateway to investments in India, and is also widely used by Indian missions and embassies across the world.

Statement 1 is correct. The concept of generalized tariff preferences was originally mooted at the first UNCTAD Conference, which took place in Geneva in 1964.  It was formally accepted in 1968 by the members of the UN at the second UNCTAD Conference in New Delhi, which established the key principles of the generalized system of preferences (GSP), i.e. its application to all developing countries, non-reciprocity of concessions and internal non-discrimination.

Statement 2 is correct. In March 2019, President Trump’s administration announced that it would revoke India’s GSP status, since India failed to make improvements. India’s GSP benefits were terminated in June 2019.

The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.

On Aug. 2, 2019, the United States formally withdrew from the INF Treaty citing Russian noncompliance and concerns about China’s intermediate-range missile arsenal.

Statement 1 is correct. The one‐time claim of Maldives to Minicoy Island was resolved by the Maritime Boundary Treaty of 1976 between the two countries, whereby Maldives has recognized Minicoy as an integral part of India.

Statement 2 is correct. In 1988, a Maldivian group led by Abdullah Luthufi attempted to overthrow the government in Maldives. The group was aided by armed mercenaries of the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), a Sri Lankan Tamil secessionist organisation.

The intervention by Indian armed forces – codenamed ‘Operation Cactus‘ – foiled the attempted coup.

Statement 1 is correct. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are super intense, millisecond-long bursts of radio waves produced by unidentified sources in the distant cosmos.

Statement 2 is incorrect. NASA has reported that on April 28, it observed a mix of X-ray and radio signals never observed before in the Milky Way. Significantly, the flare-up it observed included the first fast radio burst (FRB) seen within the galaxy.

It was detected by several satellites including NASA’s Wind mission and Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), a radio telescope located in British Columbia.

Tarballs are small light-absorbing, carbonaceous particles formed due to burning of biomass or fossil fuels that deposit on snow and ice. Tarballs are formed from brown carbon, emitted during the burning of fossil fuels.

They also form when crude oil floats on the ocean surface. Tarballs are formed by weathering of crude oil in marine environments.

HFCs or hydrofluorocarbons, are super greenhouse gases, manufactured for use in refrigeration, air conditioning, foam blowing, aerosols, fire protection and solvents.

HFCs unlike most other greenhouse gases are not waste products but are intentionally produced. HFCs were developed as alternatives to ozone depleting substances that are being phased-out under the Montreal Protocol. Unfortunately, HFCs have a global warming potential 1000 to 3000 times that of CO2.

The Kigali Amendment to phase down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol entered into force in 2019. Under the amendment, countries commit to cut the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80% over the next 30 years to avoid more than 70 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 2050 — and up to 0.5° C warming by the end of the century.