10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: October 16th,2020

Asan Conservation Reserve has become Uttarakhand’s first Ramsar site, making it a ‘Wetland of International Importance”.
It is located on the banks of Yamuna River near Dehradun district. With this, the number of Ramsar sites in India goes up to 38, the highest in South Asia. Asan is home to many rare and endangered species like Rudy Shelduck, Common coot, Gadwall, Kingfisher, Indian cormorant, Baer’s pochard, Northern pintail, Bar-headed goose etc.

Statement 1 is correct. The World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.
WFP’s efforts focus on emergency assistance, relief and rehabilitation, development aid and special operations. Two-thirds of its work is in conflict-affected countries where people are three times more likely to be undernourished than those living in countries without conflict.
Statement 2 is incorrect. In 75 years, the United Nations, its specialized agencies, related agencies, funds, programmes and staff were awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize twelve times. One agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) received the famous prize in both 1954 and 1981.
In 2001, the United Nations, as an organization, and Kofi Annan, as Secretary-General, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Other winners include UNICEF, ILO, OPCW etc.

: Statement 1 is correct. A Government Security (G-Sec) is a tradeable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments. It acknowledges the Government’s debt obligation.
Such securities are short term (usually called treasury bills, with original maturities of less than one year) or long term (usually called Government bonds or dated securities with original maturity of one year or more).
In India, the Central Government issues both, treasury bills and bonds or dated securities while the State Governments issue only bonds or dated securities, which are called the State Development Loans (SDLs).
Statement 2 is correct. SDLs are eligible securities for Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) and Liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) purposes, and are bought by banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, provident funds and other institutional investors.

Option 1 is correct. Thalassemia is an inherited (passed from parents to children through genes) blood disorder caused when the body doesn’t make enough of a protein called hemoglobin, an important part of red blood cells.
When there isn’t enough hemoglobin, the body’s red blood cells don’t function properly and they last shorter periods of time, so there are fewer healthy red blood cells traveling in the bloodstream.
Option 2 is correct. Sickle Cell Disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. Healthy red blood cells are round, and they move through small blood vessels to carry oxygen to all parts of the body. In someone who has SCD, the red blood cells become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a “sickle”.
The sickle cells die early, which causes a constant shortage of red blood cells. Also, when they travel through small blood vessels, they get stuck and clog the blood flow. This can cause pain and other serious problems such infection, acute chest syndrome and stroke.
# Second phase of “Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna” for the underprivileged Thalassemic patients was launched recently. It is a Coal India CSR funded Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) program that aims to provide a one-time cure opportunity for Haemoglobinopathies like Thalassaemia and Sickle Cell Disease for patients who have a matched family donor.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Named after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space, New Shepard is a reusable suborbital rocket system developed by the private company ‘Blue Origin’.
# Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States.
Statement 2 is correct. The rocket system consists of two parts, the cabin or capsule and the rocket or the booster. It has been designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Karman line – the internationally recognized boundary of space.
After separating from the booster, the capsule free falls in space, while the booster performs an autonomously controlled vertical landing back to Earth. The capsule, on the other hand, lands back with the help of parachutes.
It has recently completed its seventh successful test launch.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recently released the report titled State of Climate Services 2020 Report: Move from Early Warnings to Early Action.
As per the report, globally over the past 50 years, some 11,000 disasters, attributed to weather, climate and water-related hazards, claimed over 2 million lives and cost the world economy $3.6 trillion.
It also mentions that after Cyclone Pawan made landfall in early December 2019, flooding in the Horn of Africa created highly favorable breeding conditions for the desert locust. The region is facing the worst desert locust crisis in over 25 years, and the most serious in 70 years for Kenya. Desert locust swarms are also moving across India, Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This report highlights progress made in early warning systems (EWS) capacity – and identifies where and how governments can invest in effective EWS to strengthen countries’ resilience to multiple weather, water and climate-related hazards.

Both statements are correct.
The Leather Sector Skill Council (LSSC) recently announced the launch of Skill Certification Assessment for Leather Employees (SCALE) India web platform and android app.
SCALE will help candidates in the skilling ecosystem to get assessed and certified on their knowledge, skills and behaviour on a specific qualification pack.
It also enables access to micro-learning modules for bridging the skill gaps that are identified and can be re-assessed and certified at the end of the learning on the specific qualification pack.
From an employer standpoint, the platform will serve as a job portal with access to a certified talent pool of candidates to hire from, leading to increase in productivity and profitability. Employers can share their skill gap requirements and check for suitable training modules available to bridge the skill gap of their workforce and raise training requests for short term/customised training that would be serviced by the LSSC.
# LSSC was set up as a non-profit organisation in 2012 as one of the key sector skill councils approved by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study is the most comprehensive worldwide observational epidemiological study to date. It is led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Seattle (USA).
# The study is done in close collaboration with the World Health Organization.
Statement 2 is correct. As per the report the top five risk factors for death in India in 2019 were air pollution (contributing to an estimated 1.67 million deaths), high blood pressure (1.47 million), tobacco use (1.23 million), poor diet (1.18 million), and high blood sugar (1.12 million).
The leading non-communicable cause of death in India in 2019 was ischemic heart disease with 1.52 million deaths, followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (8,98,000), stroke (6,99,000), diabetes (2,73,000) and cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases (2,70,000).
The leading risk factor for total health loss in India in 2019 was child and maternal malnutrition while the second leading risk factor was air pollution.

Union Education Minister recently launched the ‘KAPILA’ Kalam Program for Intellectual Property Literacy and Awareness campaign on the 89th birth anniversary of former President and Scientist Late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Under this campaign, students pursuing education in higher educational institutions will get information about the correct system of application process for patenting their invention and they will be aware of their rights. He further said that we need to take a giant leap in the field of patents.

M-Sand (Manufacured) is sand produced by crushing rocks, quarry stones or larger aggregates pieces into sand-sized particles. It is used for construction purposes in cement or concrete.
M-sand differs from natural river sand in its physical and mineralogical properties.
To bar the unregulated sale of sub-standard M-sand, Tamil Nadu government is to implement a policy with a legal framework for itsproduction and sale.