10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: October 23rd 2020

Option 1 is correct. COVIRAP diagnostic kit using a low-cost portable unit developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Option 2 is correct. FELUDA (FNCAS9 Editor-Limited Uniform Detection Assay) is a coronavirus detection test developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and to be commercialized by Tata Sons.
Option 3 is incorrect. Currently, three vaccine candidates are at different phases of trial in India. Two homegrown vaccine candidates — Covaxin by Bharat Biotech and ZyCoV-D by Zydus Cadila have already started the phase II clinical trial. Another vaccine candidate, Covishield, developed by the University of Oxford has recently commenced the phase III clinical trial in India.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an independent U.S. foreign assistance agency that has the goal of reducing poverty in developing countries through supporting economic growth.
It was created by the U.S. Congress in January 2004 with strong bipartisan support. MCC grants are designed to complement other U.S. and international development programs, as well as create an enabling environment for private sector investment.

Statement 1 is correct. A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that helps reveal how the tissues and organs in the body are functioning.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Positron emission tomography (PET) uses small amounts of radioactive materials called radiotracers or radiopharmaceuticals, a special camera and a computer to evaluate organ and tissue functions. By identifying changes at the cellular level, PET may detect the early onset of disease before other imaging tests can.
# Scientists in the Netherlands have discovered a potential new organ in the human throat, they have identified a set of salivary glands deep in the upper part of the throat and have named them “tubarial salivary glands”.
The new organ was discovered while scientists were studying prostate cancer cells using PSMA PET-CT technology — a combination of CT scans and positron emission tomography (PET) — which is good in detecting salivary gland tissues.

Both statements are correct.
The Labour Bureau, an attached office of the M/o Labour & Employment, has been compiling Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers every month on the basis of the retail prices of selected. The index is compiled for 78 centres and All-India and is released on the last working day of succeeding month.
The Labour and Employment Ministry has recently revised the base year of the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) from 2001 to 2016.
The number of items directly retained in the index basket has increased to 463 items as against 392 items in the 2001 series. The weight to food and beverage was reduced from 46.2% to 39%, while spending on housing increased from 15.2% to 17%.

Both statements are incorrect.
The tradition of Indian miniature painting can be traced from the 9th-10th century in the Buddhist Pala period palm leaf manuscript of eastern India and in the western India in the Jaina palm leaf manuscript.
With the introduction of paper in 12th century in India, illustrations on paper manuscript of larger format than the narrow palm leaf began to come into vogue.
With Mughal Empire, (1526-1757 AD) the studios were established at the Imperial court and Indian painting began a new phase in its evolution. It was from there that illustrated manuscripts, album miniatures, portraits, celebratory or genre scenes and various other paintings made their way allover India.
# The Life in Miniature project was launched recently as collaboration between the National Museum, New Delhi, Ministry of Culture, and Google Arts and Culture.

Statement 1 is incorrect. “INS Kavaratti” is a Project 28 (Kamorta class) Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvette.
It is not nuclear powered rather the Kamorta class corvettes are powered by four Pielstick 12 PA6 STC marine diesel engines. The engines, license-built by Indian company Kirloskar, enable the Kamorta-class vessels to be highly maneuverable with a top speed of 25 knots.
Statement 2 is correct. It has been indigenously designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house organisation, Directorate of Naval Design (DND), and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.
Kavaratti has a state-of-the-art weapons and sensor suite capable of detecting and prosecuting submarines.
# Kavaratti takes her name from erstwhile INS Kavaratti which was an Arnala class missile corvette. The older Kavaratti distinguished herself by operating in war of Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971.

e-Dharti Geo Portal is GIS based mapping of each and every Government property under Land & Development Office (L&DO), whether it is allotted or still lying vacant. Through this portal the Lessee of the property will be able to see the basic details of his/her property along with map showing its location.
The L&DO has devised a property certificate incorporating details and the outline map of the property which is available online on the portal.

Statement 1 is correct. The principle of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) was agreed at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and is a facility granted to developing countries (“beneficiary countries”) by certain developed countries (“donor countries”). It is not negotiated with them: the preferential treatment is non-reciprocal.
Statement 2 is correct. The UNCTAD website mentions that the following 13 countries grant GSP preferences: Australia, Belarus, Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States of America.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The State of Global Air is collaboration between the Health Effects Institute and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s Global Burden of Disease project
Statement 2 is correct. As per the report, Global levels of ozone exposure have been slowly but steadily increasing over the past decade. On average, global exposure to ozone increased from about 47.3 ppb in 2010 to 49.5 ppb in 2019.
Countries in South Asia saw the steepest increase, while some countries in the High-Income, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and East Asia Regions experienced modest declines.
India, for example, experienced an increase of about 17% — from 56.5 ppb (95% UI: 56.3 to 56.6) in 2010 to 66.2 ppb (95% UI: 66.0 to 66.3) in 2019.
# India had third highest ozone exposures globally in 2019 after Qatar and Nepal.

Both statements are correct.
This well-preserved, ancient asteroid, known as Bennu, is currently more than 200 million miles (321 million kilometers) from Earth.
The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex) spacecraft travelled to a near-Earth asteroid, called Bennu and aims bring at least a 2.1-ounce sample back to Earth. It recently performed a Touch-And-Go (TAG) sequence to collect the required sample from the asteroid.
If it turns out that the spacecraft did not collect enough sample at Nightingale site, it will attempt another TAG maneuver on Jan. 12, 2021. If that occurs, it will touch down at the backup site called “Osprey,” which is another relatively boulder-free area inside a crater near Bennu’s equator.
The spacecraft is not scheduled to depart Bennu for Earth until April 2021. A landing on Earth for any rock cache in this timeline would be late 2023.