10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: October 24th 2020

Statement 1 is correct. The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is a mandatory savings scheme under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
–It covers every establishment in which 20 or more persons are employed (and certain other establishments which may be notified by the Central Government even if they employ less than 20 persons each), subject to certain conditions and exemptions as provided for in the Act.
–The pay ceiling is Rs.15000/- per month. Persons drawing pay above Rs. 15,000/- are exempted or can be enrolled with some permission or on voluntary basis.
Statement 2 is correct. The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 is applicable to non-seasonal, manufacturing establishments (other than a mine subject to the operation of the Mines Act, 1952, or a railway running shed) employing 10 or more workers. For health and medical institutions, the threshold limit is 20 workers.
–ESI Scheme for India is an integrated social security scheme for the workers in the organized sector and their dependents, in contingencies, such as Sickness, Maternity and Death or Disablement due to an employment injury or occupational hazard.
–The wage ceiling is Rs.21000/- per month. Subscribers are termed as Insured Persons (IP) and a new IP number can also arise due to change in employment.
Statement 3 is incorrect. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)’s National Pension scheme (NPS) is an easily accessible, low cost, tax-efficient, flexible and portable retirement account.
— From 1st January 2004, the Central and the State Governments have adopted this scheme for new employees except for armed forces.
–.NPS was extended to Corporate Sector from 2009 onwards and it provides platform for Corporates to make co-contribution in NPS accounts of their subscribers or facilitate them to make their own contributions for their NPS accounts.

Both statements are correct.
Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 amended the 1988 PCA.
The amendment act introduced the offence of giving a bribe as a direct offence. However, a person who is compelled to give a bribe will not be charged with the offence if he reports the matter to law enforcement authorities within seven days.
The PCA 1988 required prior sanction of the appropriate government for prosecution of serving public officials. The 2018 Amendment Act extends this protection of requirement of prior approval to any enquiry, inquiry or investigation prior to prosecution.
Accordingly, no police officer shall initiate any enquiry, inquiry or investigation against a current/former public servant for an alleged offence (where the alleged offence relates to recommendations made or decisions taken in the course of his official duties), without the prior approval of the employer government.
Such approval would not be necessary in cases which involves the arrest of a person on the spot on the charge of taking a bribe.

All of the above are listed in the Concurrent List under Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. In the Concurrent list;
Entry 6 is Transfer of property other than agricultural land; registration of deeds and documents;
Entry 33(b) is Trade and commerce in, and the production, supply and distribution of foodstuffs, including edible oilseeds and oils; and
Entry 38 is Electricity.

Option 1 is incorrect. Astra is an all-weather beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
Option 2 is correct. The anti-tank guided missile or ATGM Nag has been developed by the DRDO to engage heavily armored enemy tanks in day and night.
The final user trial of India’s third-generation anti-tank guided missile Nag was carried out recently at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan.
The missile has fire-and-forget and top attack capabilities with passive homing guidance to defeat all main battle tanks equipped with composite and reactive armour.
Option 3 is correct. The indigenous missile ‘stand-off anti-tank missile’ (SANT) being developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is expected to be mated to the Indian Air Force’s Russian-origin Mi-35 attack helicopters.

Both statements are correct.
An antibody is a protein that sticks to a specific protein called an antigen. Antibodies circulate throughout the body until they find and attach to the antigen. Once attached, they can force other parts of the immune system to destroy the cells containing the antigen.
Researchers can design antibodies that specifically target a certain antigen, such as one found on cancer cells. They can then make many copies of that antibody in the lab. These are known as monoclonal antibodies.
Monoclonal antibodies are used to treat many diseases, including some types of cancer. To make a monoclonal antibody, researchers first have to identify the right antigen to attack.
# Serum Institute of India (SII), along with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a non-profit scientific research organisation recently announced an agreement with pharmaceutical major Merck to develop SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs).

The Poverty and Equity Briefs (PEBs) of World Bank Group highlight poverty, shared prosperity and inequality trends for over 100 developing countries. The briefs are released twice a year for the Spring and Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund.
The India PEB October 2020 notes: Between FY2011/12 and 2017, India’s poverty rate is estimated to have declined from 22.5 percent to values ranging from 8.1 to 11.3 percent at the international poverty line (2011 PPP $1.90 per person per day). However, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, poverty rates in 2020 are estimated to revert to levels observed in 2016.
# ‘Global Estimate of Children in Monetary Poverty: An Update’ that builds on previous collaboration between the World Bank Group and UNICEF to estimate the global extent of child poverty. It estimates that one in six children or 356 million globally were living in extreme poverty before the COVID-19 pandemic began, and this is set to worsen significantly.

The FATF listed High-risk jurisdictions have significant strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of proliferation. This list is often externally referred to as the “black list”.
Currently only two countries are under the black list: Iran and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Pakistan is listed as Jurisdictions under increased monitoring, that are actively working with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. This list is often externally referred to as the ‘grey list’.

Statement 1 is correct. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set up by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010.
Statement 2 is correct. GCF’s investments are aimed at achieving maximum impact in the developing world, supporting paradigm shifts in both mitigation and adaptation. The Fund aims for a 50:50 balance between mitigation and adaptation investments over time.
It also aims for a floor of 50 percent of the adaptation allocation for particularly vulnerable countries, including Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and African States.

The World Happiness Report is a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, powered by data from the Gallup World Poll. The 2020 edition is the eighth World Happiness Report.
India is ranked 144 out of 153 countries. The first five ranks go to Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, respectively. Even India’s neighbours are ahead — Bangladesh (107), Sri Lanka (130), Nepal (92) and Pakistan (66). The unhappiest people are in Afghanistan (153), South Sudan (152), Zimbabwe (151), Rwanda (150) and the Central African Republic (149).

Option 1 is incorrect. India’s two-year term as the non-permanent member of the UNSC would begin from January 1, 2021.
Option 2 is correct. India assumed the role of chair of the International Labour Organisation’s governing body after 35 years, for the period of October 2020 till June 2021.
Option 3 is correct. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, India is currently the Chair of World Health Organization’s Executive Board and would chair the 148th session of the Executive Board in January 2021.