10 PM Current Affairs Quiz : October 9, 2018

Open market operations (OMO) refer to the buying and selling of government securities in the open market in order to expand or contract the amount of money in the banking system.

The central bank can either buy or sell government bonds in the open market.

Purchase of securities inject money into the banking system by infusing liquidity, whereas selling of securities absorbs the circulating money.

Roles of chairman and managing director at listed firms should be separated and chairmanship should be limited to only non-executive directors.

Minimum board strength should be increased to 6 members.

At least half of the board members to be independent directors with at least one woman independent director.

Independent directors must get minimum remuneration of Rs 5 lakh per annum and sitting fee of Rs 20,000-50,000 for each board meet.

Updated list of all credit ratings obtained by the listed entity must be made available at one place, which would be very helpful for investors and other stakeholders.

The Katowice Climate Change Conference will include the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) to the UNFCCC.

• It is expected to finalize the rules for implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change under the Paris Agreement work programme (PAWP).
• The so called Kigali Amendment which amends the 1987 Montreal Protocol aims to phase out Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a family of potent greenhouse gases by the late 2040s.
• Under Kigali Amendment, in all 197 countries, including India have agreed to a timeline to reduce the use of HFCs by roughly 85% of their baselines by 2045.

Nobel Prize 2018 in Economic Sciences (The Sveriges Riksbank Prize) was divided equally between William D. Nordhaus  and Paul M. Romer. William D. Nordhaus has contributed “for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis. Paul M. Romer has integrated technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was established in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden, and it was first awarded in 1969, more than 60 years after the distribution of the first Nobel Prizes.

Although not technically a Nobel Prize, the Prize in Economic Sciences is identified with the award; its winners are announced with the Nobel Prize recipients, and it is presented at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. It is conferred by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

Representation of Peoples Act 1951 (RPA Act 1951) provides for the following

• Actual conduct of elections.
• Administrative machinery for conducting elections.
• Poll.
• Election offences.
• Election disputes.
• By-elections.
• Registration of political parties.

Representation of Peoples Act 1950 (RPA Act 1950) provides for the following :

• Qualification of voters.
• Preparation of electoral rolls.
• Delimitation of constituencies.
• Allocation of seats in the Parliament and state legislatures.

Statement 1 is wrong – SPARSH stands for Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby.The Union Ministry of Communications has launched Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana, a pan India scholarship program for school children to increase the research.

Statement 2 is correct – It is a pan India scholarship program for school children to increase the reach of Philately.

Under the scheme, annual scholarships will be awarded to children of Standard VI to IX having good academic record and also pursuing Philately as hobby through competitive selection process in all postal circles.

Government will award 920 scholarships to students pursuing Philately as hobby.

The amount of Scholarship will be Rs. 6000/- per annum @ Rs. 500/- per month.