10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: September 27, 2020

The Institute for Management Development, in collaboration with Singapore University for Technology and Design (SUTD), has released the 2020 Smart City Index.

Citizens from 109 cities were surveyed in April and May 2020 and asked questions on the technological provisions of their city across five key areas: health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities and governance.

Singapore has topped the index followed by Helsinki (Finland) and Zurich (Switzerland).

India: Hyderabad; 85th rank (down from 67 in 2019)

New Delhi; 86th rank (down from 68 in 2019)

Mumbai; 93rd rank (down from 78 in 2019)

Bengaluru; 95th rank (down from 79 in 2019).

The Etosha pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Kalahari Basin in the north of Namibia.

The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in Southern Africa covering much of Botswana, parts of Namibia and regions of South Africa.

The Namib is a coastal desert in southern Africa covering parts of ‎Namibia, South Africa and Angola.

The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 empowers the central government to designate certain commodities as essential commodities. The central government may regulate or prohibit the production, supply, distribution, trade, and commerce of such essential commodities.

Statement 1 is correct. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 provides that the central government may regulate the supply of certain food items including cereals, pulses, potatoes, onions, edible oilseeds, and oils, only under extraordinary circumstances. These include: (i) war, (ii) famine, (iii) extraordinary price rise and (iv) natural calamity of grave nature.

Statement 2 is correct. The bill requires that imposition of any stock limit on agricultural produce must be based on price rise.  A stock limit may be imposed only if there is: (i) a 100% increase in retail price of horticultural produce; and (ii) a 50% increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural food items.

The increase will be calculated over the price prevailing immediately preceding twelve months, or the average retail price of the last five years, whichever is lower.

Among the Standing Committees, the three Financial Committees – Committees on Estimates, Public Accounts and Public Undertakings – constitute a distinct group as they keep an unremitting vigil over Government expenditure and performance.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Estimates Committee reports on ‘what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform consistent with policy underlying the estimates’ may be affected. It also examines whether the money is well laid out within limits of the policy implied in the estimates and suggests the form in which estimates shall be presented to Parliament.

While members of the Rajya Sabha are associated with Committees on Public Accounts and Public Undertakings, the members of the Committee on Estimates are drawn entirely from the Lok Sabha.

Statement 2 is correct. There are 24 Department Related Standing Committees (DRSCs). The functions of these Committees are:

-To consider the Demands for Grants of various Ministries/Departments of Government of India and make reports to the Houses;

-To examine such Bills as are referred to the Committee by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha or the Speaker, Lok Sabha, as the case may be, and make reports thereon;

-To consider Annual Reports of ministries/departments and make reports thereon; and

-To consider policy documents presented to the Houses, if referred to the Committee by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha or the Speaker, Lok Sabha, as the case may be, and make reports thereon.

Fuel cells have strong benefits over conventional combustion-based technologies currently used in many power plants and cars.

-They produce much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases and none of the air pollutants that create smog and cause health problems.

– Fuel cells can operate at higher efficiencies than combustion engines, and can convert the chemical energy in the fuel to electrical energy with efficiencies of up to 60%.

-If pure hydrogen is used as a fuel, fuel cells emit only heat and water as a byproduct. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are also far more energy efficient than traditional combustion technologies.

-Fuel cells are quiet during operation as they have fewer moving parts.

The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production.

The Second Industrial Revolution used electric power to create mass production.

The Third Industrial Revolution used electronics and information technology to automate production.

Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

Both statements are correct.

Cyanobacteria are aquatic and photosynthetic, that is, they live in the water, and can manufacture their own food. Because they are bacteria, they are quite small and usually unicellular, though they often grow in colonies large enough to see.

Cyanobacteria can occur naturally in standing water and sometimes grow into large blooms known as blue-green algae.

They are also important providers of nitrogen fertilizer in the cultivation of rice and beans.

Some species of cyanobacteria produce toxins that affect animals and humans.

# Botswana is home to about a third of Africa’s declining elephant population. Recently many elephant carcasses were spotted in the country’s Okavango Delta between May and June.

# Officials say a total of 330 elephants are now known to have died from ingesting cyanobacteria.

Statement 1 is correct. On the occasion of World Rhino Day, Union Minister for Environment has launched a National Conservation Strategy for Indian One-Horned Rhino.

India is home to the largest number of Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros in the world with population in the range of 3000 animals in Assam, West Bengal and UP.

Earlier, the Indian rhino could be found all along the Indus-Ganges-Brahmaputra valley. It occupied an area stretching from the borders of Myanmar in the east, across northern India and southern Nepal, as far as the Indus Valley in Pakistan in the west.

It is now found in a few pockets of the Brahmaputra valley in Assam and in the Terai grassland region of India and Nepal in the foothill of the Himalayas, the two main hubs being India’s Kaziranga National Park and Nepal’s Chitwan National Park.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Greater One-horned Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.

One horned rhino was close to extinction with a population of less than 200 in the beginning of the 20th century. It is the only large mammal species in Asia to be down-listed from endangered to vulnerable in the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN Red list in 2008.

The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020 has been passed by the parliament amending the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. The Bill amends the Act to include protections for healthcare personnel combatting epidemic diseases and expands the powers of the central government to prevent the spread of such diseases.

Statement 1 is correct. The Bill specifies that no person can: commit or abet the commission of an act of violence against healthcare service personnel, or abet or cause damage or loss to any property during an epidemic. Contravention of this provision is punishable with imprisonment between three months and five years, and a fine between Rs 50,000 and two lakh rupees.

Statement 2 is correct. The Act specifies that the central government may regulate the inspection of any ship or vessel leaving or arriving at any port, and the detention of any person intending to travel from the port, during an outbreak.

The amendment bill expands the above powers of the central government to any bus, train, goods vehicle, ship, vessel, or aircraft leaving or arriving at any land port, port, or aerodrome.

The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 has been passed by the parliament recently.

Statement 1 is correct.  The Bill empowers the central government to allow certain classes of public companies to list classes of securities (as may be prescribed) in foreign jurisdictions.

Statement 2 is correct. Under the Companies Act, 2013, companies with net worth, turnover or profits above a specified amount are required to constitute Corporate social responsibility (CSR) Committees and spend 2% of their average net profits in the last three financial years, towards its CSR policy.

The Bill exempts companies with a CSR liability of up to Rs 50 lakh a year from setting up CSR Committees.  Further, companies which spend any amount in excess of their CSR obligation in a financial year can set off the excess amount towards their CSR obligations in subsequent financial years.