10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: September 3, 2020

Statement 1 is correct. Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India is a platform for supporting Open Data initiative of Government of India. The portal is intended to be used by Government of India Ministries/ Departments their organizations to publish datasets, documents, services, tools and applications collected by them for public use.

It intends to increase transparency in the functioning of Government and also open avenues for many more innovative uses of Government Data to give different perspective.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India has been set-up by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in compliance with the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP) of India.

The objective of the policy is to provide proactive access to Government owned shareable data along with its usage information in open/machine readable format, through a wide area of network across the country, in a periodically updated manner, within the framework of various related policies, rules, and acts of the Government.

The Global Innovation Index 2020 (GII), in its 13th edition this year, is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, a specialized agency of the United Nations).

The Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks world economies according to their innovation capabilities. Consisting of roughly 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs, the GII aims to capture the multi-dimensional facets of innovation.

Switzerland, Sweden, and the U.S. lead the innovation rankings, followed by the U.K. and the Netherlands. This year marks the first time a second Asian economy—the Republic of Korea—cracks the top 10, next to Singapore.

Moving up four positions from last year, India ranks 48^th (of 131) and makes it into the top 50 for the first time in 2020.

-India performs better in innovation outputs than innovation inputs in 2020.

-This year India ranks 57th in innovation inputs, higher than last year and compared to 2018.

-As for innovation outputs, India ranks 45th. This position is higher than last year and compared to 2018.

-India ranks 3rd among the 29 lower middle-income group economies.

-India ranks 1st among the 10 economies in Central and Southern Asia.

Statement 1 is correct. The National Security Act 1980 empowers the Center and State governments to detain a person if the authorities are satisfied that he/she is a threat to the defence of India, the relations of India with foreign powers, or the security of India.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Central Government or the State Government may make an order with respect to any foreigner directing that such person be detained with a view to regulating his continued presence in India or to making arrangements for his expulsion from India, it is necessary so to do.

Statement 1 is correct. A Starred Question is one to which a member desires an oral answer in the House and which is distinguished by an asterisk mark. When a question is answered orally, supplementary questions can be asked thereon.

Statement 2 is correct. An Un-starred Question is one which is not called for oral answer in the House and on which no supplementary questions can consequently be asked. To such a question, a written answer is deemed to have been laid on the Table after the Question Hour by the Minister to whom it is addressed.

A Short Notice Question is one which relates to a matter of urgent public importance and can be asked with shorter notice than the period of notice prescribed for an ordinary question. Like a starred question, it is answered orally followed by supplementary questions.

The Question to a Private Member is addressed to the Member himself/herself and it is asked when the subject matter of it pertains to any Bill, Resolution or any matter relating to the Business of the House for which that Member is responsible.

All of the above statements are correct.

Union cabinet recently approved the Mission Karmayogi – National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB) with the following institutional framework:

-Prime Minister’s Public Human Resources Council,

-Capacity Building Commission.

-Special Purpose Vehicle for owning and operating the digital assets and the technological platform for online training,

-Coordination Unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

The Programme will be delivered by setting up an Integrated Government Online Training-iGOT Karmayogi Platform. Some of the guiding principles of the Programme:

– Supporting Transition from ‘Rules based’ to ‘Roles based’ HR Management.

– To emphasize on ‘on-site learning’ to complement the ‘off-site’ learning,

– To calibrate all Civil Service positions to a Framework of Roles, Activities and Competencies (FRACs) approach.

It is also proposed to set up a Capacity Building Commission, with a view to ensure a uniform approach in managing and regulating the capacity building ecosystem on collaborative and co-sharing basis.

A Public Human Resources Council comprising of select Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, eminent public HR practitioners, thinkers, global thought leaders and Public Service functionaries under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister will serve as the apex body for providing strategic direction to the task of Civil Services Reform and capacity building.

Statement 1 is correct. The National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) is an umbrella programme developed by the Innovation & Entrepreneurship division, Department of Science & Technology for nurturing ideas and innovations (knowledge-based and technology-driven) into successful startups.

NIDHI has following program components:

-Technology Business Incubator (TBI) – Converting Innovations to start-ups

-Accelerator – Fast tracking a start-up through focused intervention;

-Seed Support System (NIDHI-SSS)- Providing early stage investment;

-Centers of Excellence (NIDHI-CoE) – A World class facility to helpstartups go global;

– Promotion and Acceleration of Young and Aspiring technology entrepreneurs (NIDHI-PRAYAS) – Support from Idea to Prototype

-Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR)

Statement 2 is correct. Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) Programme under NIDHI supports aspiring entrepreneur of considerable potential for pursuing a promising technology business idea over a period up to 18 months with a subsistence grant up to Rs 30000 per month with a maximum cap for total support of Rs 3.6 lakh to each EIR over a maximum of 18 months.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Area under Open Forest is much higher than under Very Dense Forest (VDF) in India.

–Very Dense Forest: All lands with tree canopy density of 70% and above.

–Moderately Dense Forest: All lands with tree canopy density of 40% and more but less than 70%.

–Open Forest: All lands with tree canopy density of 10% and more but less than 40%.

–Scrub: Degraded forest lands with canopy density less than 10%.

Statement 2 is correct. The Ganga River passes through the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, among which Uttarakhand has highest area under forest cover.

Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%).

# Data Source: India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2019.

Statement 1 is incorrect. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) was set up in the year 1986 by a Ministry of Home Affairs Resolution with the objective to function as a clearing house of information on crime and criminals.

Statement 2 is correct. The objectives of the NCRB include:

-To function as a clearing house of information on crime and criminals including those operating at National and International levels so as to assists the investigators, and others in linking crimes to their perpetrators.

-To store, coordinate and disseminate information on inter-state and international criminals from and to respective States, national investigating agencies, courts and prosecutors in India without having to refer to the Police Station records.

-To collect and process crime statistics at the National level.

-To coordinate, guide and assist the functioning of the State Crime Records Bureaux.

-To evaluate, develop and modernise Crime Records Bureaux.

# A comparative study recently released by NCRB of data on Accidental Deaths and Suicides shows that suicides in the agriculture sector have declined by 10% — from 11,379 in 2016 to 10,281 in 2019.

Both statements are correct.

National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) was initially constituted by the Central Govt by The National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.

It has been accorded Constitutional Status and constituted through the Constitution (One Hundred and Second Amendment) Act, 2018 Act, whereby Article 338B has been inserted, forming a Commission for the socially and educationally backward classes to be known as NCBC.

The Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members of the Commission are appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal. [Article 338B (3)]

Duties of the Commission [Article 338B (5)]:

-to investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the socially and educationally backward classes;

-to inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the socially and educationally backward classes;

-to participate and advise on the socio-economic development of the socially and educationally backward classes;

-to present to the President reports upon the working of the safeguards.

The Union and every State Government shall consult the Commission on all major policy matters affecting the socially and educationally backward classes. [Article 338B (9)]

The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution consists of the following 22 languages:

(1) Assamese, (2) Bengali, (3) Gujarati, (4) Hindi, (5) Kannada, (6) Kashmiri, (7) Konkani, (8) Malayalam, (9) Manipuri, (10) Marathi, (11) Nepali, (12) Oriya, (13) Punjabi, (14) Sanskrit, (15) Sindhi, (16) Tamil, (17) Telugu, (18) Urdu (19) Bodo, (20) Santhali, (21) Maithili and (22) Dogri.

Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution. Sindhi language was added in 1967. Thereafter three more languages viz., Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in 1992. Subsequently Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added in 2004.