10 PM Daily Current Affairs Quiz | February 13 2021

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a global partnership that aims to promote the resilience of infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks, thereby ensuring sustainable development.

Statement 1 is incorrect. CDRI is a multi-stakeholder global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and academic and knowledge institutions. At present, it is not an intergovernmental organization, which are ordinarily treaty-based organizations.

Statement 2 is correct. The Prime Minister of India launched CDRI during his speech at the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019. The CDRI Secretariat is based in New Delhi, India.

All rivers naturally transport sediment. However, when the flow velocity and energy of the water is reduced as the river enters a reservoir, most of this sediment settles along the bottom of the reservoir where it becomes trapped, rather than continuing downstream.

Option 1 is incorrect. Sedimentation decreases the storage available for flood-risk reduction.

Option 2 is correct. Sediments will often block low-level outlets designed to allow for reservoir drawdown. As sedimentation continues, clogging of spillway tunnels or other conduits may occur. Reduction of spillway capacity can occur as a result of the loss of approach depth when the sediment front reaches the dam.

Option 3 is correct. Sediment can damage turbines and other mechanical equipment through erosion of the oxide coating on the blades, leading to surface irregularities and more serious material damage.8 Sustained erosion can lead to extended shutdown time for maintenance or replacement.

Torres Strait is the passage between the Coral Sea, on the east, and the Arafura Sea, in the western Pacific Ocean. To the north lies New Guinea and to the south Queensland, Australia. It is about 80 mi (130 km) wide and has many reefs and shoals dangerous to navigation, and its larger islands are inhabited.

The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates the Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa.

The Strait of Otranto connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania.

Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Arabia and Africa connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

Tholpavakoothu or shadow puppetry is a temple art form which is prevalent in the Bhagavathy temples (mother Goddess) in Palakkad district and nearby regions in Kerala.

The story of Tholppavakoothu performance is from the Indian epic, Ramayana. In the olden days it was performed elaborately over a period of forty-one days. The narrative used for the performance is a mixture of prose and poetry called Adalpattu.

Tholppavas are made of the skin of deer and the puppet forms are made by making small holes in the leather that is then attached vertically to a bamboo stick.

Vigyan Jyoti programme, an initiative to encourage girls to take interest in science and build career, was launched by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) to create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls to pursue STEM. It had been running successfully in 50 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) since December 2019 and has now been expanded to 50 more JNVs for the year 2021-22.

The programme addresses the underrepresentation of women in certain areas of STEM. As a first step, the programme has been started at school level for meritorious girls of Class IX to Class XII to encourage and empower them to pursue STEM courses in reputed institutions of the country.

# The second phase of Vigyan Jyoti programme commenced on the occasion of International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11, 2021.

Both statements are correct.

Digilocker is an initiative under the Digital India program by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) where citizens can get authentic documents/ certificate in digital format from original issuers of these certificates.

It aims at eliminating or minimising the use of physical documents and will enhance effectiveness of service delivery, making these hassle free and friendly for the citizens.

The issued documents in DigiLocker system are deemed to be at par with original physical documents as per Rule 9A of the Information Technology (Preservation and Retention of Information by Intermediaries providing Digital Locker facilities) Rules, 2016.

# IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory Authority of India) in a Circular dated 9th February, 2021, has advised all Insurance companies for issuance of Digital Insurance Policies via DigiLocker.

Statement 1 is correct. The Government of India has launched a multi-ministrial programme named as ‘GOBARDHAN waste to wealth’, under Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G).

The objective of the scheme is to increase rural income, rural jobs and to keep villages clean through solid waste management. The scheme is intended to manage and convert cattle dung and solid waste in farms to compost, bio-slurry, bio-gas and bio-CNG.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The programme is being implemented by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) in collaboration with the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, NDDB and other Ministries.

# Under the Gobar-dhan component, DDWS has included the small holder based Manure Management Model established by NDDB as one of the solid waste management models for implementation across the country wherein bio-degradable waste is envisaged to be managed through composting and bio-gas plants.

Statement 1 is incorrect. CHIRAAG – Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and Accelerated Agriculture Growth Project will be implemented in the southern tribal-majority region of the state where a large population is undernourished and poor. The project will benefit over 180,000 households from about 1,000 villages in eight districts of Chhattisgarh.

Statement 2 and 3 are correct. The Government of India, the Government of Chhattisgarh and the World Bank recently signed a $100 million project to develop sustainable production systems that allow tribal households in remote areas of Chhattisgarh to practice round-the-year production of diversified and nutritious food.

To make agriculture nutrition supportive, the project will implement a series of activities that are climate resilient and profitable. Investments will be made in water-harvesting structures and irrigation facilities; integrated farming systems blending crops, fishery and livestock production; climate-smart production technologies and practices; developing value chains to ensure that surplus commodities reach profitable markets; and in making nutritious food available to tribal households.

# The $100 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity of 17.5 years, including a grace period of 5.5-years.

Option 1 is incorrect. The United Arab Emirates Mars Mission, Hope is an orbiter designed to spend one Martian year (two Earth years) around Mars.

Option 2 is correct. The Tianwen-1, China’s Mars mission that recently entered the Mars’s orbit, comprises an orbiter and a rover. The rover will spend next few months in orbit before landing on Mars surface.

Option 3 is correct. Mars 2020 is a Mars rover mission by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program that includes the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter drone, which is set to achieve first powered flight on Mars. The rover will land on Mars surface on February 18, 2021.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a group of hereditary diseases that progressively destroys motor neurons—nerve cells in the brain stem and spinal cord that control essential skeletal muscle activity such as speaking, walking, breathing, and swallowing, leading to muscle weakness and atrophy.

It deteriorates the neuromuscular functioning of the body by causing motor neurons loss and associated muscle weakness and paralysis.

The disease is caused by a genetic defect in the survival motor neuron (SMN) gene, which encodes the SMN protein essential for the survival of motor neurons.