10 PM Daily Current Affairs Quiz : February 9 2021

A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a release of meltwater from a moraine- or ice-dam glacial lake due to dam failure.

It is mostly caused by rapid slope movement into the lake, heavy rainfall/snowmelt, cascading processes (flood from a lake situated upstream), earthquake, melting of ice incorporated in dam/forming the dam (including volcanic activity-triggered jökulhlaups).

As the volume of the glacial lake grows, so does the pressure on the dam containing it. Fragmentation of the source glacier, landslides and other processes can trigger displacement waves in the lake, potentially compromising the stability of the dam and resulting in a GLOF. Failure of the dam can also occur due to internal processes, such as water seeping through the structure.

The Tehri hydroelectric power complex, located in the Himalayan foothills, is owned and operated by the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC).

The Tehri Dam is a multi-purpose rock and earth fill dam build on the Bhagirathi River near Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. The Tehri Hydroelectric Complex Phase 1 was completed in 2006. It withholds a reservoir for irrigation, municipal water supply and generates 1,000 megawatts of electricity along with an additional 1,000 MW of pumped storage hydroelectricity.

It provides irrigation to an additional area of 270,000 hectares as well as supporting the existing irrigated area of 604,000 hectares. It supplies clean drinking water to about 4 million people in Delhi and 3 million people in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. And last but not least, the Tehri reservoir has a flood control pool capacity of 219.65 Mm3.

The ongoing Tribes India Aadi Mahotsav is showcasing various GI products from all over the country. The GI products stall at the Tribes India Aadi Mahotsav features renowned, exquisite items such as Rajasthan’s blue pottery, the Kota Dariya fabric, Madhya Pradesh’s Chanderi and Maheshwari silk, Bagh print, Odisha’s Pattachitra, Karnataka’s Bidriware, Banarasi silk from Uttar Pradesh, Darjeeling tea from West Bengal, Kala jeera from Himachal Pradesh, the extremely spicy Naga chilli, and the large cardamom from the North-east.

The Geographical Indication, which has been recognized by the World Trade Organization, is used to denote the geographical territory from where a product, be it an agricultural produce, natural product or manufactured, and also conveys assurance of qualities or attributes that are unique to that specific geographic region. India became a signatory to this convention, when, as a member of the WTO, it enacted the Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection Act), 1999.

Statement 1 is correct. COVID-19 has dealt a major blow to world’s poorest countries, causing a recession that could push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty.

That is why the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund urged G20 countries to establish the Debt Service Suspension Initiative. The DSSI is helping countries concentrate their resources on fighting the pandemic and safeguarding the lives and livelihoods of millions of the most vulnerable people.

India in May 2020 announced the debt service relief to Myanmar under the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative.

Statement 2 is correct. Signing of Land Border Crossing Agreement (LBCA) in 2018 facilitated movement of bonafide citizens of both countries with valid travel documents/visas to travel across India-Myanmar land border.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry of India, Shri Piyush Goyal, and UK Secretary of State for International Trade, Ms. Elizabeth Truss MP, met on Saturday, 6th February 2021, at New Delhi to discuss the India – UK trade and investment relationship.

Both Ministers reiterated their commitment to long term India-UK partnership and agreed to deepen trade cooperation between the two countries through an Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP).

India and UK Trade Ministers reviewed the ongoing engagements between the two sides for an ETP, as part of the development of a roadmap that would lead to a potential comprehensive FTA, including considerations on an Interim Agreement on preferential basis.

It has been reported that ETP will be formally launched during the visit of the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to India later this year.

The Ministry of Culture formulated a scheme titled “Scheme for Safeguarding the Intangible Heritage and Diverse Cultural Traditions of India” , with the objective of supporting various institutions, non-Government organisations, researchers and scholars so that they may engage in activities/ projects for strengthening, protecting, preserving and promoting the rich Intangible Cultural Heritage of India.

A total of 13 Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) elements from India have been inscribed till date on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity:

Tradition of Vedic chanting, Ramlila, Kutiyattam, Ramman, Mudiyettu Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan, Chhau dance, Buddhist chanting of Ladakh, Sankirtana, Traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Yoga, Nawrouz and Kumbh Mela.

The Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India jointly with FICCI & Invest India is organizing the 6th edition of annual programme on Pharmaceuticals & Medical Device sector – ‘India Pharma & India Medical Device 2021’ scheduled on 25-26 February & 1-2 March, 2021.

The theme for this year India Pharma is ‘Indian Pharma Industry – ‘Future is Now’ and for India Medical Device is ‘India MedTech Future: Innovate & Make in India through Global Alliance’.

Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has been entrusted with the task of conducting the All-India Survey on Migrant workers.

An Expert Group has been constituted by the Government of India on 09th September, 2020 to examine and finalize the schedules, sampling design and other technical details of the aforesaid survey being conducted by Labour Bureau.

This information was given by Minister of State (I/C) for Labour & Employment Lok Sabha.

Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 2020 subsumes and replaces 13 labour laws relating to safety, health and working conditions. These laws include: Factories Act, 1948; Mines Act, 1952; Dock Workers Act, 1986; Contract Labour Act, 1970; and Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979.

Statement 1 is correct. It empowers the state government to exempt any new factory from the provisions of the Code in order to create more economic activity and employment.

Statement 2 is correct. It provides for the establishment of a Social Security Fund for the welfare of unorganised workers. The amount collected from certain penalties under the Code (including the amount collected through compounding) will be credited to the Fund. The government may prescribe other sources as well for transferring money to the Fund.

Statement 1 is correct. Software Defined Radio is Radio in which some or all of the physical layer functions are Software Defined. In other words, the software is used to determine the specification of the radio and what it does. If the software within the radio is changed, its performance and function may change.

SDR is a radio communication system which uses software for the modulation and demodulation of radio signals. An SDR performs significant amounts of signal processing in a general-purpose computer, or a reconfigurable piece of digital electronics.

Statement 2 is correct. The SDR-Tactical, jointly designed and developed by Defence Electronics Applications Laboratory (DEAL) of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) through a consortium of domestic agencies and industry, will bring strategic depth to the Armed Forces.

The SDR-Tac is a four Channel Multi-mode, Multi Band, 19’’ Rack mountable, ship borne Software Defined Radio system. It is intended to serve ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore and ship-to-air voice and data communication for network centric operations.

It supports simultaneous operation of all the four channels covering V/UHF and L Band. This SDR system houses multiple types of waveforms for narrow band and wide band applications.