10 PM Daily Current Affairs Quiz | March 19 2021

The Diaoyu Islands/ Senkaku Islands are a group of uninhabited islands located roughly due east of mainland China, northeast of Taiwan, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands. They are currently controlled by Japan, which calls them Senkaku Islands. Both China and Taiwan claim sovereignty over the islands.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in Rajya Sabha on March 18, 2021. The Bill amends the Insurance Act, 1938. The Act provides the framework for functioning of insurance businesses and regulates the relationship between an insurer, its policyholders, its shareholders, and the regulator (the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India). The Bill seeks to increase the maximum foreign investment allowed in an Indian insurance company.

Statement 2 is correct. The Act allows foreign investors to hold up to 49% of the capital in an Indian insurance company, which must be owned and controlled by an Indian entity. The Bill increases the limit on foreign investment in an Indian insurance company from 49% to 74%, and removes restrictions on ownership and control.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The S-400 Triumph is an air defence missile system developed by Almaz Central Design Bureau of Russia.

# Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Statement 2 is correct. In October 2018, Rosoboronexport signed a contract with India to deliver S-400 missile system, while Russia has already supplied regiments of the S-400 Triumph system to the Armed Forces of China.

# The first Indian military team has left for Russia to commence training on the S-400 air defence system, deliveries of which are expected to begin in end-2021.

# Sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) have been applied to Turkey for procurement of the same system.

Indian Naval Landing Craft Utility (LCU) L58, the eighth and last ship of the Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mark IV Class, was commissioned into the Indian Navy at Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands on March 18, 2021.

— It has been indigenously designed and built by GRSE, Kolkata.

— The LCU 58 is an amphibious ship which can carry 160 troops, in addition to its crew. With a displacement of 900 tons, the ship is capable of carrying various types of combat vehicles such as Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), BMPs, Armoured Vehicles, trucks, etc.

— The ship is also fitted with an advanced Electronic Support Measure (ESM) suite to intercept enemy radar transmissions, an advanced Integrated Bridge System (IBS) and a sophisticated Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS), which allow single station monitoring of the ship’s navigational and machinery equipment respectively.

Statement 1 is correct. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain and damage throughout the body.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The joint damage that RA causes usually happens on both sides of the body.

So, if a joint is affected in one of the arms or legs, the same joint in the other arm or leg will probably be affected, too. This is one way that doctors distinguish RA from other forms of arthritis, such as osteoarthritis (OA).

# Dr. Sonu Gandhi, a Scientist at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad, who has recently developed a smart nanodevice for the detection of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and Japanese encephalitis (JE), has been awarded the prestigious SERB Women Excellence Award.

Electoral Bond is a bearer Banking Instrument to be used for funding eligible Political Parties. An eligible Political Party is the one registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Statement 1 is correct. The Electoral Bonds can be redeemed only by an eligible Political Party by depositing the same in their Designated Bank Account maintained with Authorised Bank.

Statement 2 is incorrect. All payment for the issuance of the Electoral Bonds will be accepted in Indian Rupees only.

The Minister for Road Transport & Highways made a Suo Moto Statement in the Parliament on proposed “Vehicle Scrapping Policy”.

The Policy proposes the following—

–It is proposed that commercial vehicles be de-registered after 15 years in case of failure to get the fitness certificate.

–It is proposed that private Vehicles be de-registered after 20 years if found unfit or in case of a failure to renew registration certificate.

–It is being proposed that all vehicles of the Central Government, State Government, Municipal Corporation, Panchayats, State Transport Undertakings, Public Sector Undertakings and autonomous bodies with the Union and State Governments may be de-registered and scrapped after 15 years from the date of registration.

The scheme shall provide strong incentives to owners of old vehicles to scrap old and unfit vehicles:

–Scrap Value for the old vehicle given by the scrapping centre, which is approximately 4-6% of ex-showroom price of a new vehicle.

–The vehicle manufacturers are also advised for providing a discount of 5% on purchase of new vehicle against the scrapping certificate.

–In addition, the registration fees may also be waived for purchase of new vehicle against the scrapping certificate.

# India has 51 lakh Light Motor Vehicles which are older than 20 years and 34 lakh Light Motor Vehicles which are older than 15 years. Around 17 lakh Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles are older than 15 years without valid fitness certificate. Older vehicles pollute the environment 10 to 12 times more than fit vehicles and pose a risk to road safety.

Statement 1 is correct. Jal Jeevan Mission is to assist, empower and facilitate:

–States/ UTs for creation of water supply infrastructure so that every rural household has Functional Tap Connection (FHTC) by 2024 and water in adequate quantity of prescribed quality is made available on regular basis.

–GPs/ rural communities to plan, implement, manage, own, operate and maintain their own in-village water supply systems

Statement 2 is incorrect. Ministry of Jal Shakti is taking up a nation-wide campaign “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” (JSA: CTR) focusing on saving and conserving rainwater with the theme “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” from 22 March 2021 to 30 November, 2021 in the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods of 2021, covering both urban and rural areas of all the districts in the country.

National Water Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti launched a campaign “Catch the Rain” with the tag line “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” in 2020 to nudge the states and all stakeholders to create Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) suitable to the climatic conditions and sub-soil strata, with people’s active participation.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Central Water Commission (CWC) issues flood forecasts based on deterministic model (Conventional statistical correlation methodology as well as rainfall runoff / hydrodynamic modeling technology using digital models) as a non-structural measure of flood management to concerned State Governments depending on the requisition from them at identified locations.

At present, there are 1741 hydro-meteorological sites being operated by CWC across the country covering 20 river basins for gauge, discharge and sediment observations.

The ensemble forecast which includes the associated probabilities with the flood warnings is not being used at present.

Statement 2 is correct. CWC has signed an MoU with Google Inc. for using their vast repository of high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and the power of dissemination to send alerts regarding inundation through Google platform using the flood forecasts issued by CWC.

Statement 1 is correct. The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) established under an agreement between the Governments of India and the United States of America in March 2000, is an autonomous bilateral organization jointly funded by both the Governments that promotes

Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation through substantive interaction among government, academia and industry.

The Department of Science & Technology, Governments of India and the U.S. Department of States are respective nodal departments.

Statement 2 is correct. IUSSTF’s US India Artificial Intelligence (USIAI) Initiative launched recently focuses on AI cooperation in critical areas that are priorities for both countries.

USIAI will serve as a platform to discuss opportunities, challenges, and barriers for bilateral AI R&D collaboration, enable AI innovation, help share ideas for developing an AI workforce, and recommend modes and mechanisms for catalyzing partnerships.