10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: April 9, 2020

The World Health Organization (WHO) observes World Health Day on 7 April every year. The contribution of doctors, nurses and other health workers is acknowledged on this day. The WHO began observing the World Health Day on 7 April from 1950. The need for a World Health Day was discussed in the First Health Assembly in 1948. Now, every World Health Day focuses on a certain key area in the healthcare system and aims to develop it. The tagline of World Health Day 2020 is ‘Support nurses and midwives’. To generate attention towards their contribution during the COVID-19 outbreak, the World Health Day will “highlight the current status of nursing around the world”.

The government has drawn a plan for containment of the virus in hotspots based on the steps taken in Bhilwara. Geographical areas will be quarantined under this model. Clusters of infections will be identified within the quarantined area and steps, which were taken in Bhilwara, will be taken in these clusters. The Disaster Management Act of 2005 and the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 can be used to implement the model. CrPc and IPC sections can be used to book violators. People will be checked for influenza-like symptoms. They will be monitored actively and tested. Labs will give results in 12 to 24 hours. People with respiratory infections will be reported to a central database. Additionally, according to the plan, all healthcare workers should use hydroxychloroquine as prophylactic. Very ill patients should be given a combination of hydroxychloroquine & azithromycin.  If there are no cases for four weeks, normalcy can be declared.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched a programme called SnowEx. SnowEx is a five year programme launched in 2016. The objective of the programme is to address the most important gaps in snow remote sensing knowledge and thus lay the groundwork for a future snow satellite mission

India is fighting against covid-19 Pandemic and India’s first line of workers is already engaged in COVID relief and doing commendable job. However, a larger force will be needed to replace the first line and to tackle the exponential or geometric increase in positive COVID cases in the subsequent stages of the pandemic. Accordingly, to take care of the training needs of the frontline workers, the Government of India has launched a training module for management of COVID-19 named ‘Integrated Govt. Online training’ (iGOT) portal on Ministry of HRD’s DIKSHA platform for the capacity building of frontline workers to handle the pandemic efficiently. Courses on iGOT have been launched for Doctors, Nurses, Paramedics, Hygiene Workers, Technicians, Auxiliary Nursing Midwives (ANMs), State Government Officers, Civil Defence Officers, Various Police Organisations, National Cadet Corps (NCC), NehruYuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), National Service Scheme, Indian Red Cross Society, Bharat Scouts and Guides and other volunteers at the stage.

TRIFED has reached out to the Art of Living Foundation’s #iStandWithHumanity Initiative with a Stand With Tribal Families component in providing much needed food and ration for survival of the tribal community.

Statement 1 is correct. NALSA was created to fulfill the mandate given by constitution, Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society and ensures justice for all. Articles 14 and 22(1) of the Constitution also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before law and a legal system which promotes justice on the basis of equal opportunity to all.

Statement 2 is correct. NALSA is a statutory body created by Legal Services Authorities Act 1987.

Statement 3 is correct. The eligible persons are: Women and Children, members of Scheduled caste or Scheduled Tribes, industrial workmen persons with disability, persons in custody, victims of human trafficking, victims of natural disasters, ethinic/caste violence, industrial disaster, persons with an annual income of less than Rs 1,00,000/- or as notified by the Central/State Governments.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Article 280(2)(a) mandates the FC to make recommendations for “the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes” and not with Union Territories.

Statement 2 is correct. The 15th Finance Commission has recommended 41 per cent share in the divisible pool of taxes for states and 1 percent for the Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh for the financial year 2020-21.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Acute disease illness is of short duration, rapidly progressive, and in need of urgent care. “Acute” is a measure of the time scale of a disease and is in contrast to “subacute” and “chronic.” “Subacute” indicates longer duration or less rapid change. “Chronic” indicates indefinite duration or virtually no change.

Statement 2 is correct. COVID-19 is an acute disease, its conditions are severe and sudden in onset.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Zero Coupon Bond is sold at a discount rate and redeemed at face value therefore giving a profit on maturity.

Statement 2 is correct. The purchase price is at a discount from par value or face value, this difference is the profit on the bond.

Statement 1 is incorrect. It is not decadal, three rounds of the survey have been conducted since the first survey in 1992-93. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) is a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India, designated the International Institute for Population Sciences(IIPS) Mumbai, as the nodal agency, responsible for providing coordination and technical guidance for the survey. IIPS collaborated with a number of Field Organizations (FO) for survey implementation.

Statement 1 is correct. NTCA is a statutory body under Wildlife Protection Act 1972, it was established by an amendment to the act in 2006 to provide for an statutory authority to Project Tiger so that compliance of its directives become legal.

Statement 2 is correct. It is chaired by Minister of Environment and Forests, Inspector General of Forests, in charge of project Tiger, is the ex-officio Member Secretary.

Statement 3 is correct. One of the objectives is to provide oversight by parliament, the organisation has 3 members from parliament of whom two are elected by the House of the People and one by the Council of States.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Sensitivity Index or Sensex is the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India. Nifty Fifty is the benchmark index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in India.

Statement 2 is correct. It was created in 1986 and represents 30 of the largest, most traded and most well-capitalized stocks on the exchange.

Statement 1 is correct. Armyworms are caterpillar pests of grass pastures and cereal crops. Fall armyworm is a lepidopteran pest that feeds on large numbers on the leaves, stems and reproductive parts of more than 350 plant species.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Fall Armyworm is not endemic to India, it is found all over the world. It is a major maize pest in North America. In India it has been reported in Assam and Karnataka recently.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Prime Minister is chairperson of NBWL, the standing committee of NBWL is chaired by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change.

Statement 2 is correct. All projects within ESZ require approval from NBWL. As per office memorandum of MoEFCC, projects outside the boundary of the notified eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of a sanctuary or national park but within 10 km radius of the park will not need prior clearance from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), they get environmental clearance from the ministry’s expert appraisal committee (EAC).

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Constitution does not create the ISC, article 263 states “If at any time it appears to the President that the public interests would be served by the establishment of a Council…” so it enables the President to create such a council.

Statement 2 is correct. Inter-State Council is a recommendatory body with duties to investigate and discuss the subjects of common interest between the Union and State(s) or among the States, making recommendations particularly for better coordination of policy.