10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: May 2, 2020

National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science & Technology (DST) has launched a programme on health and risk communication ‘Year of Awareness on Science & Health (YASH)’ with focus on COVID-19. It is a comprehensive and effective science and health communication effort for promoting grass-root level appreciation and response on health and would help saving and shaping the lives of people at large, as well as build confidence, inculcate scientific temper and promote health consciousness among them.

Featuring a surreal backdrop of nature colours, the Frozen River Trek, commonly known as the Chadar Trek, is one of the challenging treks in the Ladakh region. During the winter season, the Zanskar River converts into ice, giving trekkers a perfect platform for trekking. The trail to the Zanskar valley is going to be a challenging yet exciting one as the ice walls are vertical cliffs, which are up to 600 m high, and the Zanskar river is narrow, approximately 5 m wide. Once upon the time, the trail used to be traditional trade route.

India participated in the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in June 1972 to take appropriate steps for the preservation of the natural resources of the earth which, among other things, include the preservation of the quality of air and control of air pollution. Based on the concluding guidelines of this conference, the Water (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act was formulated by the government of India in 1974. Under this act, one Central board and numerous State boards shall be appointed by notification in the Official Gazette called Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) respectively with effect from a date not later than six months of the commencement of this Act.

The Economic Survey 2010–11, cites many reasons for the less developed bond market in India-

• Predominance of banks loans;
• FII’s participation is limited;
• Pensions and insurance companies and household are limited participants because of lack of investor confidence; and
• Crowding out by government bonds.

Statement 1 is correct: The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world’s largest dedicated fund helping developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and enhance their ability to respond to climate change.

Statement 2 is correct: GCF was set up by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010. GCF has a crucial role in serving the Paris Agreement, supporting the goal of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2 degrees C. It does this by channeling climate finance to developing countries, which have joined other nations in committing to climate action.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Artemis is NASA’s ongoing project to land a crewed module on the Moon by 2024. NASA is collaborating with various commercial and international partners such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Australian Space Agency (ASA) in this project.

Statement 2 is correct. With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. Apollo 17 (1972) was the final Moon landing mission of NASA’s Apollo program, and remains the most recent time humans have travelled beyond low Earth orbit (International Space Station).

Both statements are correct.

Cytokines are a category of small proteins important in cell signaling. These are small proteins released by many different cells in the body, including those of the immune system where they coordinate the body’s response against infection and trigger inflammation. Sometimes the immune response goes into an overdrive, an uncontrolled level of cytokine leads to more and more immune cells attacking the infection, immune cells spread beyond infected body parts and start attacking healthy tissues. It can be fatal and has been seen in COVID-19 cases.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Iran is the largest Saffron producing country. But the quality of Kashmir Saffron is considered much better than the low cost Saffron produced in Iran and other countries like Spain, Greece etc.

Statement 2 is correct. Kashmiri saffron has been granted Geographical Indication (GI) tag recently.

Statement 3 is correct. The Karewas are composed of sand, silt, clay, shale, mud, lignite, gravel and loessic sediments. Karewa formations are useful for the cultivation of Zafran, a local variety of saffron in Kashmir.

Statement 1 is correct. The scheme on “Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS)” is being implemented by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, in this the target is to implement a One nation-one ration card scheme nationwide by linking all the ration cards all over the country with Aadhar cards and organizing food grain distribution mechanism in its entirety through Point of Sale (PoS) machine is in the final stage.

Statement 2 is correct. Once the “One Nation One Ration Card” scheme is implemented across the nation and for that data of all ration cards will be connected to one server and any beneficiary, anywhere in the country, will be able to pick up their grain from any public distribution system.

Statement 1 is correct. Chief of Defence Staff is the rank of a four-star General with salary and perquisites equivalent to a Service Chief.

Statement 2 is correct. The Chief of Defence Staff heads the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), created within the Ministry of Defence and functions as its Secretary.

Other duties and functions of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) include:

To act as the Principal Military Advisor to RakshaMantri on all Tri-Service matters.

To function as the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee

To administer the Tri-Service organizations/agencies/commands.

To be a member of Defence Acquisition Council chaired by RakshaMantri.

To function as the Military Advisor to the Nuclear Command Authority.

International Workers’ Day aka May Day is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement. May Day is also a holiday in some parts of Europe for the celebration of the return of spring.

The distress call in radio communication is ‘mayday’; convention requires that the word be repeated three times in a row during the initial emergency declaration (“Mayday mayday mayday”) to prevent it being mistaken for some similar-sounding phrase.

Both statements are correct.

It is an annual festival, which is celebrated in temples in Valluvanad area and other adjoining parts of north-central Kerala. ThrissurPooram is the largest and most famous of all poorams. The pooram officially begins from the event of flag hoisting (Kodiyettam).

Statement 1 is correct. The GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data) platform was launched on the occasion of the Sixty-first World Health Assembly in May 2008. It promotes the international sharing of all influenza virus sequences, related clinical and epidemiological data associated with human viruses and provides public access through its database (named EpiFlu).

Statement 2 is incorrect. In 2010 Germany became the official host of the GISAID platform and EpiFlu database.

Statement 1 is correct. Fauna at the park include elephants, Bengal Tiger, wild boar, spotted deer etc.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Krishna river flows through northern parts of karnataka, the park is in South. Suvarnamukhi stream runs through the Bannerghatta National Park.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Corporate tax levied on the companies registered under the Company law in India on the net profit they make. It is a direct tax. Goods and Service Tax (GST) is an indirect tax levied on the supply of goods and services.

Statement 2 is correct. Direct taxes include income tax, property tax, corporate tax etc.

A direct tax is paid directly by an individual or organization to the government, the burden of tax cannot be shifted in case of direct taxes while the indirect tax though paid by any entity, its burden is shifted to the end consumer.