10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: July 17, 2020

Statement 1 is incorrect. In the Tenth Schedule providing for disqualification on ground of defection, unless the context otherwise requires, a “House” means either House of Parliament or the Legislative Assembly or, as the case may be, either House of the Legislature of a State; i.e. Legislative Assembly or Council.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Tenth Schedule explicitly states that a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House—if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party; or if he votes or abstains from voting in such House contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs.

The Sample Registration System (SRS) is a large-scale demographic survey for providing reliable annual estimates of Infant mortality rate, birth rate, death rate and other fertility & mortality indicators at the national and subnational levels conducted by Office of the Registrar General, India.

Recently SRS Bulletins with reference year 2018 have been released.

Statement 1 is correct. Birth Rate is a crude measure of fertility of a population and is a crucial determinant of population growth. It gives the number of live births per thousand population in a given region and year.

Infant Mortality Rate is defined as the infant deaths (less than one year) per thousand live births in a given time period and for a given region.

Both have seen continuous decline in India in last decade.

Statement 2 is incorrect. As per World Health Organization, “Maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes”.

Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) is defined as the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 100,000 live births during the same time period. It has also declined significantly in India.

Statement 1 is correct. Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 is an Act to give effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and for matters connected therewith. India ratified the said Convention in October, 2007.

Statement 2 is correct. Some of the provisions covered by the Bill are: providing free education to a person with benchmark disability till 18 years of age; barrier free access to all parts of a hospital/health care center run or aided by government; ensuring that all existing public buildings are made accessible; all public documents are in accessible format, and accessibility of bus stops, railway stations and airports for disabled persons.

Statement 3 is incorrect. There is no such provision in the Act.

The Supreme Court has recently observed that people suffering from disabilities are also socially backward and are thus entitled to the same benefits as given to those belonging to the Scheduled Castes.

Statement 1 is correct. The University Grants Commission of India is a statutory body set up in accordance with the UGC Act 1956, under Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Statement 2 is correct. The UGC`s mandate includes:

-Determining and maintaining standards of teaching, examination and research in universities.

-Monitoring developments in the field of collegiate and university education; disbursing grants to the universities and colleges.

-Serving as a vital link between the Union and state governments and institutions of higher learning.

-Advising the Central and State governments on the measures necessary for improvement of university education.

Statement 3 is correct. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) was established in 1994 as an autonomous institution of the University Grants Commission (UGC). NAAC’s mandate includes the task of performance evaluation, assessment and accreditation of universities and colleges in the country.

Index of industrial production (IIP) data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) is a monthly indicator that measures the short-term changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products.

Statement 1 is correct. Manufacturing Sector has highest weightage in IIP calculation.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Under ‘Electricity’ sector, electricity generation from renewable energy sources has been included in 2011-12 base year series of IIP.

All statements are correct.

Kaziranga National Park is in the Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. The sanctuary is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1985).

It is inhabited by the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinoceroses, as well as many mammals, including tigers, elephants, panthers and bears, and thousands of birds.

The Park lies on the south bank of the river Brahmaputra and its southern boundary follows for the most part the river Mora Diphlu that runs parallel to National Highway NH 37 (the main arterial highway in Assam).

Both statements are correct.

The National Biopharma Mission is an Industry-Academia collaborative mission of Department of Biotechnology (DBT) for accelerating early development for biopharmaceuticals.

The National Biopharma Mission was approved by the Cabinet for implementation in May 2017 with a total cost US$ 250 million which is co-funded World Bank. The Mission is implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Undertaking of Department of Biotechnology.

The mission is focusing on:

-Development of product leads that are at advanced stages of the product development lifecycle and relevant to the public health need in vaccine, biosimilar and medical devices & diagnostics.

-Establishing and strengthening shared infrastructure facilities for product development and validation.

-Developing human capital by providing specific trainings to address the critical skills gap across the product development value chain.

-Creating and enhancing technology transfer and intellectual property management capacities and capabilities.

Statement 1 is incorrect. International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF) is not an institutionalized body, nor does it create any binding, legal or financial obligations on any member under domestic or international law.

The IPSF a multilateral forum for facilitating exchanges that aims to:

-Exchange and disseminate information to promote best practices in environmentally sustainable finance;

-Compare the different initiatives and identify barriers and opportunities to help scale up environmentally sustainable finance internationally;

-While respecting national and regional contexts, enhance international coordination where appropriate on environmentally sustainable finance issues. In addition, where appropriate, some willing members could strive to align initiatives and approaches.

Statement 2 is correct. The International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF) was launched on 18 October 2019. Its current members are Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealand and the European Union, representing almost half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Statement 1 is correct. National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India’ 2019 was conducted by National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and sponsored by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Statement 2 is correct. As per the survey, Alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance used by Indians. Nationally, about 14.6% of the population (between 10 and 75 year of age) uses alcohol. There are about 16 crore persons who consume alcohol in the country. Use of alcohol is considerably higher among men as compared to women. For every one woman who consumes alcohol, there are 17 alcohol using men.

After Alcohol, Cannabis and Opioids are the next commonly used substances in India.

India’s first fully indigenously developed conjugate vaccine for pneumonia by the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd, Pune has got approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

This vaccine is to be used for active immunization against pneumonia caused by “Streptococcus pneumonia”, a Gram-positive bacterium, in infants.

Pneumonia is an infection in lungs; it can be caused by Bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The infection causes inflammation in the air sacs (alveoli) in lungs. The alveoli fill with fluid or pus, making it difficult to breathe.