10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: December 10, 2020

Covaxin is an indigenous inactivated whole SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccine that has been developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the NIV/ICMR.
Covishield is based on the chimpanzee adenovirus vector-based vaccine developed by Oxford University in partnership with the British-Swedish vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca called ChAdOx1/AZD1222. The Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune, will, under licence from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, produce the vaccine under its brand name Covishield for domestic and regional consumption.
ZyCoV-D is a plasmid DNA vaccine developed by the Indian company Cadila Healthcare Ltd. Plasmids are circular double-stranded DNA molecules usually found in bacteria. But these are external to the bacterial chromosomes and can replicate independently. Plasmids are used as the platform to directly deliver the antigenic determinant (its DNA sequence) into the body.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. Early symptoms of PD include tremor, rigidity, and difficulty walking; cognitive decline is common at later stages. The underlying pathology of PD is selective death of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra, a part of the brain involved in movement, reward, and addiction.
Statement 1 is correct. There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, medicines, surgical treatment, and other therapies can often relieve some symptoms.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Both men and women can have Parkinson’s disease. However, the disease affects about 50 percent more men than women.
One clear risk factor for Parkinson’s is age. Although most people with Parkinson’s first develop the disease at about age 60, about 5 to 10 percent of people with Parkinson’s have “early-onset” disease, which begins before the age of 50.

Option 1 is incorrectly matched. Stunting, or low height for age, is caused by long-term insufficient nutrient intake and frequent infections. Stunting generally occurs before age two, and effects are largely irreversible. These include delayed motor development, impaired cognitive function and poor school performance.
Option 2 is correctly matched. Wasting, or low weight for height, is a strong predictor of mortality among children under five. It is usually the result of acute significant food shortage and/or disease.

Statement 1 is correct. The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the proposal of DoT for setting up of Public Wi-Fi Networks by Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) to provide public Wi-Fi service through Public Data Offices (PDOs) spread across length and breadth of the country to accelerate proliferation of Broadband Internet services through Public Wi-Fi network in the country.
This Public Wi-Fi Access Network Interface will be known as PM-WANI. PM-WANI eco-system will be operated by different players:
–Public Data Office (PDO): It will establish, maintain, and operate only WANI compliant Wi-Fi Access Points and deliver broadband services to subscribers.
–Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA): It will be an aggregator of PDOs and perform the functions relating to Authorization and Accounting.
–App Provider: It will develop an App to register users and discover WANI compliant Wi-Fi hotspots in the nearby area and display the same within the App for accessing the internet service.
–Central Registry: It will maintain the details of App Providers, PDOAs, and PDOs. To begin with, the Central Registry will be maintained by C-DoT.
Statement 2 is incorrect. There shall be no license fee for providing Broadband Internet through these public Wi-Fi networks.

Apart from the higher capital cost of providing telecom services in rural and remote areas, these areas also generate lower revenue due to lower population density, low income and lack of commercial activity. Thus, normal market forces alone would not direct the telecom sector to adequately serve backward and rural areas.
Therefore, most countries of the world have put in place policies to provide Universal Access and Universal Service to ICT.
Statement 1 is correct. The New Telecom Policy – 1999 (NTP’99) provided that the resources for meeting the Universal Service Obligation (USO) would be raised through a ‘Universal Access Levy (UAL)’, which would be a percentage of the revenue earned by the operators under various licenses. The Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 giving statutory status to the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) was passed by Parliament in December 2003.
Statement 2 is correct. The Union Cabinet has given its approval for Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (KLI Project). The Project would be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund.

Statement 1 is correct. Government is implementing the POSHAN Abhiyaan since December, 2017 to address the problem of malnutrition in the country.
There are a number of schemes directly/indirectly affecting the nutritional status of children (0-6 year’s age) and pregnant women and lactating mothers. In spite of these, level of malnutrition and related problems in the country is high. POSHAN Abhiyaan through robust convergence mechanism and other components would strive to create the synergy.
The programme through the targets will strive to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight babies. It will create synergy, ensure better monitoring, issue alerts for timely action, and encourage States/UTs to perform, guide and supervise the line Ministries and States/UTs to achieve the targeted goals.
Statement 2 is correct. The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) is nodal ministry for implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan.

The countries that surround the Persian Gulf are: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Statement 1 is correct. Partners in Population and Development (PPD) is an Inter-governmental Alliance of 27 developing countries with a mission to expand and improve South-South collaboration in the fields of family planning and reproductive health, population and development through the governments, NGOs and private sector organizations. It was created at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994.
Statement 2 is correct. There were only 10 developing countries at the time of formation of the Organization in 1994, over the years PPD’s membership has increased to 27 developing countries across Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America covering nearly 60% of total world population.
Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam are the PPD members from Asia.

Pakistan and China along with Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were recently placed in the Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom”.
A “Special Watch List” country is one that is deemed not to meet all of the “Country of Particular Concern” criteria but engages in or tolerates severe violations of religious freedom. This country category was established in the International Religious Freedom Act of 2016 which amended the IRFA to provide the U.S. Government new tools, resources, and responsibilities to advance and promote international religious freedom. The Secretary of State, under authority delegated by the President, designates a Special Watch List.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is the international body that brings together the world’s securities regulators and is recognized as the global standard setter for the securities sector.
IOSCO develops, implements and promotes adherence to internationally recognized standards for securities regulation. It works intensively with the G20 and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on the global regulatory reform agenda.
Statement 2 is correct. The ordinary members (129) to the IOSCO are the national securities commissions. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is an ordinary member of IOSCO and a member of the IOSCO Board.