10 PM Current Affairs Quiz : January 24 2021

An atrial septal defect (ASD) is a hole in the wall (septum) between the two upper chambers of your heart (atria). The condition is present at birth (congenital). This defect allows oxygen-rich blood to leak into the oxygen-poor blood chambers in the heart.
Nitinol-based occluder devices, which are presently used to heal Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) or hole in the heart that affects 8 out of every 1000 living babies born, are currently imported to meet demands in India.
Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), under the Technical Research Centre (TRC), has entered into Technology Transfer Agreements with Pune based Biorad Medisys for two biomedical implant devices— an Atrial Septal Defect Occluder and an Intracranial Flow Diverter Stents developed by the institute in collaboration with National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore using superelastic NiTiNOL alloys.

Both statements are correct.
All computing systems rely on a fundamental ability to store and manipulate information. Current computers manipulate individual bits, which store information as binary 0 and 1 states. Quantum computers leverage quantum mechanical phenomena to manipulate information. To do this, they rely on quantum bits, or qubits.
Three quantum mechanical properties — superposition, entanglement, and interference — are used in quantum computing to manipulate the state of a qubit.
–Superposition is essentially the ability of a quantum system to be in multiple states at the same time — that is, something can be “here” and “there,” or “up” and “down” at the same time.
–Entanglement is an extremely strong correlation that exists between quantum particles — so strong, in fact, that two or more quantum particles can be inextricably linked in perfect unison, even if separated by great distances.
–Finally, quantum states can undergo interference due to a phenomenon known as phase. Quantum interference can be understood similarly to wave interference; when two waves are in phase, their amplitudes add, and when they are out of phase, their amplitudes cancel.

Statement 1 is correct. Active matter describes systems whose constituent elements consume energy and are thus out-of-equilibrium. Examples include flocks or herds of animals, collections of cells, and components of the cellular cytoskeleton.
Statement 2 is incorrect. Due to continuous energy input, such systems are driven far from equilibrium and exhibit fascinating collective behaviors like clustering, giant mass fluctuations and anomalous transport.

The acronym MICE stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions. It refers to a group of tourism that plans, books and organises conferences, seminars and other events. It is a version of business tourism that draws domestic and international business tourists to a destination.
The MICE industry is one of the hospitality industries most profitable sectors, as MICE travellers typically spend large amount of their budget on-site.
# Gujarat CM has announced the tourism policy for 2021-25. It seeks to make Gujarat a hub of “MICE” tourism.

The Kholongchhu hydroelectric project is a 600MW run-of-the-river hydropower facility under construction on the Kholongchhu River in Bhutan. It is being developed through a joint venture (JV) partnership between India and Bhutan.
The Concession Agreement for the 600 MW Kholongchhu (Joint Venture) Hydroelectric Project between the Royal Government of Bhutan and Kholongchhu Hydro Energy Limited was signed in 2020.
Hydropower sector is the flagship area of India-Bhutan bilateral cooperation. The 720 MW Mangdechhu hydroelectric project was jointly inaugurated earlier in August 2019 by the Hon’ble Prime Ministers of India and Bhutan. With this, four (04) hydroelectric projects of bilateral cooperation (336 MW Chukha HEP, 60 MW Kurichhu HEP, 1020 MW Tala HEP and 720 MW Mangdechhu HEP), totaling over 2100 MW, are already operational in Bhutan.

Statement 1 is correct. Subhas Chandra Bose was jailed during Civil Disobedience movement in 1930. He was released in 1931 after Gandhi-Irwin pact was signed. He protested against the Gandhi-Irwin pact and opposed the suspension of Civil Disobedience movement specially when Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged.
Statement 2 is correct. J. L. Nehru was elected for two consecutive terms as Congress President in 1936 and 1937 followed by Subhas Bose’s victory in 1938 Haripura session.

Sushruta was a physician in ancient India known today as the “Father of Plastic Surgery” for inventing and developing surgical procedures. His work on the subject, the Sushruta Samhita (Sushruta’s Compendium) is considered the oldest text in the world on plastic surgery.
The Sushruta Samhita devotes chapter after chapter to surgical techniques, listing over 300 surgical procedures and 120 surgical instruments in addition to the 1,120 diseases, injuries, conditions, and their treatments, and over 700 medicinal herbs and their application, taste, and efficacy, which are also dealt with in depth.

Statement 1 is correct. The PACT (Partnerships for Accelerating Clinical Trials) programme has been launched for supporting COVID-19 vaccine development activities in partnering countries.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The initiative is being implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and Clinical Development Services Agency (CDSA) under the aegis of the National Biopharma Mission and Ind-CEPI Mission of DBT.
India has also provided training to several neighbouring countries to enhance and strengthen their clinical capabilities, under the Partnerships for Accelerating Clinical Trials (PACT) programme.

Statement 1 is incorrect. India and the EU began negotiations on a broad-based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) in Brussels, Belgium in 2007. The agreement is yet to be signed and is stuck due to difference od stance on issues like IPR, environmental regulations, services sector negotiations, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade (SPS-TBT).
Statement 2 is incorrect. The inaugural India – EU Maritime Security Dialogue has been held recently.
India and the EU held their first maritime security dialogue in a virtual format on 20 January 2021. The consultations involved exchanges on developments in maritime security environment, regional cooperation activities, developments of mutual interest and opportunities for cooperation between India and the EU.
# The first India-EU Summit was held in Lisbon on 28 June 2000 which marked a watershed in the development of the relationship. Since then, fifteen annual bilateral Summits have been held between India and the EU.

The Global Innovation Index (GII) is co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. The Global Innovation Index (GII), since 2007, has been providing detailed metrics about the innovation performance of countries and economies around the world.
# Global Innovation Index (GII) 2020 ranked India at 48th place, up four positions since 2019.
India has maintained its growth in publications—the traditional indicator of scientific excellence. The number of publications has increased exponentially over the last 10 years. According to data from the US agency, the National Science Foundation (NSF), India is currently in third place, only behind China and the United States, with 135,788 scientific articles in the year 2018.