10 PM Daily Current Affairs Quiz | February 16 2021

Statement 1 is correct. The leatherback is the largest turtle in the world, and has a primarily black rubbery skin with pinkish-white coloring on its underside. They are the only species of sea turtle that lack scales. Their shell (carapace) consists of small, interlocking dermal bones beneath the skin that overlie a supportive layer of connective tissue and fat and the deeper skeleton.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Leatherbacks occur in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. In India leatherbacks come to beaches of Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands for nesting.

Statement 3 is correct. Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) is listed as Vulnerable species with decreasing trend under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Statement 1 is correct. The General Council is the WTO’s highest-level decision-making body in Geneva, meeting regularly to carry out the functions of the WTO. It has representatives (usually ambassadors or equivalent) from all member governments and has the authority to act on behalf of the ministerial conference which only meets about every two years.

The General Council also meets, under different rules, as the Dispute Settlement Body and as the Trade Policy Review Body.

Statement 2 is correct. Surveillance of national trade policies is a fundamentally important activity running throughout the work of the WTO. At the centre of this work is the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). All WTO members are reviewed, the frequency of each country’s review varying according to its share of world trade.

# Dr Okonjo-Iweala will become the first woman and the first African to be chosen as Director-General, when she takes office on 1 March.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently listed two versions of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for these vaccines to be

rolled out globally through COVAX. The vaccines are produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea) and the Serum Institute of India.

It also listed the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use on 31 December 2020.

WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and is a prerequisite for COVAX Facility vaccine supply.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Digital Maps/Geospatial Data of spatial accuracy/value up to the threshold value can be uploaded to the cloud but those with accuracy finer than the threshold value shall only be stored and processed on a domestic cloud or on servers physically located within territory of India.

# Threshold value for on-site spatial accuracy shall be one meter for horizontal or Planimetry and three meters for vertical or Elevation.

Statement 2 is correct. Indian Entities, whether in Government or outside, will be free to acquire, collect, generate, prepare, disseminate, store, share, publish, distribute, update, digitize and/or create Geospatial Data, including Maps, of any spatial accuracy within the territory of India including underwater within its territorial waters by using any Geospatial Technology, subject to regulations on attributes in the negative lists.

Petroleum products—petrol, diesel, crude oil, natural gas and ATF—were not included in the GST list when it was introduced on 1 July, 2017. The GST Council excluded these products from the new indirect tax regime as state governments largely rely on them for their revenue.

The retail rate of Petrol in India is inclusive of Central Excise tax, State VAT/Sales tax and Dealer commission.

–Despite crude prices falling in 2015-16, petrol prices remained unchanged as the tax component of the price at the pump was raised.

–When crude prices started to rise again from 2017, petrol prices also increased.

–In 2020, when crude prices fell again, petrol prices at the pump did not remain unchanged as in 2015-16 but increased, because of a surge in taxes.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The GrapeNet is a web-based certification and traceability software system for monitoring fresh grapes exported from India to the European Union. APEDA can trace details of the consignment right up to the farm plot level.

Statement 2 is correct. In a bid to ensure cyber security protection for its traceability initiative, APEDA has adopted next generation Blockchain and Cloud migration enabled GrapeNet System which would ensure a secured, scalable and cost-effective interface for all the stakeholders in the exports value chain.

The Blockchain will help track all the activities and steps involved in the grape’s lifecycle process, right from the allocation of the farms for production of the grapes to the point of grapes being delivered to the customers. It will keep a record of all the processes involved which can be traced by the customers at the end of the chain to validate the authenticity of the grapes being provided to them.

Statement 1 is correct. The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO), formerly known as Department of Explosives, since its inception on 05/09/1898, has been serving the nation as a nodal agency for regulating safety of hazardous substances such as explosives, compressed gases and petroleum.

Statement 2 is correct. With an overall objective of ensuring safety and security of public and property from fire and explosion, the Organisation as a statutory authority is entrusted with the administration of Explosives Act, 1884, Petroleum Act, 1934; Inflammable Substances Act, 1952 and the following Rules framed under these Acts.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, is implementing the BIOTECH URJIT CLUSTER i.e. University Research Joint Industry Translational Cluster scheme in the country to synergize resources between institutions, Universities research laboratories, industries and SMEs for technology & product development and building enterprises.

The purpose of Biotech URJIT Cluster scheme is to complement and enhance the translational and commercialization potential of inventions & innovations coming out of academic research activities. These are being set up in 10 locations as per the Budget Announcement in February 2020.

Galathea National Park is a National Park located in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

It comprises the core area of the southern part of the Biosphere Reserve in Great Nicobar Island and consists of lowland forests which have the greatest abundance of endemic avifauna. It is the prime nesting habitat of the Nicobar Megapode.

The leather back turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) nests in large numbers during the months between December to February at South Bay.

Both statements are correct.

Seed Replacement Rate is the percentage of area sown out of total area of crop planted in the season by using certified/quality seeds other than the farm saved seed.

In India, farm-saved seed (FSS) is the most prominent source to raise crop year after year since farmers are familiar with the seed they grow themselves and know that the variety is adapted to local conditions and preferences. This often reduces the quality of seeds sown despite the availability of quality seed of superior genotypes from the organized seed industry.

SRR is a measure of cropped area covered with quality seed. Hence SRR is having a direct bearing on productivity augmentation and enhancement in farmers’ income and is one of the means for achieving doubling the farmers’ income.

# Focused attention for improving the seed replacement rate and varietal replacement is given in the National Food Security Mission. To increase the seed replacement rate (SRR) of improved varieties of food grains, about 74 lakh quintals of certified seed of high yielding varieties/ hybrids of rice, wheat, pulses & coarse cereals were distributed under NFSM from 2014-15 to 2019-20.