QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 03 August 2017

Solution: a.

• The first, or “dry bulb” instrument, records the temperature of the air. The other, or “wet bulb” thermometer, measures relative humidity in the air and the results are normally lower than just the pure air temperature. For humans, this wet bulb reading is critically important.
• The “critically important” bit: While the normal temperature inside our bodies is 37C, our skin is usually at 35C. This temperature difference allows us to dissipate our own metabolic heat by sweating.
• However, if wet bulb temperatures in our environment are at 35C or greater, our ability to lose heat declines rapidly and even the fittest of people would die in around six hours.

In the news: Most of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh will experience temperatures close to the limits of survivability by 2100, without emissions reductions. This is to say, the wet bulb thermometer reading by the year 2100 will be 35C under a business-as-usual scenario of future greenhouse gas emissions. However, cuts in carbon emissions as pledged under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement dramatically reduces the risk to the region.

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Solution: d.

An MoU on establishment of the Agricultural Research Platform was signed by the foreign Ministers of BRICS countries in the 8th BRICS Summit held on 16th October, 2016 at Goa.

• BRICS-ARP will be the natural global platform for science-led agriculture-based sustainable development for addressing the issues of world hunger, under-nutrition, poverty and inequality, particularly between farmers’ and non-farmers’ income, and enhancing agricultural trade, bio-security and climate resilient agriculture.

In the news: The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed among India and various BRICs countries for establishment of the BRICS Agriculture Research Platform (BRICS-ARP).

Solution: b.

The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of the ISARC at campus of National Seed Research and Training Center (NSRTC) in Varanasi.

• Under the proposal, a Centre of Excellence in Rice Value Addition (CERVA) will be set up in Varanasi. This will include a modern and sophisticated laboratory with capacity to determine quality and status of heavy metals in grain and straw. The Centre will also undertake capacity building exercises for stakeholders across the rice value chain.
• This Center will be the first international Center in the eastern India and it will play a major role in harnessing and sustaining rice production in the region.
• The Centre will help in utilizing the rich biodiversity of India to develop special rice varieties. This will help India to achieve higher per hectare yields and improved nutritional contents. India’s food and nutritional security issues will also be addressed. This will reduce wastage, add value and generate higher income for the farmers. The farmers in Eastern India will benefit in particular, besides those in South Asian and African countries.

PIB (July 12^th);

PIB (2^nd August);

Solution: c.

• The India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) has been set up under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism to promote India as a venue for International Conferences and Exhibitions.
• India is also being promoted as a preferred Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) destination through the Global Incredible India media campaign and through Road Shows and Seminars conducted by the Indiatourism offices overseas.

PIB;

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Solution: a.

The same question was posted here earlier.

• The National Biopharma Mission, named Innovate in India (i3), is the first ever Industry-Academia mission to accelerate biopharmaceutical development in India
• India has been an active player in the pharmaceutical industry and has contributed globally towards making life saving drugs and low cost pharmaceutical products accessible and affordable for those in need. Be it the Rotavirus vaccine, heart valve prosthesis or affordable insulin, India has been a forerunner in these and many more. Despite, these advances Indian biopharmaceutical industry is still 10-15 years behind their counterparts in the developed countries and faces stiff competition from China, Korea and others. The lacuna primarily exists due to disconnected centers of excellence, less focus on translational research and staggered funding. There was an immediate need felt to focus on consolidated efforts to promote product discovery, translational research and early stage manufacturing in the country to ensure inclusive innovation.
• i3 is committed to addressing these gaps with a Mission to make India a hub for design and development of novel, affordable and effective biopharmaceutical products and solutions.
• The Mission to be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Undertaking of Department of Biotechnology, and is partially being funded by the World Bank.

PIB1; PIB2;

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