INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 16 May 2020) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Stat1: To give a boost to domestic defence and aerospace manufacturing, the government has approved the launch of Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme (DTIS) with an outlay of Rs 400 crore for creating state of the art testing infrastructure for this sector.
• Stat2: The projects under the Scheme will be provided with up to 75% government funding in the form of ‘Grant-in-Aid’. The remaining 25% of the project cost will have to be borne by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) whose constituents will be Indian private entities and State Governments

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/defence-testing-infrastructure-scheme-dtis/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Stat1: The cooperation between the World Bank and India goes back to the foundation of the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development in 1944. As one of 44 countries, India prepared the agenda for the Bretton Woods Conference in June 1944. The Indian delegation was led by Jeremy Raisman, who was a finance member of the Indian government and proposed the name “International Bank for Reconstruction and Development”. India received its first bank loan of US$34million from the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development in November 1948 for railway rehabilitation. Since then, India has become the country with the largest country program.
• Stat2: There are five “closely associated institutions” that each have a distinct role” and together form, the World Bank—the IBRD, the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), that “invests in private firms and promotes entrepreneurship”, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), that guarantees loans, and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
• Their mission is to “fight poverty and improve living standards for people in the developing world.” By 2018, the World Bank Group was “one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries.” Of the five institutions, the IBRD and the IDA are the World Bank’s two largest units. When a country reaches a GDP per person over US$1,145, they are no longer eligible for IDA financial support. For example, of the BRIC countries, China was no longer eligible in 1999 and by 2014, neither was India.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/world-bank-pledges-1-bn-to-boost-indias-social-safety-net/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Stat1: In the budget speech of 2018-19, a new Scheme “Operation Greens” was announced on the line of “Operation Flood”, with an outlay of Rs.500 crore to promote Farmer Producers Organizations, agri-logistics, processing facilities and professional management. Operation Greens seeks to stabilize the supply of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) crops and to ensure availability of TOP crops throughout the country round the year without price volatility.
  • The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has launched the scheme. NAFED will be the Nodal Agency to implement price stabilisation measures.
• Stat2: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced that Operation Green will be expanded with an additional fund of Rs 500 crore and extended from tomatoes, onions and potatoes to all fruits and vegetables.
  • The scheme will feature a 50% subsidy on transportation from surplus to deficient markets and 50% subsidy on storage, including cold storage.
  • It will be piloted for six months and expanded and extended thereafter. It looks at bringing better price realisation to farmers, reduce wastage and affordability of products for consumers.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/atmanirbhar-bharat-abhiyan/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• The Computer Emergency Response of Team (CERT) of India has issued warning against a new malware called “EventBot”.
• What’s the Difference Between Malware, Trojan, Virus, and Worm?
  • Malware is defined as a software designed to perform an unwanted illegal act via the computer network. It could be also defined as software with malicious intent.
  • Malware can be classified based on how they get executed, how they spread, and/or what they do. Some of them are discussed below.
  • Virus: A program that can infect other programs by modifying them to include a possible evolved copy of itself.
  • Worms: Disseminated through computer networks, unlike viruses, computer worms are malicious programs that copy themselves from system to system, rather than infiltrating legitimate files.
  • Trojans: Trojan or trojan horse is a program that generally impairs the security of a system. Trojans are used to create back-doors (a program that allows outside access into a secure network) on computers belonging to a secure network so that a hacker can have access to the secure network.
  • Hoax: An e-mail that warns the user of a certain system that is harming the computer. The message thereafter instructs the user to run a procedure (most often in the form of a download) to correct the harming system. When this program is run, it invades the system and deletes an important file.
  • Spyware: Invades a computer and, as its name implies, monitors a user’s activities without consent. Spywares are usually forwarded through unsuspecting e-mails with bonafide e-mail i.ds. Spyware continues to infect millions of computers globally.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/eventbot/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Cinchona, (genus Cinchona), genus of about 23 species of plants, mostly trees, in the madder family (Rubiaceae), native to the Andes of South America.
• Cinchona trees are evergreen with simple, oppositely arranged leaves. The tubular flowers are small and usually creamy white or rose in colour. The flowers are borne in terminal clusters, and the petals have characteristically hairy margins. The fruit is a small capsule.
• Cinchona tree.

• Cinchona tree bark.
  • The bark of some species contains quinine and is useful against malaria. During the 300 years between its introduction into Western medicine and its medical use during World War I, quinine from cinchona was the only effective remedy for malaria.

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-16-may-2020/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• A rights issue is an offering of shares made to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholding. Companies often offer shares in a rights issue at a discount on the market price.
• Rights issues are used by companies seeking to raise capital without increasing debt.
• Shareholders are not obliged to purchase shares offered in a rights issue.

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-16-may-2020/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Stat3: The Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) and Tomistoma (Tomistoma schlegelii) have greatly elongated snouts. This elongation has been achieved more by compacting the cranial part of the skull, at the rear, than by elongation of the whole head. Thus, the head length of a 3 m long Gharial is not very different from the head length of a Saltwater Crocodile of the same total length – Gharials simply have a far greater proportion of the head allocated to snout.

• Stat2: Gharials are most adapted to the calmer areas in the deep fast moving rivers. The physical attributes of the gharial do not make it very suited for moving about on land. In fact the only reasons the gharial leaves the water is to either bask in the sun or to nest on the sandbanks of the rivers.
• Stat1: What’s the Difference Between Alligators and Crocodiles?
  • Snout shape: Alligators have wider, U-shaped snouts, while crocodile front ends are more pointed and V-shaped.
  • Toothy grin: When their snouts are shut, crocodiles look like they’re flashing a toothy grin, as the fourth tooth on each side of the lower jaw sticks up over the upper lip. For alligators, the upper jaw is wider than the lower one, so when they close their mouths, all their teeth are hidden.
  • Home base: Crocodiles tend to live in saltwater habitats, while alligators hang out in freshwater marshes and lakes.

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-16-may-2020/

Ans: (c)

Explanation: GOAL (Going Online As Leaders)” programme:

• Launched by Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in partnership with Facebook.
• Aims to provide mentorship to tribal youth through digital mode.
• Under this, 5,000 young tribal entrepreneurs, professionals, artisans and artists will be trained by experts from different disciplines on digital skills under digital entrepreneurship program.

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-16-may-2020/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Key facts:
• Critically Endangered— IUCN Red List.
• The male gharial has a distinctive boss at the end of the snout, which resembles an earthenware pot.
• Habitat— foremost flowing rivers with high sand banks that they use for basking and building nests. Gharials once inhabited all the major river systems of the Indian Subcontinent, from the Irrawaddy River in the east to the Indus River in the west. Their distribution is now limited to only 2% of their former range
• India: Girwa River, Chambal River, Ken River, Son River, Mahanadi River, Ramganga River
• Nepal: Rapti-Narayani River
• Threats: Hunting for skins, trophies and indigenous medicine, and their eggs collected for consumption, Decrease of riverine habitat as dams, barrages, irrigation canals and artificial embankments were built; siltation and sand-mining changed river courses

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/16/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-16-may-2020/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• The Chambal River is a tributary of the Yamuna River in central India, and thus forms part of the greater Gangetic drainage system.
• Tributaries of Yamuna River
  • ⁃ left: Hindon, Tons, Giri, Rishiganga, Hanuman Ganga, Sasur Khaderi
  • ⁃ right: Chambal, Betwa, Ken, Sindh, Baghain
• The perennial Chambal originates at janapav, south of Mhow town, near manpur Indore, on the south slope of the Vindhya Range in Madhya Pradesh.
• The Chambal River is considered pollution free and hosts an amazing riverine faunal assemblage including 2 species of crocodilians – the mugger and gharial, 8 species of freshwater turtles, smooth-coated otters, gangetic river dolphins, skimmers, black-bellied terns, sarus cranes and black-necked storks, amongst others.

Refer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambal_River