QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 6 July 2020

Solution: a)

NITI Aayog and the International Transport Forum of OECD jointly launched the Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies project, in India.

The ambitious five-year project will help India develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system through the development of modelling tools and policy scenarios.

The DTEE project would help India translate its climate ambitions into actions.

The transport sector of India is the third most greenhouse gas emitting sector, where the major contribution comes from the road transport sector.
Out of the total carbon dioxide emissions in India, 13 percent come from the transport sector. These emissions have more than tripled since 1990.

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Solution: b)

The government recently approved the creation of a new organisation to ensure greater private participation in India’s space activities.

The new Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), which is expected to be functional within six months, will assess the needs and demands of private players, including educational and research institutions, and, explore ways to accommodate these requirements in consultation with ISRO.

It is not that there is no private industry involvement in India’s space sector. In fact, a large part of manufacturing and fabrication of rockets and satellites now happens in the private sector.

IN-SPACe is supposed to be a facilitator, and also a regulator. It will act as an interface between ISRO and private parties, and assess how best to utilise India’s space resources and increase space-based activities.

The private industry will also free up ISRO to concentrate on science, research and development, interplanetary exploration and strategic launches.

IN-SPACe is the second space organisation created by the government in the last two years. In the 2019 Budget, the government had announced the setting up of a New Space India Limited (NSIL), a public sector company that would serve as a marketing arm of ISRO. Its main purpose is to market the technologies developed by ISRO and bring it more clients that need space-based services.

That role, incidentally, was already being performed by Antrix Corporation, another PSU working under the Department of Space, and which still exists.

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Solution: c)

NI-KSHAY is the web enabled patient management system for TB control under the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP). It is developed and maintained by the Central TB Division (CTD), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), and the World Health Organization Country office for India.

Nikshay is used by health functionaries at various levels across the country both in the public and private sector, to register cases under their care, order various types of tests from Labs across the country, record treatment details, monitor treatment adherence and to transfer cases between care providers. It also functions as the National TB Surveillance System and enables reporting of various surveillance data to the Government of India.

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Solution: c)

The Lakshadweep Islands administration has announced the creation of the world’s first conservation area — 239 sq. km — for endangered sea cucumbers. The announcement came after reports of smuggling of sea cucumbers and other vulnerable marine species for sale in east Asia.

Sea cucumbers are invertebrates ranging in sizes up to six feet (1.8m). The species is high in demand across south-east Asia, mainly China, for food and traditional medicine. In India, the species is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, akin to the protection for a tiger, leopard or elephant. They cannot be transported in any form for commercial use and are also protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which India is a signatory. A total ban on harvesting of sea cucumbers was imposed in 2001 under the WPA by the Union environment ministry.

The creation of a protected area puts restrictions on entry and a ban on collection or trade of corals, sea cucumbers or any other Schedule I (under Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972) marine organisms.

Conservation reserves are protected areas categorised by the Union environment ministry under the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002. These categories were added because of reduced protection in and around existing or proposed protected areas due to private ownership of land and land use.

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Solution: a)

Lampedusa is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.

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