INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 8 July 2020) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• What is the plague?
  • The plague is a disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which is found in animals, particularly rodents.
  • It can be transmitted to humans through infected animals and fleas.
  • In the Middle Ages (5th-15th century), plague was also known as the ‘Black Death’ as it was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in Europe.
• There are three types of plague:
  • Bubonic plague: This infects a person’s lymphatic system (which is a part of their immune system), causing inflammation in the lymph nodes. If left untreated, the bubonic plague can also convert into either pneumonic of septicemic plague. Its symptoms include fever, chills, weakness and headaches.
  • Pneumonic plague: According to WHO, pneumonic plague is the ‘most virulent form of plague’ and can be fatal within 24 to 72 hours. It occurs when the bacteria infects the lungs. It is the only type of plague that can be transmitted from human to human. Symptoms are chest pain, fever and cough. It is highly contagious and transmissible merely by coughing.
  • Septicemic plague: This is when the bacteria enters the blood stream and multiplies there.
  • If left untreated, pneumonic and bubonic plague can lead to septicemic plague. A person infected by septicemic plague may also notice their skin turning black.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/07/08/bubonic-plague/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• What is CAATSA?
  • Enacted in 2017, it is a US federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia.
  • Includes sanctions against countries that engage in significant transactions with Russia’s defence and intelligence sectors.
  • The Act empowers the US President to impose at least five of the 12 listed sanctions on persons engaged in a “significant transaction” with Russian defence and intelligence sectors.
• What sanctions will be imposed?
  • prohibition on loans to the sanctioned person.
  • prohibition of Export-Import bank assistance for exports to sanctioned persons.
  • prohibition on procurement by United States Government to procure goods or services from the sanctioned person.
  • denial of visas to persons closely associated with the sanctioned person.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/07/08/countering-americas-adversaries-through-sanctions-act-caatsa-2/

Ans: (d)

Explanation: here the directive word is incorrect!!

• The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has issued a new directive barring international students from continuing their higher education in the country unless they meet specific quotas of in-person classes.
• Who will be affected?
• Students participating in university programmes that rely entirely on online courses now risk deportation if they do not leave the country, or transfer to schools with “in-person instruction.”
• The order directly relates to those students on F-1 and M-1 visas.
  • F-1 visa holders are those pursuing undergraduate, post-graduate or doctoral studies at tertiary education institutions.
  • M-1 holders are those engaged in vocational courses.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/07/08/new-us-visa-rule-puts-students%e2%80%8a-in%e2%80%8a-a%e2%80%8a-corner/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• About Namami Gange Programme:
  • It is an umbrella programme which integrates previous and currently ongoing initiatives by enhancing efficiency, extracting synergies and supplementing them with more comprehensive & better coordinated interventions.
  • Implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterparts—State Programme Management Groups.
• National Ganga Council (NGC):
  • Created in October 2016 under the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order, 2016, dissolving the National Ganga River Basin Authority.
  • Headed by the Prime Minister.
  • It replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA).
  • NGC would have on board the chief ministers of five Ganga basin states—Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal—besides several Union ministers and it was supposed to meet once every year.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/07/08/namami-gange-3/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, signed in 2016.
• The agreement’s language was negotiated by representatives of 196 state parties at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Le Bourget, near Paris, France, and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015
• As of February 2020, all UNFCCC members have signed the agreement, 189 have become party to it, and the only significant emitters which are not parties are Iran and Turkey.
  • The pact seeks to keep global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, and to try and limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
  • To this end, each country has pledged to implement targeted action plans that will limit their greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The Agreement asks rich and developed countries to provide financial and technological support to the developing world in its quest to fight and adapt to climate change.
• Developed countries will work to define a clear roadmap on ratcheting up climate finance to USD 100 billion (not USD 1000 billion) by 2020. So, 3 is wrong.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/07/08/financial-and-technological-commitments-under-unfccc-and-paris-agreement/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• A Himalayan butterfly named Golden Birdwing is now India’s largest.
• While the female Golden Birdwing was recorded from Didihat in Uttarakhand, the largest male was from the Wankhar Butterfly Museum in Meghalaya capital Shillong.
• So far, the record was held by the Southern Birdwing, recorded in 1932.
• The only measurement used in the study of Lepidoptera is wingspan — a simple concept with various interpretations of the term.
• The wingspan of female Golden Birdwing is 194 mm, marginally larger than the Southern Birdwing (190 mm).
• The smallest is the Quaker (Neopithecops zalmora) with a wingspan of 18 mm and forewing length of 8 mm.

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/07/08/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-8-july-2020/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Syrian and Russian planes have carried out deadly aerial strikes on schools, hospitals and markets in Idlib province. UN investigators have termed these attacks as war crimes.
• Where is Idlib?
  • Idlib is a city in northwestern Syria, 59 kilometers southwest of Aleppo, which is the capital of the Idlib Governorate. It has an elevation of nearly 500 meters above sea level.

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/07/08/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-8-july-2020/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• EPCA was constituted with the objective of ‘protecting and improving’ the quality of the environment and ‘controlling environmental pollution’ in the National Capital Region.
• The EPCA also assists the apex court in various environment-related matters in the region.
• EPCA is Supreme Court mandated body tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region. It was notified in 1998 by Environment Ministry under Environment Protection Act, 1986.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/07/09/environment-pollution-prevention-and-control-authority-epca-2/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• An assessment of compliance with Basel Norms was recently conducted by the Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme (RCAP). RCAP is part of the Basel committee.
• The assessment focused on the completeness and consistency of the domestic regulations in force on 7 June 2019, as applied to commercial banks in India, with the Basel large exposures framework.
• Key findings:
• The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) norms on large exposures for banks are not only compliant with the Basel requirements, they are stricter in some areas as well.
• This is highest possible grade. In some other respects, the Indian regulations are stricter than the Basel large exposures framework. For example, banks’ exposures to global systemically important banks are subject to stricter limits, in line with the letter and spirit of the Basel Guidelines, and the scope of application of the Indian standards is wider than just the internationally active banks covered by the Basel framework.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/07/10/basel-norms/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• ETPBS is developed by Election Commission of India with the help of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), for the use of the Service Voters.
• It is a fully secured system, having two layers of security. Secrecy is maintained through the use of OTP and PIN and no duplication of casted Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot (ETPB) is possible due to the unique QR Code.
• Persons working in paramilitary forces and the military and government officials deployed in diplomatic missions outside India are classified as Service Voters.
• This system enables the entitled service voters to cast their vote using an electronically received postal ballot from anywhere outside their constituency.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/07/22/electronically-transmitted-postal-ballot-system-etpbs/