QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 27 July 2020

Solution: d)

WHO works worldwide to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.

Our goal is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and well-being.

For universal health coverage, we:

• focus on primary health care to improve access to quality essential services
• work towards sustainable financing and financial protection
• improve access to essential medicines and health products
• train the health workforce and advise on labour policies
• support people’s participation in national health policies
• improve monitoring, data and information.

For health emergencies, we:

• prepare for emergencies by identifying, mitigating and managing risks
• prevent emergencies and support development of tools necessary during outbreaks
• detect and respond to acute health emergencies
• support delivery of essential health services in fragile settings.

For health and well-being we:

• address social determinants
• promote intersectoral approaches for health
• prioritize health in all policies and healthy settings.

Through our work, we address:

• human capital across the life-course
• noncommunicable diseases prevention
• mental health promotion
• climate change in small island developing states
• antimicrobial resistance
• elimination and eradication of high-impact communicable diseases.

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Solution: c)

India has formally joined the Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), becoming the 65^th country to join the partnership.

The Climate & Clean Air Coalition is the only global effort that unites governments, civil society and private sector, committed to improving air quality and protecting the climate in next few decades by reducing short-lived climate pollutants across sectors. Complementary to mitigating CO2 emissions, the Coalition acts as a catalyst to create, implement and share immediate solutions addressing near-term climate change to improve people’s lives rapidly, and to ensure sustainable development for future generations.

The Coalition’s initial focus is on methane, black carbon, and HFCs. 

At the same time, partners recognize that action on short-lived climate pollutants must complement and supplement, not replace, global action to reduce carbon dioxide, in particular efforts under the UNFCCC. The Coalition’s objectives are to address short-lived climate pollutants by:

• Raising awareness of short-lived climate pollutant impacts and mitigation strategies
• Enhancing and developing new national and regional actions, including by identifying and overcoming barriers, increasing capacity, and mobilizing support
• Promoting best practices and showcasing successful efforts
• Improving scientific understanding of short-lived climate pollutant impacts and mitigation strategies

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Solution: b)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently announced a 60% increase in the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limit of state governments over and above the level as on March 31, with a view to enabling them “to undertake COVID-19 containment and mitigation efforts” and “to better plan their market borrowings”.

WMA it is a facility for both the Centre and states to borrow from the RBI. These borrowings are meant purely to help them to tide over temporary mismatches in cash flows of their receipts and expenditures. In that sense, they aren’t a source of finance per se. Section 17(5) of the RBI Act, 1934 authorises the central bank to lend to the Centre and state governments subject to their being repayable “not later than three months from the date of the making of the advance”.

The interest rate on WMA is the RBI’s repo rate, which is basically the rate at which it lends short-term money to banks. The governments are, however, allowed to draw amounts in excess of their WMA limits. The interest on such overdraft is 2 percentage points above the repo rate. Further, no state can run an overdraft with the RBI for more than a certain period.

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Solution: c)

The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

“The Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments.” Moreover, the NDB “shall cooperate with international organizations and other financial entities, and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the Bank.”

The authorized capital for NDB is $100 Billion while initial subscribed capital is $50 billion. Initial subscribed capital was equally distributed among the founding members {$10 billion each}. Voting power of each member is equal to the number of its subscribed shares in capital stock.

New Development Bank (NDB) had decided to lend Rs 6,000 crores to Andhra Pradesh Government for various projects.

Solution: d)

The hill ranges of the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot, extend along the west coast of India from the river Tapti in the north to the southern tip of India.

The Western Ghats contain more than 30 per cent of all plant, fish, herpeto-fauna, bird, and mammal species found in India. Many species are endemic, such as the Nilgiri tahr (Hemitragus hylocrius) and the lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus). 

The amphibians of the Western Ghats are diverse and unique, with more than 80% of the 179 amphibian species being endemic. The endangered purple frog was discovered in 2003. Several families of frogs, namely of the genera Micrixalus, Indirana, Nyctibatrachus, are endemic to this region.

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