INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 15 September 2020) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Subramaniya Bharathi was born on 11th December 1882, in Ettayapuram village of Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu.
• He was a poet, freedom fighter and social reformer from Tamil Nadu.
• He was known as Mahakavi Bharathiyar.
• His songs on nationalism and freedom of India helped to rally the masses to support the Indian Independence Movement in Tamil Nadu.
• Literary works: “Kannan Pattu” “Nilavum Vanminum Katrum” “Panchali Sabatam” “Kuyil Pattu”.
• He published the sensational “Sudesa Geethangal” in 1908.
• Sometime in mid-1908, Bharati began to serialise Gnanaratham in his political weekly, India.
• In 1949, he became the first poet whose works were nationalised by the state government.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/who-was-subramaniya-bharathiyar/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Renukaji Dam Multipurpose Project: Giri river (tributary of Yamuna river)
• Read more: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/01/12/renuka-dam/
• Bhadbhut project: Narmada river
• Read more: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/barrage-across-narmada-promise-of-sweet-water-worries-about-hilsa-6558972/
• Kaleshwaram project: Godavari river
• Read more: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/06/21/kaleswaram-project/
• Mekedatu project: Cauvery river
  • Mekedatu is a location along Cauvery in Kanakapura Taluk of Ramanagara District of Karnataka.
  • Karnataka wants a reservoir across Cauvery at Mekedatu, to meet Bengaluru’s water problem.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/mekedatu-project-2/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Facts for Prelims- Cauvery River:
  • River rises on Brahmagiri Hill of the Western Ghats in south-western Karnataka state.
  • The river basin covers three states and a Union Territory as follows: Tamil Nadu, 43,868 square kilometres, Karnataka, 34,273 square kilometres l, Kerala, 2,866 square kilometres and Puducherry.
  • Key tributaries: Hemavati, Lakshmantirtha, Kabani (Kabbani), Amaravati, Noyil, and Bhavani rivers.
  • Falls along the way: Upon entering Tamil Nadu, the Kaveri continues through a series of twisted wild gorges until it reaches Hogenakal Falls. Dams: There the Mettur Dam was constructed for irrigation and hydel power in Tamil Nadu.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/mekedatu-project-2/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Additional Grant: It is granted when a need has arisen during the current financial year for supplementary or additional expenditure upon some new service not contemplated in the Budget for that year.
• Excess Grant: It is granted when money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for that year. The demands for excess grants are made after the expenditure has actually been incurred and after the financial year to which it relates, has expired.
• Exceptional Grants: It is granted for an exceptional purpose which forms no part of the current service of any financial year.
• Token Grant: It is granted when funds to meet proposed expenditure on a new service can be made available by re-appropriation, a demand for the grant of a token sum may be submitted to the vote of the House and, if the House assents to the demand, funds may be so made available.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/what-are-supplementary-demands-for-grants/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on 20th December 2018 and it was opened for signature on 7th August 2019 in Singapore.
• It is also known as the Singapore Convention on Mediation and also the first UN treaty to be named after Singapore.
• Key Features of the Convention:
  • Applicability: The Convention will apply to international commercial settlement agreements resulting from mediation.
  • Non- applicability: It will not apply to international settlement agreements that are concluded in the course of judicial or arbitral proceedings and which are enforceable as a court judgment or arbitral award. It will also not apply to settlement agreements concluded for personal, family or household purposes by one of the parties (a consumer), as well as settlement agreements relating to family, inheritance or employment law.
  • The courts of a contracting party will be expected to handle applications either to enforce an international settlement agreement which falls within the scope of the Convention or to allow a party to invoke the settlement agreement in order to prove that the matter has already been resolved, in accordance with its rules of procedure, and under the conditions laid down in the Convention.
• Signatories:
  • The Convention has 53 signatories, including India, China and the U.S.
  • India approved the signing of the Convention in July 2019.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/united-nations-convention-on-international-settlement-agreements-resulting-from-mediation/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• MANAV: Human Atlas Initiative:
  • Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has launched MANAV : Human Atlas Initiative, towards improving knowledge on human physiology.
  • It is a project funded by DBT.
  • aims at creating a database network of all tissues in the human body from the available scientific literature.
  • It is a project that involves scientific skill development for annotation, science outreach along with handling big data.
  • The programme will involve gaining better biological insights through physiological and molecular mapping, develop disease models through predictive computing and have a wholistic analysis and finally drug discovery.
  • Read more: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/05/13/manav-human-atlas-initiative/
• IndiGen initiative:
  • Details of the IndiGen Genome project, conducted by CSIR, were recently announced.
  • The initiative was implemented by the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.

• About Genomics for Public Health in India (IndiGen) programme:
  • IndiGen programme aims to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India.
  • The objective is to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data.
• Read more: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/10/26/indigen-genome-project/

• Indian brain templates and a brain atlas
  • The neuroscientists from NIMHANS studied over 500 brain scans of Indian patients to develop five sets of Indian brain templates and a brain atlas for five age groups covering late childhood to late adulthood (six to 60 years).
  • Why this is significant?
  • Currently, we are using Montreal Neurological Index (MNI) template. It is based on Caucasian brains and was made by averaging 152 healthy brain scans from just a small slice of the city’s population in North America. But Caucasian brains are different from Asian brains.
  • But, India will now have a scale that will measure an Indian brain.
  • Benefits of Indian Brain Templates and atlas:
  • They will provide more precise reference maps for areas of interest in individual patients with neurological disorders like strokes, brain tumours, and dementia.
  • They will also help pool information more usefully in group studies of the human brain and psychological functions, aiding our understanding of psychiatric illnesses like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, substance dependence, schizophrenia, and mood disorders.
  • These new population- and age-specific Indian brain templates will allow more reliable tracking of brain development and ageing, similar to how paediatricians monitor a child’s height or weight, for example, using a growth chart.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/nimhans-develops-new-indian-brain-templates-brain-atlas/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• The Tashkent Declaration was a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed on 10 January 1966 that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Peace had been achieved on 23 September by the intervention of the external powers that pushed the two nations to cease fire, afraid the conflict could escalate and draw in other powers.
• The war between India and Pakistan in 1965 was an escalation of the small scale and irregular fighting from April 1965 to September 1965 between both countries. It was over control of the resources and population of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, a sore point between both countries ever since Partition in 1947.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/enemy-properties-3/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Stat1: Unlike the question hour, the zero hour is not mentioned in the Rules of Procedure. Thus it is an informal device available to the members of the Parliament to raise matters without any prior notice.
• Stat2: Zero Hour is an Indian parliamentary innovation. It starts immediately after the question hour and lasts until the agenda for the day (i.e. regular business of the House) is taken up.

Refer: Facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-15-september-2020/

Ans: (b)

Explanation: Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier:

• It is located in Northeast Greenland.
• It is Arctic’s largest ice shelf.
• Why in News?
• A massive chunk of ice has broken off from this ice shelf because of warmer temperatures in Greenland.

Refer: Facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/09/15/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-15-september-2020/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• NFSA covers upto 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population under under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and priority households. While AAY households, which constitute poorest of the poor are entitled to 35 kg of foodgrains per family per month, priority households are entitled to 5 kg per person per month.
• Corresponding to the all India coverage of 75% and 50% in the rural and urban areas, State-wise coverage under NFSA was determined by the erstwhile Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog) by using the NSS Household Consumption Survey data for 2011-12.
• Within the coverage under TPDS determined for each State, the work of identification of eligible households is to be done by States/UTs. It is the responsibility of the State Governments/UTs, to evolve criteria for identification of priority households and their actual identification.
• Section 10 of the Act provides that within the number of persons determined for coverage under TPDS, the State Government shall identify the households under AAY as per guidelines applicable to the said scheme and the remaining households as priority households to be covered under TPDS, in accordance with such guidelines as the State Government may specify.

Refer: https://dfpd.gov.in/pds-caeunfsa.htm