QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 3 December 2020

Solution: d)

According to the official data released recently, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 7.5% during the July, August, and September quarter. This means in Q2 of 2020-21 India produced 7.5% fewer goods and services when compared to what India produced in Q2 of 2019-20.

In the process, India’s economy has now formally entered into a technical recession because — along with the nearly 24% contraction in Q1 — India has had two consecutive quarters when GDP growth rate has declined.

Recession is defined as a fall in the overall economic activity for two consecutive quarters (six months) accompanied by a decline in income, sales and employment.

Gross Value Added (GVA) data provides a measure of national income by looking at the value-added by different sectors of the economy in that quarter. If you want to compare which parts of the economy improved production and incomes from one quarter to another, the GVA is more apt.

Source

Solution: b)

Cyclone Burevi is likely to cross between Kanyakumari and Pamban.

In exactly a week, another cyclone will brush Tamil Nadu coast, or its southernmost tip, to be precise. This is the third cyclone formed within the last 10 days in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, put together.

Unstable sea conditions, in the southwest region of Bay of Bengal, continue due to the recent crossing of Nivar. The overall sea conditions currently remain disturbed.

This is why meteorologists say there is a high possibility that Cyclone Burevi would not strengthen beyond the intensity of a cyclonic storm.

“Due to upwelling caused by Nivar, Cyclone Burevi will have limited intensity,”

When such consecutive systems develop in the same region of the ocean, the predecessor system leads to upwelling — the process in which cooler waters from lower ocean surfaces are pushed towards upper ocean surfaces.

In the absence of warm sea surface conditions, any cyclone, in this case Burevi, will not get enough fuel to intensify further while at sea.

Source

Solution: c)

Tree rings grow wider in years when soil moisture is high. Indirectly, wider rings reflect more rainfall and higher river runoff.

As trees grow, they incorporate information about the environmental conditions they are living in in their annual growth rings. Trees in the region grow more and put on wide rings in wet monsoon years. Conversely in dry monsoon years (or droughts) they grow less and put on narrow rings.

Source

Solution: a)

According to a research, By 2025, companies will generate and process more than 75% of their data outside of traditional centralised data centres — that is, at the “edge” of the cloud.

As the use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices expands and the need to process IoT data quickly increases, many IT leaders are considering or beginning to employ edge computing options.

What is edge computing?

Edge computing enables data to be analysed, processed, and transferred at the edge of a network. Meaning, the data is analysed locally, closer to where it is stored, in real-time without latency, rather than send it far away to a centralised data centre.

It allows for quicker data processing and content delivery.

Solution: c)

Former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said India had moved from socialism with limited entry (for firms) to capitalism without exit. Alas, capitalism without exit is zombieland, full of companies neither dead nor alive.

In the financial world, companies on life support are called “Zombies”: Those firms which are not even able to cover their debt-servicing costs with current earnings. They are in bad shape, and probably should have gone out of business already. Yet, they are being kept alive.