QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 1 January 2021

Solution: b)

Forests cover 31 percent of the global land area. Approximately half the forest area is relatively intact, and more than one-third is primary forest (i.e. naturally regenerated forests of native species, where there are no visible indications of human activities and the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed).

The largest part of the forest (45 percent) is found in the tropical domain, followed by the boreal, temperate and subtropical domains.

More than half of the world’s forests are found in only five countries (the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and China)

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Solution: a)

Antibiotics are under the purview of the Central Drugs Standard and Control Organization (CDSCO) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). In the Drugs and Cosmetics (D&C) Act, 1940, antibiotics are typically placed under Schedule H which makes it mandatory that they be sold only under prescription.

However, when antibiotics are added to feed, the resultant product no longer remains under the purview of CDSCO or any other authority.

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Solution: d)

The Arctic is warming far more quickly.

While both the Arctic and Antarctic are experiencing rising temperatures, thinning glaciers, disturbed ecosystems, and other alarming shifts as heat-trapping fossil fuel emissions build up, changes are sweeping the northern region far faster. 

The High North is seeing unprecedented changes, including drastic ice losses on land and sea, galloping permafrost thaw, raging wildfires, unseasonal storms, earlier springs, and more.

The accelerated Arctic warming impacts weather down in the lower 48 and around the entire Northern Hemisphere by changing the temperature contrast between mid and high latitudes.

Arctic warming also stands to disrupt the marine food web, increase mortality for polar bears and seals, and threaten the livelihoods of the region’s indigenous people. One bright note in the outlook: So far whales seem to be benefitting from range expansion as sea ice recedes.

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Solution: c)

Countries bordering Caspian sea are Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan.

Solution: d)

What is ENA?

It is a byproduct of the sugar industry.

Formed from molasses that are a residue of sugarcane processing.

It is the primary raw material for making alcoholic beverages.

Features:

It is colourless food-grade alcohol that does not have any impurities.

It has a neutral smell and taste and typically contains over 95 per cent alcohol by volume.

Other applications of ENA:

An essential ingredient in the manufacture of cosmetics and personal care products such as perfumes, toiletries, hair spray, etc.

Utilized in the production of some lacquers, paints and ink for the printing industry, as well as in pharmaceutical products such as antiseptics, drugs, syrups, medicated sprays.

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