QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 10 April 2021

Solution: c)

The National Commission for Women was set up as statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to :

• review the Constitutional and Legal safeguards for women;
• recommend remedial legislative measures;
• facilitate redressal of grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.

It is an advisory body, not a court. It can attend to grievances but only recommend action, and not order punishments.

Solution: b)

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, had approved the Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) [SBM (G)] till 2024-25, which will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). The program will also work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.

SBM (G) Phase-II will also be implemented from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

The fund sharing pattern between Centre and States will be 90:10 for North-Eastern States and Himalayan States and UT of J&K; 60:40 for other States; and 100:0 for other Union Territories, for all the components. 

Source

Solution: d)

What will the scientists learn from the genome mapping in the ocean?

This will help scientists understand the internal working of the ecosystem of the Indian Ocean. The research will enable scientists to identify the factors controlling the changes in RNA, DNA in the oceans, and various stressors impacting them. The ocean has several micronutrients like nitrates, sulphates and silicates, minerals like iron ore and zinc, and trace metals like cadmium or copper. The genome mapping will show the presence of which these microbes have adapted to, in addition to their reaction to atmospheric carbon dioxide. This will help in identifying which part of the ocean has a greater concentration of which mineral or element.

Exploring the ocean genome will enable an increase in the growing number of commercial biotechnology applications, extending from multiple anticancer treatments to cosmetics and industrial enzymes, to antiviral molecules… Exploration of the ocean at a genetic level will result in new insights into taxonomy and adaptive capacity that can help optimize conservation efforts

Source

Solution: a)

The Tigris is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of south-eastern Turkey through Iraq and empties into the Persian Gulf.

The Mekong is a trans-boundary river in Southeast Asia. From the Tibetan Plateau the river runs through China’s Yunnan Province, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Solution: d)

There are a number of practices that can reduce emissions from agriculture. One is alternate wetting and drying of paddy. “By reducing the frequency of irrigation (letting the fields drain periodically), methane emissions from flooded rice production can be cut in half.

Another method that can work is increasing the productivity of milk and meat production. “Increasing animal and herd productivity means that fewer animals are required to produce the same amount of milk or meat, which also reduces the emissions generated in producing that food.”

Many of the practices used in organic agriculture are climate smart. Organic agriculture enhances natural nutrient cycling and builds soil organic matter, which can also support resilience to climate change and sequester carbon in soils.