QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 6 July 2021

Solution: a)

A part of the Arctic’s ice called “Last Ice Area”, located north of Greenland, has melted before expected. Scientists had believed this area was strong enough to withstand global warming.

The area is important because it was thought to be able to help ice-dependent species as ice in the surrounding areas melted away. The area is used by polar bears to hunt for seals who use ice to build dens for their offspring. Walruses too, use the surface of the ice for foraging.

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Solution: b)

The longest day of 2021 for those living north of the Equator is June 21. In technical terms, this day is referred to as the summer solstice, the longest day of the summer season. It occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, or more specifically right over 23.5 degree north latitude.

Why do we have summer solstice?

Since Earth rotates on its axis, the Northern Hemisphere gets more direct sunlight between March and September over the course of a day, which also means people living in the Northern Hemisphere experience summer during this time. The rest of the year, the Southern Hemisphere gets more sunlight.

During the solstice, the Earth’s axis — around which the planet spins, completing one turn each day — is tilted in a way that the North Pole is tipped towards the sun and the South Pole is away from it.

The solstice, as NASA puts it, is that instant in time when the North Pole points more directly toward the sun that at any other time during the year.

The amount of light received by a specific area in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer solstice depends on the latitudinal location of the place. The further north one moves from the equator, the more light one receives during the summer solstice. At the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets during the solstice.

Although June 21 will be the longest day in 2021, it does not necessarily mean that it brings the earliest sunrise or latest sunset. It depends on the latitudinal location of the country.

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Solution: c)

Reserve Bank of India released its latest Financial Stability Report (or FSR). Published twice each year, the FSR is one of the most crucial documents on the Indian economy as it presents an assessment of the health of the financial system.

The FSR also allows the RBI to assess the macro-financial risks in the economy. Macro-financial risks refer to the risks that originate from the financial system but affect the wider economy as well as risks to the financial system that originate in the wider economy.

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Solution: c)

In the last two decades, the prevalence of anaemia among Indian women of reproductive age, on average, has been 20 per cent more than the world average. While one in three women in the world is anaemic, one in two women is anaemic in India.

Although there are several causes of anaemia, the foremost is iron deficiency, followed by deficiencies in folate, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin A.

Reduction of anemia is one of the important objectives of the POSHAN Abhiyaan.

The Anemia Mukt Bharat strategy is estimated to reach out to 450 million beneficiaries of different age groups.

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Solution: d)

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination. It was adopted on 7 July 2017, opened for signature on 20 September 2017, and entered into force on 22 January 2021.

For those nations that are party to it, the treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities. For nuclear armed states joining the treaty, it provides for a time-bound framework for negotiations leading to the verified and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons programme.

69 nations did not vote, among them all of the nuclear weapon states and all NATO members except the Netherlands.