ENGLISH QUIZ 14.08.2020

1.Consider the following statements related to EnviStats India 2020 report:

1.EnviStats India 2020 report released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) has covered the                      biophysical aspects of the environment and those aspects of the socio-economic system that                        directly influence and interact with the environment.

2.The average number of heatwave days has increased by 72.6% year-on-year to 157 in 2019 with the            highest number recorded in Rajasthan followed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Which of the above statement/statements are correct?

A. 1 only

B. 2 only

C. Both 1 and 2

D. Neither 1 nor 2

2.Consider the following statements:

1.Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung erupted , belching a massive column of ash and smoke 5,000 metres             (16,400 feet) into the air and coating local communities in debris.

2.Sinabung, which was dormant volcano for almost 400 years, roared back to life in 2008.

3.The flowing and freezing of lava forms an inverted funnel shaped mountain and a crater is called a            crater or volcano at its mouth.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A. 1 and 2 are correct

B. 1 and 3 are correct

C. 2 and 3 are correct

D. All of the above

3.Which airport has developed AIR SUVIDHA, a first-of-its-kind portal allowing international arriving passengers to fill a mandatory self-declaration form and eligible passengers to apply for exemption from compulsory institutional quarantine for coronavirus?

A. Delhi International Airport Limited

B. Surat International Airport

C. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport

D. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport

4.The Ministry of Defence has announced to ban import of how many weapon systems and platforms from abroad to boost “Atmanirbhar Bharat?

A. 121

B. 101

C. 136

D. 152

5.Which of the following organizations has launched ‘nth Rewards’, a business intelligence and analytics enabled omni-channel multi-branded loyalty platform?

A. Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

B. Indian Bank Association

C. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

D. State Bank of India (SBI)

6.Which IIT has developed indigenous seed balls named ‘BEEG’ in collaboration with Agnys Waste Management Private Limited that will help to safeguard people and farmers in plantations during the COVID-19 times?

A. IIT Bombay

B. IIT Delhi

C. IIT Roorkee

D. IIT Kanpur

7.Who has been appointed as the Executive Chairman of Financial Services Platform, Capital India Finance Limited (CIFL)?

A. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala

B. KV Kamath

C. Urjit patel

D. Vibhu Prasad Kanungo

8.Name the Indian umpire who has been included in ICC’s international panel of umpires?

A. Amish Saheba

B. KN Anantpadmanabhan

C. Sundaram Ravi

D. Vineet Kulkarni

9.Which National portal is being launched by the Ministry of Environment and Forest on Human-Elephant conflict to collect real-time information and will also manage conflicts on a real-time basis?

A. Champion

B. Subidha

C. Surakhsya

D. Gajraj

ANSWERS:-

Answer: 1)A      

Explanation

Recently EnviStats India 2020 report released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) has covered the biophysical aspects of the environment and those aspects of the socio-economic system that directly influence and interact with the environment.

Highlights of the reports

Heat Waves

• The average number of heatwave days has increased by 82.6% year-on-year to 157 in 2019 with the highest number recorded in Rajasthan followed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Deaths Due to Heat Waves

• The deaths due to heatwaves in 2019 saw a sharp jump from 26 in 2018 to 373 in 2019.
• However, it was slightly lower than 375 in 2017.

Acute Respiratory Infection

• The deaths due to acute respiratory infection in 2018 were 3,740. This was the highest in six years.
• The highest number of deaths was reported in West Bengal.

Drinking-Water

• The tube well and hand pump were the primary source of drinking water in rural India with a share of 53.8%.
• On the other hand, piped water, public tap, standpipe was the primary source in urban areas with a share of 65%.
• In rural areas, among states having bottled water as the principal source of drinking water in 2018, Delhi ranked at the top with 4 per cent households relying on it, followed by Andhra Pradesh (30.5 per cent), Daman & Diu (27.6 per cent), Telangana (26.3 per cent).
• Around 97.2% of the households in Bihar are dependent on tube wells/ hand pumps as principal drinking water source, followed by Uttar Pradesh (93.9 per cent).
• In urban areas, Daman & Diu has the highest share of households (40.4 per cent) choosing bottled water as principal drinking water source, followed by Telangana (31.4 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (28.6 per cent).

Slum Population

• Andhra Pradesh has the highest percentage of slum population to urban population (36.10 per cent), followed by Chhattisgarh (31.98 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (28.35 per cent).

Particulate Matter (PM)

• In 2018, the particulate matter of size less than or equal to 10 µm was the highest in Delhi followed by Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

Motor Vehicles

• Delhi had the highest number of registered motor vehicles in the country followed by Bengaluru.
• The highest registered non-transport vehicles in 2017 were in Manipur (2.7 crore), followed by Andaman and Nicobar Islands (2.5 crore), Tripura (2.4 crore) and Haryana (2.0 crore).

About National Statistical Office (NSO)

• The National Statistical Office (NSO) headed by a Director-General is responsible for the conduct of large-scale sample surveys in diverse fields on All India basis.
• It works under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• Primarily data are collected through nation-wide household surveys on various socio-economic subjects, Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), etc.
• Besides these surveys, NSO collects data on rural and urban prices and plays a significant role in the improvement of crop statistics through supervision of the area enumeration and crop estimation surveys of the State agencies.
• It also maintains a frame of urban area units for use in sample surveys in urban areas.

The NSO has four Divisions:

1. Survey Design and Research Division (SDRD)
2. Field Operations Division (FOD)
3. Data Processing Division (DPD)
4. Survey Coordination Division (SCD)

Answer: 2)B

Explanation

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung erupted , belching a massive column of ash and smoke 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) into the air and coating local communities in debris.The volcano on Sumatra island has been rumbling since 2010 and saw a deadly eruption in 2016.

Background

1. Sinabung, which was dormant volcano for almost 400 years, roared back to life in 2010.
2. Then again after almost 3 years of inactivity, it erupted once again in 2013 and after that it has remained highly active.
3. The volcano saw a deadly eruption in 2016, which led to the death of 7 people. In 2014, at least 16 people were killed in the volcanic eruption.
4. Indonesia is home to almost 130 active volcanoes, as it falls on the “Ring of Fire”.
5. The Ring of Fire is a located in the basin of the Pacific Ocean, where frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
6. In late 2018, a volcano in the strait between Java and Sumatra islands erupted, causing an underwater landslide and tsunami that resulted in almost 400 deaths.

Due to volcanic eruption

• In the words of a geographer, “Volcanoes are boils on the surface of the earth. They burst where the crust is weak, where they find a way. “
• We cannot distinguish the earth’s crust, but guess what the situation may be there. We have been able to dig to the depth of four miles so far and we found that the temperature increases with the depth.
• We have to air-conditioned the deepest mines for this reason. Seeing the rising temperature downwards, until recently people believed that the interior of the earth cannot be solid, the rocks are not in solid form but in a fluid state.
• But after studying the earthquake waves with the help of seismic instruments, scientists have reached the result that the earth’s crust is not in a fluid state till 1800 miles deep.
• The truth is that those rocks have no place to melt.
• The earth keeps them there with its heavy weight. The rocks have to be spread in the melting and the relatively cold layers above them are pressed so hard that they do not spread, so they are unable to melt even when heated to the extent of melting.
• But lava is molten rocks coming out of the earth. From where and how does it come up? It is possible that, for some reason, the pressure of the earth’s crust has decreased.
• The crust has lifted up, because the earth is slowly cooling, shrinking and wrinkles are falling in the crust.
• Due to this pressure will reduce and some rocks (50-60 miles below) will be spread by giving the place of fluid formation.
• It is also possible that the location-specific rocks of the crust have become particularly hot.
• A few years ago we have detected radio-active elements in rocks.
• These elements break down into other substances.
• Heat is generated due to this change.
• Due to this constant heat release, the location-specific rocks can become very hot and melt and tear the solid crust above.

Magma

• Even after saying this, we cannot say with certainty that a volcano erupts due to these powers.
• The corpus of molten rocks within the Earth is called “Magma”.
• It can be compared to sodawater filled in a bottle.
• As soon as the cork opens, the sodawater runs towards the mouth, in the same way, after finding a weak crust, the gassed lava rushes to the top and makes its way everywhere.
• Due to the rapid arrival, there is an explosion of thrusts and vibrates the earth. The rocks there crumble and crumble all around; Clouds of dust, vapor and other gases are covered and then the lava flows.
• The flowing and freezing of lava forms an inverted funnel shaped mountain and a crater is called a crater or volcano at its mouth.

Answer: 3)A

Explanation

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has launched web portal titled ‘AIR SUVIDHA’ for international passengers. It is meant for India-bound international arriving passengers by enabling them to fill the mandatory self-declaration form.

About ‘AIR SUVIDHA’:

• This portal is meant for India-bound international arriving flyers, to enable them to fill the mandatory self-declaration form.
• Eligible passengers can also apply online for exemption from mandatory institution quarantine process.
• The “AIR SUVIDHA” portal will make travelling contactless as the passengers won’t have to fill physical copies of self-declaration and quarantine exemption forms when they arrive in India.
• All other international passengers arriving in India have to follow the usual process of undergoing mandatory seven-days institutional quarantine, at their own cost, followed by seven days of home quarantine.

Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare: Dr Harsh Vardhan.

Union Minister of External Affairs: Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Answer: 4)B

Explanation

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has announced the list of banned 101 defence items for import, beyond the timeline indicated against them. The list was prepared by Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence (MoD). The ban will enhance indigenisation of Defence production in India boosting Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Prohibited defense items list: Key features

• Tri-services have bagged contracts for about 260 schemes for such items costing around Rs 3.5 lakh crore between April 2015 and August 2020.
• About 1,30,000 crore items have been estimated for the Indian Army and Air Force. During the same period, the defense items have been estimated by the Navy at a cost of Rs 1,40,000 crore.
• This list includes high technology weapon systems such as, assault rifles, artillery guns, sonar systems, corvettes, light combat helicopters, transport aircraft, radars and many other defense items.
• According to the Ministry of Defense, the list also includes the Wheeled Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV) dated December 2021, of which the Indian Army is expected to win a contract of about 200 AFVs at an estimated cost of over Rs 5,000 crore.
• The Indian Navy is also expected to keep demand with the submarines setting a indicative restriction date of December 2021, of which six are expected to be contracted, estimated to cost around Rs 42,000 crore.
• For the Indian Air Force, it has been decided to list the LCA Mk 1A with a symbolic restriction date of December 2020. Of these, the estimated cost of 123 is more than Rs 85,000 crore.

Answer: 5)C

Explanation

National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has unveiled its own business intelligence and analytics enabled omni-channel loyalty platform titled ‘nth Rewards’ (infinite possibilities Rewards). User will earn loyalty points through banks on almost every transaction digitally and reward points can be redeemed for online shopping and other purposes with this. The platform will have smart dashboard to know the points accumulation of the user.

MD-CEO of NPCI: Dilip Asbe.

Answer: 6)D

Explanation

IIT Kanpur in collaboration with Agnys Waste Management Private Limited has developed indigenous seed balls titled ‘BEEG (Bio-compost Enriched Eco-friendly Globule)’. BEEG seed ball is developed for the safety of people and farmers associated with plantation during Corona times and will provide employment. They comprises of indigenous variety of seeds, compost and clay that don’t need digging pits for planting saplings. They will germinate after coming into water’s contact.

Answer: 7)A

Explanation

Harsh Kumar Bhanwala has been appointed as the Executive Chairman of Capital India Finance Ltd. His term came into effect with August 6, 2020.Prior to this, he was the Chairman of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for over six years till May 26, 2020.Capital India Finance Limited (CIFL) is an integrated financial services platform that provides customized financial solutions to Indian Corporates for growth and working capital requirements.

Answer: 8)B

Explanation

Indian Umpire, KN Ananthapadmanabhan has been included in ICC’s international panel of umpires following compatriot Nitin Menon’s promotion to the elite panel. Ananthapadmanabhan played 105 First-Class and 54 List A games for Kerala, taking 344 and 87 wickets respectively. He also scored three First-Class hundreds and eights half-centuries. Ananthapadmanabhan has officiated in all major domestic events including the IPL. He also was the official in the Ranji Trophy final between Bengal and Saurashtra last year and even stood at both ends for a while after Shamshuddin got injured. The former Kerala spinner joins fellow Indians C Shamshuddin, Anil Chaudhary and Virender Sharma in the international panel and is now eligible to officiate in the ODI and T20 internationals apart from umpiring in the junior World Cup.

CEO of ICC: Manu Sawhney.

Headquarters of ICC: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Chairman of ICC: Imran Khwaja (Interim).

Answer: 9)C

Explanation

Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar launched beta version of Portal on Human-Elephants Conflict titled as ‘Surakhsya’ in New Delhi. The portal is launched on the eve of World Elephant Day by NIC. It is a collection of real time information portal that will manage the conflicts and helps in formulating policy of Action Plans for mitigation of conflicts.It will leverage HEC data to frame the data collection protocols, data transmission and data visualization tools.