Daily Current Affairs Quiz: 15 June 2021

ANSWER:  C

WHY IN NEWS ?

Union Minister of Women and Child Development appealed to citizens to report the instances of Child Labour on the PENCIL Portal or by calling on Childline-1098. This appeal came on World Day Against Child Labour.

About:

• PENCIL Portal stands for Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour.
• Purpose: It is an electronic platform that aims at achieving the target of a child labour free society. For this aim, it coordinates actions of the Centre, State, District, Governments, civil society, and the public.
• Nodal Ministry: The portal is administered by the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
• Components: PENCIL Portal has five components- Child Tracking System, Complaint Corner, State Government, National Child Labour Project, and Convergence.
• Significance: The portal has been launched for the effective implementation of the Child Labour Act and the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme.
  • NCLP aims to eliminate all forms of child labour and rehabilitate them through education in Special Training Centres.

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS ?

The Defence Minister has approved the budgetary support of Rs 498.8 crore for iDEX-DIO (Innovations for Defence Excellence – Defence Innovation Organisation) for the next five years.

About:

• Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) were launched by the Government of India in 2018.
• Aim: It aims to create an ecosystem to promote innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace. For that, it will attract industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes & academia.
  • It will also provide grants/funding and other support to them to carry out R&D. However, R&D should have a good potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.
• Objectives of IDEX:
  • Facilitate rapid development of new, indigenized, and innovative technologies for the Indian defence and aerospace sector in shorter timelines.
  • Create a culture of engagement with innovative startups, to encourage co-creation for defence and aerospace sectors.
  • Empower a culture of technology co-creation and co-innovation within the defence and aerospace sectors.
• Nodal Body: iDEX will be funded and managed by Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO).

ANSWER: D

WHY IN NEWS ?

Pyrostria laljii, a new species of coffee family, has been discovered in the Andaman Islands by a team of researchers from India and the Philippines.

About:

• Pyrostria laljii is a 15-meter-tall tree that belongs to the genus of the coffee family. It is the first species of the genus Pyrostria in India.
  • The genus Pyrostria plants are usually found in Madagascar.

FEATURES:

The tree is distinguished by a long stem with a whitish coating on the trunk. It has oblong-ovate leaves with a cuneate base.

• Another physical feature that distinguishes the tree from other species of the genus is its umbellate inflorescence with eight to 12 flowers.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS ?

European Space Agency (ESA) has announced a new mission with the name EnVision mission.

About EnVision Mission:

• EnVision is a European Space Agency(ESA)-led mission. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is working as a contributor.
• Aim: The mission will carry instruments to study the Venus atmosphere and surface. Also, to monitor trace gases in the atmosphere, and analyze the surface composition of Venus.
• Launch Year: The mission is likely to be launched sometime in the 2030s. It will be launched on an Ariane 6 rocket. The rocket will take about 15 months to reach Venus and will take 16 more months to achieve orbit circularization.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS ?

• India’s Nagraj Adiga has been elected as the Asia-Oceania Representative at the recently concluded 2021 International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) Congress at which the IAU council elections were held.
• Adiga works closely with the Athletics Federation of India and with various Government bodies to promote health, fitness, and encourage budding sportspersons.

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Tsitsi Dangarembga, the Booker-shortlisted Zimbabwean writer who was arrested last year in Harare while protesting against corruption, has been awarded the PEN Pinter prize, praised for her “ability to capture and communicate vital truths even amidst times of upheaval”.
• Dangarembga was also shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize for her work, This Mournable Body.
• Established in 2009, PEN Pinter prize is given in memory of Nobel-laureate playwright Harold Pinter.
• The annual award is given to an author who, the website specifies, must have “a significant body of plays, poetry, essays, or fiction of outstanding literary merit, written in English.