Daily Current Affairs Quiz: 18 May 2021

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS ?

In 2021, the United Nations is celebrating its sixth United Nations Global Road Safety Week between 17th May, 2021 and 23rd May, 2021. This year, in 2021, the Global Road Safety Week is celebrated under the following theme:

Theme: Streets for Life

The tagline of the theme is #Love30

About:

• It is a biennial global road safety campaign hosted by the World Health Organisation.
• The first Global Road Safety Week was celebrated in 2007.
• The week is celebrated to create awareness of road safety and reduce road deaths

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Iran recently launched its supercomputer called Simorgh. This supercomputer is hundred times more powerful than the previous Iranian supercomputers.

About 

• The Supercomputer has been named after the phoenix like bird called the Simurgh.
• The Simorgh Supercomputer was developed by the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, the capital of Iran.
• It is located at the Iranian High Performance Computing Research Centre.

Capacity

• The performance capacity of the simorgh Supercomputer is 0.56 petaflops. It is to reach 1 petaflops in two months. In its subsequent levels it is to reach to speed of 10 petaflops.
• It comprises of 42 racks in an area of 250 square metres. In future this is to be upgraded to 400 square metres.
• The total budget of the supercomputer is expected to be 9 million USD.

Applications

• The Supercomputer is to be used for image processing, artificial intelligence work load, traffic and weather data.
• It will also be used for cloud hosting local private firms.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS ?

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade recently released Wholesale Price in India for the month of April 2021. The WPI for the month of April 2021 stood at 128.1. The base year in calculating WPI is fixed as 2011-12.

WPI of April 2021

• The annual rate of inflation for the month of April 2021 was 10.49%
• The inflation rate is high in the month mainly because of price rise in crude petroleum which in turn increased the prices of petrol and diesel in the country. Also, the price rise is due to increase in cost of manufactured foods.

Groups of commodities

There are three major groups of commodities that are used in calculating the rate of inflation. They are primary articles, manufactured products and fuel and power.

Primary Articles

The weight of primary articles in WPI is 22.62%.

• The index of this group increased by 3.83%.
• The prices of minerals increased by 6.6%
• The prices of Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas increased by 4.8%
• The prices of food articles increased by 3.84%
• The price of non-food articles increased by 2.65%
• The above increases are in comparison with the month of March.

Fuel and Power

• The weight of fuel and power is 13.15%
• The index of this group decreased by 1%
• The prices of coals decreased by 0.32%
• The prices of Mineral oil decreased by 0.29%
• The prices of electricity decreased by 4.96%

Manufactured products

• The weight of manufactured goods is 64.23%
• The index of this group increased by 1.65%.
• The increase in this category was mainly contributed by food products, basic metals, chemicals, textiles, plastic and rubber products.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS ?

• SAMVEDNA is Sensitizing Action on Mental Health Vulnerability through Emotional Development and Necessary Acceptance. It a toll-free helpline through which children affected during COVID-19 pandemic are provided counselling.

About:

• The main objective of SAMVEDNA is to provide psychological first aid and emotional support to the COVID-19 affected children.
• The tele-counselling is provided by the National Commission of Child Rights working under Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• Psychologists, counsellors and experts from NIMHANS, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.
• The Toll-Free Number is 1800-121-2830.
• It is available from Monday to Saturday, from 10 AM to 1 PM and 3 PM to 8 PM.
• The service is only to children.
• The service under this initiative is provided under various regional languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, etc.

ANSWER: A 

WHY IN NEWS ?

Every year, the World AIDS Vaccine Day is celebrated on May 18. The day is also called the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) Vaccine Awareness Day. This year, in 2021, the World AIDS Vaccine Day is celebrated under the following theme:

Theme: Global Solidarity

About World AIDS Vaccine Day

• The day is commemorated to honour thousands of volunteers, health professional, community leaders and scientists who workers together to develop AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) vaccine.

Why is AIDS Vaccine Day celebrated on May 18 ?

• The concept of AIDS Vaccine was rooted by the then US President Bill Clinton in his speech at the Morgan State University on May 18, 1997.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS ?

• The Okeanos Explorer is a ship built by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It departed from the Port Canaveral in Florida on May 14, 2021.

About Okeanos Explorer:

• The Okeanos Explorer is on a two-week expedition of ocean exploration.
• It is to build 3D maps of vast regions of unexplored ocean floors in Hadal Zone.
• It is to conduct a technology demonstration of autonomous under water vehicle called Orpheus.
• The Orpheus robot is a new class of submersible robot that will help in identifying the scientific features on the sea floor

ANSWER:  D

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Recently, the West Bengal government has decided to set up a Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad).

• For setting up the Council, a Bill has to be introduced in the Assembly and then a nod from the Governor is required. The Legislative Council in the State was abolished in 1969.

About:

Article 169 (Creation and Abolition):

• The Parliament can abolish a Legislative Council (where it already exists) or create it (where it does not exist) by a simple majority, that is, a majority of the members of each House present and voting, if the legislative assembly of the concerned state, by a special majority, passes a resolution to that effect.
• Currently 6 states have bicameral legislature- Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

Special majority implies

• A majority of the total membership of the assembly and
• A majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the assembly present and voting.

Composition:

• Under Article 171 of the Constitution, the Legislative Council of a state shall not have more than one-third of the total strength of the State Assembly, and not less than 40 members.
• Like the Rajya Sabha, the legislative council is a continuing chamber, that is, it is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution. The tenure of a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) is six years, with one-third of the members retiring every two years.

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS ?

• A new species of an Asian gracile skink has been discovered recently at Anaikatti hills, Coimbatore.

About:

• The New Species of Asian Gracile Skink has been named Subdoluseps nilgiriensis after Nilgiris. The species is closely related to Subdoluseps pruthi found in parts of the Eastern Ghats.
• Features: The species has a slender body of just about 7 cm. It is sandy brown in colour. The unnoticeable limbs of skinks make them resemble snakes.
• Protection Status: Subdoluseps nilgiriensis is currently considered a vulnerable species.
• Significance: This species is only the third skink species discovered from mainland India in the last millennium.

Threats:

• Seasonal forest fires
• Housing constructions and brick kiln industries in the area.
• Rapid urbanisation has also increased the road networks in the area.