Daily Current Affairs Quiz: 26 May 2021

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS ?

• According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), Emerging-market nations’ struggle to move out of covid-19 pandemic-induced economic crisis can hurt developed nations. It said, crisis has “Ricochet impact” on the developed and advanced economies.
• IMF suggests that, developed nations should be doing all to ensure better & equitable access to vaccines and equitable recovery. Poorer nations are facing the risk of increasing interest rates even though, their economies aren’t growing.

What is Ricochet Impact?

Ricochet means rebound, bounce, or skip off from surface, particularly in projectile cases.

About International Monetary Fund (IMF)

• Headquarters -Washington, D.C. 
• Setup in 1944, started functioning at 1945.
• It has 190 countries as members.
• They work together to boost global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, promote high employment, facilitate international trade, and sustainable economic growth. It also takes measures to reduce poverty across the world..
• IMF plays an important role in management of balance of payments issues and international financial crises.

ANSWER: D 

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Guillermo Lasso, a conservative, assumed presidency of Ecuador on May 24, 2021 and has become first right-wing leader in 14 years in Ecuador.

Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza

• He is a banker, businessman, writer and politician who recently became 47th president of Ecuador. He is the first center-right president in two decades.

Ecuador

• Ecuador is a country in north-western South America. 
• It is surrounded by Colombia to the north, Peru to the east & south, and Pacific Ocean to the west. Galapagos Islands in Pacific is also a part of Ecuador.
• Capital-Quito; Official language- Spanish.
• It is a founding member of United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement and Organization of American States. 
• It is the first country in world to recognise rights of nature or ecosystem rights through Constitution of Ecuador in 2008.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS ?

• A committee was set up by National Green Tribunal (NGT) to submit report on alleged violation of norms in construction of a reservoir across Cauvery river at Mekedatu in Karnataka.
• NGT bench consisting of Justice K Ramakrishnan took suo motu cognizance of newspaper report regarding the dam. Report states Karnataka proposes to construct a dam across Cauvery river even though proposal was deferred by Cauvery Water Management Authority twice in past because of opposition from Tamil Nadu government.

Mekedatu Project

• The project was approved by Karnataka in 2017.  Rs 9,000 crore worth project started was with the aim of storing and supplying drinking water for Bengaluru city. 
• It will also generate 400 megawatts of power. It is undertaken at deep gorge situated at the confluence of river Cauvery and its tributary Arkavathi.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed Virtual Vesak Global Celebrations on Buddha Purnima on May 26, 2021. Over 50 most prominent Buddhist religious leaders from across the world also addressed the virtual congregation.

• Virtual Vesak Global Celebration on Buddha Purnima event was organised by Culture Ministry in collaboration with the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC).

About Vesak

• It is also celebrated as Buddha Jayanti or Buddha Purnima. It is a holiday observed by Buddhists and Hindus across South and Southeast Asia including Tibet and Mongolia. This festival commemorates birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha in Theravada Tibetan Buddhism and Navayana.

Gautama Buddha

• Gautama Buddha was the founder of Buddhism. 
• He is revered by most Buddhist schools as a saviour. He rediscovered an ancient path to release clinging & craving and to escape cycle of birth & rebirth. 
• His teaching is based on insight into- arising of duḥkha and ending of duhkha. Once the duhkha ends, that stage is called Nirvana.

Gautama Buddha was born in Lumbini (Now in Nepal) and raised in Kapilavastu. He attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya under the Peepal Tree and delivered his first sermon in Sarnath.  He died in Kushinagar.

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, is to set up One-Stop Centres (OSCs) in 10 missions across 9 countries. It will be set to curb the cases of violence against women.
• One OSC will be set up each in Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Canada, Australia and Singapore. TWO OSCs will be set up in Saudi Arabia. 
• The countries have been identified by the MEA based on the Indian Diaspora population and that these centres will be run by the MEA, though they will be funded by the WCD Ministry.
• Currently, about 701 One Stop Centres are operating in country since 2015 across 35 states & Union Territories. Through these centres, three lakh women have been provided assistance since in 2015.
• This is a centrally sponsored scheme, funded through Nirbhaya Fund.

• Launched in 2015 by Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD).

Objectives

To provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence and in distress, both in private and public spaces, under one roof, and to facilitate immediate, emergency, and non-emergency access to a range of services such as police, medical, legal aid, and counselling, as well as psychological support, in order to combat all forms of violence against women.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS ?

• During a two-day virtual meeting hosted by the United Kingdom, which currently holds the presidency of the G7, environment ministers from seven industrialised nations, or the G7 grouping, agreed to accelerate efforts to combat global warming.

About

• By the end of 2021, they also agreed to discontinue government support for new coal-fired power plants.
• Compared with the previously set target of 2 degrees, support has been expanded to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
• They also promised to take the necessary steps to reduce deforestation, overfishing, promote biodiversity, and address the issue of ocean plastic.
• They also pledged to prevent future outbreaks of COVID-19-like diseases from spreading from animals to humans.

G7 Group

• Member countries -United States, the U.K., France, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Canada. 
• The first six countries were the original members of the G6. Its first summit was held at Rambouillet, France, in 1975. 
• Canada joined in 1976, making it the G7. 
• In 1997, Russia joined, making it the G8. 
• However, in 2013, the G8 became G7 once again when Russia invaded Crimea. The other G8 members imposed sanctions against Russia, including exclusion from the G8.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS ?

• Senior IPS officer Subodh Kumar Jaiswal was appointed on May 25, 2021, as the new CBI director for two years, as per the personnel ministry order.
• Selection-Subodh Kumar Jaiswal was picked by the government from a panel of three officers who were shortlisted by PM Modi-led high-level selection committee consisting of the leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
• The other two officers who were shortlisted for the top position were the other IPS Officer of Bihar Cadre Kumar Rajesh Chandra and Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs V.S.K. Kaumudi.

Criteria to appoint a CBI director

• As per the guidelines by the Supreme Court set in 2004, the officers from the four oldest serving batches of IPS are considered for the position of CBI director.
• Officials with experience in anti-corruption investigations or CBI, from the senior-most four batches of Indian Police Services, are preferred for the top post.
• Those candidates who are left with less than six months in their retirement will not be considered.

About Subodh Kumar Jaiswal

• Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, a 1985-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer of Maharashtra Cadre, has currently been serving as the Director-General of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
• His previous experiences also include serving with the Special Protection Group (SPG) that provides security to the Prime Minister of India and the country’s intelligence agency, Research & Wing Analysis (RAW).

ANSWER: D

WHY IN NEWS ?

• A new species of plant, called African violet, was discovered by Indian Institute of Science education and research (IISER), Bhopal.

About

• • African violet is found in parts of Mizoram and adjoining areas in Myanmar.
  • Discovery was done under Tropical Ecology and Evolution Lab, a unit of IISER.
  • This species is found in only three locations currently in Mizoram.

• They are considered as an endangered species.

• • IISER Bhopal described new species as ‘Didymocarpus vickifunkiae’.

• The species is named in honour of an eminent Botanist Dr Vicki Ann Funk. 

• It is an epiphyte – a plant that grows on another plant, which is often not parasitic. Its pink flowers bloom during the monsoons.

About African violet plants

• They are the flowering plants in genus Saintpaulia of family Gesneriaceae.
•  These plants are native to higher elevations in tropical eastern Africa. 
• They are widely grown horticulturally and are characterised by small perennial herbs having thick, hairy, ovate leaves. Leaves are dark green and have long stems. 
• These plants are bilaterally symmetric comprising of five petals. 
• They can be white, violet or pink in colour.