Daily Current Affairs Quiz: 6 May 2021

ANSWER: D

Why in News?

US launched 4 astronauts to the International Space Station(ISS) as part of collaboration between NASA and SpaceX under the Commercial Crew Program. The mission is called Crew-2 Mission.

Key Points:

Crew-2 Mission:

• Crew-2 Mission is the second crew rotation of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the first with international partners.
• The mission carried four astronautsto ISS. Among them, two are from NASA and two are from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
• The central focus of the missionwill be to continue research on a series of Tissue Chips in Space studies.

Tissue Chips:

• Tissue Chips are small models of human organs that contain multiple cell types that behave similarly to the human body organs.
• According to NASA, these chips can potentially speed up the process of identifying safe and effective drugs and vaccines.
• Scientists can use these tissue chipsin space to study diseases that affect specific human organs, which would take months or years to develop on Earth.

ANSWER: D

Azim Premji University’s Centre for Sustainable Employment has released the annual State of Working India 2021: One Year of Covid-19 Report.

About State of Working India 2021 Report:

• Purpose: The report documented the impact of one year of Covid-19 on jobs, incomes, inequality, and poverty. The report also examines the effectiveness of policy measures undertaken by the government on relief and support programmes.
• Based on: The report is based on data sourced from
  • Consumer Pyramids Household Survey of the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy(CMIE)
  • Azim Premji University Covid-19 Livelihoods Phone Survey (CLIPS),
  • The India Working Survey(IWS) and
  • Other surveys by various civil society organisations.

ANSWER: D

Why in News?

The Supreme Court of India has upheld the constitutional validity of the Constitution 102nd Amendment Act, 2018.

KEY POINTS:

About 102nd Amendment Act, 2018:

• The 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018 gave constitutional status to the National Backward Classes Commission.
• The Amendment also gives the President Powers to notify backward classes.
• The 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act inserted the articles 338 B and 342 A.
• It has brought about changes in Article 366.
• Article 338B deals with the structure, duties and powers of the National Commission of Backward Class.
• Article 342A (1): Empowers the President to notify, in consultation with the governor, for each state and Union Territory, the list of socially and educationally backward classes.
• Article 342A (2): Vests in Parliament the authority to include groups in the Central list or exclude them from it.

ANSWER: A

Why in News?
The UDID project is under implementation since 2016. The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities recently made it mandatory for all states and Union Territories to issue a certificate of disability only using UDID portal. This is to come into force from June 1, 2021.

UDID is Unique ID for Persons with Disabilities Project. The project aims to provide a Universal ID And disability certificates for persons with disabilities.

About UDID Project

The Project aims to create a National Database for the Persons with Disabilities. Also, it aims to issue a UDID, that is, Unique Disability Identity Card to each person with disabilities.

Key Features of the Project

The project aims to achieve the following:

• A centralised web application for online availability of data of person with disabilities across the country.
• Online filling and submission of application form for disability certificate
• Fast tracking the process of calculating the percentage of disability by the hospitals
• Online updating and renewal of information about the persons with disabilities
• The following disabilities are included in the project: Cerebral Palsy, Blindness, Low Vision, Locomotor Disability, Leprosy-cured, Mental retardation, Mental Illness, Hearing Impairment

Data Collected

The Government of India collects only the following details from the person to create the UDID for him:

• Personal details including his or her address
• Employment details
• Identity Details
• Disability Details

ANSWER: C

Why in News ?

The Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) recently released the “2021 Global Report on Food Crises”. The GNAFC is an international alliance formed by the European Union, United Nations and other governmental and non-governmental agencies.

The report says that economic crisis was the major reason to push 40 million people towards hunger in 2020. This has increased by 24 million as compared to that of 2019.

Key Findings of the report

• The conflicts, extreme weather and economic shocks related to COVID-19 are pushing millions of people into food insecurity.
• According to the report, more than 155 million people experienced acute food insecurity in 2020. This has increased by 20 million as compared to that of 2019. Of this, 133,000 people are under the most severe phase of food insecurity. They are mostly from Burkina Faso, Yemen and South Sudan.
• More than 28 million people faced emergency level food insecurity in 2020. Emergency level means they were one step away from starvation. Urgent actions prevented famine spreading.
• Around 75 million children were stunted globally and 15 million were wasted.
• Two out of three people facing food insecurity were from African continent.

ANSWER: D

Why in News?

CT scans have been in the news since some Covid positive patients with mild to moderate Covid symptoms, as well as those with negative RT-PCR results who have Covid symptoms, have requested the test.

About CT scan: 

• CTS is also known as Computed Tomography Scan.
• It’s a non-invasive medical imaging procedure used in radiology to obtain accurate images of the body for diagnosis.
• CT scanners calculate X-ray attenuations by various tissues within the body using a revolving x-ray tube and a row of detectors in the gantry.
• The tomographic (cross-sectional) images (virtual “slices”) of a body are created using multiple X-ray measurements taken from various angles, which are then processed on a computer using reconstruction algorithms.
• Because of the negative effects of ionising radiation, its use is often limited.

ANSWER: A

Why in News?

The High Court of Manipur has granted permission to seven Myanmar nationals who entered India secretly after the February military coup to seek safety from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in New Delhi (UNHCR).

Highlights

• India is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), but not to the UN Refugee Conventions.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees:

• It is a United Nations Refugee Agency and a humanitarian organisation committed to saving lives, upholding rights, and helping refugees, internally displaced peoples, and stateless people and help them to create a better future.
• It was founded in 1950 to assist millions of Europeans who had been forced to flee or had lost their homes.
• Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

ANSWER: B

Why in News?

• Every year, May 5th is World Hand Hygiene Day.
• This day is organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness of the importance of hand hygiene in preventing many serious infections.
• The theme for the year 2021 is Saving Lives the Second Time: Clean Hands.
• It is believed that hand washing is the most effective measure that can be taken to avoid various infections, including the COVID-19 virus.

ANSWER: C

Why in News:

Two Tribal settlements (Kattupatti and Kuzhipatti) of Pulayar community within the limits of Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu are gearing up for their annual festival of local deity Vairapattan.

Key Points:

• Anamalai Tiger Reserve:
  • About:
    • It is one of the four Tiger Reserves in Tamil Nadu.It forms part of the Southern Western Ghats.
    • It formspart of the Anamalai Parambikulam Elephant Reserve declared in 2003.
    • It is surrounded by Parambikulam Tiger Reserve on the East, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary and Eravikulam National Park on the South Western side (all belong to Kerala).
    • The reserve is also surrounded by Nenmara, Vazhachal, Malayattur and Marayur reserved forests of Kerala.
    • Theranges found in this reserve include Amaravathi, Udumalpet, Pollachi, Ulandy, Valparai and Manamboli.
    • The tribes are the Kadars, Malasars, Malaimalasar, Pulaiyars, Muduvars and the Eravallan (Eravalar).
    • It includes wet evergreen forest and semi-evergreen forest, montane shola-grassland, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, thorn forests and marshes.
    • The important mammals include: Asiatic elephant, Sambar, Spotted deer, Barking deer, Mouse deer, Gaur, Nilgiri tahr, Tiger, etc.

ANSWER: C

Why in News:

China has launched the main module of its first permanent space station named Tianhe, or the “Heavenly Harmony” module.

Key Points:

About Tianhe or Heavenly Harmony module:

• Tianhe is the core module of China’s permanent space station. Tiangong Space Station is its name.
• The module was launchedinto space aboard a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Launch Center in China.
• Functions of the Module:
  • The Module provides life support and living quarters for three crew members.
  • Further, the module also provides guidance, navigation and orientation control for the station.
  • It also provides the station’s power, propulsion and life support systems.
• Significance: This module is the first of the 11 missions to build and supply the permanent space station.

About Tiangong Space Station:

• It is a planned Chinese Permanent space station to be placed in Low Earth orbit.
• The Space Station roughly will have one-fifth the mass of the International Space Station. Also, It will be the size of the decommissioned Russian Mir space station.
• The operations of the station will be controlled by the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center in China.