Daily Current Affairs Quiz: April 05, 2022

ANSWER: C

• India’s Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Australian Trade Minister signed India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA) in a virtual ceremony with the presence of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and Australian PM Scott Morrison.
• The above agreement is set to provide zero-duty access to 96 per cent of India’s exports to Australia including shipments from key sectors such as engineering goods, gems and jewellery, textiles, apparel and leather.
• It also set to provide 85 per cent of Australia’s exports zero-duty access to the Indian market, including coal, sheep meat and wool, and lower duty access on Australian wines, almonds, lentils, and certain fruits.
• The bilateral trade was emphasised to raise the existing 27 billion USD to 45-50 billion USD in the upcoming 5 years.

About India & Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

• This is the first trade agreement that India has signed with a developed country after a decade.
• Also, India will be offering 70 percent of its tariff lines, which includes export interest of Australia such as raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines etc.
• Australian goods exports to India (valued at more than $12.6 billion a year), rising to almost 91 per cent (valued at $13.4 billion) over 10 years.
• Zero-duty access for Indian goods is set to be expanded to 100 per cent over five years under the agreement.
• Under the agreement, Indian graduates from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) will be granted extended post-study work visas.

Exports and Imports:

• ‘Australia is the 17th largest trading partner of India, and New Delhi will be Canberra’s 9th largest partner.
• India’s goods exports worth United States Dollar (USD) 6.9 billion and imports aggregated to USD 15.1 billion in 2021. 2021 the bilateral trade in goods and services stood at USD 27.5 billion.

ANSWER: D

• India contributed USD 500,000 to the United Nation (UN) Women, an agency for gender equality and women empowerment, for their core budget.
• It was handed over by India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, TS Tirumurti to Executive Director (ED) Dr Sima Bahous (UN Women Chief).
• With this contribution, India reaffirmed its support for gender equality and women empowerment and development.
• Earlier in 2021, India also contributed USD 300,000 to the United Nations agency for gender equality and women empowerment.
• Gender Equality is the 5th Sustainable Development Goal(SDG)

About United Nation (UN) Women:

• Headquarters-New York, United States (US)
• Founded- 2010

ANSWER: A

• According to the list of Hurun Richest Self-Made Women in the World 2022 released by the Hurun Research Institute. Falguni Nayar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Nykaa, is ranked 10th with a wealth of USD 7.6 billion. She is the only Indian among the top 10.
• Radha Vembu, co-founder & product manager of Zoho is the second-richest self-made woman billionaire in India with US$3.9bn & ranked 25th in the global list.
• Radha Vembu is top in India, and second across the world, in the list of Biggest Risers.
• Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics, is 26th on the list, down two places from last year. She has a wealth of US$3.8 bn.

Top 3 on the list:

• Wu Yajun co-founder of Longfor(China) has topped the list followed by Fan Hongwei, Chairman/President, Hengli Petrochemical Co Ltd(China) and Wang Laichun of Luxshare Precision Industry(China).
• According to the list, there are 124 Self-Made Women Billionaires in World and China contributes to two-thirds of the world’s self-made women billionaires with 78 followed by the United States with 25 and the United Kingdom with 5.

ANSWER: D

• Recently , Arunachal Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (APSBB) inks a pact with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)- India to develop, the State Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (SBSAP) in New Delhi during a meeting presided by the State Environment and Forest Minister Mama Natung.
• The action plan involves multi-stakeholder consultations and a participatory approach which develops an inclusive action plan to secure nature’s contribution to people.
• The SBSAP will align with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD)’s Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and Arunachal Pradesh’s recent Pakke Declaration.

About Pakke Declaration:

• The Arunachal Pradesh state cabinet on November 17 2021, adopted the ‘Pakke Tiger Reserve 2047 Declaration on Climate Change Resilient and Responsive Arunachal Pradesh’, which aims to promote ‘climate-resilient development’ in the state.
• The ‘Pakke Declaration’ focuses on a multi-sectoral approach to low-emission and climate-resilient development based on five broad themes or Panch Dharas (environment, forest and climate change; health and wellbeing of all; sustainable and adaptive living; livelihoods and opportunities; and evidence generation and collaborative action).

ANSWER: A

• Prehistoric relics are discovered along the banks of three rivers flowing through Attappady hills in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Attappady is a tribal block in Palakkad district of Kerala with hulas, Mudugas and Kurumbas as main tribes.
• The archaeological finds include- stone tools, inhabited caves, menhirs, cists or burial chambers, stone circles, burial urns, black and red ware pottery, terracotta images, stone carvings, and granite inscriptions.

ANSWER: B

• PM VIKAS, under Ministry of Minority Affairs, focuses on socio-economic-educational empowerment of minorities wit h special emphasis on artisan communities, women, and youth.
• At least 33% of the total targets in the scheme are reserved for women and provide entrepreneurship and leadership support exclusively to women.
• 10% of these women trained as entrepreneurs shall also be selected to become Business Mentors, based on their leadership qualities.

Other Skill development and employment-oriented programmes for minorities

• Nai Manzil provides a combination of formal education (Class VII or X) and skills, to enable beneficiaries to seek better employment and livelihood.
• Nai Roshni scheme empower and enhance confidence in Minority women by providing knowledge, tool and techniques for Leadership Development of Women.
• Upgrading the Skill and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development (USTTAD) scheme
• Garib Nawaz Self-Employment Scheme provides for short term job-oriented skill development courses to minorities’ youth in order to enable them for ski-based employment.
• Backup to Brilliance policy.
• Extending PM Jan Vikas Karykram across the country.
• Hunar Haat.
• Seekho aur Kamao (learn and earn).

ANSWER: C

• Ladakh has identified proper mapping and boundary identification of Changthang and Karakoram sanctuaries along India-China border as a priority concern.
• Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has been asked to map and identify areas of ‘high conservation value to help ‘rationalise’ boundaries – alowing for addition or deletion of land.
• Changthang WLS is located in Ladakhi Changthang plateau in Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Lakes: Home to highest altitude water lakes, namely, Tso Moriri (also the highest lake on earth), Pangong Tso and Tso Kar.
• Fauna: Kiang or Tibetan wild ass along with the black-necked crane (Grus nicricollis)
• It has Korzok village, which is also considered to be the world’s highest village.
• Karakoram (Nubra Shyok) WLS is located in high altitude of easternmost reaches of Karakoram Range in Leh District.
• Fauna: Abode of Chiru or Tibetan Antelope, Tibetan gazale, Himalayan ibex, Shapo, bharal, wild yak, Snow leopard etc.
• Karakoram wildlife sanctuary is located in the easternmost reaches of the Karakoram range in Leh district.

ANSWER: B

• Recently, the Indian Army has inducted Igla-S systems from Russia.
• Igla-S (Igla- Super) is a very short range air defence system which acts as last line of defence against enemy combat aircraft and helicopters in the multi-layered air defence network.
• It has a maximum range of 6 km, fired from shoulder to neutralise low-flying aircrafts and helicopters.

ANSWER: D

• Recently, th e PM greeted people at the start of New Samvatsar (New Year), i.e. the start of Vikram Samvat 2079.
• Vikram Samvat is a lunar calendar started by King Vikramaditya of Ujjain in 57 BC (zero year) to mark his victory over Sakas.

ANSWER: D

• According to the Himachal Pradesh education minister, school students in classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 will be taught the Bhagavad Gita from this academic session.
• “Gita will be taught in schools in Sanskrit and Hindi languages. Besides, Sanskrit will be introduced for students of Class III onwards,” Minister Govind Singh Thakur said.
• Thakur’s statement comes two weeks after the Gujarat government announced that the Bhagavad Gita will be a part of the school syllabus for classes 6 to 12 across the state from the academic year 2022-23.
• The Karnataka government is also considering introducing the Gita as part of ‘moral education’ in state schools.

ANSWER: A

• The historical town of Sujanpur is famous for the Holi fair. “The fair not only represents rich cultural heritage of Himachal pradesh .
• The Sujanpur Mela was a centre of business activities. Merchants from across the region, skilled craftsmen in handicrafts participate here and handlooms products were always a centre of attraction at the fair.