Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 03, 2022

ANSWER: C

• Over seventy-seven crore portable transactions were recorded under the One Nation-One Ration Card Scheme.
• Food and Public Distribution Ministry has said that eighty crore beneficiaries avail benefit from the scheme recording nearly three crore portability transactions per month. The scheme is to complete three years of its successful launch next week.
• The Ministry said, the scheme is one-of-its-kind Citizen Centric initiative in the country.
• It said, the objective of this beneficiary centric high-impact program is to empower all National Food Security Act beneficiaries to be Atma Nirbhar for their food security anywhere in the country.
• The Ministry said that the scheme was launched on 9th of August in 2019, as a pilot project in four states and now, it has been implemented across the country.

ANSWER: A

• The Lok Sabha today passed the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021, seeking to increase the species protected under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, and implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, CITES.
• The Minister said, in the last eight years protected areas in the country have increased from 693 to 987, which includes fifty-two tiger reserves.
• Noting that, the government works on the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, he said, the centre is working towards the betterment of all wildlife species alongside humans.
• Replying to the concerns expressed by several members on increasing human – animal conflict, Bhupinder Yadav said plans have been drawn taking into account the socio-economic conditions of the regional ecosystem, on a case-by-case basis.
• Mr Yadav said a special chapter has been added to conform to the international treaty Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
• He said the bill makes amendments for better management of protected areas and an explanation so as to provide for certain permitted activities such as grazing or movement of livestock, bona fide use of drinking water by local communities, till they are provided with a better displacement plan.
• He called upon people to boycott luxury products made from animals belonging to endangered species.

ANSWER: C

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih held one on one, restricted and delegation level talks in New Delhi.
• High Commissioner of India to Maldives, Munu Mahawar said many flagship projects were inaugurated and reviewed after the leaders’ meeting.
• He said the leaders reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral ties and focused on next steps that can be taken to keep enhancing the ties.
• Six agreements were exchanged following the delegation level talks in areas including cyber security, disaster management, and infrastructure. The India Maldives development cooperation including Addu roads and reclamation, water and sanitation in 34 islands and Friday Mosque restoration projects was reviewed.
• The High Commissioner said that development cooperation has evolved as a central pillar and large and mid-level projects are being executed which are benefiting the people of Male.
• Trade has grown tremendously by 31 percent despite COVID.

ANSWER: D

• The Centre said, eight crore 41 lakh rural women members have been mobilised through Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission, DAY-NRLM, into 77 lakh 40 thosuand Self-Help Groups till 28th of last month.
• In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Rural Development the Centre said, eight crore 41 lakh rural women members have been mobilised through Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission, DAY-NRLM, into 77 lakh 40 thosuand Self-Help Groups till 28th of last month.
• This mission has been mobilised across 721 districts and 6,842 blocks of 34 States and Union Territories. She said, these SHGs have been federated into four lakh 37 thousand Village Organisations and over 28 thousand Cluster Level Federations.
• Sadhvi Jyoti said, DAY-NRLM has also trained around four lakh community resource persons who are skilled in different thematic areas such as gender, financial inclusion, livelihood promotion and nutrition.
• She said, over 39 lakh SHGs have been provided with revolving funds and 22 lakh 21 thousand SHGs have been also provided with Community Investment Funds as capital support till June this year.
• Aajeevika – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India in June 2011.

ANSWER: D

• Bangladesh Railway Minister Md. Nurul Islam Sujan has said that the Khulna-Mongla railway line will become operational by the end of this year.
• Minister Sujan said most of the work of around 45 kilometres railway line has been completed.
• The Mongla-Khulna railway line is funded by the government of India Line of Credit (LOC). The project is scheduled to be over by the end of this year.
• The Khulna-Mongla railway project is part of the first Line of Credit extended by India to Bangladesh in 2010.
• According to the IRCON International Ltd, a total 31 bridges and 108 culverts have been built for the train link.
• The Rupsha bridge was completed on 25 June this year. The Minister said that the main challenge in the project was the construction of the Rupsha bridge which has been completed now.
• Outlining the benefit of the Khulna-Mongla line, Nurul Islam Sujan said that it will lead to enhanced trade through the Mongla port to foreign destinations.
• Speaking about other railway projects, the minister said that the construction work of the Padma Bridge Railway project from Dhaka to Bhanga will be complete by June 2023 after which the Kushtia-Khulna railway communication will commence.

ANSWER: B

• The Commemoration Day of the Madras Legislative Council falls on the second of August.
• This year 2022 marks the 101st year of the Council, which was abolished in the year 1986 by the then State Government.
• The first election for the Madras Council was held in November 1920 and the first sitting of the Council was inaugurated by the Duke of Connaught on 12th January 1921.
• The Government of India Act of 1935 created a bicameral legislature in the Madras province and the Council eventually became the upper chamber of a bicameral legislature in 1937.
• It was renamed as the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council when the state was renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1969.
• The council was later abolished on 1st November, 1986 by the then Government headed by M.G. Ramachandran.
• Under the Indian Council Act of 1861, the council was given the role as an advisory body. In 1892, the act given some expansive power without elected members.
• The scope for limited election was given by the Morley-Minto Act of 1909.

ANSWER: A

• World Wide Web Day is observed on 1st of August every year.
• The day is marked in honour of the ability of people to browse information freely using the Web. The Web is the tool that billions across the globe use every moment to interact with the global system of interconnected computer systems that is the Internet.
• The WWW was created by English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, while he was working for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.
• Berners-Lee developed the essentials of the web – HTTP, HTML, the WorldWideWeb browser, a server, and the first website – while working at the organisation.
• The day aims to highlight the importance of the web in improving people’s lives by facilitating communication, access to information and resources, education and empowerment.

ANSWER: C

• Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated the fourth ONGC Para Games in Thyagaraj Sports Complex in New Delhi.
• On the occasion Mr. Puri said, the ONGC Para Games is a wonderful platform to bring in inclusiveness and equity in the human resource of the public enterprises under the Ministry.
• The fourth ONGC Para Games is being organized by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).
• Nearly 275 Persons with Disabilities (PwD) are participating in the Games. These all are employees of eight central oil and gas public enterprises.

ANSWER: A

• Tribal Development Minister Ram Lal Markanda inaugurated the two-day Lahaul Tourism Festival being organised by the Lahaul Eco-Tourism Society at Jispa.
• The minister said that such events played a crucial role in promoting tradition and culture of the district.
• Tourists could have a glimpse of the Lahaul folk culture, dance and cuisine during the fair.
• He announced Rs 1.50 lakh for the organisers and appreciated their decision to organise the festival at Jispa in the Lahaul valley to attract tourists.

ANSWER: D

• The government has given an in-principle approval to the first-ever horticulture policy of the state.
• As one of its major objectives, the policy aims to diversify fruit production in the state. At the moment, apple accounts for more than 80 per cent of the fruit production.
• The policy aims at converting Himachal from the apple state to a fruit state. To achieve this objective, the department will adopt a cluster approach to boost the cultivation of other fruits along with apple.
• “Just as apple clusters have been formed under the World Bank-funded the horticulture development project, areas will be identified where there is a potential for growing other fruits. These areas will then be put under cluster cultivation.
• Efforts are already afoot to boost the cultivation of sub-tropical fruits at lower elevations in the state through project SHIVA, which is funded by the Asian Development Bank.
• The policy stresses on the use of latest technology and techniques like drip irrigation, high density plantation, etc. for better quality and yield of the fruit.
• Compared to the developed horticulture nations, the per-hectare production of fruit in the state is very low and the policy aims at addressing this huge gap in production.
• Also, technology will be used to make the entire system transparent and accessible to all fruit growers. Relevant information would be put up on the department’s website, ensuring prompt, transparent and impartial services to the growers.
• According to the official, the policy will look to create infrastructure like marketing yards, CA stores, processing units, proper roads in rural areas etc to help growers get better value for their produce. “Besides, foreign markets will be explored for exporting fruit”.
• Besides, focus will be laid on preparing nurseries for planting material of all fruits. Currently, much of the planting material of most fruits is coming from abroad and the policy advocates to cut down foreign dependence on this front.