Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 10, 2022

ANSWER: C

• Ministry of Education held a meeting with senior officials and representatives of all Ministries and Departments of Government of India and important bodies including NCERT, Election Commission of India, ICAR, DRDO, etc, to take forward the process of widespread consultation for the development of the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) based on the National Education Policy, 2020.
• The meeting was chaired by Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy in Ministry of Education Anita Karwal and focused on how ministries and organisations can contribute in developing a curriculum framework that is responsive and relevant to the developmental needs and interests of learners at different stages of their development.
• In the meeting, the key deliverables of NCF were discussed in detail. It includes, Early Childhood Care and Education, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, Competency Based Education, Flexibility in Choice of Subjects in Secondary Classes, Reduction of Curriculum to Core Essentials, Reimagining Vocational education, Identification of Core Skills and Content, Inclusive Education, Multilingualism, Integrating Knowledge of India, citizenship, values like-appreciation of national heritage, respect for public property, taking care of elders, spirit of service, needs of Gifted Children,  Experiential learning, Integration of arts and craft, toys, health and well-being, sports and physical education Guidance and Counselling, Community involvement etc.

About:

• The Ministry of Human Resource Development formed a committee chaired by Dr K. Kasturirangan for preparing the National Education Policy. The Committee was constituted in June 2017.  The Committee submitted its report on May 31, 2019.

Curriculum Framework

• Reforms in the framework of the current curriculum of school education are based on the development needs of the students.
• The NEP recommends the 5-3-3-4 pattern explained in the table below:

ANSWER: B

• An area of 10 hectares of the Yamuna River floodplain, South of NH-24 on the western banks is being developed as a theme-based multipurpose area using bamboo as a material in biotic and abiotic form.
• Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena laid the foundation of ‘Baansera’, the city’s first Bamboo-themed Park, and dedicated it to the people of the national Capital.
• A bamboo café is also proposed along with seating under bamboo trees. Large spaces for congregation have been designed with live bamboo plants forming a curtained enclosure.
• The city’s first-of-its-kind initiative has been named Baansera as derived from the Hindi word “basera” meaning “abode”.
• The park will have more than 25,000 special variety of Bamboo saplings, brought from Assam. These will be planted to achieve the purpose of augmenting the much-needed public spaces in the Capital and also ensure that the rich biodiversity of the floodplain is preserved and maintained.
• The plantation of Bamboo on a large scale will help address the Capital’s problem of air pollution significantly as the Bamboo plant produces about 30 per cent more Oxygen even as it consumes far less water and enriches the soil.
• The entire area has been categorised into two parts: Bamboo recreation primarily in the greenway zone and Bamboo plantation along with other riverine plantations.
• “Baansera” will have a unique experience in terms of plantation of different varieties of bamboo plants especially procured for this area. Apart from plantations, the park will have amenities designed in Bamboo including kiosks, huts, watchtowers and seats for public use in greenway area along kachaa paths.
• The Bamboo recreation area in the greenway zone comprises of an Arrival zone- A transitional area that acts as a journey from the city’s busy life into the pristine river floodplains with an experiential walk amongst plantations that takes you into gathering spaces.

ANSWER: C

• A bill seeking to mandate the use of non-fossil energy sources such as biomass, ethanol and green hydrogen was passed by the Lok Sabha.
• Piloting the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, Power Minister R K Singh said “this is the bill for the future”.
• The bill was later passed by the House after rejecting amendments moved by some Opposition members. The Minister said the renewable energy capacity addition in India was fastest in the world.
• The Bill provides for penalties for violations by industrial units or vessels, and on manufacturers if a vehicle fails to comply with fuel consumption norms.
• With the energy transition towards renewable energy and National Green Hydrogen Mission, a need has arisen to further amend the said Act to facilitate the achievement of ‘Panchamrit’ -as five nectar elements presented by India in Conference of Parties -26 in Glasgow last year.
• The amendments also seek to promote renewable energy and the development of a domestic carbon market to battle climate change.
• It aims to introduce new concepts such as carbon trading and mandate the use of non-fossil sources to ensure faster decarbonisation of the Indian economy and help achieve sustainable development goals in line with the Paris Agreement.

ANSWER: A

• Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan has said that country’s telecommunications network is the second largest in the world with the most cost-effective rates.
• Chauhan addressed the inaugural event of International Telecommunication Union’s Regional Standardization Forum for Asia and Oceania region in New Delhi.
• Chauhan stressed that India’s policy in the field of telecommunications formulated is based on three pillars of Ease of Doing Business, Ease of Living and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
• He said, Government has laid down a clear roadmap to address the digital divide. It includes taking optical fibers to all six lakh villages of the country and also covers all these villages with 4G mobile communications.
• Chauhan highlighted that around one lakh seventy-five thousand villages are already provided with the optical fibre while around five lakh sixty thousand villages have 4G mobile facilities.
• He said, a multi-billion-dollar comprehensive plan has been made, which will ensure optical fibre and mobile communications in all six hundred thousand villages by 2025.
• More than 250 delegates from 20 countries are taking part in the forum.

ANSWER: B

• Russia has temporarily suspended on-site inspections of its strategic nuclear weapons, under an arms control treaty known as New START.
• The Russian foreign ministry in a statement said, the US was seeking advantages and had deprived Russia of the right to carry out inspections on US territory. It also said, US sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine had changed conditions between the countries.
• The treaty came into force in 2011. It is the last remaining arms reduction agreement between the two countries. It caps at 1,550 the number of long-range nuclear warheads that each country can deploy.
• The suspension comes a week after US President Joe Biden said that US was ready to work on new nuclear arms deal with Russia. The current one will expire in 2026.

ANSWER: D

• The exports of agricultural and processed food products have risen by 31 per cent in the first three months of the current financial year.
• According to the provisional data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, the overall export of agricultural and processed food products increased to seven thousand 408 million US dollar in April-June this year from 5663 million US dollar over the same period of the last fiscal.
• The export target for April-June this year was fixed at five thousand 890 million US dollar. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, APEDA’s various initiatives have helped the country in achieving 31 percent of the total export target in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
• APEDA has set an export target of 23.56 billion US dollar for agricultural and processed food products basket for this fiscal year.

About

• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985.
• It functions under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• The Authority has its headquarters in New Delhi.

ANSWER: C

• The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is celebrated every year on 9th of August to acknowledge the contributions and achievements of the indigenous communities around the globe.
• The United Nations General Assembly on 23rd of December in 1994 decided to observe International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples annually on 9th of August in recognition of the inaugural session of the UN working body on Indigenous Populations held on this day in
• This year, the theme for the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is ‘The Role of Indigenous Women in the Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Knowledge’.
• This theme emphasises the role that women of indigenous communities play in carrying forward their traditions and cultures.
• Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures. Indigenous peoples’ conceptualization of health and well-being is generally broader and more holistic, with health frequently viewed as both an individual and a collective right, strongly determined by community, land and the natural environment.

ANSWER: D

• India competed in the tournament with three teams in the Men’s Section and three teams in the Women’s section.
• India ‘B’ team comprising D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwaniand and Adhiban won the bronze medal beating Germany.
• In women’s section, India ‘A’ team have won the bronze medal. The team comprising Vaishali and Koneru Humphy, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkari were headed for a gold medal on the final day but a defeat to USA by 1-3 dented their chances as they eventually finished third.
• The Uzbekistan team, which was seeded 14th in the tournament, won the gold medal in the men’s section. Armenia clinched the silver medal.
• It was the first time that the Chess Olympiad was held in India, the place where the game began.
• The 2022 edition was historic as the tournament was contested between 188 teams from about 187 nations.

ANSWER: C

• The Himachal Agriculture Department’s pilot project to introduce coffee cultivation in the hill state has failed to yield the desired results.
• The cold climate conditions have marred the prospects of coffee plantation as an alternative cash crop as the survival rate of the plants is very low, ranging only between 5 and 10 per cent.
• The department had launched the project in 2014. The plants were sown on a trial basis on 7.34 hectares in Kangra, Mandi, Una and Bilaspur districts. The area under coffee plantation initially increased four times to 30.12 hectares in 2018-19.
• The department provided one lakh plants to over 500 farmers since 2014, aiming to augment their income as raw coffee seeds fetch Rs 150-200 per kg.
• The Central Coffee Research Institute, Chikmagalur, Karnataka, had recommended two varieties for cultivation in Himachal — arabica and robusta. During the trial, it was observed that the robusta variety required more water as compared to arabica and the farmers were told to go for the latter.
• Under the ideal conditions, coffee plants should be raised under the shade, protected from frost and cold, and the temperature should range between 4 degrees Celsius and 35 degrees Celsius. Specific locations were identified in certain districts to grow coffee plants.
• The idea was to grow coffee on the pattern of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as the plants start bearing fruit in four years, while commercial production starts after 10 years. A single plant produces 500 gm to 1 kg of coffee and 100 saplings are planted in one kanal (500 sq yards).

ANSWER: C

• As many as 42 writers from 14 cities of the country will participate in the 4th Bhalkhu Smriti Literary Yatra being organised by the Himalaya Sahitya Sanskriti Avam Paryavaran Manch on August 13 and 14.
• It’s a unique event to be held in a moving Shimla-Kalka train in which the sessions on stories, memoirs, poetry and music will be organised in the name of stations falling on this route.
• The journey will start from the Shimla railway station in the morning up to Barog (Solan) and return in the afternoon, said chairman of the manch and convener of the yatra SR Harnot.
• Harnot said this is a national event of two days. On August 14, the author will visit Jhajha, which is 8-km from Chail.
• At the village, a literary seminar will also be organised with the local panchayat and artists will meet family members of Bhalkhu.