Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 12, 2022

ANSWER: C

• Union Cabinet has approved continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) – Housing for All Mission up to 31st December 2024. Financial assistance is being provided for the completion of already sanctioned over 122 lakh houses till 31st March 2022.
• The scheme is one of the major flagship programmes being implemented by Central Government to provide all-weather pucca houses to all eligible beneficiaries in the urban areas of the country through States, Union Territories, and Central Nodal Agencies.
• The continuation of the scheme based on the request of States and UTs upto 31st December 2024 will help in completion of already sanctioned houses under Beneficiary Led Construction, Affordable Housing in Partnership, and In-situ Slum Redevelopment verticals.
• Central Assistance approved since 2015 is two lakh three thousand crore rupees against 20 thousand crore rupees in 2004-2014.

ANSWER: B

• The Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Biological E’s recently approved heterologous Covid-19 vaccine, Corbevax is expected to be available as a booster dose on the COWIN App in both public and private vaccination centres .
• The company said. Corbevax was approved as India’s First Heterologous COVID-19 Booster Shot for 18 Years and above after the six months of administration of the primary vaccination doses of Covaxin or Covishield.

Who can take Corbevax booster shot?

• People who have taken Covaxin or Covishield can be administrated a Corbevax booster shot in “emergency use authorisation”. The Union Health Ministry approved Corbevax for emergency use on the basis of a recently made recommendation by the COVID-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).
• This approval came after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the vaccine for emergency use as a heterologous COVID-19 booster dose for individuals aged 18 years on June 4, 2022.
• The Corbevax had received emergency use authorization as a primary two-dose vaccination regimen in Adults, Adolescents and Children aged 5 years and above, in a series of approvals from December`21 to April`22.

What is the price of Corbevax vaccine? 

• The price of Corbevax for private COVID-19 vaccination centres is Rs 250, inclusive of the Goods and Sales tax. For the end-user, the price of the vaccine is Rs 400, including taxes and administrative charges. Corbevax is expected to be available as a booster dose on the CoWIN App in public and private vaccination centres.

ANSWER: C

• Meghalaya is all set to host the upcoming 2nd edition of the North East Olympics from October the 30th to November the 6th in Shillong.
• A joint meeting of the North East Organising Committee, Meghalaya Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, and the North East Olympic Association was held last evening to finalize the list of sports disciplines.
• The first edition of Games was held in Manipur in 2018, with 12 disciplines.
• Following the meeting, Sports & Youth Affairs Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh stated that the disciplines selected were decided based on the availability of infrastructure and on the advice of the Meghalaya State Olympic Association.
• He said this edition of the Games will be special as Meghalaya is celebrating the 50th year of its Statehood.
• In this edition, about 4,000 participants from eight North Eastern States will be competing in 18 disciplines at 13 venues spread across Shillong. Participants will be competing in disciplines, such as archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, judo, karate, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, wushu, cycling (Mountain Bike), golf, weightlifting and wrestling.

ANSWER: C

• Trade between India and the UK is expected to double by 2030 driven by the proposed free trade pact, investment in technology, diversification of global supply chains and ease of doing business.
• India’s trade in goods and services with the UK increased to USD 31.34 billion in 2022 from USD 19.51 billion in 2015.
• The second edition of the Britain Meets India Report 2022, launched by Grant Thornton Bharat in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), supported by the UK’s Department of International Trade, also revealed that 618 UK companies have been identified in India that together employ approximately 4.66 lakh people and have a combined turnover of Rs 3,634.9 billion.
• “The UK remained the sixth-largest investor in India, with a cumulative investment of approximately USD 31.92 billion in 2000-22. This constituted around 5.4 per cent of the total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India,” according to the report.
• In June, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal expressed hope that the free trade agreement between India and the United Kingdom will be concluded by Diwali.
• “The FTA is also expected to result in significant benefits for both countries through tariff concessions on alcoholic beverages and the movement of professionals,” the report said, adding that the proposed pact is expected to boost Indian exports in labour-intensive sectors such as leather, textile, jewellery, processed agri-products and marine products, IT/ITES, education, pharma and healthcare (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy).
• According to the report, the UK is likely to look at reducing tariffs on products such as apples, UK-manufactured medical devices and machinery.
• “The report has highlighted several new emerging sectors and I hope we will derive qualitative outcomes that nurture opportunities for companies in India and the UK.
• “Trade between India and the UK is expected to double by 2030 from current levels – based on dynamic connections between people of both countries, investment in technology, diversification of global supply chains and overall ease of doing business,” said Vishesh C Chandiok, CEO, Grant Thornton Bharat.

ANSWER: A

• The south London home where Dadabhai Naoroji, a prominent member of the Indian freedom struggle and Britain’s first Indian parliamentarian, lived for around eight years at the end of the 19th century has been honoured with a commemorative Blue Plaque.
• The Blue Plaque scheme, run by the English Heritage charity, honours the historic significance of particular buildings across London. Naoroji’s plaque was unveiled on Wednesday to coincide with the 75th anniversary celebrations of Indian Independence.
• Naoroji, often referred to as the “grand old man of India”, is reported to have moved to Washington House, 72 Anerley Park, Penge, Bromley, at a time when his thoughts were turning increasingly towards full independence for India in 1897.  That red-brick home now has a plaque which reads: “Dadabhai Naoroji 1825-1917 Indian Nationalist and MP lived here”.
• “Naoroji made seven trips to England and spent over three decades of his long life in London,” English Heritage said in a statement.
• In August 1897 Naoroji moved to Washington House, 72 Anerley Park, Penge, at a time when his thoughts were turning increasingly towards full independence for India.
• “Much of his time here would have been occupied by his work as a member of the Welby Commission, set up by the British government to investigate wasteful spending in India. His key text on drain theory – ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’ (1901) – was published while he was living here,” it noted.
• According to records, Washington House functioned as an important centre for the Indian community in London – a place where many Indians were invited and where Indians travelled to if they were in distress or in trouble.
• Fellow Indian nationalists Romesh Chunder Dutt and Sister Nivedita are known to have been guests at the house.
• “Naoroji left the address in 1904 or 1905, making it his longest-standing London residence,” English Heritage said.
• Born in Mumbai, the prominent Parsi nationalist was an influential political and intellectual force in both India and Britain.
• Much of his work was underpinned by his so-called “drain theory” of British colonial rule, contending that India was impoverished by an expensive foreign bureaucracy for which it had to pay, and that any benefits from the British presence there were incidental.
• Drain theory formed the basis of the classic Indian nationalist interpretation of British colonialism, and it is a view that continues to resonate.
• Naoroji spent seven spells in England, five of them in London. In 1886, he stood for Parliament in the general election as a Liberal candidate for Holborn in central London, but was defeated in the strongly Conservative constituency.
• He went on to be elected on a Liberal ticket for the north London constituency of Finsbury Central at the general election of July 1892 – making history as the first Indian to sit in the UK Parliament.

ANSWER: C

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Government of Japan, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced a new initiative to accelerate climate action in 10 states and Union Territories across the country.
• To be rolled out in partnership with the IMD at the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the initiative will support nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to achieve net-zero emissions and ensure climate-resilient development.
• Under the initiative, the UNDP will work with the IMD to promote climate resilience and MNRE to promote climate mitigation by Deploying clean energy infrastructure and low-emission technologies in key sectors including Transport, Health, Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and Agriculture.
• This includes solarising 150 healthcare facilities, 20 micro-enterprises, and installing 85 Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations and 30 solar cold storage systems across the 10 states.
• Demonstrating resilient climate planning at the grassroots through climate information flows systems for 30 Gram Panchayats, promote green jobs and green entrepreneurship in sectors like Renewable Energy by providing skilling and training to 2000+ people.
• Japan has extended a $5.16 million in climate grant to the UNDP India for the project. This is part of Japan’s global support to 23 countries through UNDP’s ‘Climate Promise – From Pledge to Impact’ programme for scaling up its support to turn NDCs into concrete action.
• IMD supports the project activities in the districts of Uttarkashi in the state of Uttarakhand, Gyalshing and Soreng in the state of Sikkim, in two types of support – 1. With climate forecasts and weather advisories to improve disaster preparedness in some of the most high-risk geographies and 2. With technical expertise during gram panchayat planning to develop climate-informed plans.”
• The project will be rolled out in the states and Union Territories of Bihar, Delhi-NCR, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh between 2022-23.
• At the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November 2021, India pledged to cut the country’s total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, install 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, reduce the carbon intensity of the nation’s economy by less than 45% by the end of the decade and net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
• UNDP’s Climate Promise is the largest global climate and development offer of support to countries on their national pledges to the Paris Agreement. At COP26, UNDP launched the next phase of the Climate Promise – From Pledge to Impact – scaling up its support to turn NDC targets into concrete action in at least 100 countries.
• Japan is the largest supporter of this phase of the pioneering and groundbreaking initiation.

ANSWER: D

• World Lion Day is being observed globally on 10th August. The day aims to spread awareness about lions and the urgent need to strive for their conservation.
• Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav said that Asiatic Lions population has shown a steady increase with an increased rate of nearly twenty-nine per cent.
• He highlighted that the distribution of the lions has increased from an area of 22 thousand square kilometers in 2015 to 30 thousand square kilometers in 2020.
• The Minister stressed that there has been a consistent increase in the population and distribution area of Asiatic Lions. He described that several strategies and interventions have been implemented by the Ministry to continue the upward trend of conservation.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, launched the “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” with an aim to protect and conserve the world’s last ranging free population of Asiatic Lion and its associated ecosystem. Asiatic lions that once ranged from Iran to Palamau district of Jharkhand were almost driven to extinction by indiscriminate hunting and habitat loss.
• According to the United Nations, lion populations have dropped by more than 40 per cent in the last two decades. It said unrestricted exploitation of wildlife threatens Mother Earth’s biological diversity and causes ecological imbalance.
• First World Lion Day was observed in 2013 to safeguard lions in their natural environment. At present, between 30 thousand to one lakh lions are left in the world. To ensure the safety of lions, it is crucial to increase public awareness of the threats they face, protect their natural habitat, and build more of these kinds of habitats.

ANSWER: A

• 1st Khelo India Womens Hockey League under-16 will be held at the Major Dhyanchand Stadium in New Delhi between 16th to 23rd of this month.
• According to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, a total of 16 teams from across the country are participating. A total of 56 matches will be played and over 300 players will compete in the Phase 1 of the league.
• The Sports Authority of India has allocated a total of 53.72 lakhs rupees for 3 phases of the competition, which includes Prize money of 15.5 lakh rupees.
• The matches are scheduled to start at 6:30 am each day with the final match scheduled at 5 pm. 19th of this month is kept as the rest day.
• Phase 1 and 2 of the Khelo India Women’s Hockey League U-16 will be in round-robin format. The final ranking of teams will be determined after the completion of first 2 phases. Phase 3 will consist of classification matches where each team will play a minimum of 3 matches.

ANSWER: C

• Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur congratulated the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank on its phenomenal turn around. The bank which had suffered a loss of around 46 crore rupees has earned a profit of 87 crores in 2021-22. The Minister expressed happiness that this also happens to be the highest ever profit earned by the bank.
• The Minister acknowledged the growth of the bank in the last four years and said the bank has seen substantial increase in enrolment of customers under various social security schemes.
• He congratulated all the 1,400 employees of the bank whose dedication to serving the bank’s over 17 lakh customers has resulted in an impressive growth of over 3000 crore rupees in last four years.

ANSWER: A

• Researchers at the IIT, Mandi, used artificial intelligence-enhanced operation research tools to select waste water management methods that meet the socio-economic needs specific to places and environments.
• Dr Satvasheel Powar, IIT, Mandi, said, “We have used a set of methods called Multi-Criteria Decision-Making that combines alternative decisions with quantitative and qualitative results in compact solutions.”