Daily Current Affairs Quiz: June 21, 2022

ANSWER: D

KEY POINTS:

• Prime Minister unveiled the renovated Shree Kalika Mata temple at Pavagadh Hill in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district.
• At the temple, he also conducted Puja with customary customs. A ‘Dhwaja’ was raised at full mast atop the shrine by
• This majestic Mahakali temple’s sanctum sanctorum is composed of gold.
• It is one of the region’s oldest temples and draws a huge number of pilgrims.
• The president of the Pavagadh Temple Trust, estimates that almost two crore people visit the temple each year. The temple’s reconstruction was finished at a cost of 125 crore rupees.

ANSWER: D

• FATF Headquarters: Paris, France
• FATF Founded: 1989
• Pakistan will continue to be on the “Grey List” of countries under increased monitoring of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), from the global money-laundering and terror-financing watchdog.
• Pakistan has been on the grey list of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering, leading to terror financing, and was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019.

Key points:

• Since then, the country continues to be on that list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates. The concluding session of the plenary meeting of the FATF is due and includes Pakistan’s review on the agenda.
• Pakistan is now targeting the full completion of the 2021 action plan on anti-money laundering and combating terror financing by the end of January 2023.
• In October 2021, the FATF acknowledged Pakistan’s progress on a 27-point action plan on completion of 26 items but kept the country on its increased monitoring list to exhibit terror financing investigations against and prosecutions of top cadres of UN-designated terror groups.
• Pakistan had to complete two concurrent action plans with a total of 34 items.

ANSWER: A

KEY POINTS:

• The Spiny Horntail was spotted, during a recent expedition to the Kottiyoor forests of Kannur.
• The species that is known to be endemic to the Western Ghats was discovered in Maharashtra earlier this year.
• The discovery that was recorded from Kottiyoor was confirmed by an odonate expert who represents the TNHS Odonata Research Group (TORG) of the Travancore Nature History Society (TNHS).
• Researchers had spotted the species from Chaukul in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
• Prior to their finding, the dragonflygenus Burmagomphus was represented by three species – B. cauvericus, B. pyramidalis and B. laidlawi. While B. laidlawi is found throughout the Western Ghats, B. cauvericus is more restricted in its distribution. B. pyramidalis is found in the Western Ghats as well as in Peninsular India. All other species of the genus are found in the Western and Eastern Himalayas.
• The new species can be separated from its congeners by the markings on the lateral thorax and peculiar shape of anal appendages.
• According to a paper published by TORG, 181 odonata species have been recorded in Kerala. The addition of B. chaukulensis will take the count to 182.

ANSWER: D

KEY POINTS:

• After taking actions against 2,100 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP), the Election Commission (EC) delisted 111 RUPP for flouting rules and found them to be “non-existent” during a verification exercise aimed at cleaning up the system.
• According to the EC, its action came after chief electoral officers (CEOs) of states had reported that these “registered unrecognised political parties” either have been found to be “non-existent” on verification or the letters issued by authorities to verify their addresses and communication details had been returned as undelivered by the postal department.
• Subsequently, the EC decided to withdraw various benefits accorded to these parties under the Symbols Order (1968), including allocation of common election symbol.
• These details of various parties that have flouted laws and rules on disclosure of funds and donations are in public domain and are available on the websites of state chief electoral officers.
• According to EC, a reference has also been sent to the Department of Revenue for necessary legal and criminal actions against three such parties involved in serious financial impropriety.
• A list of RUPPs that have not submitted their contribution reports in FY 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 has been shared with the Revenue Department for taking all consequential action as per Representation of the People Act read with the relevant provisions of the IT Act 1961.
• Another list of 66 RUPPs which have claimed income tax exemption without submitting contribution reports as mandated under law has also been shared with the Revenue Department.
• There are nearly 2,800 registered unrecognised political parties in India.
• The poll panel had been pushing the government to allow it to de-register political parties.
• On multiple occasions, it has written to the Law Ministry to amend the election law to give it the power to de-register so that it can deter the parties that indulge in financial and other irregularities.

ANSWER: C

According to the researchers:

• They have developed an innovative treatment that may defeat the virus with a one-time injection, with the potential of bringing about tremendous improvement in the patients’ condition.
• When the engineered B cells encounter the virus, the virus stimulates and encourages them to divide, so they are utilizing the very cause of the disease to combat it.
• Furthermore, if the virus changes, the B cells will also change accordingly in order to combat it, so they have created the first medication ever that can evolve in the body and defeat viruses in ‘arms race’.

KEY POINTS:

• A new study from Tel Aviv University offers a unique treatment for AIDS — a vaccine or a one-time treatment for patients with HIV.
• The study examined the engineering of type B white blood cells in the patient’s body so as to secrete anti-HIV antibodies in response to the virus.
• They had been able to engineer B cells outside of the body, and in this study, they were the first to do this in the body and to make these cells generate desired antibodies.
• The genetic engineering is done with viral carriers derived from viruses that were engineered so as not to cause damage but only to bring the gene coded for the antibody into the B cells in the body.
• They have been able to accurately introduce the antibodies into a desired site in the B cell genome.
• All model animals who had been administered the treatment responded and had high quantities of the desired antibody in their blood.
• They produced the antibody from the blood and made sure it was actually effective in neutralizing the HIV virus in the lab dish.
• The genetic editing was done with CRISPR, a technology based on a bacterial immune system against viruses.
• CRISPR to direct the introduction of genes into desired sites along with the capabilities of viral carriers to bring desired genes to desired cells. Thus, it helps to engineer the B cells inside the patient’s body.
• They use two viral carriers of the AAV family, one carrier codes for the desired antibody and the second carrier codes the CRISPR system.
• When the CRISPR cuts in the desired site in the genome of the B cells it directs the introduction of the desired gene: the gene coding for the antibody against the HIV virus, which causes AIDS.
• Currently, the researchers explain, there is no genetic treatment for AIDS, so the research opportunities are vast.

ANSWER: C

KEY POINTS:

• Russia has become China’s biggest supplier of oil as the country sold discounted crude to Beijing amid sanctions over the Ukraine war.
• Imports of Russian oil rose by 55 per cent from a year earlier to a record level in May, displacing Saudi Arabia as China’s biggest provider.
• China has ramped up purchases of Russian oil despite demand dampened by Covid curbs and a slowing economy.
• Chinese companies, including state refining giant Sinopec and state-run Zhenhua Oil, have increased their purchases of Russian crude in recent months after being offered heavy discounts.
• The imports into China, which include supplies pumped through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and shipments by sea, totalled nearly 8.42m tonnes last month.
• That pushed Saudi Arabia – formerly China’s biggest source of crude oil – into second place with 7.82m tonnes.
• Russia earned almost $100 billion in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, despite a fall in exports in May.
• The European Union made up 61 per cent of these imports, worth approximately $59 billion.

ANSWER: B

International Yoga Day: History

• The United Nations General Assembly had declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014 at the initiative of India with the support of 177 countries.
• The idea of International Day of Yoga was first proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his speech at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 27th September 2014.
• International Day of Yoga is celebrated worldwide on 21st June since   This year, the 8th edition of the International Day of Yoga will be observed.
• The theme of International Yoga Day 2022 is ‘Yoga for Humanity’ across the world with great enthusiasm.

ANSWER: C

About the World Airport Awards:

• The World Airport Awards are the most prestigious accolades for the airport industry, voted by customers in the largest, annual global airport customer satisfaction survey.
• They are regarded as the quality benchmark for the world airport industry, assessing customer service and facilities across over 550 airports.
• The survey and awards are independent of any airport control, influence or input. Analysis of the results shows a close correlation to customer numbers using the airports during 2021, a time when varying travel conditions remained in place across many global regions, and with air travel quickly returning across most of the world, more normal times are coming back.

KEY POINTS:

• Qatar’s Hamad International Airport has been named the World’s Best Airport for the second year running.
• The announcement took place at the Skytrax 2022 World Airport Awards, held at Passenger Terminal EXPO in Paris, France.

ANSWER: C

• The Enabling Women of Kamand Valley Society (EWOK) and IIT-Mandi are organising farmers of the surrounding areas into farmer producer companies (FPC) supported by NABARD.
• EWOK organises interactive sessions to bring all stakeholders together to address the issues faced by farmers of Mandi district regarding the cultivation of tagetes, a plant.
• The last session was held on June 7. They distributed seeds to 60 farmers.
• The CSIR IHBT has provided the oil extraction unit from Mission Aroma and IIT Mandi has provided land to install an oil extraction unit and other support.

ANSWER: D

• According to the executing agency, the first phase of the Shimla Smart City project —Which will connect Vikas Nagar to Chhota Shimla through a network of lifts, foot overbridges and skywalk — will be completed by June-end.
• Ropeway and Rapid Transport System Development Corporation (RRTSDC) is executing the project.
• The three-phased project will comprise works of three lifts and three foot overbridges.
• The work on the second phase in terms of designs, etc, has begun.
• The next two phases will be completed in 18 months. Once the project is over, it will ease traffic on the steep, congested and busy Vikasnagar-Chhota Shimla road.
• Besides, the corporation is executing a few other major Smart City projects in the city, including a lift from Lakkar Bazar to the Mall Road and an escalator at Jakhu.