ANSWER: A

• UNEP ‘Frontiers’ report 2022: Noise, Blazes and Mismatches’ looks at three concerns: Urban soundscapes, wildfires and phonological shifts.
• Noise pollution is defined as regular exposure to elevated sound levels that may lead to adverse effects in humans or other living organisms.
• CPCB has laid down the permissible noise pollution levels in India for different areas.

Key findings

• 13 noise polluted cities are in south Asia. Five of these are in India, namely Moradabad, Kolkata, Asansol, Jaipur and Delhi.
• Long-term exposure to noise pollution from road traffic, railways, or leisure activities causes premature deaths, heart disease, metabolic disorders, and people suffer from irritability.
• Highest noise pollution has been recorded in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Steps taken to deal with noise pollution

• Earlier, it was covered under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 but later, Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 replaced it. However, under Air Act, 1981, noise emanating from industry is regulated by State Pollution Control Boards / Pollution Control Committees (SPCBs / PCCs) for states/UTs.
• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) proposed fines between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1 lakh for those who violate norms.
• Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 prescribed noise standards for motor vehicles, air-conditioners, refrigerators etc.
• Solution- vegetation in urban environments, Noise barriers along highways or railways, conducting awareness campaigns etc.

ANSWER: A

• Launched in 2015, Sagarmala programme is the flagship programme of Ministry of Shipping to promote port-led development through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.
• Its core vision is to reduce the logistics cost for exports, imports and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment.

Achievements and initiatives:

• Quality service delivery has reduced Turnaround Time (containers) at Ports to 26.58 hours from 44.70 hours in 2013-14.
• Current cargo handling capacity of Indian ports improved to 1,500 Million Tonnes Per Year (MMTPA) from 1,052 MMTPA in FY2014-15.
• Improved ports’ efficiency and Ease of Doing Business through Creating Smart Ports (Logistics Data Bank Service; RFID Solutions etc); Digitization in Services; Smooth Data Flow etc.
• Port-led industrialization to boost industrial and export growth along the coastline to be realized through 14 Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs).
• Skilling of Coastal population: Under Deen Dayal Upadhyay- Grameen Kaushalya Yojna Sagarmala Convergence Programme, more than 1900 candidates trained.
• More than one crore employment opportunities to be created.

ANSWER: C

• Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), key procurement panel chaired by Defence Minister, has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (first step of procurement) for the indigenously designed, developed and built GSAT 7B.
• Proposed to be launched in next 2-3 years, GSAT 7B will be a state-of-the-art, multiband, military-grade satellite for the Army.
• It will act as a force multiplier and fail-safe communication support to the force as it moves deeper into network-centric warfare scenario.
• GSAT 7 series satellites are advanced geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) satellites developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to meet the communication needs of the defence services.
• GSAT 7 satellite (launched 2013) is used by Indian Navy while GSAT 7A (2018) is designed (or Indian Air Force.
• Currently, the Army is using 30% of the communication capabilities of the GSAT 7A.
• Other military satellites of India:
• Electromagnetic Intelligence Gathering Satellite (EMISAT): Has an Electronic Intelligence (BUNT) package called Kautilya, allowing interception of ground-based radar and carries out electronic surveillance across India.
• RISAT 2BR1 synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite: Capability to operate in different modes including very high resolution imaging modes.

ANSWER: D

• India is looking to sign long-term contracts with MERCOSUR countries to import crude sunflower oil as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted imports, leading to skyrocketing edible oil prices.
• For this, India may need to reduce the import duty on sunflower oil originating from Mercosur countries and do away with the stringent testing requirements under the existing preferential tariff agreement (PTA) with the grouping, signed in 2004.

About MERCOSUR

• Established in 1991, MERCOSUR is the Latin American trading bloc with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay as its members.

ANSWER: A

• Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) under the aegis of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) signed a MoU with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to enhance the impact of Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP).

About SVEP

• SVEP is being implemented since 2016 by the Ministry of Rural Development.
• It is a sub scheme of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM).
• SVEP’s objective is to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set-up enterprises at the village-level in non-agricultural sectors. Its focus is on providing self-employment opportunities in rural areas.
• It helps rural poor to come out of poverty. They are encouraged to setup enterprises and support is provided till the enterprise stabilizes. Financial assistance and training in business management are also provided. Thus, the three main pillars of start-up i.e. finances, incubation and skill ecosystems are addressed by the scheme.
• Self-help group (SHG) ecosystem of DAY-NRLM and the main beneficiaries of SVEP. SVEP aims to develop a pool of community resource persons – enterprise promotion (CRP-EP) who are local & support entrepreneurs setting-up enterprises in rural areas.
• SVEP also promotes block resource center (BRC) in SVEP blocks, to monitor and manage the community resource persons (CRP) and appraise SVEP loan application. BRCs support sustainable revenue model to operate efficiently and independently.

ANSWER: B

• eSanjeevani t elemedicine service of Union Health Ministry has crossed 3 crore tele-consultations.
• Telemedicine service platforms ‘e-Sanjeevanie’ and ‘e-Sanjeevani OPD’ were developed in 2019 by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
• As many as 10 States such as Andhra Pradesh (13147461), Karnataka (4424407), West Bengal (2987386), Tamil Nadu (1856861), Uttar Pradesh (1758053), Bihar (1002399), Maharashtra (930725), Madhya Pradesh (781262), Gujarat (753775) and Assam (477821) are leading in providing medical consultations through eSanjeevani platform, the health ministry said in a statement.
• It enables virtual connection between the beneficiary (along with the paramedic and a generalist) at the spoke which is Health & Wellness Centre (HWC) and the doctor/specialist at the hub posted at tertiary healthcare centre. This facilitates real-time virtual consultation from doctors & specialists at the hub with the beneficiary (through paramedics) at the spoke.
• Thus, eSanjeevani is a doctor-to-doctor telemedicine system, deployed nationally under Ayushman Bharat Scheme of Government of India.
• Aims to carry out teleconsultation in all 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres in a ‘Hub and Spoke’

ANSWER: D

• According to the Declaration, universities would draw up strategies for achieving their targets for the realisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and share their best practices through the network of AIU (Association of Indian Universities) for attainment of SDGs.
• The Vice-Chancellors, in attendance, have resolved to commit themselves for the realisation of SDGs and align the University education, research, innovation, and governance towards achieving the goals and targets set out for each of the 17 SDGs.
• SDGs were adopted by UN in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

ANSWER: B

• A Research team of the Department of Environment and Forest in Lakshadweep has reported the first-ever live sighting of rough-toothed dolphins (Steno bredanensis) in Indian waters.

About Rough Toothed Dolphin:

• Found in tropical and warmer temperate waters all over the world but little is known about them.
• Grow up to 8.5ft in length and have grey body with white lips and throat and a speckled belly.
• Conservation status:
• IUCN: Least Concern.
• CITES Appendix II.

ANSWER: A

• October 5 has been designated as National Dolphin Day by the union environment ministry and it will be observed annually starting from this year.
• The National Board for Wildlife’s (NBWL) standing committee took this decision to designate October 5 as National Dolphin Day.
• The day will focus on generating awareness as it is an integral part of dolphin conservation including the Gangetic Dolphin.
• People’s participation to conserve Dolphins will also be focused upon on this day.
• Focus will also be given to improving the Ganga and its tributaries’ water quality and flow so that Gangetic dolphins can survive.

About Gangetic Dolphins

• The Gangetic dolphin acts as an indicator species. The status of this species provides information on the ecosystem’s overall condition along with information related to the other species that are present in that ecosystem.
• Gangetic Dolphins have been categorized as endangered species under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List. In 2012 and 2015, the Uttar Pradesh forest department along with WWF- India recorded 1,272 dolphins in the Ganga, Chambal, Yamuna, Betwa, Ken, Sharda, Son, Gahagra, Geruwa, Rapti, and Gandak.
• The Gangetic Dolphins are threatened due to water diversion, pollution, habitat fragmentation,

ANSWER: C

• World Theatre Day is celebrated annually on March 27, promoted by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) through its centres, and supported by theatre communities all over the world. This year, the World Theatre Day celebration will focus on the young, the next generation, the emerging artists, who have been a strong special focus of ITI in the recent past.
• Through this 60-year-old ITI flagship event, ITI wishes to offer the next generation of artists and art professionals a platform to exchange ideas and present themselves to the world.
• The day was initiated by ITI, following President Arvi Kivimaa’s June 1961 proposal at the ninth World Congress of the ITI in Vienna — on behalf of the ITI’s Finnish Centre — for a World Theatre Day to be instituted. The proposal was supported by the Scandinavian centres of the ITI and publicized with enthusiasm.
• Since 1962,World Theatre Day has been celebrated by ITI Centres, ITI Cooperating Members, theatre professionals, theatre organizations, theatre universities and theatre lovers all over the world on the 27^th of March.