Daily Current Affairs Quiz: October 19,2021

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS?

India, Israel, United States and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are ready to build on momentum created by “Abraham Accords” by holding the first meeting of their foreign ministers on October 18, 2021.

About:

• The meeting is being described in some quarters as a “new Quad”.
• It was joined by:

1. External affairs minister S Jaishankar,
2. US secretary of state Antony Blinken from Washington
3. Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid from Jerusalem
4. UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan from Abu Dhabi.

• This meeting is the first to bring four countries together on a single platform.
• Meeting will also be linked with India’s efforts of building new plurilateral and multilateral partnerships which focuses on cooperation in areas including security, connectivity and energy.

Trilateral Cooperation

India, Israel and the UAE have also stepped-up a trilateral cooperation, especially in trade and investment, after US negotiated for Abraham Accords in August 2020 between two West Asian countries. Under this partnership, an Israel-based company will produce a robotic solar cleaning technology in India which will be used for a project in the UAE.

Abraham Accords

Abraham Accords are a joint statement between Israel, the US and the UAE. It was signed on August 13, 2020. The term was also used to refer to normalisation agreements between Israel & UAE and Israel & Bahrain collectively. It is the first public normalization of relations between any Arab country and Israel since 1994. The accords have been named after Abraham, emphasizing the shared belief between Judaism and Islam. Both of them are Abrahamic religions which strictly support monotheistic worship of the God of Abraham.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS?

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is set to host the ‘Aadhaar Hackathon 2021’ from October 28, 2021.

About Aadhaar Hackathon

• The Aadhaar Hackathon is set to identify young innovators in the area of information technology.
• The event will start from October 28 and end on October 31, 2021.
• Hackathon will be organised for young innovators who are still at various engineering institutes and seeks to step into the real world.
• It will be the first-ever event being conducted by Aadhaar team.

Theme of the event

Aadhaar Hackathon 2021 has been themed on two topics:

Enrolment and Update:This topic primarily covers some of the real-life challenges which are faced by the residents while they update their address.

Identity and Authentication:Under this theme, the UIDAI is soliciting innovative solutions for proving the identity without sharing Aadhaar number or any demographic information. It is also looking for innovative applications related to face authentication API, which is the newly launched authentication modality of the UIDAI. Its objective is to popularise existing as well as new APIs for solving the needs of residents.

To solve these challenges, UIDAI is reaching out to all engineering colleges through innovative technological solutions.

How to register

One can register for the hackathon by visiting “hackathon.uidai.gov.in” website.

Prize money and other benefits

UIDAI will also reward winners under each theme through prize money and other lucrative benefits.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

UIDAI is a statutory authority which was established under the provisions of the Aadhaar Act 2016 on July 12, 2016. It was established under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It was created to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), dubbed as “Aadhaar”, to all the residents of India.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS?

Under the new initiative called “Gen-Next Democratic Network” initiative, India is set to host young leaders aged fewer than 35.

About:

• This event will be organised in November 2021.
• It has been planned by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
• ICCR is an autonomous body working under the Ministry of External Affairs. It deals with the policies related to India’s external cultural relations.
• Young leaders would be invited from 75 different democracies.
• These young leaders will be invited from ruling party, opposition party and other key parties.
• 5-7 leaders will be invited in different groups, to attend the event.

Inaugural Batch

The inaugural batch will comprise of leaders from countries like Bangladesh, Bangladesh, Chile, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Japan and Zambia. Structure comprises of countries representing regions and continents such as South East Asia and Africa.

Who will inaugurate the event?

This event will be inaugurated by the speaker of Lok Sabha, Om Birla. The event will take place from November 25.

Purpose of the meeting

Through this event, organisers are approaching and trying to build relations with Gen-next of 75 democracies. These people will become future leader of their respective countries. This, through this event, they will get a comprehensive idea of rich democratic culture in India. They will also go to at least one state with ICCR.

Background

This initiative has been launched by in the light that, India has been taking a lead role in the area of geo politics of democracies.

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS?

Recently, a newly discovered plant Allium negianum, in Uttarakhand has been confirmed to belong to the genus that includes many staple foods such as onion and garlic.

• A staple food makes up the dominant part of a population’s diet. They are eaten regularly—even daily—and supply a major proportion of a person’s energy and nutritional needs.

About:

• Allium is one of the largest genera in Amaryllidaceae.
  • Amaryllidaceae is a family of herbaceous (connected with plants that have soft stems), mainly perennial and bulbous flowering plants.
• The genus Allium contains about 1,100 species worldwide, including many staple foods like onion, garlic, scallion, shallot and chives.
• The genus naturally occurs in dry seasons in the northern hemisphere and South Africa but the newly-identified species is restricted to the region of the western Himalaya.
• The scientific name Allium negianum honours the late Dr. Kuldeep Singh Negi, an eminent explorer and Allium collector from India.
  • They are useful for various medicinal purposes.

Distribution in India:

• The Indian Allium is distributed in different eco-geographical areas of the temperate and alpine regions of Himalayas.
• The Indian Himalayan region has two distinct centers of Allium diversity, the Western Himalaya (over 85% of total diversity) and the Eastern Himalaya (6%), covering the alpine-sub temperate region.

Condition of Growth:

• It grows at 3,000 to 4,800 m above sea level and can be found along open grassy meadows, sandy soils along rivers, and streams forming in snow pasture lands along alpine meadows.

Threat:

• Indiscriminate harvesting of its leaves and bulbs for seasoning may pose a threat to its wild populations.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS?

The COP 26 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be hosted by the UK from 31^st october to 12^th November.

• Earlier, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its assessment report on Earth’s climate, highlighting heat waves, droughts, extreme rainfall and sea-level rise in the coming decades.
• COP 26 Goals: According to the United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention (UNFCCC), COP26 will work towards four goals:

Net Zero by 2050:

• To secure Global Net-Zero by Mid-Century and keep 1.5 Degrees within reach.
• Countries are being asked to come forward with ambitious 2030 emissions reductions targets that align with reaching net zero by the middle of the century.
• To deliver on these stretching targets, countries will need to:
  • Accelerate the phase-out of coal
  • Curtail deforestation
  • Speed up the switch to electric vehicles
  • Encourage investment in renewables.
• Adapt to Protect Communities and Natural Habitats:
  • Countries will work together to ‘protect and restore ecosystems and build defences, warning systems and resilient infrastructure and agriculture to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and even lives.’

Mobilise Finance:

• Developed countries must make good on their promise to mobilise at least USD100bn in climate finance per year.

Work Together to Deliver:

• Another important task at the COP26 is to ‘finalise the Paris Rulebook’.
• Leaders will work together to frame a list of detailed rules that will help fulfil the Paris Agreement.

Suggestions for India:

• Update its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
  • (NDCs detail the various efforts taken by each country to reduce the national emissions)
• Sector by sector plans are needed to bring about development.
  • Decarbonisation of the electricity, transport sector and starting to look at carbon per passenger mile is needed.
• Aggressively figure out how to transition the coal sector.

Conference of Parties (COP)

About:

• The Conference of Parties comes under the UNFCCC which was formed in 1994. The UNFCCC was established to work towards “stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
  • COP is the apex decision-making authority of UNFCCC.
• It laid out a list of responsibilities for the member states which included:
  • Formulating measures to mitigate climate change.
  • Cooperating in preparing for adaptation to the impact of climate change.
  • Promoting education, training and public awareness related to climate change.

Meetings:

• COP members have been meeting every year since 1995. The UNFCCC has 198 parties including India, China and the USA.
  • Generally it meets in Bonn, the seat of the secretariat, unless a Party offers to host the session.

Presidency:

• The office of the COP President normally rotates among the five United Nations regional groups which are – Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe and Others.
• The President is usually the environment minister of his or her home country. S/he is elected by acclamation immediately after the opening of a COP session.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS?

The 8^th Edition of joint military exercise between the Indian Army and the Sri Lankan Army, Exercise MITRA SHAKTI was conducted in Sri Lanka.

• The 7^thedition of the Mitra Shakti exercise was held in Pune, Maharashtra in 2019.

About:

• It is based on counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations in semi urban terrain.
• It is the largest bilateral exercise being undertaken by the Sri Lankan Army and it forms a major part of India and Sri Lanka’s growing defence partnership.
• The joint exercise is designed for incorporating the current dynamics of United Nations’ peacekeeping operations through tactical exercises and practical discussions.