Daily Current Affairs Quiz: October 31, 2022

ANSWER: D

• United Nations Security Council’s Counter Terrorism Committee has adopted the Delhi Declaration on ‘Countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes’.
• The Delhi Declaration was adopted in the special meeting of the Committee held in New Delhi .
• In the Delhi Declaration, the Committee has urged all Member States to ensure zero tolerance towards terrorism, consistent with their obligations under international laws, including human rights law, international humanitarian law and international refugees law.
• It has called for taking urgent action to prevent and counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations through the full and effective implementation of Security Council resolutions and other relevant international instruments relating to terrorism.
• The Declaration reaffirms that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group.
• It has also called upon Member States to fulfill their obligations enshrined in relevant international counter-terrorism conventions and protocols to which they are a party.
• It has also underscored the obligation of Member States to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts and to refrain from providing any form of support, active or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts.
• In the Delhi Declaration, the committee has reaffirmed that terrorism in all forms constitutes ”one of the most serious threats” to international peace and security and vowed to contribute further to enhancing the effectiveness of the overall effort to fight the scourge on a global level.

ANSWER: C

• The central government has extended the restriction on the export of sugar for one more year starting from the 31st of this month to raise its availability in domestic markets and control prices.
• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade’s (DGFT) order of October 28 to extend the ban on sugar exports for one more year has been followed by another order issued by the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) on the same date that has extended the deadline for implementing the export release orders (ERO) of sugar issued for the 2021-22 season for another month till November 30, 2022.
• An ERO is a kind of permit that mills are issued to export sugar based on certain parameters and criteria.
• India’s sugar production in 2022-23 season is estimated to be around 41 million tonnes without accounting for 4.5 million tonnes diverted towards making ethanol which would be almost 1.8 million tonnes or 4.6 per cent more the estimated production of the current season.
• According to Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), diversion of sugar for producing ethanol is estimated to be around 4.5 million tonnes in 2022-23 season, as against 3.4 million tonnes in 2021-22 season.
• After accounting for diversion towards ethanol, sugar production in the 2022-23 season is expected to be around 36.5 million tonnes, while the consumption is projected to be around 27.5 million tonnes next season.
• As per the notification, the restriction is not applicable to Sugar being exported to European Union and the USA.

ANSWER: B

• All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi has launched a dashboard on its website to provide real-time data on the status of the availability of emergency beds and the number of patients awaiting admission for treatment.
• The dashboard named AIIMS Main Hospital Casualty Dashboard was launched by the Director of the Institute Dr. M Srinivas.
• The new initiative will enhance transparency in the Hospital.
• Srinivas also held a meeting with Directors and Medical Superintendents of Central and Delhi government hospitals of the National capital.
• During the meeting, he stressed the need for real-time emergency bed availability in the hospitals, integrated a unified dashboard of bed status and created two-way referrals of critical and non-critical cases.
• AIIMS Medical Superintendent Dr. DK Sharma said, during the meeting, the discussion was held to create an emergency service network and develop a cross-referral system for patients in hospitals.

ANSWER: C

• PM Modi will dedicate two more tourist attractions – a Maze (labyrinth) Garden and Miyawaki Forest in Gujarat.

Maze (labyrinth) Garden.

• Sprawling in three acres with a pathway of 2,100 metres, this is the largest maze garden in the country and  has been developed in a short span of just eight months.
• The Maze Garden at Kevadia has been built in the shape of ‘Yantra’ that emanates positive energy.
• The key objective for choosing this design was to bring about a symmetry while focusing on building an intricate network of pathways. Winding through the puzzling roads of this garden will be challenging for the tourists’ mind, body and senses while giving them a sense of triumph over hurdles and this activity will also instil a sense of adventure.
• As many as 1,80,000 saplings have been planted near this Maze Garden. These include Orange Gemin, Madhu Kamini, Glory Bovar and Mehndi. This location was originally a dumping site for debris which has now turned into a verdant landscape.
• The rejuvenation of this barren land has not only beautified the surrounding but also helped establish a vibrant ecosystem where birds, butterflies and honeybees are thriving now.

Miyawaki Forest.

• The Miyawaki Forest will be another tourist attraction for people visiting Ekta Nagar. This forest is named after the technique developed by Japanese botanist and ecologist Dr Akira Miyawaki to plant saplings of various species are planted close to each other which develops into a dense urban forest.
• The growth of plants is ten times faster using this method and as a result the forest developed is thirty times denser.
• Through the Miyawaki method, a forest can be developed in just two to three years while it takes at least 20 to 30 years through the traditional method.
• The Miyawaki Forest will include the following divisions:  Native Floral Garden; Timber Garden; Fruit Garden; Medicinal Garden; A Miyawaki section of mixed species; Digital Orientation Centre.

ANSWER: B

• The annual Antarctic ozone hole reached an average area of 23.2 million square kilometres between September 7 and October 13, 2022.
• The America’s space agency, NASA said that the depleted area of the ozone layer over the South Pole was slightly smaller than last year and generally continued the overall shrinking trend of recent years.
• “Over time, steady progress is being made, and the hole is getting smaller,” said Paul Newman, chief scientist for Earth sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He said the elimination of ozone-depleting substances through the Montreal Protocol is shrinking the hole.
• The ozone layer – the portion of the stratosphere that protects our planet from the Sun’s ultraviolet rays – thins to form an ozone hole above the South Pole every September.

The Montreal Protocol

• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is the landmark multilateral environmental agreement that regulates the production and consumption of nearly 100 man-made chemicals referred to as ozone depleting substances (ODS).
• When released to the atmosphere, those chemicals damage the stratospheric ozone layer, Earth’s protective shield that protects humans and the environment from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
• Adopted on 16 September 1987, the Protocol is to date the only UN treaty ever that has been ratified every country on Earth – all 198 UN Member States.

ANSWER: C

About:

• Kalanamak is a traditional variety of paddy with black husk and strong fragrance.
• It is considered a gift from Lord Buddha to the people of Sravasti when he visited the region after enlightenment.
• Grown in 11 districts of the Terai region of north-eastern Uttar Pradesh and in Nepal, the traditional variety has been prone to ‘lodging’, a reason for its low yield.
• Its yield is barely two to 2.5 tonnes per hectare.

• Lodging:

• Lodging is a condition in which the top of the plant becomes heavy because of grain formation, the stem becomes weak, and the plant falls on the ground.

Geographical Indication (GI) tag:

• The traditional Kalanamak rice is protected under the Geographical Indication (GI) tag system.
• It’s recorded in the GI application that Lord Budhha gifted Kalanamak paddy to the people of Sravasti so that they remembered him by its fragrance.

New varieties:

• Addressing the problem, the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) has successfully developed two dwarf varieties of Kalanamak rice.
• They have been named

• Pusa Narendra Kalanamak 1638 and
• Pusa Narendra Kalanamak 1652.

• The IARI says the new name is in recognition of its association with the Acharya Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology in Ayodhya, for testing the two varieties.
• The yield of the new varieties is double that of the traditional variety. The IARI and the Uttar Pradesh Council of Agriculture are working together to make the seeds available to farmers at the earliest.

ANSWER: D

About:

• It has converted red mud into X-ray shielding tiles in a green and economically viable manner through a ceramic route by adding a certain weight percentage of high Z material and binder with it.
• These tiles can be used to build radiation shielding structures in diagnostic X-rays, CT scanner rooms, Cath labs, bone mineral density, dental X-rays, etc., instead of the toxic lead sheet to protect the public from radiation hazards.

Red Mud:

• Red Mud is the waste generated in the Bayer process of alumina production from bauxite.
• It is also known as bauxite residue.
• Red Mud is defined as a “High Volume Low Effect Waste”.
• Nearly 1 to 1.5 tonnes of RM is being generated while producing one tonne of alumina from the bauxite ore through the Bayer process.
• It is considered to be toxic due to its extreme alkalinity and heavy element leaching.
• Annually about 175 million tonnes of red mud have been generated globally and stored in a specially designed clay-lined pond.
• Among that India is producing nearly 9 million tonnes of red mud every year.
• The clay-lined ponds often broke out and pollute soil, groundwater, and air and become fatal for both humans and wildlife.
• Red mud is one of the underutilized industrial wastes and getting accumulated over the years due to an increase in alumina production as well as inadequate technologies for its large-scale utilization.
• The red mud contains 30 – 55% of Fe2O3, which is suitable for attenuating high-energy ionizing radiations like X- and gamma rays.

ANSWER: D

About:

• The theme of GMS-2022is “Maritime Security Challenges in the Indian Ocean Region: Converting Common Maritime Priorities into Collaborative Mitigation Frameworks”.
• The theme is underpinned by the idea of ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’ (SAGAR) and five principles of Maritime Security enunciated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.
• The participants of the Symposium comprise Captains/ Commanders and equivalent-rank officers from Navies/ Maritime forces from friendly foreign countries viz., Bangladesh, Comoros, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, besides India.

Goa Maritime Symposium (GMS):

• It was conceptualised and instituted by the Indian Navy in 2016.
• It is a forum for fostering collaborative thinking, cooperation and mutual understanding between India and key maritime nations of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• The symposium is conducted biennially by the Naval War College (NWC), Goa, and three editions of the event have been organised thus far.

ANSWER: C

• As many as 720 Tibetan exiles have registered themselves as voters from the Dharamsala constituency in Kangra.
• Most of the Tibetan monasteries and the headquarters of its government in exile, are located in the constituency. Thousands of Tibetans living here are eligible to be voters.
• Many had not registered themselves as they feel that it might infringe their status as refugees.
• Kangra DC Nipun Jindal said, all Tibetans born in India between January 26, 1950, and July 1, 1987, were eligible to be registered as voters in the country.
• Tibetans born in India between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, with one of their parents being an Indian citizen were also eligible.

ANSWER: D

• Lack of employment opportunities for the residents of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) in this industrial belt is emerging as a key issue for the Assembly polls.
• In the absence of adequate jobs in the public sector, residents hope to secure jobs in the industries set up in this bordering industrial belt. There were about 1800 industrial units in this belt which manufacture drugs, iron and steel, textiles, chemicals, automobiles, shoes, cosmetics, food products, engineering goods, etc.
• An industrial revolution was witnessed after the NDA-led Central Government had granted a package providing a 10-year tax holiday in 2003. This was, however, curtailed to seven years by the Congress-led UPA government.
• This severally hit the pace of industrialisation. Several industrial houses have either closed their operations or scaled down their production activities in the last five years. Several employees have lost their jobs in this exercise. Little has been done by the government to safeguard their interest.
• The managements of industrial houses avoid entertaining the locals as they feel they will create problems like being part of trade unions and exert pressure on the managements.
• This has created an unsavoury situation for qualified youth. They are forced to turn to other states to look for an opening.
• Though the state industrial policy mandates grant of at least 70 per cent jobs for the locals, in the absence of any check on this policy a majority of the industrial houses fail to adhere to it.