Current Affairs Question - 13 July 2019

Explanation :

Statement 1: Anti Hijacking Act 2016 replaced the Anti Hijacking Act, 1982. The given statement is correct.

Statement 2:  It gives effect both to The Hague Convention of 1971 and the Beijing Protocol of 2010. So the given statement is incorrect.

Statement 3: Death penalty, life sentence for hoax calls, and a wider definition for aircraft “in service” are the new introductions. So, the given statement is correct.

Statement 4: On 16th June, 2019, the National Investigation Agency Special(NIA) Court, Ahmedabad pronounced its judgment in the Jet Hijacking Case, making the accused Birju Kishor Salla the first convict under the Anti-Hijacking Act of 2016.So, the given Statement is incorrect.

Explanation :

• It was constituted in June 2018 to make special economic zone (SEZ) policy compatible with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules after the US challenged India’s export subsidy programme at the multilateral trade body.
• It has recommended measures like continuation of tax incentives, migration of SEZs to employment and economic enclaves and creation of link infrastructure and maintenance for enclaves.

Explanation :

On 10th June, 2019, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) declared ancient Buddhist site Chaukhandi Stupa in Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh) as protected monument of national importance.

It was built as a terraced temple during the Gupta period between the 4th and 6th centuries.

It was excavated by Alexander Cunningham and Daya Ram Sahni.

Explanation :

• Irula tribe is a Dravidian ethnic group, belonging to negrito race which inhabits the area of the Nilgiri mountains, in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• They speak the Irula language, a mix of Tamil and Kannada language.
• They protect the ancient Nilgiri rock painting.

Explanation :

Article 371A grants special status to the people of Nagaland in terms of:

• Religious & social practices of Nagas;
• Nagas customary law & procedure;
• Administration of civil or criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law; and
• Ownership & transfer of land and its resources.

Explanation :

Statement 1: On July 1st 2019, the government formed a high level committee headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in order to suggest measures for Transformation of Indian Agriculture and to bring structural reforms in agrarian sector in the country. Therefore, the given statement is incorrect.       

Statement 2: It is tasked to suggest suitable policy measures, attract investments and raise growth in food processing; hence, the given statement is correct.

Statement 3: It is required to suggest a mechanism for linking of market reforms with e-NAM, GRAM and other relevant Centrally Sponsored Schemes; hence, the given statement is correct.

Explanation :

• The Polavaram Project, is an under construction multi-purpose irrigation project on the Godavari River in the West Godavari District and East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh.
• The project has been accorded national project status by the Union Government of India.
• On completion it will irrigate nearly 3 lakh ha of land in Andhra Pradesh, generate hydel power with an installed capacity of 960 MW and provide drinking water facilities to 540 enroute villages covering 25 lakh populations in Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Explanation :

• On 10th June 2019, the RBI constituted a six-member committee to review the ATM interchange fee structure under V.G. Kannan.
• It is tasked to review the existing structures and patterns of costs, charges and interchange fees for ATM transactions.

Explanation :

• Recently, the government proposed a World Trade Organization (WTO)-Compliant Export Promotion Scheme along with a production based support scheme to boost Make in India. It is one of the 100-days agenda of the Modi 2.0 government.
• The new export promotion scheme may replace the existing Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS).
• It will be on the nature of refund of all un-rebated central and state taxes and levies scheme on inputs consumed in exports in all sectors. Thus, all the given statements are correct.

Explanation :

• In January 2019, RBI set up an expert committee under the former SEBI chairman U.K. Sinha to suggest long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of the MSME sector.
• It recommended for the creation of a distressed asset fund, with a corpus of Rs. 5,000 crore, structured to assist units in clusters where a change in the external environment, e.g. a ban on plastics or ‘dumping’ has led to a large number of MSMEs becoming non-performing asset (NPA).

Explanation :

India is not a part of the International Space Station programme.

Explanation :

On 21^st June, a joint German–Russian mission called the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG), which is a telescope, was launched into space to chart an unprecedented map. This will create a three-dimensional (3D) X-ray map of the universe and unveil unknown super massive black holes, dark energy and stars.

Explanation :

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global campaign ‘AWaRe’ (Access, Watch and Reserve) that urges countries to adopt its new online tool aimed at guiding policy-makers and health workers to use antibiotics safely and more effectively. Its objective is to limit drugs that are at risk of resistance.

Explanation :

Hypoxic zones are areas in the ocean of such low oxygen concentration that animal life suffocates and dies, and as a result are sometimes called “dead zones.” One of the largest dead zones forms in the Gulf of Mexico every spring. Dead zones are not unique to the Gulf of the Mexico, though the gulf’s is estimated to be the world’s second largest.

Explanation :

The two main types of mid-level clouds are altostratus and altocumulus. Low-level clouds are not given a prefix, although their names are derived from “strato-” or “cumulo-”, depending on their characteristics. The two main types of low clouds include stratus, which develop horizontally, and cumulus, which develop vertically.

Explanation :

The Full Moon appeared ‘opposite’ the Sun. On this day, the moon will appear smaller than it is and will be visible through a shorter arc. As this happens, the Moon casts a smaller shadow on the Earth, and causes light to have longer wavelengths to reflect off the surface.

Explanation :

Both are types of experimental engine designed for speeds greater than that of sound, in the hypersonic realm. The scramjet is an innovation on the ramjet in which the combustion chamber is specially designed to operate with supersonic airflow. Scramjet is simply an acronym for ‘supersonic combustion’ ramjet.

Explanation :

The Central Command Centre for Air Traffic Flow Management (C-ATFM) system is primarily meant to address the balancing of capacity against the demand to achieve optimum utilization of the major resources viz., airport, airspace and aircraft at every Indian airport where there is a capacity constraint.

Explanation :

It is a form of digital cash that uses encryption technology to make it secure. Cryptocurrencies exist not as physical bills or coins but rather as lines of digitally signed computer code. Records are typically kept on ledgers known as blockchain. People can store their cryptocurrency stashes in virtual wallets that resemble online bank accounts. Cryptocurrency is supposed to be secure and anonymous.