Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil are termed as OPEC+ countries.
• OPEC+ was born in 2017 with a deal to coordinate oil production among the countries in a bid to stabilize prices. Since then, the group has reached deals for members to voluntarily cut and ramp-up production in response to changes in global oil prices.
• Member countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Explanation :

• Article 161 deals with the Pardoning Power of the Governor.
• The Governor can grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishments or suspend, remit and commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.

Difference between pardoning powers of the President and the Governor

• The Governor cannot Pardon a Death Sentence but the President can Pardon a Death Sentence.
• The Governor can only suspend, remit or commute a death sentence.
• The Governor cannot grant pardon, reprieve, respite, suspension, remission or commutation in respect to punishment or sentence by a court-martial. But the President can do so.

Explanation :

• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved funding to the tune of Rs. 1,810.56 crore for the 210 megawatt (MW) Luhri Hydropower Project located on River Satluj in Shimla and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh.
• It is being implemented by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) on Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM) basis with active support from Government of India and the State Government.

Explanation :

Context: National Productivity Council (NPC) has been granted accreditation conforming to ISO 17020:2012 by National Accreditation Board for Certification Body (NABCB), Quality Council of India (QCI).

About National Productivity Council of India (NPC)

• Established in the year 1958, it is an autonomous organization under Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
• Besides undertaking research in the area of productivity, NPC has been providing consultancy and training services in areas of Industrial Engineering, Agri-Business, Economic Services, Quality Management, Human Resources Management, Information Technology, Technology Management, Energy Management, Environmental Management, etc., to the Government and Public & Private sector organizations.
• NPC is a constituent of the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an Inter-Governmental Body of which the Government of India is a founding member.

Objectives

• To promote innovation - led productivity in a sustained manner in all spheres of national economy through holistic and inclusive approach by addressing the triple bottom line – Economic, Environmental and Social.
• To propagate productivity consciousness and culture amongst Govt., Business and Society.
• To demonstrate value addition through generation and application of advanced productivity tools and techniques for multiplier effect.
• To act as a total solution provider for Industry, Services, and Agriculture sectors for augmenting productivity through Training, Consultancy and Research wherever needed through alliances and partnerships.
• To act as a catalyst in institution building and developing platforms for collaborative networking to strengthen the productivity movement.
• To recognize productivity champions through awards, affiliations, certifications, accreditations, etc.
• To enhance international outreach for sharing the gains of productivity on mutual basis.
• To devise national productivity standards across all sectors and self-assessment web based measurement tools for productivity diagnosis.

Explanation :

Context: The La Nina weather phenomenon is back in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean after nearly a decade’s absence, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its latest Global Seasonal update released on October 29, 2020.

El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

• El Nino and La Nina are opposite phases of what is known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.
• The ENSO cycle is a scientific term that describes the fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the east-central Equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date Line and 120 degrees West).
• La Nina is sometimes referred to as the cold phase of ENSO and El Nino as the warm phase of ENSO.
• These deviations from normal surface temperatures can have large-scale impacts not only on ocean processes, but also on global weather and climate.
• El Nino and La Nina episodes typically last nine to 12 months, but some prolonged events may last for years.
• While their frequency can be quite irregular, El Nino and La Nina events occur on average every two to seven years.
• Typically, El Nino occurs more frequently than La Nina.

El Nino

• El Nino means ‘The Little Boy’, or ‘Christ Child’ in Spanish. El Nino was originally recognized by fishermen off the coast of South America in the 1600s, with the appearance of unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean.
• The name was chosen based on the time of year (around December) during which these warm waters events tended to occur.
• It refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to a periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific.
• Typical El Nino effects are likely to develop over North America during the upcoming winter season.
• Those include warmer-than-average temperatures over western and central Canada, and over the western and northern United States. Wetter-than-average conditions are likely over portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Florida, while drier-than-average conditions can be expected in the Ohio Valley and the Pacific Northwest.
• The presence of El Nino can significantly influence weather patterns, ocean conditions, and marine fisheries across large portions of the globe for an extended period of time.

La Nina

• La Nina means ‘The Little Girl’ in Spanish. La Nina is also sometimes called ‘El Viejo’, ‘anti-El Nino’, or simply ‘a cold event’.
• La Nina episodes represent periods of below-average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Equatorial Pacific.
• The effect of La Nina impacts on global climate tend to be opposite those of El Nino.
• In the Tropics, ocean temperature variations in La Nina also tend to be opposite to those of El Nino.
• During a La Nina year, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the Southeast and cooler than normal in the Northwest.

Explanation :

Context: Recently, National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) Ltd. has started to collaborate with cement manufacturers across the country to supply fly ash as part of its endeavour to achieve 100% utilisation of the by-product produced during power generation.

About Fly Ash

• Fly ash is a fine powder that is a byproduct of burning pulverized coal in electric generation power plants.
• During combustion, mineral impurities in the coal (clay, feldspar, quartz, and shale) fuse in suspension and float out of the combustion chamber with the exhaust gases.
• As the fused material rises, it cools and solidifies into spherical glassy particles called fly ash.
• It is collected from the exhaust gases by electrostatic precipitators or bag filters.
• All fly ashes exhibit cementitious properties to varying degrees depending on the chemical and physical properties of both the fly ash and cement.
• Fly ash includes substantial amounts of Silicon Dioxide (SiO2), Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3), Ferric Oxide (Fe2O3) and Calcium Oxide (CaO).

Types

Fly ash is classified as either Class C or Class F ash based on its chemical composition.

• Class C ashes are generally derived from sub-bituminous coals and consist primarily of calcium alumino-sulfate glass, as well as quartz, tricalcium aluminate, and free lime (CaO). Class C ash is also referred to as high calcium fly ash because it typically contains more than 20 per cent CaO.
• Class F ashes are typically derived from bituminous and anthracite coals and consist primarily of an alumino-silicate glass, with quartz, mullite, and magnetite also present. Class F, or low calcium fly ash has less than 10 percent CaO.

Applications

• Fly ash can be used as prime material in many cement-based products, such as poured concrete, concrete block, and brick.
• One of the most common uses of fly ash is in Portland cement concrete pavement.

Explanation :

Context: On 14th October, 2020, Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare launched the second phase of "Thalassemia BalSewaYojna" for the underprivileged Thalassemic patients.

Explanation:

About Thalassemia

• It is a blood disorder passed down through families (inherited) in which the body makes an abnormal form or inadequate amount of hemoglobin.
• (Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen).
• The disorder results in large numbers of red blood cells being destroyed, which leads to anemia.
• (Anemia is a condition in which our body doesn’t have enough normal, healthy red blood cells).

Types

• Alpha thalassemia occurs when a gene or genes related to the alpha globin protein are missing or changed (mutated). It occurs most often in people from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, China, and in those of African descent.
• Beta thalassemia occurs when similar gene defects affect production of the beta globin protein.It occurs most often in people of Mediterranean origin. To a lesser extent, Chinese, other Asians, and African Americans can be affected.

Thalassemia BalSewaYojna

• Launched in 2017, this scheme is a Coal India CSR funded Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) program.
• It aims to provide a one-time cure opportunity for Haemoglobinopathies like Thalassaemia and Sickle Cell Disease for patients who have a matched family donor.

Explanation :

• On 9th October, 2020, the Jal Shakti Ministry announced that Goa becomes the first ‘HarGharJal’ state by providing tap water connection to every rural household under JalJeevan Mission (JJM) ahead of its national dead-line.
• The state provided tap water connection to 2 lakh 30 thousand rural households in all the 191 Gram Panchayats of the state.
• The JalJeevan Mission of the Central Government aims to provide piped water to all the rural households by 2024.

Significance

• Goa’s achievement of providing 100 per cent tap water connection is an example for other states to ensure that rural household gets tap water connection, especially amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Explanation :

• The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) designated the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) as ambassador of Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia and India’s oldest Ramsar Site.
• The action is being dubbed as an important step towards conservation of the species.
• The fishing cat is the only wild cat species in India that is a wetland specialist, and it’s found all around Chilika.
• These are mostly found in marshlands fringing the north and north-eastern sections of the lake.
• Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Explanation :

• On 9th October, 2020, India’s first indigenous anti-radiation missile, Rudram, developed for the Indian Air Force, was successfully flight-tested from a Sukhoi-30 MKI jet off the East Coast.
• Rudram is an air-to-surface missile, designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• It has been developed for the Indian Air Force(IAF’s) requirement to enhance its Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) capability.

Anti-Radiation Missile

• Anti-radiation missiles are designed to detect, track and neutralise the adversary’s radar, communication assets and other radio frequency sources, which are generally part of their air defence systems.
• Such a missile’s navigation mechanism comprises an inertial navigation system — a computerised mechanism that uses changes in the object’s own position — coupled with GPS, which is satellite-based.
• For guidance, it has a “passive homing head” — a system that can detect, classify and engage targets (radio frequency sources in this case) over a wide band of frequencies as programmed.