Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• In a major decision to give a boost to Electric Vehicles (EV) in country, the government has approved amendments in Electric Vehicle Charging Guidelines and Specifications.
• These Revised Guidelines and Specifications for charging infrastructure shall supersede the earlier guidelines and standards issued by the Ministry of Power on 14.12.2018.
• A phase-wise installation of an appropriate network of Charging Infrastructure throughout the country has been envisaged in the Guidelines ensuring that at least one Charging Station should be available in a grid of 3 Km X 3 Km in the cities and one Charging Station at every 25 Km on both sides of highways/roads.
• In the first phase,  all Mega Cities with population of 4 million plus as per census 2011, all existing expressways connected to these Mega Cities & important Highways connected with each of these Mega Cities may be taken up for coverage.
• In the second phase, big cities like State Capitals, UT headquarters may be covered for distributed and demonstrative effect.
• To address the concerns in inter-city travel and long range and/or heavy duty EVs, Fast Charging Station for long range and/or heavy duty EVs like buses/trucks etc., shall be installed at every 100 kms.
• Further, the guidelines specifies the type of chargers of different standards (viz. CCS, CHAdeMO, Type-2 AC, Bharat AC 001) thus ensuring that the public charging stations(PCS) owners have the freedom to install the chargers as per the market requirement.

Explanation :

• WEF was established in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Cologny, Geneva, Switzerland.
• First named the European Management Forum, it changed its name to the World Economic Forum in 1987 and sought to broaden its vision to include providing a platform for resolving international conflicts.

Objective

• The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance.
• Global Competitiveness Report, Global Gender Gap Report, Global Risks Report, Global Information Technology Report, Global Travel and Tourism Report Global Enabling Trade Report and Fostering Effective Energy Transition are important reports being published by the WEF.

Explanation :

• The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) issued a 15-point directive to the 11-Ganga basin states to prevent idol immersion into river Ganga and its tributaries and on their banks, including cordoning off the ghats.
• According to the directive, a fine of Rs. 50,000 would be imposed if immersion of idols took place in the Ganga or its tributaries during various upcoming festivals.
• These directives were issued by NMCG under Section-5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
• 11 States-Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

Ganga River

• It is a trans-boundary river originating in the western Himalayas (Gangotri glacier) in Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of India and Bangladesh, eventually emptying into the Bay of Bengal.
• Tributaries of Ganges from the North: Yamuna, Ramganga, Karnali (Ghaghra), Tapti, Gandak, Kosi.
• Tributaries of Ganges from the South: Chambal, Son, Betwa, Ken, Southern Tons
• Namami Gange Programme was launched in 2014, as an Integrated Conservation Mission, to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation, and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.

Explanation :

• PRAKASH (Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply Harmony) has been launched for better coordination among the ministries of power, coal and Indian Railways for coal supply to power plants.
• The portal is developed by NTPC, using sources data from different stakeholders such as CEA (Central Electricity Authority), Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) and coal companies.
• However, the portal, unlike the power ministry’s other recently launched websites, is not accessible to general public.

Benefits

• Apart from mapping coal stocks in mines, the portal will also help stakeholders monitor the movement of railway rakes and coal availability at power plants.
• It is expected to help coal companies to track stocks and requirement at power stations for effective production planning as coal cannot be stockpiled beyond a certain quantity without the risk of catching fire.

Explanation :

• In a bid to make governance more people-centric, the Odisha government Mo Initiative in which ministers would dial common citizens to seek feedback on the kind of response they get during recent visits to police stations and district headquarter hospitals (DHH).
• The state government will collect feedback on the behaviour and professionalism of government officers. All of these government officers will then be graded on the basis of feedback received from people.
• The government employees with good grades will get promotions while action will be taken against those with negative scores.
• Notably, the state government is implementing the 5T model governance - Teamwork, Transparency, Technology, Time leading to Transformation.

Explanation :

• The CAATSA is a United States federal law, passed in 2017 that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
• The Act empowers the US President to impose at least five of the 12 listed sanctions on persons engaged in a “significant transaction” with Russian defence and intelligence sectors.
• Its ultimate goal is to prevent revenue from flowing to the Russian Government.

S-400 Missile Defence System

• It is an air defence missile system that can take down enemy’s aircraft in the sky from the surface itself.
• It is known as Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system, capable of destroying hostile strategic bombers, jets, missiles and drones at a range of 380-km.

Explanation :

• The eight core sector industries are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity.
• It comprises27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
• The Index of Eight Core Industries is a monthly production index, which is also considered as a lead indicator of the monthly industrial performance. The Index of Eight Core Industries is compiled based on the monthly production information received from the Source Agencies.

Explanation :

• UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964.
• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it is part of the UN Secretariat.
• Some of the reports published by UNCTAD are:Trade and Development Report, World Investment Report, Technology and Innovation Report and Digital Economy Report.
• It supports developing countries to access the benefits of a globalized economy more fairly and effectively. Along with other UN departments and agencies, it also measures the progress made in the Sustainable Development Goals, as set out in Agenda 2030.

Explanation :

• The Galos belong to the Tani group inhabiting Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, besides Tibet.They trace their common origin to a primeval ancestor, Abotani.
• They have a big population in East Siang, Upper Subansiri and Namsai districts
• They are one of the 26 major communities of Arunachal Pradesh.They are listed as Scheduled tribe since 1950.
• Mopin is the main festival in Galos which is celebrated in the month of April for the prosperity and wealth of the villages. Popir is a folk dance performed by this tribe.
• The Galos maintain genealogy through given names.They have a system of prefixing the second syllable of a father’s name to that of a son who passes on the suffix in his name to his son.
• Hence, they can trace the names of ancestors from the first syllable or prefix of our names.

Explanation :

• In order to lay the foundation for rolling out a citizens’ register across the country, the government has decided to prepare a National Population Register (NPR) by September 2020.

Objective

• To create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.

About NPR

• It will be a list of usual residents of the country. Once it is completed and published, it is expected to be the basis for preparing the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC), a pan-India version of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC).
• For the purpose of NPR, a usual resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more.
• The NPR is being prepared under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
• It will be conducted in conjunction with the houselisting phase, the first phase of the Census, by the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Home Ministry for Census 2021. Only Assam will not be included, given the recently completed NRC.