Current affairs Cseet part 11

1. Which Indian personality has been recently nominated as the board member of Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI)?

Answer: Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan

2. IIT-Bombay researchers have rolled out urban quality of life index to show the reality of life in Indian cities. Mumbai has bagged the 1st place in index. Which city stood last?

Answer: Patna

3. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has inaugurated the 63rd Founding Day Celebrations of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). On this occasion, which report was released by her that analyses organized smuggling trends on Gold and Foreign Currency, Narcotic Drugs, Security, Environment and Commercial Frauds?

Answer: Smuggling in India Report 2019-20

4. World Health Organization (WHO) has released World Malaria Report (WMR) 2020 giving estimated cases for malaria across the world. As per the report, India is the only high endemic nation which has reported decline of malaria cases by ____________ in 2019 as compared to 2018.

Answer: 17.6%

South-East Asia made strong progress with case and death reductions of 73% and 74%, respectively. India showed largest drop in cases from 20 to 6 million. Globally, cases declined in 238 million (2000) to 229 million in 2019.

5. What was India’s rank in global Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), 2020?

Answer: 10th

No top 3 positions were filled due to non-fulfillment of criteria. Sweden bagged 4th place, followed by UK(5th), Denmark (6th), Morocco (7th). China bagged 33rd rank and USA, appears at the bottom. CCPI is developed by Germanwatch and NewClimate Institute (Germany) together with the Climate Action Network (CAN International).

6. Health minister Harsh Vardhan has released 5th National Family Health Survey (NFHS) comprising of detailed information on population, health, and nutrition for India. Phase 1 results show the status of ______________________.

Answer: 17 States and 5 UTs

Phase II will cover the remaining 12 States and 2 UTs and is expected to come by May 2021.

7. India has been ranked 131 among 189 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI)

Which country ranked first?

Answer: Norway topped HDI, followed by Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Iceland. HDI measures average achievement on 3 basic aspects: life expectancy, education, and per capita income.

8. India was ranked at ____________ place in the ‘Human Freedom Index 2020: A Global Measurement of Personal, Civil, and Economic Freedom’.

Answer: 111th

It is the sixth Annual Report released by Cato Institute of United States & Fraser Institute in Canada. New Zealand topped the index followed by Switzerland.

9. The World Bank has come out with a corrected Doing Business ranking following a review on data irregularities. As per the ‘Doing Business’ 2020 report, India had jumped 14 places to the ___________ position.

Answer: 63rd

10. The Union Governemnt has rolled out ‘Quarterly Return filing & Monthly Payment of Taxes (QRMP)’ scheme for _________________ under GST system.

Answer: Small Taxpayers

Taxpayers with Rs 5 crore annual turnover in the preceding financial year are eligible.

11. The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the proposal of Department of Telecom for setting up of Public Wi-Fi Networks by Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) to accelerate proliferation of Broadband Internet services through Public Wi-Fi network. This scheme will be known as __________________________.

Answer: PM-WANI (Wifi Access Network Interface)

12. The Union Cabinet has approved Rs. 6,700 crore Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP). NERPSIP is being implemented through ________________ in association with 6 beneficiary North Eastern States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.

Answer: POWERGRID

13. PM Narendra Modi has launched Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) SEHAT scheme for the residents of ________________________.

Answer: Jammu and Kashmir

14. PwC India has partnered with _______________ and YuWaah (Generation Unlimited in India) to upskill 300 million young Indians over the next 10 years.

Answer: UNICEF

The collaboration is part of PwC’s global multi-sector partnership with UNICEF and YuWaah that will provide 1.8 billion youngsters with socio-economic opportunities from school to work by 2030.

15. Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its latest ‘Asian Development Outlook’ report has estimated India’s economy to contract by 8% in 2020. South Asian region’s GDP is expected to contract by _________ in 2020, with growth recovery of 7.2% in 2021.

Answer: 6.1% (contraction)

16. Minister of State for Skill Development, Raj Kumar Singh has inaugurated 1st Centre of Excellence (CoE) for ‘skill development in the power sector’ in National Institute of Solar Energy, at ________________.

Answer: Gurugram

CoE has been set up by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with Ministry of National Education and Youth, France and Schneider Electric.

16. Directorate General of Training (DGT) under Skill Development Ministry has partnered with Microsoft and ________________ to provide a digital content for ITI students.

Answer: NASSCOM Foundation

This will benefit 1,20,000 students in around 3000 ITIs across India via Bharatskills portal.

17. According to Centre for Economics and Business Research (UK based think-tank), Indian economy will overtake UK becoming the 5th largest economy in 2025 and will reach 3rd spot by__________.

Answer: 2030

18. Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey has inaugurated 1st batch of Indian Institute of Skills in Mumbai. It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and ______________________.

Answer: Tata Indian Institute of Skills

19. Minister of Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan has inaugurated web-based application ‘Digital Ocean do.incois.gov.in. It has been developed by __________________ under Ministry of Earth sciences. It is a first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management that will expand our ‘Blue Economy’ initiatives.

Answer: INCOIS (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services)

20. The Ethereum, a crypto currency Recently was launched in a faster, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly platform, as the upgraded version called _________________________.

Answer: Ethereum 2.0