ENGLISH QUIZ 04.11.2020

1.India’s first solar-powered miniature train launched in which state of India?

A. Kerala

B. Karnataka

C. Madhya Pradesh

D. Rajasthan

2.Who has won the Formula One Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola in Italy?

A. Walteri Bottas

B. Lewis Hamilton

C. Daniel Ricardo

D. Charles lecler

3.Name the Indian boxer who won the gold medal in Alexis Vastine International Boxing Tournament in Nantes, France in 52kg category?

A. Shiva Thapa

B. Manish Kaushik

C. Amit Panghal

D. Vikas Krishna Yadav

4.Who has been selected for ‘Ezhuthachan Puraskaram 2020’, the highest literary prize of Kerala?

A. M Mukundan

B. Sachchidanandan

C. C Radhakrishnan

D. Paul Zacharia

5.Which state/UT is going to ink an MoU with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to establish 8000 MW Ultra Mega Renewal Energy Power Park of in border area with Pakistan?

A. Rajasthan

B. Gujarat

C. Punjab

D. Jammu and Kashmir

6.Who has been appointed as the chief executive officer of the Electronics Sector Skill Council of India (ESSCI)?

A. Rajiv Jalota

B. PVG Menon

C. Michelle irani

D. Gurdeep Singh

7.Who has been appointed as the chairman of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT)?

A. Gurdeep Singh

B. Sushil Kumar Singhal

C. Rajiv Jalota

D. Ajay Kumar Bhalla

8.The foundation stone of Indo-Israeli Centre of Excellence for vegetables Protected Cultivation has been laid down in which state of India?

A. Uttar Pradesh

B. Madhya Pradesh

C. Maharashtra

D. Assam

9.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed monetary penalty on which two banks for various rule violations?

A. DCB Bank and Jio Payments Bank

B. Bandhan Bank and Jio Payments Bank

C. Axis Bank and DCB Bank

D. Bandhan Bank and Axis Bank

10.Consider the following statements related to Gilgit-Baltistan:

1.Pakistan grants provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan.

2.It will become the 3th province of Pakistan. Currently, Pakistan has four provinces namely                           Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh.

Which of the above statement/statements are correct?

A. 1 only

B. 2 only

C. Both 1 and 2

D. Neither 1 nor 2

11.Consider the following statements related to Rural Development Fund:

1.Union government’s decision to withhold rural development fee from Punjab and letters asking the          Punjab Government .

2.It is the 1 per cent cess levied on the purchase or sale of agricultural produce under the Rural                       Development Fund Act, 1987.

3.which is executed by Punjab Rural Development Board (PRDB) with the Chief Minister as its                     chairman.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A. 1 and 2 are correct

B. 1 and 3 are correct

C. 2 and 3 are correct

D. All of the above

12.Consider the following statements related to BrahMos supersonic cruise missile:

1.India test-fires air launched version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.

2.The missile was launched from Su-30 MKI aircraft. It comes in the middle of India-China stand off            in Ladakh.

Which of the above statement/statements are correct?

A. 1 only

B. 2 only

C. Both 1 and 2

D. Neither 1 nor 2

13.Consider the following statements related to Operation Muskaan:

1.The “Operation MUSKAAN-III” was taken up during July 2017 throughout the country as a follow             up of the earlier campaigns to rescue/rehabilitate the missing children.

2.Operation Muskaan is an initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

3.Develop greater co-ordination of Social Welfare department functionaries, CWCs, SJPUs, NGOs               and community organizations at the district level as part of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme           operational throughout the country.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

A. 1 and 2 are correct

B. 1 and 3 are correct

C. 2 and 3 are correct

D. All of the above

14.Consider the following statements:

1.Himachal Pradesh is one of the states vying for the allotment of a bulk drug park under a central                government scheme announced earlier this year for setting up three such parks across the country.

2.A bulk drug also called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (DPI), is the key ingredient of a drug or           medicine, which lends it the desired therapeutic effect or produces the intended pharmacological               activity.

Which of the above statement/statements are correct?

A. 1 only

B. 2 only

C. Both 1 and 2

D. Neither 1 nor 2

ANSWERS:-

Answer: 1)A

Explanation

Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has inaugurated India’s first solar energy-driven miniature train at Veli Tourist Village, Kerala. It has 3 bogies and will cover a distance of 2.5km with 45 people at a time. It will have fully- equipped rail system, including a tunnel, traditional station and a ticket office and will attract especially children. Artificial steam spouted by engine of the train, modelled after vintage steam locomotive, will stir nostalgic feelings.

The train was part of a string of projects and around Rs 60 crore were taken up in order to elevate the facilities at the panoramic destination to international standards. On same day, the Chief Minister also dedicated an “Urban Park” and a swimming pool at the eco-friendly tourist village. The tourist village is located on the outskirts where the Veli Lake meets up with the Arabian Sea.

Solar powered Train in India

• Indian Railways had launched its first solar-powered DEMU (diesel electrical multiple unit) train from the Safdarjung railway station in Delhi on July 14, 2017.
• The train ran from Sarai Rohilla in Delhi to Farukh Nagar in Haryana.
• The train had a total of 16 solar panels producing 300 Wp.
• The solar panels were manufactured under ‘Make in India’ initiative.
• This was the first time in the world that solar panels were used as grid in railways.

Answer: 2)B

Explanation

Mercedes racer Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) has won Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2020 held in Italy. This was Hamilton’s 9th victory of the F-1 2020 season and 93rd victory of his Formula 1 career. Valtteri Bottas finished second at Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, followed by Daniel Ricciardo. After this title, Mercedes became the seventh consecutive constructors’ title for 2020, followed by Red Bull and Renault.

Answer: 3)C

Explanation

Indian boxers Amit Panghal, Sanjeet and Ashish Kumar have won gold medals at 2020 Alexis Valentine International Boxing Tournament held in France.

This was the first international tournament post-lockdown for Indian boxers

Amit Panghal:

• Amit Panghal, the silver medalist at the 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships in the 52 kg-weight categories, overcame the challenge from American boxer Rene Abraham.

Sanjeet:

• Sanjeet was up against France’s Soheb Bouafia in the 91 kg final bout and produced a clinical performance to win the top honours.

Ashish Kumar:

• In the 75 kg weight category, Indian boxer Ashish Kumar won the gold medal after his opponent from the USA, Joseph Gerome Hiks, gave him a walkover due to injury.

Answer: 4)D

Explanation

Paul Zacharia has been selected for 2020 Ezhuthachan Puraskaram for his contribution to Malayalam literature for 5 decades. His famous works: Salam America, Oridath, Aarkkariyam, Bhaskara patelarum ente jeevithavum. He won Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1979 and Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2004. Ezhuthachan Puraskaram: Kerala govt’s highest literary honour, named after Ezhuthachan, father of Malayalam language. It carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and citation.

Answer: 5)A

Explanation

Rajasthan government will soon ink an MoU with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to establish Ultra Mega Renewal Energy Power Park. The park to be set up near borders areas will be of 8,000 megawatts (MW) capacity, which will comprise 4,310 MW of wind energy; 3,760 MW of solar energy and 120 MW of power from biomass. Currently, Rajasthan’s solar generation capacity is 4,883 MW.

The Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RRECL) would be signing a separate MoU with the NTPC and the SECI to materialise the GoI Mega Power Park project. Rajasthan has over 1000 kilometre-long international border which is currently supplied power through traditional methods. The Rajasthan government had also approved a proposal for setting up solar power parks to generate 10,000 MW green energy with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore. The state has given nod to the proposal of Adani Green Energy Limited to set up solar power parks at five locations and a solar panel manufacturing unit which will generate around 7,500 direct and indirect jobs.

Answer: 6)B

Explanation

The Electronics Sector Skill Council of India (ESSCI) announced the appointment of PVG Menon as its chief executive officer. Menon will be responsible for overseeing the operations of ESSCI and work closely with its governing Council on strategic issues related to the growth of the electronic systems design and manufacturing (ESDM) industry in India. ESSCI works with industry, the National Skill Development Corporation, and the Ministry of Electronics and IT to provide both skilling and re-skilling services to the industry.

Answer: 7)C

Explanation

Maharashtra cadre 1988 batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer Rajiv Jalota has been appointed as the chairman of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) under the Union ministry of shipping. The appointment committee of the Union cabinet issued the order for the central deputation. Jalota, who is the first Goods and Services Tax (GST) commissioner of the state, is currently the additional chief secretary in higher and technical education department of the state government. He first served as sales tax commissioner and then as GST commissioner from January 2015 to January 2020.

Answer: 8)D

Explanation

The Chief Minister of Assam, Sabananda Sonowal, had laid down the foundation stone of Indo-Israeli Centre of Excellence for vegetables Protected Cultivation on November 2, 2020.The latest center will be built under the Agricultural Project of India and Israel at a cost of Rs. 10.33 crores and will have the facilities such as an automated irrigation system, high-tech greenhouse, and insect-proof net house

Significance of Assam

• The state of Assam has undergone substantial improvement in road, air and river connectivity in the recent times.
• The state is also becoming a promising destination for the trade, travel, cultural exchange, commerce and tourism.
• This in turn has become a gateway to ASEAN and South East Asia under the Act East Policy.

Indo-Israel cooperation

The Centres of Excellence under India-Israel cooperation has been established across the states of Haryana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Further, both the countries had signed India-Israel Action Plan in 2006.

The action plan was launched in three phases:

Phase 1: Phase 1 was implemented during 2008 and 2010. Under this,  technologies were transferred from Israel to India including the horticulture mechanization, orchard and canopy management, protected cultivation, nursery management and micro irrigation. Haryana and Maharashtra were the primary focus.

Phase 2:  Phase 2 was implemented during 2012 and 2015. Under this, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan were added to the plan.  In this phase the focus was on activities such as water use efficiency, post harvest management, waste water use, dairying.  The phase was further extended to include Tamil Nadu and Punjab.

Phase 3: The 3rd phase was implemented during 2015 and 2018. The states such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Mizoram, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Jharkhand were included under the action plan.

Answer: 9)A

Explanation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed monetary penalty on DCB Bank and Jio Payments Bank for various rule violations. The central bank has imposed a penalty of Rs 22 lakh on DCB Bank for non-compliance with certain provisions on marketing/distribution of mutual fund/insurance etc. The penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

In the case of Jio Payments Bank, the RBI imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore for non-compliance with RBI directions on timely submission of application in the case of reappointment of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer under Section 35B of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (the Act).

Answer: 10)A      

Explanation

Recently the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has granted the provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan. The move comes after Saudi Arabia removed Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan from the country’s map. It will become the 5th province of Pakistan. Currently, Pakistan has four provinces namely Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh.

India’s reaction

• India has clearly conveyed to Pakistan that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the area of so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’, are an integral part of India by virtue of the legal, complete and irrevocable accession of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India in 1947.
• Gilgit-Baltistan had limited autonomy and was ruled by the Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-Governance Order of 2009.
• It is also a part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

China Pakistan Economic Corridor

• It is the flagship project of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• The bilateral project between Pakistan and China intends to promote connectivity across Pakistan with a network of highways, railways, and pipelines accompanied by energy, industrial and other infrastructure development projects.
• It links the Western part of China (Xinjiang) to the Gwadar Port in Balochistan, Pakistan via Khunjerab Pass in Northern Pakistan.
• India has protested to China over the CPEC as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

About Gilgit-Baltistan

• Currently, it is a part of the Pakistani-administered sector of the Kashmir region, in the northern Indian subcontinent.
• It is situated in the Karakoram Range in a narrow valley on the Gilgit River at its confluence with the Hunza River and upstream from its confluence with the Indus River.

Answer: 11)B

Explanation

The Union government’s decision to withhold rural development fee from Punjab and letters asking the Punjab Government to explain its utilisation of the Rural Development Fund (RDF) that it gets largely from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has enraged the state government.

About Rural Development Fund

• It is the 3 per cent cess levied on the purchase or sale of agricultural produce under the Rural Development Fund Act, 1987 which is executed by Punjab Rural Development Board (PRDB) with the Chief Minister as its chairman.

What is the Rural Development Board (RDB)?

• The RDB was incorporated in April 1987 under Rural Development Act, 1987 and is mandated with the promotion of better agriculture and granting relief for the loss and damage to agricultural produce.
• It also provides the facility of streets lights, Dharamshala, panchayat ghars, canals and drains, government health infrastructure, drinking water, sanitation, and government educational institutions in rural areas.
• This fund is supposed to be used for the creation and maintenance of rural infrastructure in and outside mandis.
• But there have been charges in the past that it was diverted by the state for other purposes.

Why has the central government suspended this fund?

• The central government, in a letter from the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has observed that the fund is being diverted, and has asked the state government to explain how it is utilising this money.
• It has also not made any provision for this fund in the cost sheet that it has sent to the state.

Answer: 12)C      

Explanation

In a display of its growing combat prowess, the Indian Air Force  successfully test-fired an air launched version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi fighter aircraft in the Bay of Bengal, official sources said. The missile hit a sinking ship with deadly accuracy and the test-firing produced desired results, they said. The missile was launched from Su-30 MKI aircraft. It comes in the middle of India-China stand off in Ladakh. India has been frequently test firing its missiles lately.

Rudram-1

• The Rudram-1 is an anti-radiation missile and is to be inducted into service in 2022. India recently conducted the test firing of Rudram-1.
• The anti-radiation missile detects and hits enemy radiation source.
• There are very few anti-radiation missiles in the world. They are Rudram of DRDO, Hormoz of Iran, TC-2A of Taiwan, Kh-58 of Russia, ALARM of UK, AGM-88 HARM of USA. MAR-1 is under development in Brazil.
• So far only surface to surface and surface to air anti-radiation missiles have been developed.
• The air-to-air anti-radiation missile is under development in Russia.

Other recent missile tests

• The Indian Defence Force has been frequently conducting missile tests from land, air and water lately.
• On October 23, 2020, the Indian Navy released a video showing the INS Prabal launching a missile. Similar tests were conducted by Indian Navy on October 30, 2020 as well.
• On October 30, 2020, the Indian Navy test fired an anti-ship missile from INS Kora in Bay of Bengal.

The other recently conducted missile test fires of India are as follows

1. RUDRAM anti-radiation missile
2. A new version of shaurya missile
3. LASER guided anti-tank missile
4. Brahmos missile with an indigenous booster
5. Prithvi II missile
6. Test fire of RUSTOM II
7. TORPEDO SMART
8. Flight test of ABHYAS
9. Test fire of Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle
10. Flight Test of Naval Version of BRAHMOS
11. Test fire of PRITHVI II
12. Failed test of Nirbhay
13. SANT Missile test
14. Nag Missile

Answer: 13)D

Explanation

Recently, a total of 485 children, including child labourers, abandoned ones and runaway kids, were rescued by the city and the district police, during the two-day ‘Operation Muskaan’. The “Operation MUSKAAN-III” was taken up during July 2017 throughout the country as a follow up of the earlier campaigns to rescue/rehabilitate the missing children.

About Operation Muskaan

• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The objectives of the ‘Operation Muskaan’ are:

• Rescue and Rehabilitation of the missing children.
• Integrating the activities with Child protection activities in the state.
• Capacity building of district-level SJPU to tackle the issue of missing children; and
• Develop greater co-ordination of Social Welfare department functionaries, CWCs, SJPUs, NGOs and community organizations at the district level as part of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme operational throughout the country.

Answer: 14)A      

Explanation

Recently Himachal Pradesh is one of the states vying for the allotment of a bulk drug park under a central government scheme announced earlier this year for setting up three such parks across the country.

What are bulk drugs or APIs?

• A bulk drug also called an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), is the key ingredient of a drug or medicine, which lends it the desired therapeutic effect or produces the intended pharmacological activity.
• For example, paracetamol is a bulk drug, which acts against pain.
• It is mixed with binding agents or solvents to prepare the finished pharmaceutical product, i.e. a paracetamol tablet, capsule, or syrup, which is consumed by the patient.

What are the key starting material and drug intermediates?

• APIs are prepared from multiple reactions involving chemicals and solvents.
• The primary chemical or the basic raw material which undergoes reactions to form an API is called the key starting material, or KSM.
• Chemical compounds formed during the intermediate stages during these reactions are called drug intermediates or DIs.

Factors responsible for promoting bulk drug parks

• India has one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in the world (third-largest by volume), but this industry largely depends on other countries, particularly China, for importing APIs, DIs and KSMs.
• This year, drug manufacturers in India suffered repeated setbacks due to disruption in imports.
• In January, factories in China shut down when the country went into a lockdown, and later, international supply chains were affected as the Covid pandemic gripped the entire world.
• The border conflict between India and China exacerbated the situation.
• All these factors pushed the Indian government to call for greater self-reliance across all industries, and in June, the department of pharmaceuticals announced a scheme for the promotion of three bulk drug parks in the country.

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