QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 16 July 2021 – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: c)

The BASIC group was formed as the result of an agreement signed by the four countries on November 28, 2009.

They are a bloc of four large newly industrialized countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China.

Significance of the grouping:

• Objectives: The signatory nations have a broadly common position on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and raising the massive funds that are needed to fight climate change.
• The BASIC countries constituted one of the parties in the Copenhagen Accord reached with the US-led grouping; the Accord, was, however, not legally binding.
• BASIC is one of several groups of nations working together to fight climate change and carry out negotiations within the UNFCCC.

Solution: d)

Reed Bank is a large tablemount or guyot in the South China Sea.

Although the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that the area is within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone, economic rights to the area continue to be disputed – mainly by the People’s Republic of China.

Solution: b)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has notified the inclusion of retail and wholesale trade under the ambit of the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) category. 

This will help retail and wholesale trade benefit from priority sector lending under RBI guidelines.

As many as 2.5 crore retail and wholesale traders stand to benefit from the revised guidelines. The move will also let them register on the Udyam portal for MSMEs. 

Udyam Registration portal is the government’s official portal to register an MSME. The beneficiaries of the new change would be retail and wholesale trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, retail trade except of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and wholesale trade except of motor vehicles and motorcycles.

In order to mitigate the stress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on several sectors across the country, the government has announced an Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme, which incorporates ECLGS 1.0, ECLGS 2.0 and ECLGS 3.0. The scheme aimed to provide Rs 3 lakh crore worth of collateral-free, government-guaranteed loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across India to mitigate the distress caused by the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Source

Solution: c)

Melamine is an organic base chemical most commonly found in the form of white crystals rich in nitrogen.

Melamine is widely used in plastics, adhesives, countertops, dishware, whiteboards.

It is added to water adulterated milk to increase the nitrogen content and hence its apparent protein content.

Addition of melamine into food is not approved by the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius (food standard commission), or by any national authorities.

Melamine alone causes bladder stones in animal tests. When combined with cyanuric acid, which may also be present in melamine powder, melamine can form crystals that can give rise to kidney stones.

Melamine has also been shown to have carcinogenic effects in animals in certain circumstances.

Solution: a)

Plant genetic engineering methods were developed over 30 years ago, and since then, genetically modified (GM) crops or transgenic crops have become commercially available and widely adopted in many countries.

In India, Bt cotton was approved by Government of India in March 2002 as the first transgenic crop for commercial cultivation.

Though, it is widely claimed that transgenic crops offers dramatic promise for meeting some of greatest challenges but like all new technologies, it also poses certain risks, because of the fact that transgenic crops can bring together new gene combinations which are not found in nature having possible harmful effects on health, environmental and non-target species.

Transgenic crops are not toxic nor are likely to proliferate in the environment. However, specific crops may be harmful by virtue of novel combinations of traits they possess.