UPSC Quiz – 2020 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 19th Oct 2020

Solution (c)

Asian Elephant

• There are three subspecies of Asian elephant – the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.
• The Indian has the widest range and accounts for the majority of the remaining elephants on the continent.
• Escalation of poaching, habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and mistreatment in captivity are some common threats to both African and Asian elephants.
• African elephants are listed as “vulnerable” and Asian elephants as “endangered” in IUCN Red List of threatened species.
• CITES status: Appendix I for Asian Elephants.

Conservation Efforts:

• Project Elephant launched by the Government of India in the year 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Elephant census is conducted once in 5 years under the aegis of Project elephant.
• Establishment of elephant reserves and adoption of the “World Elephant Day” (August 12) to help conserve and protect elephants in India.
• ‘Gaj Yatra’ a nationwide awareness campaign to celebrate elephants and highlight the necessity of securing elephant corridors.
• The Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme, launched in 2003, is an international collaboration that tracks trends in information related to the illegal killing of elephants from across Africa and Asia, to monitor effectiveness of field conservation efforts.

Solution (d)

Australia’s longest single river is the River Murray at 2508 kilometres

Solution (a)

• A new wheat variety MACS-6478 was recently in news. 
• It has helped farmers in a village in Maharashtra to double their yield.
• Developed by: Scientists from Agharkar Research Institute, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology.
• The farmers are now getting a yield of 45 to 60 quintal per hectare with the new variety compared to earlier average yield ranging 25 to 30 quintal per hectare.
• It is also called high yielding Aestivum, matures in 110 days and is resistant to most races of leaf and stem rust.

Solution (a)

• Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has released a report titled “What to do with old vehicles: Towards effective scrappage policy and infrastructure”, which suggests parameters of an effective vehicle scrapping policy for India.
• CSE is a non-profit, public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi. It researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable.
• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has formulated a note for the Cabinet on the creation of an ecosystem for voluntary and environment-friendly phasing out of unfit and old polluting vehicles.
• The proposed policy awaits for Cabinet’s approval and once approved, will be applicable on all vehicles.

Concerns on Vehicles:

• India will have over two crore old vehicles nearing the end of their lives by 2025. These, along with other unfit vehicles, will cause huge pollution and environmental damage.

Solution (b)

Global Hunger Index

• Annual Report: Jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
• It was first produced in 2006. It is published every October. The 2020 edition marks the 15th edition of the GHI.
• Aim: To comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels.
• Calculation: The GHI scores are calculated each year to assess progress and setbacks in combating hunger. It is calculated on the basis of four indicators:
  • Undernourishment
  • Child Wasting
  • Child Stunting
  • Child Mortality

• Scoring: Based on the values of the four indicators, the GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
• Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.

Indian Scenario:

• Overall Performance:
• With a score of 27.2, India has a level of hunger that is “serious”.
• It ranks 94 out of 107 countries in the Index. In 2019, India’s rank was 102 out of 117 countries.