QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 01 October 2019

Solution: b)

A new report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation has quantified global food wastage — nearly one-third of the food that is produced each year goes uneaten, costing the global economy over $940 billion.

The uneaten food is responsible for emitting about 8 per cent of planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, said the report, “Reducing Food Loss and Waste”.

Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the report concluded that roots and tubers are the food group that face the maximum wastage.

Solution: d)

The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched a National Mission to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level through an Integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha in 2019-20.

NISHTHA is a capacity building programme for “Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training“. It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage. NISHTHA is the world’s largest teachers’ training programme of its kind. The basic objective of this massive training programme is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students. The initiative is first of its kind wherein standardized training modules are developed at national level for all States and UTs.

Highlights:

• Capacity building of 4.2 million teachers
• Integrated training of principals/heads as key academic support
• Focus on competency and higher order thinking skills based teaching learning
• Training of all heads and teachers as first level counselors
• Promoting experiential and joyful learning
• Awareness of centrally sponsored schemes/initiatives
• Online monitoring and support system
• Convergence of multi-departmental efforts
• Activity based training modules

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Solution: d)

SARAL – ‘State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index’ was recently launched.

The Index evaluates Indian states based on their attractiveness for rooftop development.

SARAL is the first of its kind index to provide a comprehensive overview of state-level measures adopted to facilitate rooftop solar deployment.

SARAL has been designed collaboratively by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Ernst & Young (EY).

• Karnataka has been placed at the first rank.
• Telangana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have got 2nd, 3rd and 4th rank respectively.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has set a target of 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, of which 100 GW solar power is to be operational by March 2022, of which 40 GW is expected to come from grid connected solar rooftops.

Solution: d)

• National Supercomputing Mission, approved in 2016, is being implemented and steered jointly by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
• The Mission envisages empowering national academic and R&D institutions spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities.
• These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network (NKN).
• The Mission includes development of highly professional High-Performance Computing (HPC) aware human resource for meeting challenges of development of these applications.

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Solution: d)

An Indian Army team successfully summited Mount Leo Pargyil.

Leo Pargyil is the third highest peak of Himachal and is considered to be among the most challenging and technically difficult peak to scale. It lies in the Zanskar range.

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