Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS | 11th April 19

Table of Contents

MCQ 1

Sir Robert Tony Watson CMG FRS (born 21 March 1948) is a British chemist who has worked on atmospheric science issues including ozone depletion, global warming and paleoclimatology since the 1980s.
Watson had a role in either the regulation efforts of Ozone depletion and global warming. The Montreal and Vienna conventions were installed long before a scientific consensus was established. Until the 1980s EU, NASA, NAS, UNEP, WMO and the British government had dissenting scientific reports.
Watson played a role in the process of unified assessments and did so as well for the IPCC.
He was Chairman of the Global Environment Facility’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel from 1991 to 1994,
Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1997 to 2002 and Board co-chair for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment from 2000 to 2005. He was then Director of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development which ran from 2005 to 2007, and had previously been cochair of the International Scientific Assessment of Stratospheric Ozone for their reports from 1994 to 2006.
He has been Chair or co-chair of other international scientific assessments, including the IPCC Working Group II, the United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization (UNEP/WMO), and the UNEP Global Biodiversity Assessment.

MCQ 2

The World Gold Council (WGC) said that India has marginally increased its gold holding to 1.7 tonnes in February while maintaining the ______ position among countries in terms of yellow metal reserves.

MCQ 3

Supreme Court directed the EC to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs to ___ polling booths per assembly segment from one at present

MCQ 4

The Monterrey Open is a professional women’s tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts
Victoria Azarenka won the title of 2019

(A)Only 1
(B)Only 2
(C) Both
(D)None

Monterrey Open: Muguruza retains title as former world number one Azarenka retires from leg injury

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza successfully defended her Monterrey Open title as former world number one Azarenka tearfully retired after a leg injury.

MCQ 5

According to the latest edition of World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief, India’s remittance in 2018 stood at USD ___ billion

MCQ 6

American conglomerate, General Electric in association with IIT-_____, established India’s first ‘Cold Spray’ SMART (Surface Modification and Additive Research Technologies) Laboratory in the institution

The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) on Friday announced its collaboration with American conglomerate General Electric (GE) to set up a lab that will develop advanced services technology for aircraft engine components.
The ‘Cold Spray’ SMART (Surface Modification and Additive Research Technologies) Laboratory is the first-of-its-kind being installed in any academic institute in India.
It is an emerging technology for advanced manufacturing and services and will be utilised to co-develop processes for aero-engine applications.
“Cold spray technology is different from other widely used thermal spray processes in that there is no melting and oxidation of powders. Thus, high quality coatings can be produced,” Professor M. Kamaraj from the IIT, said in a statement.
“Moreover, the deposition rates are very high, leading to less powder wastage and it can be used for additive manufacturing and repair of components,” he added.
As part of the collaborative efforts, IIT-M would develop advanced coatings meeting specifications of aerospace standard.

MCQ 7

Closing Ceremony: Indo-Singapore Joint Training Exercise Bold Kurukshetra
The 12th edition of joint military exercise between India and Singapore, BOLD KURUKSHETRA 2019, culminated on 11 April 2019 after an impressive closing ceremony held at Babina Military Station.
The four day long joint training focused on developing interoperability and conduct of joint tactical operations in mechanised warfare. The troops learnt about each other’s organisations and best practices being followed in combat.
Reviewing officers addressed the contingents and congratulated the participating nations for successful termination of the exercise. The exercise was a grand success and taught valuable lessons to troops of both the participating nations.

Telugu poet K Siva Reddy has been selected for the prestigious Saraswati Samman, 2018 for his collection of poetry titled Pakkaki Ottigilite.
The award carries a cash prize of 15 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.
The award, instituted by the KK Birla Foundation in 1991, is given annually for an outstanding literary work written in any Indian language and published during the last 10 years.

The government has retained the interest rate for General Provident Fund (GPF), Contributory Provident Fund and other related schemes at 8 per cent for the first quarter of current financial year.
The interest rate on these funds was at 8 per cent in January-March quarter of 2018-19 and government kept it unchanged for April to June for 2019-20.
The Department of Economic Affairs, in a notification, said the interest rate will be applicable on provident funds of central government employees, railways and defence forces.
Last month, the government had retained interest rates on small savings, including National Savings Certificate and PPF for the first quarter of current fiscal.

In a major boost for the Indian Army, the Centre has cleared the acquisition of 464 T90 main battle tanks to be deployed on the borders with Pakistan.
“In a recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, the acquisition of the 464 T90 tanks was approved. The cost of the project is expected to be worth over Rs 13,000 crore,” government sources said.
The contract will also include a Make-in-India element for integration at the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi near Chennai.
The new acquisition will increase the new T-90 regiments by 10 more units and would be equipped with thermal imaging night sights to allow the tank commander to strike enemy locations during night battles.
The new inductions will also strengthen the Army’s fire-power along the land border stretch with Pakistan — from Jammu in the north till the western flank in Gujarat.
India has already inducted 18 regiments of T-90 tanks which are deployed in Rajasthan and Punjab on the Pakistan front.
However, the Indian Army’s 4000- strong tank fleet has been battling with night blindness in the past and these new tanks would help in doing away with that, sources said.
In addition, it was found that key systems like the missile-firing mechanism and thermal sights had deteriorated due to prolonged exposure to heat and dust.
The T-90 has emerged as the main battle tank of the Indian Army and is replacing the older variants of T-72 and T-55 tanks in the force.