11th January, 2022 – Current Affairs Quiz

• Solution:(D)

o CIBER-2: The aim of this mission is to count the number of stars that exist in the Universe.
o While this is not the first time that such a mission has been undertaken, the CIBER-2 instrument has been improved upon to see if any stars had been undercounted in the previous counting attempts.

• Solution: (B)

o Encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read it.
o For example: word “ABC” can become “BCD” in encrypted form, if every letter is replaced by next alphabet.
o Those who know how it is encoded can only able to read “ABC” correctly.
o All messaging services like WhatsApp, Viber, Google Chat, Yahoo messenger use encrypted services. Banks (payment gateways) and e-commerce sites also use encryption to protect financial and private data including passwords.
o Encryption is also used to protect data in transit, for example data being transferred via networks (e.g. the Internet, e-commerce), mobile telephones, wireless microphones, wireless intercom systems, Bluetooth devices and bank automatic teller machines.

• Solution: (C)

o The Ministry of Science and Technology released new guidelines for the Geo-spatial sector in India, which deregulates existing protocol and liberalises the sector to a more competitive field.
o Geospatial data is data about objects, events, or phenomena that have a location on the surface of the earth.
o The location may be static in the short-term, like the location of a road, an earthquake event, malnutrition among children, or dynamic like a moving vehicle or pedestrian, the spread of an infectious disease.
o Geospatial data combines location information, attribute information (the characteristics of the object, event, or phenomena concerned), and often also temporal information or the time at which the location and attributes exist.
o Geospatial data usually involves information of public interest such as roads, localities, rail lines, water bodies, and public amenities.
o The past decade has seen an increase in the use of geo-spatial data in daily life with various apps such as food delivery apps like Swiggy or Zomato, e-commerce like Amazon or even weather apps.

• Solution: (D)
o The Agency’s mandate has broadened to focus on the “3Es” of effectual energy policy: energy security, economic development, and environmental protection

• Solution: (C)

o Natural nanomaterials, as the name suggests, are those that occur naturally in the world.
o These include particles that make up volcanic ash, smoke, and even some molecules in our bodies, such as the hemoglobin in our blood.
o The brilliant colors of a peacock’s feathers are the result of spacing between nanometer-scale structures on their surface.
o Man-made nanomaterials are those that occur from objects or processes created by people.
o Examples include exhaust from fossil fuel burning engines and some forms of pollute

• Solution: (D)

o Countries use bilateral/regional trade agreements to increase market access and expand trade in foreign markets.
o These agreements are called reciprocal trade agreements (RTAs) because members grant special advantages to each other.
o RTAs include many types of agreements, such as preferential arrangements, free trade agreements, customs unions, and common markets, in which members agree to open their markets to each other’s exports by lowering trade barriers.

• Solution: (A)

o Estimates Committee consists of 30 members of Lok Sabha.
o Its chairman is invariably from the ruling party.
o The Committee acts as a deterrent on extravagance of the government on public expenditure and makes detailed examination of annual budget estimates.

• Solution: (B)

o Such an ordinance has the same force as an act of the assembly.
o Every such ordinance must be approved by the assembly within six weeks from its reassembly. He can also withdraw an ordinance at any time.
o But, he cannot promulgate an ordinance when the assembly is dissolved or suspended.
o Further, no such ordinance can be promulgated or withdrawn without the prior permission of the President.

• Solution: (C)

o The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted an expert committee headed by former governor Bimal Jalan to review its economic capital framework, and whether the central bank needs to hold as much reserves as it currently does.
o The expert committee would examine if the central bank’s reserves were adequate, going by the global standards, and if in excess, how much money could be transferred to the government.

Solution: (C)

o French finance minister Bruno Le Maire announced the introduction of a GAFA tax—named after Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon—on large technology and internet companies in France from 1 January 2019.
o The French proposal is set to target only those profitable companies that have heavy annual global revenue.
o The rationale behind devising a separate framework to tax online service providers is this: existing tax norms that are framed envisaging brick and mortar business models are not suitable to regulate online services.
o This is because the digital economy is characterized by a unique system of value creation resulting from a combination of factors such as sales functions, algorithms and personal information of users.
o What distinguishes technology companies from traditional businesses is user participation in creating value, which, in turn, translates into revenue.
o Although using consumer data to improve businesses is not exclusive to the digital economy, the unique ability of digital businesses lies in their power to analyse big data collected via constant user interaction and data mining.