Current Affairs Quiz , 09 May 2019

1) The Grizzled Giant Squirrel, an endangered species listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, is commonly found in

a) Western Himalayas
b) Sundarbans
c) Western Ghats
d) Abor hills

Answer: c
• For the first time, researchers have sighted nests of the grizzled giant squirrel, an endangered species listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 at Pakkamalai Reserve Forests near Gingee in the Eastern Ghats.
• The grizzled giant squirrel is usually known to nest in the Western Ghats in Southern India ranging from Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary in Kerala to Anamalai Tiger Reserve and Palani hills in Tamil Nadu.
• Owing to habitat loss and poaching, the species has been categorised as near threatened by the Red List and listed under Schedule II of CITES.

2) Who among the following is referred to as the father of modern legal education?

a) McCauley
b) NR Madhava Menon
c) Justice V.R Krishna Iyer
d) Anna Chandy

Answer: b
• Prof N.R. Madhava Menon, an educationist, scholar and the pioneering spirit behind modern legal education in India, passed away.
• Menon was the founder director of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore and headed it for 12 years.
• After that, he established West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) in 1998 and later presided as the founder director of Judicial Academy (NJS), Bhopal, till 2006.

3) El Niños, recently seen in news, is related to

a) Biodiversity
b) Refugee crisis
c) Trade wars
d) Climate change

Answer: d
• El Niños have become stronger and their pattern too has been changing, the world’s first 400-year-long seasonal record of El Niño created by Australian scientists has revealed.
• El Niños are linked to extreme weather across the globe, with particularly profound effects on precipitation and temperature extremes in Australia, South East Asia and the Americas

4) Basel Convention, the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties was recently held, is related to

a) Road accidents
b) Trade laws
c) Hazardous wastes
d) Ozone depleting substances

Answer: c
• The fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC COP-14) will be held back to back with the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (RC COP-9) and the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention (SC COP-9) from 29 April to 10 May 2019, in Geneva. T
• The theme of the meetings will be “Clean Planet, Healthy People: Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste”.
• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations

5) Char Dham Yatra includes which of the following centres of pilgrimage?

a) Yamunotri
b) Gangotri
c) Kedarnath
d) All of the above

Answer: d
• The Char Dham Yatra commences from Yamunotri, proceeds to Gangotri, Kedarnath and finally Badrinath.
• The four Himalayan shrines remain closed in October-November every year because of heavy snowfall and are reopened in April-May.