Current Affairs Quiz , 15 May 2019

1) Which of the following countries has initiated the world’s first ‘wellbeing’ budget to focus on poverty and mental health?

a) Bhutan
b) Japan
c) New Zealand
d) Canada

Answer: c
• Child poverty, domestic violence and mental health will be the priorities in New Zealand’s “wellbeing budget”, the finance minister has announced, with the nation declaring itself the first in the world to measure success by its people’s wellbeing.

2) Exercise Bull Strike was recently conducted by

a) Indian Air Force
b) Indian Navy
c) Indian Army
d) All of the above

Answer: d
• The military drill, called Exercise Bullstrike, was conducted to showcase joint operations capability of the armed forces. During the exercise, the army personnel got the chance to display their prowess by undertaking company level airborne operation at Teressa island.

3) United Nations Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Committee is related to

a) Climate change
b) Refugee crisis
c) Global trade wars
d) Terrorism

Answer: d
• The UN has imposed sanctions on terror group ISIS-Khorasan, ISIS-K, for its links with Al-Qaeda and involvement in several attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• It is now subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
• The United Nations Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee sanctioned Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan (ISIL-K). ISIS-K is known as ‘ISIS’ South Asia Branch, ISIL Khorasan, Islamic State’s Khorasan Province’ and ‘South Asian Chapter of ISIL’.

4) India has recently been chosen as co-chair of Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). GFDRR funds are managed by

a) World Bank
b) Asian Development Bank
c) United Nations
d) Bank of International Settlements

Answer: a
• India wass unanimously chosen as co-chair of the Consultative Group (CG) of Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) for the fiscal year 2020. The decision was taken during the CG meeting of GFDRR held in Geneva, Switzerland
• GFDRR is a global partnership that helps developing countries better understand and reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change.
• GFDRR is a grant-funding mechanism, managed by the World Bank, that supports disaster risk management projects worldwide.

5) Lecanorchis taiwaniana, a rare orchid that have abandoned photosynthesis, was recently found in which state?

a) Kerala
b) Assam
c) Himachal Pradesh
d) Punjab

Answer: b
• An Assam forest officer’s chance discovery has given India one of its smallest orchids in terms of size and duration of bloom to be recorded botanically.
• Lecanorchis taiwaniana, which the Japanese Journal of Botany has published as a “new record for the flora in India” in its latest issue, is a mycoheterotroph, one of two types of parasitic plants that have abandoned photosynthesis.