Current Affairs Quiz 17 March 2023

Answer: C

ATAL VAYO ABHYUDAY YOJANA:
Nodal : Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

• It is a Central Sector Scheme previously known as National Action Plan for Senior Citizens.
• Its vision is to create a society where senior citizens can live a healthy, happy, and empowered life.
• It has two components:
○ Integrated Program for Senior Citizens (IPSrC): It includes setting up homes to improve the quality of life of senior citizens, especially indigent senior citizens who lack basic amenities.
○ State Action Plan for Senior Citizens (SAPSrC): Each state/union territory is expected to frame its own action plan for the welfare of senior citizens.
• Under IPSrC component, grant in aid is provided to NGOs/Voluntary Organisations (VOs) for running and maintenance of old age homes and Continuous Care Homes.
• Five schemes have been launched under this umbrella scheme:
○ Poshan Abhiyan for the elderly
○ Livelihood and skilling initiatives for senior citizens
○ Scheme on promoting the silver economy
○ Awareness generation and capacity building for the welfare of senior citizens
○ Channelising CSR funds for elderly care.

Answer: B
About New India Literacy Programme
• The scheme will cover non-literates of the age of 15 years and above in all state/UTs in the country.
• The scheme will be implemented through volunteerism through online mode.
• The training, orientation, workshops of volunteers, may be organized through face-to-face mode.
• All material and resources shall be provided digitally for easy access to registered volunteers through easily accessible digital modes, viz, TV, radio, cell phone-based free/open-source Apps/portals, etc.
• The target for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for FYs 2022-27 is 5 (five) crore learners @ 1.00 crore per year by using “Online Teaching, Learning and Assessment System (OTLAS)” in collaboration with National Informatics Centre, NCERT and NIOS in which a learner may register him/herself with essential information like name, date of birth, gender, Aadhaar number, mobile number etc.
• As a progressive step, it has also been decided that from now onwards that the term “Education For All” will be used in place of “Adult Education” by the Ministry in view of the fact that the terminology “Adult Education” is not incorporating appropriately all non-literates of 15 years and above age group.

Answer: B

About NIPUN Bharat Mission
• National Initiative for Proficiency in reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) is a scheme to ensure that every child achieves desired learning competencies in reading, writing, and numeracy by end of Grade 3, by the year 2026-27 – to provide an enabling environment in a bid to ensure universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy.
• The NIPUN Bharat Mission is a part of school education programme, Samagra Shiksha.
• NIPUN Bharat initiative will be implemented by school education department of Union government and to implement it, a five-tier implementation mechanism will be set up at national, state, district, block, and school levels across all states and Union territories.
• No additional funding is being allocated for the mission. Instead, money is being allocated from the Samagra Shiksha scheme, which saw a 20% drop in its budget in 2021.
• So far, the goal has simply been to enrol children in school, and then to ensure that they finish Class 10. This mission specifies stage-wise learning goals to ensure that students are acquiring the necessary building blocks.
• The NIPUN Bharat strategy includes changes in curriculum and teaching methods to include more activity, art and story-telling, creation of print-rich materials and resources, teacher training, and stress-free assessment methods in order to reach these goals.
• NIPUN Bharat also emphasises the importance of using a child’s mother tongue in teaching, a principle of the National Education Policy 2020, which received some criticism.

Answer: B

About Wild Ass Sanctuary in Gujarat, India
Location:
• The sanctuary is located in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, India.
• It is the only place where the Indian wild ass, known as Khacchar locally, can be found.
• The sanctuary is also home to a sizeable population of Rabari and Bharwad tribes.

Topology:
• The sanctuary can be considered a large ecotone, a transitional area between marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
• It is a continuum of a dry area of dark silt with salt encrustation.
• It is dotted with about 74 elevated plateaus or islands, locally called ‘bets’.
• During the monsoon, large parts are flooded to depths of up to 2 meters.

Flora:
• The sanctuary is full of dry thorny scrub, and there are no large trees except on the fringes and bets.
• Some of the plants and trees found in this sanctuary are Morad, Unt morad, Theg, Dolari, Khijdo, Kerdo, Mithi jar, Kheri pilu, Akado, etc.

Fauna:
• Besides Indian Wild Ass, the other mammals found here include Blackbuck, Nilgai, Bluebull, Hare, Wolf, Foxes, Desert Cat, Indian fox, Jackal, Hyena, Wild boar, etc.
• There is rich birdlife, including the Houbara bustard, Sandgrouse, Pale harrier, Black-shouldered kite, Pelican, etc.

Answer: C
Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974, does not consider noise as a
pollutant.