Current Affairs Quiz 30 August 2022

Rice:
• India is an important center of rice cultivation. Rice is cultivated in the largest areas in India.

Climatic Requirements
• In India rice is grown under widely varying conditions of altitude and climate.
• Rice cultivation in India extends from 8 to35ºN latitudes and from sea level to as high as 3000 meters.
• The Rice crop needs a hot and humid climate. It is best suited to regions that have high humidity, prolonged sunshine, and an assured supply of water.
• It required around 150-300 cm of rainfall and deep clayey and loamy soil.
• The average temperature required throughout the life period of the crop ranges from 21 to 37º C.
• The maximum temperature which the crop can tolerate is 40º C to 42º C.
• India is the world’s second largest producer of both rice and wheat.

Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements on earth for a cleaner alternative fuel option.
 Type of hydrogen depend up on the process of its formation:

o Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy (like Solar, Wind) and has a lower carbon footprint.

• Electricity splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.
• By Products : Water, Water Vapor.
o Brown hydrogen is produced using coal where the emissions are released to the air.
o Grey hydrogen is produced from natural gas where the associated emissions are released to the air.
o Blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas, where the emissions are captured using carbon capture and storage.

A psychoactive drug is a chemical substance that acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness and behavior.
The psychoactive drug like opium and marijuana also has therapeutic uses. But the fears of potential abuse have restricted them from being legalised.

Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly viral infectious disease that affects the nervous system.
o There are three individual and immunologically distinct wild poliovirus strains:
• Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1)
• Wild Poliovirus type 2 (WPV2)
• Wild Poliovirus type 3 (WPV3)
o Symptomatically, all three strains are identical, in that they cause irreversible paralysis or even death.
o However, there are genetic and virological differences, which make these three strains separate viruses which must each be eradicated individually.
 Spread:
o The virus is transmitted by person-to-person mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (for example, through contaminated water or food).
o It largely affects children under 5 years of age. The virus multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.
 Symptoms:
o Most people with polio do not feel sick. Some people have only minor symptoms, such as fever, tiredness, nausea, headache, pain in the arms and legs, etc.
o In rare cases, polio infection causes permanent loss of muscle function (paralysis).
o Polio can be fatal if the muscles used for breathing are paralysed or if there is an infection of the brain.

There is no cure, but it can be prevented through Immunisation.

What is Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?
• Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application of any participating bank. The interface has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• UPI is a payment system that allows money transfer between any two bank accounts by using a smartphone.
• UPI allows a customer to pay directly from a bank account to different merchants, both online and offline, without the hassle of typing credit card details, IFSC code, or net banking/wallet passwords.
• It merges several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
• It was launched in April 2016 and today, the platform has emerged as a popular choice among users for sending and receiving money.
• It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.
• In 2018, an upgraded version of UPI 2.0, was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

UPI is currently the biggest among the NPCI operated systems including National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), RuPay etc.