1. Who among the following was the head committee mandated to look into issues related to promoting online education?
a. Professor RC Kuhad
b. Professor Nageshwar Rao
c. Professor Anita Dongre
d. Professor Vaneet Vashisht
S-b
EXPLANATION-
• Professor Nageshwar Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was the head committee mandated to look into issues related to promoting online education.
• The committee had submitted its report.
• A meeting was held via video conferencing at the University Grants Commission (UGC) to discuss the report of expert committee and guidelines on exams, academic calendar for universities, the report of expert committee on promoting online education and suggestive implementation plan on its recommendations in view of Covid-19.
• Both reports, guidelines and implementation plan were discussed at length during the meeting and some suggestions were given by the Commission members. After appropriately incorporating all the suggestions given by them, UGC will soon issue the guidelines for universities and colleges.
2. Which of the following drug has been prescribed to the patients who have been discovered with mild COVID-19 symptoms and they are under home isolation ?
a. Ammoxycylin
b. Doxycycline
c. Hydroxychloroquine
d. Paracetamol
S-c
EXPLANATION-
• In tune with guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research, persons clinically categorised as having very mild or pre-symptomatic coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will have the option of home isolation provided they have the requisite facility at their residence.
• They will have to submit an undertaking to adhere to self-isolation norms.
• The patient should be clinically assigned as a very mild case/pre-symptomatic case by the treating medical officer. They should have requisite facilities at their residence for self-isolation and also for quarantining family members, and a well-ventilated single-room, preferably with an attached/separate toilet.
• A caregiver should be available 24 x 7, and a communication link between the caregiver and hospital is a prerequisite for the entire duration of home isolation. The caregiver and all close contacts should take hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis as per protocol and as prescribed by the treating medical officer. The patient and caregivers should be given a course of zinc, vitamin C/multivitamin tablets for 10 days including herbal concoctions nilavembu kudineer and kabasura kudineer.
3. Which of the following ministries/departments have launched the SVAMITVA scheme?
a. Niti Aayog, PMO, State Panchayati Raj Departments, State Revenue Departments and Survey of India
b. Niti Aayog, State Panchayati Raj Departments, State Revenue Departments and Survey of India
c. Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Departments, State Revenue Departments and Survey of India.
d. Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Departments, Union Finance Minister and Survey of India
S-c
EXPLANATION-
• Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Narendra Singh Tomar issued a detailed guideline of the SVAMITVA Scheme aimed at providing people residing in Rural parts with the right to document their residential properties.
• SVAMITVA scheme, a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Departments, State Revenue Departments and Survey of India, aims to provide an integrated property validation solution for rural India, engaging the latest Drone Surveying technology, for demarcating the inhabitant (Aabadi) land in rural areas.
• The aim of this program is to provide rural people with the right to document their residential properties so that they can use their property for economic purposes.
• This scheme will help in streamlining planning and revenue collection in rural areas and ensuring clarity on property rights. This will also help in resolving property related disputes.
• The scheme will enable creation of better-quality Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs), leveraging the maps created under this programme.
• The pilot phase of the scheme will extend to six states namely Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand covering approximately one lakh villages.
4. Which of the following robot has been designed to assist frontline COVID-19 healthcare warriors?
a. VCARD
b. HCARD
c. MCARD
d. SCARD
S-b
EXPLANATION-
• HCARD stands for Hospital Care Assistive Robotic Device.
• It is developed by Durgapur-based CSIR lab, Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute.
• The device is equipped with various state-of-the-art technologies and works both in automatic as well as manual modes of navigation.
• The robotic device can help frontline healthcare workers in maintaining physical distance from those infected by coronavirus.
• This robot can be controlled and monitored by a nursing booth with a control station having such features as navigation, drawer activation for providing medicines and food to patients, sample collection and audio-visual communication.
• The cost of this device is less than Rs 5 lakh and the weight is less than 80 kilograms.
5. Where are the Saranda Forest situated?
a. Jharkhand
b. Uttarakhand
c. Andhra Pradesh
d. Madhya Pradesh
S-a
EXPLANATION-
• Saranda forest is a dense forest in the hilly region of West Singhbhum district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.
• The Forest has been house to several medicinal plants, and the immunity booster drink prepared by the team comes from the same.
• With spreading pandemic of COVID-19, Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Sidha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) has come up with various measures to provide herbal drinks to strengthen the immunity in people to help them fight the viral infection.
• Under its directives, AYUSH Ministry has instructed officials of Saranda Forest Division in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand - a house to many medicinal plants, to come up with novel ideas from the long-practiced traditional herbal treatments.
• The department has come up with immunity booster herbal drinks made from barks of Arjun trees, Tulsi leaves, Guava leaves and other immune building herbs to be consumed by our frontline warriors.
