UPSC 2017: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz April 23 - 29

“The dispute over the hydroelectric project on the Kishanganga, a tributary of the Jhelum, is not new. Pakistan took it to the Court of Arbitration in 2010…”. Also, the Ratle project is a run-off the river hydroelectric project under construction on River Chenab.

Explanation: Section 139AA inserted in the Income Tax Act: Makes Aadhaar mandatory for getting a PAN. Possession of an Aadhaar card is necessary for the continuing validity of an existing PAN and for filing returns under the income tax law.

There shall be endorsed on every Money Bill when it is transmitted to the Council of States under Article 109, and when it is presented to the President for assent under Article 111, the certificate of the Speaker of the House of the People signed by him that it is a Money Bill.

Article 110. Definition of Money Bill

(1) For the purposes of this Chapter, a Bill shall be deemed to be a Money Bill if it contains only provisions dealing with all or any of the following matters, namely

(a) the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax;

(b) the regulation of the borrowing of money or the giving of any guarantee by the Government of India, or the amendment of the law with respect to any financial obligations undertaken or to be undertaken by the Government of India;

(c) the custody of the consolidated Fund or the Contingency Fund of India, the payment of moneys into or the withdrawal of moneys from any such Fund;

(d) the appropriation of moneys out of the consolidated Fund of India;

(e) the declaring of any expenditure to be expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or the increasing of the amount of any such expenditure;

(f) the receipt of money on account of the Consolidated Fund of India or the public account of India or the custody or issue of such money or the audit of the accounts of the Union or of a State; or

(g) any matter incidental to any of the matters specified in sub clause (a) to (f)

(2) A Bill shall not be deemed to be a Money Bill by reason only that it provides for the imposition of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the demand or payment of fees for licences or fees for services rendered, or by reason that it provides for the imposition, abolition, remission, alteration or regulation of any tax by any local authority or body for local purposes

(3) If any question arises whether a Bill is a Money Bill or not, the decision of the Speaker of the House of the People thereon shall be final

(4) There shall be endorsed on every Money Bill when it is transmitted to the Council of States under Article 109, and when it is presented to the President for assent under Article 111, the certificate of the Speaker of the House of the People signed by him that it is a Money Bill

India and South Korea signed two agreements:

• One among them is to build artillery guns for the Army – K9 Vajra-T tracked, self-propelled artillery guns.

The Guidelines on Fair Trade Practices Related to Charging of Service Charge from Consumers by Hotels and Restaurants-

• The government approved new guidelines which gives consumers the right to decide service charge they wish to voluntarily pay on a hotel or restaurant bill.
• While the new norms provide relief to those dining out, the hotel industry is not likely to take it lying down as they feel being singled out.
• The new guidelines has been issued in public interest to protect consumers right
• Mandatory levy of service charge amounts to unfair trade practice.
• Hotels and restaurants should not decide how much service charge is to be paid by the customer and it should be left to the discretion of the customer.
• The (food) bill presented to the customer may clearly display that the service charge is voluntary and the service charge column of the bill may be left blank for the customer to fill before making payment.
• The guidelines made it clear that a component of service is inherent in provision of food and beverages ordered by a customer and pricing of the product is expected to cover both goods and service components.
• Placing of an order by a customer amounts to his or her agreement to pay the prices displayed on the menu card along with the applicable taxes. Charges for anything other than the aforementioned without express consent of the customer would amount to unfair trade practices as defined under the Act
• Tip or gratuity paid by customers is towards hospitality received by them beyond the basic minimum service already contracted between them and the hotel management.It is a separate transaction between the customer and the staff of the hotel or restaurant, which is entered into at the customers discretion.
• Customers can assess quality of service and decide whether or not to pay tip only after having the meal, the order said it is “not correct” if a hotel or restaurant considers that entry of a customer to its premises amounts to his or her implied consent to pay service charge.
• Any restriction on the entry into a hotel based on this amounts to restrictive trade practice as defined under the Act.

Germany currently chairs the Group of 20

• Researchers have discovered a new cause of high blood pressure
• New cause – Connshing syndrome which is linked to the over production of the stress hormone cortisol.

More aerosol in atmosphere results in heavier rainfall

• Earlier belief: pre-monsoon aerosol loading results in decrease in seasonal rainfall due to aerosol-solar radiation interactions.
• New Findings:
• Long-term (2002-2013) satellite observational study and model-based analysis by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has found that higher aerosol loading results in delayed but more rainfall over Central and Northern India.
• Higher aerosol loading changes cloud properties in terms of size (both height and width) and microphysics, which results in more rainfall.
• When aerosol particles are higher, the number of nucleation sites increases resulting in far too many number of droplets. Under such circumstances, it takes time for the droplets to grow in size through condensation.

• An effective vaccine exists for hepatitis B. Whereas hepatitis C has no vaccines
• Hepatitis is often symptom-free, but types B and C can trigger liver cirrhosis and cancer if untreated.
• Hepatitis B — which is spread through bodily fluids such as blood and semen
• Hepatitis C, primarily spread through blood. Most commonly spread through unsafe injections, notably among drug users

NITI Aayog or the National Institution for Transforming India is a Government of India policy think-tank established by the Narendra Modi government to replace the Planning Commission which followed the top-down model.

The stated aim for NITI Aayog’s creation is to foster involvement and participation in the economic policy-making process by the State Governments of India.

The emphasis is on bottom-up approach and make the country to move towards cooperative federalism .

 The Union Government of India announced the formation of NITI Aayog on 1 January 2015, and the first meeting was held on 8 February 2015.

The Prime Minister serves as the Ex-officio chairman.

Stereolithography is a form of 3D-printing technology used for creating models, prototypes, patterns and production parts in a layer by layer fashion using photopolymerisation, a process by which light causes chains of molecules to link, forming polymers.

The Agreement does not create any obligations on either Party to carry out any joint activity. It does not provide for the establishment of any bases or basing arrangements.

The Agreement will significantly enhance the operational capacity of the Indian Armed Forces, including in their response to humanitarian crises or disaster relief.

The governing council consists of all state Chief Ministers,Lieutenant Governors of union territories,and vice chairman nominated by the Prime Minister. In addition to full members, there are two part-time members and four ex-officio members and a chief executive officer. The temporary members are selected from the leading universities and research institutions.

The associated countries are Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar

“The law now provides for a five-member panel to select the anti-corruption ombudsman, comprising the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Justice of India and an eminent jurist. The hitch is that there is no recognised LoP in the lower House.”

The “ICCR has not only instituted this award, but also co-ordinated with counterparts in other countries to take this initiative further”. The first Indologists’ Conference was hosted by the President at his residence. The 2nd Indologists’ Conference is being hosted in the People’s Republic of China (this year).”

An international team led by geologists at University of Leicester in the UK has made the first estimate of the sheer size of the physical structure of the planet’s technosphere. It is a major new phenomenon of this planet – and one that is evolving extraordinarily rapidly.

It is comprised of all of the structures that humans have constructed to keep them alive on the planet – from houses, factories and farms to computer systems, smartphones and CDs, to the waste in landfills and spoil heaps.

Researchers suggest that the bulk of the planet’s technosphere is staggering in scale, with some 30 trillion tonnes representing a mass of more than 50 kilogrammes for every square metre of the Earth’s surface.

Where does waste-to-energy fit in Solid Waste Management?

Ideally, it fits in the chain after segregation (between wet waste and the rest), collection, recycling, and before getting to the landfill, although this is not always the case. The energy from waste is a crucial element of waste management because it reduces the volume of waste for disposal and also helps in converting the waste into renewable energy and organic manure. It is not necessarily the most efficient or most economical means of generating energy.

“Biomethanation is a process in which biological or organic compounds are degraded to generate biogas and manure. Biogas is a mixture containing carbon dioxide and methane in varying proportions and a small quantity of hydrogen sulfide gas. Methane is a harmful gas if released in the environment as it is one of the four major gases responsible for global warming. But it is an excellent fuel”. Biomethanation is an example of a first step in the waste-to-energy generation process.

The rule that the Speaker can recognise as LoP only the leader of the principal opposition party that has 10 per cent of the total number of Lok Sabha seats is based on precedent.

The only legal provision defining the ‘Leader of the Opposition’ is a 1977 law concerning the office-holder’s salary. The definition says the LoP shall be the leader of the party in opposition with “the greatest numerical strength” and “recognised as such by the Speaker”.

It was in 1969 that an official LoP was recognised for the first time. The LoP in both, Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, were accorded statutory recognition in 1977.

The Central Statistical Organisation, which is responsible for the preparation of national accounts, is an organisation under the aegis of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

 Moreh located in Manipur

Tamu located in Myanmar

Article 342. Scheduled Tribes

(1) The President may with respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or Union territory, as the case may be

(2) Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Tribes specified in a notification issued under clause ( 1 ) any tribe or tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal community, but save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification

China is not a member. “It was India that took the diplomatic initiative at the beginning of this decade to revive the moribund idea of Indian Ocean regionalism. That move suggested that Delhi’s sea-blindness was finally giving way to a belated recognition of the nation’s maritime imperative. India’s growing sea-borne trade and a historic power shift in the Indian Ocean compelled Delhi to pay greater attention to securing a sustainable regional order in the vast littoral.”

“With nearly 60% of all new cases of leprosy every year being recorded in India, the Indian government has launched an intensive programme to eliminate the dreaded disease.”

“Prof Gursaran Prasad Talwar first developed the Mycobacterium indicus pranii (MIP) vaccine in the 1980s at the National Institute of Immunology, an autonomous state-funded institution under the government’s Department of Biotechnology.”

“An ambitious house-to-house survey was also launched in July and the Leprosy Case Detection Campaign promises to screen more than 32 million people in problem areas. Dr Swaminathan, who says the vaccine is totally safe, highlights its effective use for other treatments, including bladder cancer.”

“But vaccination is only part of the solution. Sanitation must be improved too. Transmission is human-to-human contact, but we think environment is also playing a role. Dr Sengupta, who has studied the disease for more than 40 years, points to findings that show how the bacteria that causes leprosy – Mycobacterium leprae – can live outside a host for prolonged periods in wet soils and pools of water.”

Mission Kakatiya

• Flagship programme of Telangana State government

Aim

• Desilting and restoration of tanks in rural areas.

Key improvement

• Research by groundwater department found a significant rise in water table levels wherever tanks were restored.

NASA’s super balloon lifts off to collect near space data

• A stadium-sized pressure balloon launched by NASA in New Zealand began collecting data in near space (It will collect data from 34 km above the earth).
• The balloon, designed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to detect ultra-high energy cosmic particles from beyond the galaxy as they penetrate the earth’s atmosphere, is expected to circle the planet two or three times.
• The balloon’s monitoring was only the start of a long quest which would next involve a space mission currently being designed by NASA.

Gasification is a process that converts organic or fossil fuel based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This is achieved by reacting the material at high temperatures (>700 °C), without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam. The resulting gas mixture is called syngas (from synthesis gas) or producer gas and is itself a fuel.

It comes under state government jurisdiction.

State list

Item no. 46: Taxes on agricultural income.

The World Wildlife Fund, which has created a network called the India Water Stewardship Network and Alliance for Water Stewardship, “to ensure sustainable water management”.