UPSC 2017: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz April 30 - May 06

Following are the advantages of neem coated urea

• Neem coating leads to more gradual release of urea, helping plants gain more nutrient and resulting in higher yields.
• Lower underground water contamination due to leaching of urea.
• Neem serves as a natural insecticide Collection of neem seeds is needed for manufacturing of neem coated urea. This would generate employments in rural areas. Neem-coating will help check heavily subsidized urea’s pilferage to chemical industry and other uses such as making of adulterated milk.

Armenia is a landlocked country.

Composition of the GST Council: The GST Council is to consist of the following three members: (i) the Union Finance Minister (as Chairman), (ii) the Union Minister of State in charge of Revenue or Finance, and (iii) the Minister in charge of Finance or Taxation or any other, nominated by each state government.

Cassini finishes first dive between Saturn rings

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has successfully executed its historic first-ever dive through the narrow gap between the planet Saturn and its rings, marking the beginning of the ‘Grand Finale’ of the 20-year-long journey. The spacecraft is in the process of beaming back science data collected during its passage.

 “Appreciating the need for media campaign for raising awareness about antibiotics, Shri J P Naddalaunched the “Medicines with the Red Line” media campaign at the function which creates awareness regarding rational usage of medicines which carry a red line on their strip.

The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) forms the core of the legal framework put in place by India to combat money laundering. It came into force in 2005.

Objectives

1. The PMLA seeks to combat money laundering in India and has three main objectives:
2. To prevent and control money laundering
3. To confiscate and seize the property obtained from the laundered money; and
4. To deal with any other issue connected with money laundering in India

PMLA defines money laundering offence and provides for the freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of crime.

Salient Features :

• RBI, SEBI and IRDA have been brought under the PMLA, and therefore the provisions of this act are applicable to all financial institutions, banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, and their financial intermediaries.
• The agency monitoring the anti-Money laundering activities in India is the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND). This unit is responsible for receiving, processing, analysing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions. FIU-IND is also responsible for coordinating and strengthening efforts of national and international intelligence, investigation and enforcement agencies in pursuing the global efforts against money laundering and related crimes.
• FIU-IND is an independent body reporting directly to the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC) headed by the Finance Minister.
• Punishment for offence of money laundering: There can be punishment of imprisonment upto 3-7 years with fine upto 5 lakh rupees. But in case of offences done under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act 1985, maximum punishment is extent to 10 years rather than 7 years.

The Uttarakhand High Court had earlier this year accorded the status of “living human entities” to the Ganga and Yamuna rivers to help in their “preservation and conservation”.

India is party to a UNAIDS programme under which it must implement the 90-90-90’ strategy; diagnose 90% of HIV-infected people in India; put 90% of cases on ART; and achieve viral suppression among 90% of the ART recipients. For early detection of treatment failure, and to achieve the 90-90-90 target by 2020, NACO wants a million viral load tests a year.

DigiYatra plan– paperless travel for air passengers, including digital boarding passes at airports.

Urjit patel committe was formed by RBI to suggest the monetry policy framework.

70% of the amount collected from buyers for a project must be maintained in a separate bank account and must only be used for construction of that project.  The state government can alter this amount to less than 70%.

The Act establishes state level tribunals called Real Estate Appellate Tribunals.  Decisions of RERAs can be appealed in these tribunals.

The GSAT-09 offers a full range of applications and services in telecommunication and broadcasting: Television, Direct-to-Home (DTH), Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), Tele-education, Telemedicine and Disaster Management Support.

The 2,230-kg satellite was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation and has 12 Ku-band transponders. It is cuboid in shape and built around a central cylinder.

 It has a mission life of over 12 years.

It will be launched from on the Geostationary Launch Vehicle Mk-II.

The ‘National Trade Fair – Organics & Millets 2017’ is a national conference and exposition on vista of opportunities in agriculture and horticulture, processing and marketing. The event offers an excellent opportunity for farmers, buyers, sellers, exporters of organic produce and millets. This fair also facilitates organic product processors, manufacturers of farm equipments and others to showcase their respective products and expertise in organic and millet related areas

It was recently held in Bengaluru.

• The new technique of using the bacteria to get rid of oil spill has been called “Oil Zapping”.
• Oil Zapping is a bio-remediation technique involving the use of ‘oil zapping’ bacteria. It was recently employed to clean up the Mumbai shoreline affected by the oil spill that occurred in August 2010.
• The Mumbai Oil Spill happened when a merchant vessel M V Khalijia collided with a cargo ship MSC Chitra 10 km off the coast of Mumbai
• The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board used the services of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) which has developed the oil zapping bacteria. TERI had developed this technique over a period of seven years. The Oil Zapping project was supported by the Department of Biotechnology (Government of India) and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

How does Oil Zapper Work? There are five different bacterial strains that are immobilized and mixed with a carrier material such as powdered corncob. This mixture of five bacteria is called Oil Zapper. Oilzapper feeds on hydrocarbon compounds present in crude oil and the hazardous hydrocarbon waste generated by oil refineries, known as Oil Sludge and converts them into harmless CO2 and water. The Oilzapper is neatly packed into sterile polythene bags and sealed aseptically for safe transport. The shelf life of the product is three months at ambient temperature. The technique was used successfully and 130,000 tons of oily sludge/ oil contaminated soil was treated as per the leading news sources.

• GIBs, listed as critically endangered under the wildlife Act, 1972 and under IUCN’s Red data book
• Great Indian Bustard breeding centre to be set up in Kota- India’s first captive breeding centre for Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) — Rajasthan’s state bird — will be set up at Sorsan in Kota district, and a hatchery centre at Nokh in Jaisalmer.

“Gauvansh Chikitsa Mobile Vans”  In the initial phase, the service will be available in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Mathura and Allahabad of U.P

: Vitamin A can lead to poor vision, infections, and skin problems.

The famous biennial Thakurani Jatra festival was recently held in Berhampur (Odisha).

• The Centre is planning to build an aerotropolis in Assam and has sought 2,000 acres from the state for the purpose.
• An aerotropolis is a metropolitan subregion where the layout, infrastructure, and economy are centered on an airport which serves as a multimodal “airport city” commercial core.

The global probiotics (or beneficial bacteria) industry has already started using certain species of bacteria as healing or curative agents. Mother Dairy, Amul, Danone Yakult, and Nestle India are among the leading producers of probiotic functional foods and beverages in India.

• Currently, the IIP is calculated on base year of 2004-05.
• IIP is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) six weeks after the reference month ends.

The Eight Core Industries comprise nearly 38 % of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). These are Electricity , steel, refinery products, crude oil, coal, cement, natural gas and fertilisers.

The overreaching vision of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) is to ensure access to some means of protective irrigation to all agricultural farms in the country, to produce ‘per drop more crop’, thus bringing much desired rural prosperity.