UPSC 2017: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz July 02 - 08

Constitution of Socialist Countries such as Russia.

• A viral infection that’s serious for small children but is easily preventable by a vaccine.

ADB Voting System and shares: The ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with members’ capital subscriptions. At the end of 2014, Japan holds the largest proportion of shares at 15.7%. The United States holds 15.6%, China holds 6.5%, India holds 6.4%, and Australia holds 5.8%.

What the draft MTP bill 2014 provides?

• The draft MTP increased the legal limit for abortion from 20 weeks to 24 weeks.
• It provides for abortion beyond 24 weeks under defined conditions.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan (the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh) and Rajeev Pratap Rudy (the Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship) has laid the foundation stone of the India’s biggest Global Skill Park in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on July 3, 2017. As per reports, 37 acre land has been allotted in Narela Shankari area of Bhopal for the Global Skill Park. The park will be constructed at a cost of Rs 645 crore. Training will be imparted to 1000 students every year by trainers of international standard. Trained students will be given placement in India and outside India at international level. The park will function on the spirit of ‘With Industry -For Industry’.

“In Karnataka, 51 of the 155 main market yards and 354 sub-yards have been integrated into a single licensing system. Rashtriya e-market Servies Ltd. (ReMS), a joint venture created by the State government and NCDEX Spot Exchange, offers automated auction and post auction facilities (weighting, invoicing, market fee collection, accounting), assaying facilities in the markets, facilitate warehouse-based sale of produce, facilitate commodity funding, price dissemination by leveraging technology. The wider geographical scope afforded by breaking up fragmented markets has enabled private sector investment in marketing infrastructure.”

An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International.Bombay Natural History Society is a partner of BirdLife International in India.

The exchange of the list of prisoners was made according to the Agreement on Consular Access between India and Pakistan. The agreement, reached on 21 May 2008, institutionalises prisoner exchange between the two countries. Accordingly, lists of nationals lodged in jails are to be exchanged twice each year, on January 1 and July 1.

Bawadis are huge open wells of water with or without steps.

Magnetite is the finest iron ore with a very high content of iron up to 70 per cent. It has excellent magnetic qualities, especially valuable in the electrical industry. Hematite ore is the most important industrial iron ore in terms of the quantity used, but has slightly lower iron content than magnetite (50-60 per cent).

Over 85 per cent of the iron ore produced in Goa is of low-grade. Compared to Goa, over 90 per cent of the ore produced in the other four major states producing iron ore — Chhatisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka and Jharkhand — is of a higher grade with ferrous content of more than 60 per cent.

• Doka La, a pass in Sikkim, which falls in the vicinity of Chumbi Valley at the corner of India-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction.
• Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it to be part of its Donglang region.

The Registrar of Companies

• The Registrar of Companies (ROC) is an office under the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs that deals with administration of the Companies Act 1956 and Companies Act, 2013.
• There are currently 22 Registrars of Companies (ROC) operating from offices in all major states of India.
• Some states, such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, have two ROCs each. Section 609 of the Companies Act, 1956 tasks the ROCs with the primary duty of registering companies and LLPs- limited liability partnership, floated in the respective states and the union territories under their administration.

The historic Taj bawadi (huge open wells), built during the Adil Shahi era (1490-1686) in Vijayapura in Karnataka was a filthy cesspool, with the polluted water unfit for any use

‘Atmiyata’:

• Similar project like iBobbly in India
• Meaning: Compassion in Sanskrit.
• This project involves using short films loaded on a basic Android app as a training tool to enable a bunch of villagers to identify mental health disorders.
• The project was rolled out in the Peth block of Nashik district, Maharashtra, in December 2013, making mental health care accessible to many in this part for the first time

The newly identified IBAs of Kerala are Achencoil Forest Division; Anamudi Shola National Park; Camel’s Hump Mountain, Wayanad; Kurinjimala Wildlife Sanctuary; Malayattoor Reserve Forest; Mankulam Forest Division; Mathikettan Shola National Park; Muthikulam-Siruvani; and Pampadum Shola National Park.

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.

The Coriolis effect influences the paths of moving objects on Earth and is caused by Earth s rotation. Because Earths surface rotates at different velocities at different latitudes, objects in motion tend to veer to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. The Coriolis effect is nonexistent at the equator but increases with latitude, reaching a maximum at the poles.

• 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

• The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Third Amendment) Bill seeks to grant the National Commission on Backward Classes (NCBC) constitutional status, at par with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

• It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.
• It provides for development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution, and which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centred learning.

• Armenia is a landlocked country. 

Ramman is a religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal region, Uttarkhand. It is a festival of the Hindu community in the Saloor Dungra village in the Chamoli district of Uttarkhand. The festival and the eponymous art form are conducted as an offering to the village deity, Bhumiyal Devta.

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.

Composition and service conditions:  Under the Constitution Amendment Bill, the NCBC will comprise of five members appointed by the President.  Their tenure and conditions of service will also be decided by the President through rules.

Germany currently chairs the Group of 20.