UPSC Exam: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Jan 06 - Jan 12

Sangai

• Manipur’s State animal, the brow-antlered deer or Sangai, which lives on the floating morass of Loktak Lake, is also fighting for survival with numbers down to around 200.

Kashmir stag

• It is listed as critically endangered under IUCN Red List.
• It is also called as hangul and it is the state animal of Kashmir.
• These are found in the high altitude regions of Northern India and Pakistan. Now it has been seen only in Dachigam National Park in Kashmir.
• The habitat destruction, over-grazing by domestic livestock, and poaching are the major threats faced by the Kashmir stag.

• One of the rarest species and undoubtedly one of the most endangered is the Great Indian Bustard, which is the State bird of Rajasthan.
• Endemic to Jaisalmer and Pokhran, its habitat was severely damaged by the nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998. Their numbers may be down to 60 in their home turf, says Mr Ranjitsinh.
• In Gujarat, not a single adult male has been sited. In the Naliya area of Kutch, the last bastion of the bustard in the State, power lines are pushing out the bird. In Maharashtra too, they are missing. The world population of the bird may be just 80.

• Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill of 2017 is a proposed new law for resolving financial entities’ bankruptcy. It also proposes scrapping the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) that guarantees repayment of all bank deposits up to Rs. 1,00,000 in case a stressed bank is liquidated. Instead of the DICGC, the Bill envisages a Resolution Corporation under the Finance Ministry with representatives from the stock market and banking, insurance and pension fund regulators.

Japan and India have announced an Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. It is aimed at creating sea corridors linking the countries of the Indo-Pacific to Africa.

Pradhan Mantri Matruvandana Yojana, which provides support to pregnant and lactating women, works under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Mission Indradhanush, which seeks to increase rates of complete immunisation of women and children, is under the Ministry of Health.

Changi naval base is a Singapore Naval base located near the Strait of Malacca. Recently Singapore has given access to the Changi base for Indian ships and Navy.

The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India. The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, state Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country. The Election Commission operates under the authority of Constitution per Article 324, and subsequently enacted Representation of the People Act. The Commission has the powers under the Constitution, to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of an election. At present, the Election Commission of India is a three-member body, with one Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. At present , the budget of Election commission is voted and approved by Parliament. Like the CAG and UPSC, the ECI wants its budget to be ‘charged’ to the Consolidated Fund as opposed to the current practice of being voted and approved.

“Double freeze” refers to a call to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula, frayed by launch of a powerful new ballistic by North Korea. China and Russia have proposed the “double freeze” or “double suspension” proposal.

The electric motor powering the car can reverse its role, becoming a generator and charging the battery. The generator load is the resistance that provides braking torque and it can be varied if you want to just bring down the speed, not stop the car altogether.

Both petrol and diesel are derived from crude oil, a mixture of hundreds of hydrocarbons — compounds containing mostly carbon and hydrogen, and some other elements like nitrogen and sulphur. Petrol and diesel are hydrocarbons too, petrol being lighter. Petrol has only carbon and hydrogen, and very few nitrogen atoms. It typically has chains of nine carbon atoms; diesel mostly comprises chains of 14 carbon atoms. Emissions from diesel vehicles, especially particulate matter and black carbon, are the major reasons for air pollution as well. Sulphates, like sulphur dioxide, released in the atmosphere may lead to acid rain. Amid rising concern about global warming in the 1990s, many countries had started shifting to diesels because they did not produce CO2. Diesel is much more harmful than petrol because of the composition of the fuel. When it burns, diesel produces more pollutants.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease affecting humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoans (a group of single-celled microorganisms) belonging to the Plasmodium type. The disease is most commonly transmitted by an infected female Anopheles mosquito. The mosquito bite introduces the parasites from the mosquito’s saliva into a person’s blood. The parasites travel to the liver where they mature and reproduce. Five species of Plasmodium can infect and be spread by humans. Most deaths are caused by P. falciparum because P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae generally cause a milder form of malaria.

Telecom Regulatory authority of India was established on 20 February 1997 by an Act of Parliament to regulate telecom services and tariffs in India. Earlier regulation of telecom services and tariffs was overseen by the Central Government. TRAI’s mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in India to enable the country to have a leading role in the emerging global information society. One of its main objectives is to provide a fair and transparent environment that promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition in the market. TRAI regularly issues orders and directions on various subjects such as tariffs, interconnections, quality of service, Direct To Home (DTH) services and mobile number portability.

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.

It comes under state government jurisdiction.

State list: Item no. 46: Taxes on agricultural income.

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.

The Dashavatara Temple or Vishnu Temple also called Gupta temple at Deogarh. It was built in the Gupta Period (320 to c. 600 AD ). Archaeologists have inferred that it is the earliest known Panchayatana temple in North India. A Hindu temple is a Panchayatana one when the main shrine is surrounded by four subsidiary shrines.

Global Wildlife Programme (GWP): The GWP, initiated in 2015, is a World-Bank led a partnership of 19 countries to promote the conservation and sustainable development by combating trafficking in wildlife.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index for India which details out the growth of various sectors in an economy such as mining, electricity and manufacturing. The all India IIP is a composite indicator that measures the short-term changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products during a given period with respect to that in a chosen base period. It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) six weeks after the reference month ends. The level of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an abstract number, the magnitude of which represents the status of production in the industrial sector for a given period of time as compared to a reference period of time. The base year was at one time fixed at 1993–94 so that year was assigned an index level of 100. The current base year is 2004-05. 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.  

Both fission and fusion are nuclear reactions that produce energy, but the applications are not the same. Fission is the splitting of a heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei, and fusion is the process where two light nuclei combine together releasing vast amounts of energy.

Bharatnatyam dance is known to be ekaharya, where one dancer takes on many roles in a single performance. In the early 19th century, the famous Tanjore Quartette, under the patronage of Raja Serfoji are said to have been responsible for the repertoire of Bharatnatyam dance as we see it today. The style was kept alive by the devadasis, who were young girls ‘gifted’ by their parents to the temples and who were married to the gods. The devadasis performed music and dance as offerings to the deities, in the temple courtyards. 

Definition of Child Mortality Rate: Probability of dying between birth and exactly five years of age expressed per 1,000 live births. India has the third highest child mortality rate among Saarc countries with 48 deaths reported per 1,000 live births. India’s child mortality rates declining aggressively.

Please see NCERT Notes: Indian National Congress Sessions

Please see Champaran Satyagraha

Please see NCERT Notes: The Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Please check NCERT Notes: Subhas Chandra Bose

Please see NCERT Notes: Poona Pact

Read more at Vinoba Bhave

musical tradition in North-West India

Cannabis sativa

increase the investment expenditure in the economy

 1, 2 and 5 only

To create autonomous regions in tribal areas

2 and 3 only

Read more at Directive Principles of State Policy

Please see Rajya Sabha

Please see NCERT Notes: Historical Background of the Constitution of India

Mizoram

All three.

All three

Only Statement 1 is correct.

The Basel Convention is for the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal.

12 persistent organic pollutants (that were initially listed under the Stockholm Convention).

All three

A tiger reserve has two zones namely, core and buffer. Human activity is allowed in the buffer zone.

Biosphere reserves are created by merely a notification and they do not require legislation. 

Blackbuck National Park is in Gujarat.

The 8 missions under NAPCC are: 

• National Solar Mission
• National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
• National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
• National Water Mission
• National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
• National Mission for a Green India
• National Mission fro Sustainable Agriculture
• National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia

Sumatra

When the government is going to the financial market to raise money, it can do it by issuing two types of debt instruments – treasury bills and government bonds. Treasury bills are issued when the government needs money for a shorter period while bonds are issued when it need debt for more than say five years. Treasury bills; generally shortened as T-bills, have a maximum maturity of 364 days. Hence, they are categorized as money market instruments (money market deals with funds with a maturity of less than one year). Treasury bills are presently issued in three maturities, namely, 91 day, 182 day and 364 day. Treasury bills are zero coupon securities and pay no interest. Rather, they are issued at a discount (at a reduced amount) and redeemed (given back money) at the face value at maturity. For example, a 91 day Treasury bill of Rs.100/- (face value) may be issued at say Rs. 98.20, that is, at a discount of say, Rs.1.80 and would be redeemed at the face value of Rs.100/-. This means that you can get a hundred-rupee treasury bill at a lower price and can get Rupees hundred at maturity. The return to the investors is the difference between the maturity value or the face value (that is Rs.100) and the issue price. The Reserve Bank of India conducts auctions usually every Wednesday to issue T-bills. The rational is that since their maturity is lower, it is more convenient to avoid intra period interest payments. Treasury bills are usually held by financial institutions including banks. They have a very important role in the financial market beyond investment instruments. Banks give treasury bills to the RBI to get money under repo. Similarly, they can keep it as part of SLR. 

China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a collection of infrastructure projects that are currently under construction throughout Pakistan. CPEC is intended to rapidly modernize Pakistani infrastructure and strengthen its economy by the construction of modern transportation networks, numerous energy projects, and special economic zones. A vast network of highways and railways are to be built under the aegis of CPEC that will span the length and breadth of Pakistan. Modern transportation networks built under CPEC will link seaports in Gwadar and Karachi with northern Pakistan, as well as points further north in western China and Central Asia. A 1,100-kilometre long motorway will be built between the cities of Karachi and Lahore as part of CPEC, while the Karakoram Highway between Rawalpindi and the Chinese border will be completely reconstructed and overhauled.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is a United Nations (UN) program headquartered in New York City that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. It was established on 11 December 1946.

To allow a discussion on a definite matter of urgent public importance

Project Dantak was raised in May 1961 in Eastern Bhutan. A humble beginning was made in bamboo huts and thatched roofs. Since then Project Dantak has not looked back. It has contributed to economic growth of Bhutan by not only developing roads and tele-communication net works but also other prestigious works throughout Bhutan. Over the years, Project Dantak has constructed 1500 Km of roads, airfields, a number of helipads, tele-communication network in Bhutan, Indo-Bhutan Microwave link, Bhutan Broadcasting Station, the prestigious India House Complex, Chukha Hydel Housing Complex, Hydel Sub-stations, river training works, Schools and Colleges.

Kudumbashree was launched by the Government of Kerala in 1998. Options 2 and 3 only.

1, 2, 5 and 6 only

All of the above

Both are correct.

Syria-Turkey

Yamuna