UPSC Exam Weekly Gk Current Affairs Quiz Mar24 Mar30

A Federal Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution

Preamble to the Constitution

Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister

Executive is responsible to Legislature

in times of Emergency

The National Mission for Green India (GIM) is one of the 8 Missions outlined under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). Its objectives are protecting; restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures. It envisages a holistic view of greening and focuses on multiple ecosystem services, especially, biodiversity, water, biomass, preserving mangroves, wetlands, critical habitats etc. along with carbon sequestration as a co-benefit. This mission has adopted an integrated multi-sectoral approach as it will be implemented in both public as well as private lands with a key role for the local population in planning, decision making, implementation and monitoring.

International solar alliance (ISA) includes an alliance of 121 countries located between tropic of cancer and tropic of Capricorn.

Protection of Western Ghats

1 and 2 only are correct statements.

1 and 3 only are correct.

Air quality index (AQI) takes into account Particulate matter (pm) -10 and 2.5, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, CO, ozone, Ammonia and Lead.
National Ambient Air Quality by Ministry of Environment and forest categorizes air pollution into 6 categories by considering 8 pollutants
These pollutants are:

• PM 10
• PM2.5
• NO2
• SO2
• CO
• O3
• NH3
• PB 

Methane CH4 is not in list
These 8 pollutants are analyzed for measuring Air Quality Index in India

UNFCCC deals with climate change and individual countries will voluntarily decide the amount of contribution they will make.INDCs refer to the post 2020 climate action commitments by parties and form the foundation of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Annex-1 countries and certified emission reductions (CER) are part of Kyoto protocol and not Cartagena and Nagoya protocols.

Standards and tools for companies and organizations to manage their GHG emissions and become more efficient, resilient, and prosperous.

All are correct.

‘Abhijnanasakuntalam’ was composed by Kalidasa.

Both 1 and 2 are correct.

Bauxite

 Finance Minister

Both are correct

All three

leaching

In contour plowing, the land is plowed across the slopes and along the contour lines. The second statement pertains to terrace farming.

Black soil found in the Deccan

The displacement of rock strata has disturbed the arrangement of rock and made it complex.

Bhavnagar has a tidal power project.

Both are correct.

Karma

Mahavibhasha Sutra. See more on Buddhist Councils.

the Mauryas

All four

excess of Aggregate Demand over Aggregate Supply at the full employment level

US Dollar

income on which payment of tax is usually evaded

2 and 3 only

All four.

International Bank of Reconstruction and Development

Both are correct.

Australia Group

• The Australia Group is a multilateral export control regime (MECR) and an informal group of countries (now joined by the European Commission) established in 1985 (after the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 1984) to help member countries to identify those exports which need to be controlled so as not to contribute to the spread of chemical and biological weapons.
• With the incorporation of India on January 19, 2018, it now has 43 members, including Australia, the European Commission, all 28 member states of the European Union, Ukraine, and Argentina. The name comes from Australia’s initiative to create the group. Australia manages the secretariat.
• The initial members of the group had different assessments of which chemical precursors should be subject to export control. Later adherents initially had no such controls.
• Today, members of the group maintain export controls on a uniform list of 54 compounds, including several that are not prohibited for export under the Chemical Weapons Convention, but can be used in the manufacture of chemical weapons.
• The first was the no-undercut requirement, which stated that any member of the group considering making an export to another state that had already been denied an export by any other member of the group must first consult with that member state before approving the export.
• The second was the catch-all provision, which requires member states to halt all exports that could be used by importers in chemical or biological weapons programs, regardless of whether the export is on the group’s control lists. Delegations representing the members meet every year in Paris, France.

• India becoming a member of the ‘Australia Group’ (AG), in the field of non-proliferation and also help it acquires critical technologies.
• India’s membership of the MTCR, Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group reaffirmed the country’s strong non-proliferation credentials also our commitment to global peace and security.
• India is now a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) as well as the AG, three of four non-proliferation regimes. The only one remaining is the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

• Seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth’s axis. When the tilted North Pole points towards the sun, the Northern Hemisphere has summer. It gets more of the sun’s rays.
• When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter.
• The Daylight Saving Time was ideated to take advantage of this ‘extra’ daylight. Some countries reset their clocks an hour ahead, so that people will begin and complete their daily work routine an hour earlier.
• Longer daylight encourages and enables them to engage in leisure, shopping and physical activities. This will not only help businesses, but will also keep people happy and healthy.
• Further, the longer the brightness in the evening hours, the lesser the need for artificial lighting. This will help reduce energy consumption.
• It’s a practice by which all the clocks in these places are moved forward by an hour during the summer months and brought back during the winter.
• The reason behind this is to take advantage of the longer-lasting sunlight in summer and save energy.

Goals of NHP 2017 include

• Increase Life Expectancy at birth from 67.5 to 70 by 2025.
• Reduction of TFR to 2.1 at national and sub-national level by 2025.
• Increase health expenditure by Government as a percentage of GDP from the existing 1.1 5 % to 2.5 % by 2025

The Parliament has been established by the constitution of India giving its structure, functions, powers, responsibilities, etc.
But, the business proceedings of the Parliament are conducted as mentioned in the Parliament rule books, conventions, etc. The constitution does not detail out the business procedure of Parliament.

There are 4 key terms that are emerging in the discourse of nanotechnology:
Nanobacteria: Nanobacteria are nano-sized in that they are from 20—200 nanometres (run) in size and are the smallest known self-replicating bacteria.
Nanoemulsion: Nanoemulsions are a class of extremely small droplets that appear to be transparent or translucent with a bluish colouration. They are usually in the range 50 to 200 nm but much smaller than the range (from 1 to 100 pm) for conventional emulsions.
Nanog: Nanog is a key pluripotency regulator critically important in the process of self-renewal of undifferentiated stem cells. It is encoded by the NANOG gene.
Nanogels: Nanogels are composed of cross-linked three-dimensional polymer chain networks that are formed via covalent linkages or self-assembly processes.

A writ means an order. A warrant is also a type of writ. Anything that is issued under an authority is a writ.
In this sense, using the power conferred by Article 32 and 226, the Supreme Court and High courts issue directions, orders or writs.
Where SC can issue writs only for enforcement of fundamental rights, H.C can also use it to enforce legal rights.

‘Vajra Prahar’ is an Indo-US Special Forces joint training exercise conducted alternately in India and the US.

• Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana is a State Plan Scheme of Additional Central Assistance launched in August 2007 as a part of the 11th Five Year Plan by the Government of India.
• Launched under the aegis of the National Development Council, it seeks to achieve 4% annual growth in agriculture through development of Agriculture and its allied sectors during the period under the 11th Five Year Plan (2007–11).
• It was started to incentivize the states in order to increase their investment in Agriculture and allied sectors
• The scheme encourages convergence with other programmes such as NREGS
• The pattern of funding is 100% Central Government Grant

Sholas are the local name for patches of stunted tropical montane forest found in valleys amid rolling grassland in the higher montane regions of South India. These patches of shola forest are found mainly in the valleys and are usually separated from one another by undulating montane grassland. The shola and grassland together form the shola-grassland complex or mosaic. The shola-forest and grassland complex has been described as a climatic climax vegetation with forest regeneration and expansion restricted by climatic conditions such as frost or soil characteristics while others have suggested that it may have anthropogenic origins in the burning and removal of forests by early herders and shifting agriculturists. Shola forests are found in the higher altitude hill regions of the Nilgiris, Kanyakumari district, Idukki district, the Western Ghats and associated ranges in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Although generally said to occur above 2000 meters above sea level, shola forests can be found at 1600 meters elevation in many hill ranges.

EFTA is a regional trade organisation and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. EFTA was established to serve as an alternative trade bloc for those European states that were unable or unwilling to join the then European Economic Community (EEC) (which subsequently became the European Union). The organisation operates in parallel with the European Union (EU), and all four members participate in the European single market.

Both are correct. FarmerZone has been envisioned by the DBT and aligns with our PM’s call for effective decision-making in agriculture that integrates science, technology, innovation and the farm ecosystem. It is a collective open-source data platform for smart agriculture which will use biological research and data to improve the lives of small and marginal farmers. It is envisaged that “FarmerZone” will help cater to all needs of the farmer, from dealing with climate change, weather predictions and soil, water, and seed requirements to providing market intelligence.

Both are correct.

Tamil Nadu

Most of the rivers of peninsular India are perennial

Iltutmish

Village functionaries

Debendranath Tagore – Tatvabodhini Sabha

Untouchability

• It is a Ministry of Mines organisation
• The main functions of GSI relate to creation and updation of national geoscientific information and mineral resource assessment.
• These objectives are achieved through ground surveys, air-borne and marine surveys, mineral prospecting and investigations, multi-disciplinary geoscientific, geo-technical, geo-environmental and natural hazards studies, glaciology, seismotectonic study, and carrying out fundamental research.
• GSI, headquartered at Kolkata.