QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 05 January 2017

Solution: d.
A similar question was posted here last August.

UN: Sanctions 1267;

Improvisation: TH: Running into the Chinese wall;

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Solution: a.

Question framed from a mains-perspective.

“It is significant that among the P5, the U.S., U.K. and France co-sponsored India’s resolution against Azhar, China vetoed it, but Russia, India’s traditional backer, did nothing at all. At the BRICS summit in October and the Heart of Asia conference in December, it was the Russia-China combine that kept India’s desire for tough statements on “cross-border terrorism” from Pakistan at bay, and it was the Russian envoy who told India not to use “multilateral forums for bilateral issues”…”

TH: Running into the Chinese wall;

Solution: a.
“China’s recent moves, of positioning air defence weapons on a reclaimed island in the South China Sea, forays by fighters and bombers over the East China Sea, and even sending its aircraft carrier Liaoning to Hainan via the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and Philippines, have sent an unwelcome message to its neighbours..”

The Bashi Channel is a waterway between Y’Ami Island of the Philippines and Orchid Island of Taiwan. It is a part of the Luzon Strait (which links the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea) in the Pacific Ocean.

TH: Arms and the region;

Wikipedia: Bashi Channel;

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Solution: c.

“TeamIndus is flying to the Moon in 2017 and is carrying one youth experiment on board our Spacecraft. In our quest to catalyze humankind as a multi-planetary species, we invite youth under 25 years toimagine, design and build an experiment that will help us build sustainable life on the Moon… Team Indus, run by Bengaluru-based aerospace start-up Axiom Research Labs, said that as many as 3000 teams from around the world participated in this competition.”

Team Indus: Lab2Moon;

TH: TI startup looks at brewing beer on the moon;

Solution: b.

• “A new hurdle has come in the way of the marquee Ken-Betwa river interlink project in its terms of financing. The NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) has recommended that Madhya Pradesh contribute 40 per cent of the project cost, with the Centre contributing 60 per cent. The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has opposed this and requested that 90 per cent of the funds be routed through the Centre.”
• The Rs. 10,000-crore Ken-Betwa project will irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region but, in the process, also submerge about 10 per cent of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, feted as a model tiger conservation reserve.

TH: Ken-Betwa river-linking project faces new hurdle;

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Solution: d.

• The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana, or IGMSY — was begun by the UPA 2 government in October 2010 on a pilot basis in 53 districts. The National Food Security Act, 2013, made it incumbent upon the incoming NDA government to ensure universal coverage under the scheme.
• It is a conditional cash transfer scheme applicable to pregnant and lactating women of ages 19 and above for up to 2 living children.
• The scheme originally provided Rs 4,000 to each beneficiary through her anganwadi centre, in all districts selected for the pilot project.
• All women are eligible, unless they have already received paid leave and maternity benefits from their employers in the private or government sector.
• The scheme is aimed at arresting high maternal mortality rates by encouraging institutional delivery and ensuring proper nutrition for the mother and child.
• It is also meant to offset wage losses suffered by women due to pregnancy, and is especially important for women in the unorganised sector, who make up 90% of the country’s female workforce.
• Section 4 (b) of the National Food Security Act, which came into force on September 10, 2013, states that every pregnant and lactating mother would be entitled to “maternity benefit of not less than Rupees six thousand”.
• On September 27 that year, the maternity benefit under the IGMSY was enhanced to Rs 6,000 in the 53 districts where it was ongoing. But universal implementation was not supported by commensurate Budget allocation.
• The scheme has retained the condition that the woman must not have more than 2 living children. Several civil society organisations have asked for such conditions to be removed so that the scheme could be truly effective.

IE: Maternity benefit scheme: Where things stand now;

Solution: b.

• The Ananthsayanam Ayyangar Committee (1949-50) report looked at the way the Criminal Tribes Act had worked throughout India… its recommendations led to the repeal of the CTA in August 1952.
• The Ayyangar Committee recommended, “The Criminal Tribes Act, 1924, should be replaced by a Central legislation applicable to all habitual offenders without any distinction based on caste, creed or birth.” Thus, the provisions of the replacement legislation were meant to be similar to the CTA, but identification shifted to the individual, rather than the collective category.
• There are certainly state-level statutes on habitual offenders…. contrary to popular perception, there never was a Union-level statute. After the CTA repeal, the Union government had a model bill. States used this as a template…

The following article discusses the “unfortunate legacy” of many ‘denotified tribes’ remaining unclassified: IE: An unfortunate legacy;