QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 25 April 2017

Solution: c.

Ghana opens out to the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean and Kenya, to the India Ocean

• The RTS,S vaccine trains the immune system to attack the malaria parasite, which is spread by mosquito bites.
• The vaccine needs to be given four times – once a month for three months and then a fourth dose 18 months later. This has been achieved in tightly controlled and well-funded clinical trials, but it is not yet clear if it can be done in the “real-world” where access to health care is limited.
• It is why the WHO is running pilots in three countries to see if a full malaria vaccine programme could be started. It will also continue to assess the safety and effectiveness of the vaccination.
• In children aged between 5 and 17 months, the four doses have been shown to prevent nearly four in ten cases of malaria. This is much lower than approved vaccines for other conditions.

BBC: Malaria – Kenya, Ghana and Malawi get first vaccine; Th;

Solution: d.

Britannica: Caucasus – region and mountains, Eurasia;

Improvisation: PIB;

Solution: d.

• The Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 and the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in Ministries/ Departments of the Government by ensuring adherence to these rules.
• The Secretariat assists in decision-making in Government by ensuring Inter-Ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst Ministries/ Departments and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the standing/ adhoc Committees of Secretaries. Through this mechanism new policy initiatives are also promoted.

Cabsec: Origin;

Improvisation: PIB;

Solution: a.

“The Centre is set to launch a scheme for students from higher educational institutions to volunteer to offer innovative, original and practical solutions to problems facing the country and get rewarded for their efforts. The Human Resource Development Ministry has identified a handful of areas pertaining to which the problem-solving skills of students will be tested.”

TH: Solve a problem, win 1 crore;

Solution: d.

A mains-oriented question. All three statements are correct.

• India may be finding it tough to secure extraditions because there is a fear within the international community that the accused persons would be subject to torture here, the Supreme Court said.
• A Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said it was a matter of both Article 21 (fundamental right to life and dignity) and of international reputation that the government must consider promulgating a standalone, comprehensive law to define and punish torture as an instrument of “human degradation” by state authorities.

TH: SC for broad anti-torture legislation;

Solution: a.

The Laffer curve, popularised in 1974 by economist Arthur Laffer in a discussion with former U.S. President Gerald Ford, is often used to bolster the argument that high or increasing tax rates will not yield additional tax revenue because members of the workforce will opt to work less in such circumstances, substituting earned income with leisure. The curve supports the notion in supply-side economics that tax and regulatory burdens can impede growth

Th; What is the Laffer curve?