QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 09 May 2017

Solution: b.

As of 2016, IUCN lists this tortoise species as vulnerable.

• An ambitious project of the Kerala Forest Department at the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) to rehabilitate Indian star tortoises (Geochelone elegans) seized from smugglers has turned into a major success. This makes the CWS the only rehabilitation centre for star tortoises in the country.
• The CWS is the only place in Kerala where star tortoises are known to occur in the wild. The sanctuary is now a haven for at least 450 such tortoises seized from poachers in less than two years.

TH: CWS hitches wagon to star tortoises;

Solution: d.

A non-tariff barrier (NTB) is a form of restrictive trade where barriers to trade are set up and take a form other than a tariff. NTBs include quotas, embargoes, sanctions, levies and other restrictions and are frequently used by large and developed economies. NTBs are another way for an economy to control the amount of trade that it conducts with another economy, either for selfish or altruistic purposes.

TH: Centre to raise with US non-tariff barriers;

Solution: c.

• Torres Strait (separating Australia and Papua New Guinea) – Arafura Sea and Coral Sea;
• Strait of Dover (separating continental Europe and UK) – English Channel (which opens out to the Atlantic Ocean) and North Sea;
• Strait of Magellan (separating mainland South America and Tierra del Fuego) – Atlantic and Pacific Ocean;

Improvisation: TH: Banksy unveils first Brexit mural;

Solution: d.

In the Second House also, the bill passes through all the three stages, that is, first reading, second reading and third reading. If a deadlock is deemed to have taken place, a joint sitting of the two houses can be summoned by the President.

Improvisation: TH: Being Humane – “A concrete step towards enacting a law was made when the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010, was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2010, but it was referred to a Select Committee in the Rajya Sabha.”

Solution: a.

When the LS is dissolved, in two situations (out of the six, provided in the chapter “Parliament” by M Laxmikanth), a bill lapses – one, a bill pending in the LS. Two, a bill passed by the LS but pending in the RS.

Improvisation: TH: Being Humane – “In its report submitted in the same year, the committee recommended exhaustive amendments to the Bill to make it consistent with the language and intent of the Convention. Thereafter the Bill lapsed.”

Solution: d.

“Under revised United Nations rules, also known as ‘Nelson Mandela Rules’, health care for prisoners is a state responsibility; prisoners with mental illness are entitled to the same standards of health care as the rest in the community.”

TH: Caring for our prisoners’ minds;