QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 10 August 2017

Solution: b.
A two-judge SC bench is hearing a petition by NGO Independent Thought challenging the Exception 2 to Section 375 (rape) of the IPC, which permits “intrusive sexual intercourse with a girl aged between 15 and 18 only on the ground that she is married.”
• The NGO submitted that this statutory exception to rape was violative of right to life, liberty, equality and was discriminatory.
• POCSO defines a ‘child’ as any person below the age of eighteen years, but once a girl below the age of eighteen is married (but above the age of 15), she is no more a child under the Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC.
• A flip side if the court quashed this exception: Let’s say a 17-year-old boy gets married to a 16-year-old girl. If a complaint is filed, the boy stands the chance of getting convicted for seven years. But the parents, the real culprits, may get off with a few months’ imprisonment.
• Also, because a girl is less than 18 does not mean that she does not understand the consequences of her actions. Under the new Juvenile Justice Act for instance, a girl between the age of 16 and 18, if she commits murder, can be tried by an adult court.
TH: Plea against IPC clause on age of sexual consent;
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Solution: d.
A mains-oriented question.
“In almost identical speeches, all girls raised the issues of Maratha reservation, harshest punishment to an accused in Kopardi gang rape case, implementation of Swaminathan Commission and minimum support price for all crops. The girls questioned state government’s delay in pronouncing judgment in Kopardi case after one year, despite the CM’s assurance of hanging the culprits within six months.”

Highlights of Swaminathan Commission recommendations with regard to MSP:
• Improvement in implementation of Minimum Support Price (MSP). Arrangements for MSP need to be put in place for crops other than paddy and wheat. Also, millets and other nutritious cereals should be permanently included in the PDS.
• MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production.
TH: Marathas show of strength in Mumbai; IE;

Solution: b.
• Hyperspectral or hyspex imaging is said to be an EO trend that is being experimented globally.
• Adding a new dimension to plain-vanilla optical imagers, it can be used for a range of activities from monitoring the environment, crops, looking for oil and minerals all the way up to military surveillance — all of which need images that show a high level of differentiation of the object or scene.
• Hyspex’ imaging is said to enable distinct identification of objects, materials or processes on Earth by reading the spectrum for each pixel of a scene from space.

Th: ISRO to develop full-fledged Earth Observation Satellite;
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Solution: c.
So what went wrong in Tadoba (Maharashtra) and Pilibhit (UP), the two reserves that saw the bulk of the recent deadly attacks? Traditionally, tigers have killed more people in the Sunderbans than anywhere else. Areas in and around the Tadoba and Pilibhit tiger reserves are more recent examples of chronic conflict. Corbett in Uttarakhand also sees tiger attacks fairly frequently. Certain factors are common to all these conflict zones. And in places such as Pilibhit, there are additional site-specific triggers.

IE: how not to share space with tigers;
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Solution: a.
Refer MOEF link provided below.

MOEF: List of BRs;
Improvisation: PIB;

Solution: c.
• Statement 1: The Quality Council of India (QCI) is a pioneering experiment of the Government of India in setting up organizations in partnership with the Indian industry.
• Statement 2: QCI is governed by a Council comprising of 38 members including the Chairman and Secretary General where the Chairman is nominated by Prime Minister of India.

About QCI; QCI: Members;
CS(P) 2017, Q39;
Improvisation: PIB;
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