QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 04 DECEMBER 2017

Solution: a.

…the GHI assigns 70.5% weightage to children below five who constitute only a minor population share and 29.5% weightage to the population above five, which constitutes 81.5% of the total population. Therefore, the term “Hunger Index” is highly biased towards undernutrition of children rather than representing the status of hunger in the overall population. It would be more appropriate to term the conceptualisation and composition of this composite index as a “Global Hunger and Child Health Index” than as a “Global Hunger Index”..

The incidence of hunger is taken as the proportion of the population whose food intake provides less than its minimum energy requirements. The figure of the incidence of hunger depends on energy norms and the methodological approach used in its estimation. At a global level, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has an average norm of 1,800 kcal, while the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) specified average norm of 2,400 kcal for rural areas and 2,100 kcal for urban areas in India, varies across age, gender and activity-level.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-misleading-hunger-index/article21255142.ece;

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Solution: d.

Regarding Statement 1 (Hard Currency): It is a currency widely accepted around the world as a form of payment for goods and services. A hard currency is expected to remain relatively stable through a short period of time, and to be highly liquid in the forex, or  foreign exchange (FX), market. A hard currency generally comes from a nation with a strong economic and political situation.

Regarding Statement 2: Bitcoin is a decentralized currency that uses peer-to-peer technology, which enables several functions. While this decentralization renders Bitcoin free from government manipulation or interference, the flipside is that there is no central authority to ensure that things run smoothly or to back the value of a Bitcoin. Bitcoins are created digitally through a “mining” process that requires powerful computers to solve complex algorithms and crunch numbers.

These characteristics make Bitcoin fundamentally different from a fiat currency, which is backed by the full faith and credit of its government. Fiat currency issuance is a highly centralized activity supervised by a nation’s central bank. While the bank regulates the amount of currency issued in accordance with its monetary policy objectives, there is theoretically no upper limit to the amount of such currency issuance.

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/bit-of-a-bubble/article21255125.ece;

Refer to the content under the first sub-heading to comprehensively understand the difference between a Cryptocurrency and fiat money: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/091013/future-cryptocurrency.asp;

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Solution: a.

Departing from the past, China’s approach to transboundary water sharing is shifting towards multilateral arrangements. The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism was proposed by Chinese Primer Li Keqiang in the China-ASEAN Leaders meeting held in November of 2015. Here, China signed the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) framework along with five other countries through which the Mekong flows. This China-led multilateral agreement is an alternative to the Asian Development Bank-led Mekong River Commission (MRC), which China never signed. The LMC aligns with China’s Belt and Road Initiative and focuses on land and water connectivity, besides river management.

Mekong River (Chinese ‘Lancang’) is the longest river in Southeast Asia. Rising in southeastern Qinghai province, China, it flows through the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan province, after which it forms part of the international border between Myanmar and Laos, as well as between Laos and Thailand. The river then flows through Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam before draining into the South China Sea south of Ho Chi Minh City. Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, both stand on its banks. About three-fourths of the drainage area of the Mekong lies within the four countries the river traverses on its lower course—Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-brahmaputra-conundrum/article21254881.ece;

http://www.chinaaseanenv.org/lmecc/strategy_and_mechanism/cooperation_mechanism/201711/t20171107_425953.html;

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Solution: c.

“..A decade ago, India started planning multiple hydropower projects on the Brahmaputra as a reactive strategy against Chinese dam-building activities on the upper reaches of the river. This strategy is informed by the international law of ‘prior appropriation’, which states that the first user gets the rights to continue using that quantity of water..”

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-brahmaputra-conundrum/article21254881.ece;

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Solution: d.

The first ever World report on disability, produced jointly by WHO and the World Bank, suggests that more than a billion people in the world today experience disability.

In India, according to the 2011 Census, 2.21% of the population has one or multiple types of disabilities, making the country home to one of the largest disabled populations in the world. World Bank data suggest that the numbers are nearly four-five times higher.

http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/en/;

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/disability-rights-over-time/article21254946.ece;

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