QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 20 February 2018

Solution: a.

Mangrove trees grow in areas with low-oxygen soil, where slow-moving waters allow fine sediments to accumulate. Mangrove forests only grow at tropical and subtropical latitudes near the equator because they cannot withstand freezing temperatures.

The Sundarbans lies south of the Tropic of Cancer.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/mangroves.html;

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/sundarbans-mangroves-struggle-to-find-new-ground/article22785340.ece;

Solution: c.

Options 1 and 2 must be interchanged.

• In 1999, a PIL was filed by ADR with Delhi HC requesting for the disclosure of the criminal, financial and educational background of the candidates contesting elections. Based on this, the SC in 2002, and subsequently in 2003, made it mandatory for all candidates contesting elections to disclose criminal, financial and educational background prior to the polls by filing an affidavit with the EC.
• The SC has asked the Centre to amend the rules as well as the disclosure form filed by candidates along with their nomination papers, to include the sources of their income, and those of their spouses and dependants. The verdict of the two-judge Bench on a petition from the NGO, Lok Prahari, is one more in a long line of significant verdicts aimed at preserving the purity of the electoral process.
• From 2013: With a view to bringing about purity in elections, the SC held that a voter could exercise the option of negative voting and reject all candidates as unworthy of being elected. The voter could press the NOTA button in the electronic voting machine.

https://adrindia.org/about-adr/mission-and-vision;

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/give-voters-right-to-cast-negative-vote-apex-court/article5174414.ece;

Source/Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/directing-reforms/article22791205.ece;

—

Solution: b.

“The Chinese seemed to have narrowed down on Long March-7 rockets as the heavy-duty vehicle of choice for building the space station. The plans are only getting bigger. By 2030, China wants to perfect a heavy-lift carrier rocket, currently called Long March-9, according to the Science and Technology Committee of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. The Long March-9 rocket aspires to lift a jaw-dropping 100 tonnes of payload into space.”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/the-long-march-into-outer-space/article22784731.ece;

—

Solution: b.

In the news (http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/what-is-the-lowdown-on-industrial-renewal/article22785218.ece): “Industrial activity, as measured by the government’s Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and the private sector Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), has improved significantly over the last two months.. Growth in the IIP soared to 8.8% in November, the highest since October 2015, and stood at a slightly slower but still robust 7.07% in December.. Similarly, the PMI surged to a 60-month high of 54.7 in December and came in at 52.4 in January (The PMI is usually released at the start of the month, much before most of the official data on industrial output, manufacturing and GDP growth becomes available. It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of economic activity). These two sets of data are interesting because not only do they show the picture from both the government and private sector sides but also highlight different elements of the sectors they measure. While the IIP is an output measure, the PMI is an indication of the activity at the input, or purchasing, level. If both show strong growth, the implication is an overall recovery in industrial activity and sentiments.”

PMI or a Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is an indicator of business activity – it can be utilised as an indicator for both, the manufacturing and services sectors. It is a survey-based measures that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.

The PMI is derived from a series of qualitative questions. Executives from a reasonably big sample, running into hundreds of firms, are asked whether key indicators such as output, new orders, business expectations and employment were stronger than the month before and are asked to rate them. A figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity. Anything below 50 denotes contraction. Higher the difference from this mid-point, greater the expansion or contraction.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/what-is-purchasing-managers-index-pmi/articleshow/6259031.cms;

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pmi.asp;

—

Solution: c.

Both statements are correct.

Sex Ratio at Birth or the number of  girls born for every 1000 boys born during a specific year is an

important indicator and reflects the extent to which there is reduction in the number of  girl children born by sex-selective abortions.  This indicator was only available for the category of  Larger States. The SRB is substantially lower in almost all Larger States – 17 out of 21 States have SRB of less than 950 females per 1000 males. Further, in most States, SRB has declined between the base year (2012-14) and reference year (2013-15), except for Bihar, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh where improvements in SRB were noted, and Jammu & Kashmir where it stagnated.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/sex-ratio-at-birth-dips-in-17-large-states-gujarat-tops-list/article22785970.ece;

http://niti.gov.in/content/healthy-states-progressive-india-report-ranks-states-and-union-territories;

—