QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 05 September 2018

Solution: c.

While Meghalaya with 3,810 villages with springs had the highest number of these water sources in the Himalayan States, Sikkim had the greatest density with 94% of its villages having a spring.

TH;

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Solution: a.

In the past, most water conservation programmes in the IHR and elsewhere were based on the concept of watershed. A watershed is a unit of land where the rain that falls drains out through a common point; in other words, a watershed separates two drainage units. Watersheds are easy to demarcate and hold great appeal for policy makers and implementers alike. However, the watershed concept only accounts for surface water movement over slopes, while movement of spring water which is groundwater, is determined by underlying geology, and the nature and slope of such rocks underneath the surface. The concept of watershed, therefore, cannot account for water which travels outside watershed boundaries, through rock beds that slope towards an adjoining watershed. For spring revival, the appropriate unit is the springshed – the unit of land where rain falls (recharge area), and then emerges at discharge point, the spring. Given the folded and faulted nature of Himalayan geology, springsheds often cover more than one watershed; in other words, the recharge area of a spring in one watershed, may as well lie in an adjoining watershed and spring revival programmes have to be cognisant of this. This calls for a paradigm shift from watershed to springshed as an appropriate unit of intervention in the IHR.

The first systematic springshed management initiative was undertaken through the Dhara Vikas Programme by the Government of Sikkim, even as smaller pilots using the same concept were being undertaken across States like Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Uttarakhand as part of Forest Panchayats constituted under the Forest Act.

NITI Aayog PDF;

Improvisation: TH;

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Solution: c.

The Himalayas span 8 countries viz., Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.

The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) spans 10 hill States viz., Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and two partial hill States – Assam and West Bengal.

Similar to Q58, CSP 2017;

NITI Aayog PDF;

Improvisation: TH;

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Solution: c.

RPAs will be classified on the basis of their maximum take-off weight, as follows: (i) nano (less than or equal to 250 gm), (ii) micro (between 250 gm and 2kg).. and so on.

Nano RPAs intended to fly up to 50 feet are exempted from requiring a UIN.

RPA operators will prepare standard operating procedures containing information such as: (i) take-off/landing, (ii) collision avoidance, and (iii) local airspace restrictions.  RPAs must be operated only during daylight.  All RPA operators, except nano, must inform the local police authority before commencing operations.

PRS MPR August 2018;

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Solution: a.

Indo-Kazakhstan Joint Army Exercise ‘KAZIND’ will be conducted between the Indian and Kazakhstan Army from 10 to 23 Sep 2018 in Otar region, Kazakhstan. This is the third joint military exercise between the two countries. The second edition of the exercise was held in India last year.

PIB;

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