QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 18 September 2018

Solution: d.

Seven countries, including Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Turkey, are at risk of exchange rate crises as investors re-assess their risks following the contagion in Argentina and Turkey, a new index by Nomura says.

According to the global financial services major, emerging markets are under pressure as investors re-assess the risks amid monetary policy normalisation in developed markets, trade protectionism and China’s economic slowdown.

A score above 100 suggests a country is vulnerable to an exchange rate crisis in the next 12 months, while a reading above 150 signals a crisis could erupt at any time. As per the index Sri Lanka has a score of 175, followed by South Africa (143), Argentina (140), Pakistan (136), Egypt (111), Turkey (104) and Ukraine (100). India’s Damocles score stood at 25.

TH;

Solution: c.

Earlier this year (TH): India has got the go-ahead to join the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), after shareholders of the London-based multilateral lender agreed to the country becoming its 69th member, enabling Indian companies to undertake joint investments in regions in which the EBRD operates.

Recently in the news (TH): “The Trump administration on Monday threatened tough action against the International Criminal Court should it try to prosecute Americans for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan..” .. and India is not party to the Rome Statute (which established the ICC). Refer THIS article if you want to know why India has not ratified this treaty.

Recently in the news (TH): A proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic was defeated at a meeting in Brazil of the International Whaling Commission, amid a clash between countries that think whales can be hunted sustainably and others that want more conservation measures.

IWC members;  State Parties to the Rome Statute;

Solution: d.

The MPLADS allots ₹5 crore per year to each Member of Parliament (MP) to be spent on projects of their choice in their constituency. The scheme is funded and administered through the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). Projects are to be recommended to and implemented by the district-level administration.

In the news (TH): Noting that ₹12,000 crore of the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds remains unspent, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairman to come out with a legal framework to ensure its transparency and hold parliamentarians and political parties accountable for their obligations under the scheme.

Solution: b.

Abul Hasan was also known as Amir Khusrau.

Improvisation: TH;

Source: Extract from an IGNOU booklet;

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Solution: b.

NovaSAR has the ability to take pictures of the surface of the Earth in every kind of weather, day or night. The spacecraft will assume a number of roles but its designers specifically want to see if it can help monitor suspicious shipping activity. NovaSAR was joined on its rocket by a high-resolution optical satellite – that is, an imager that sees in ordinary light. Known as S1-4, this spacecraft will discern objects on the ground as small as 87cm across.

It is important to be able to monitor large areas of the ocean – something we don’t do at the moment. We all saw with the Malaysian airline crash in the Indian Ocean the difficulty there was in monitoring that vast area. We can do that kind of thing with radar and NovaSAR is good for that.

TH; BBC;

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