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

Solution: c.

Climate justice focuses our attention on people, rather than ice-caps and greenhouse gases. No world leader should have to plan for evacuation from the land of their ancestors. The world is unprepared for a situation where adaptation fails & people are displaced due to climate.

Climate Justice is a moral argument in two parts. Firstly it compels us to understand the challenges faced by those people and communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Often the people on the front lines of climate change have contributed least to the causes of the climate crisis.

Climate justice also informs how we should act to combat climate change. We must ensure that the transition to a zero carbon economy is just and that it enables all people to realise their right to development.

Principles of Climate Justice:

• Respect and Protect Human Rights
• Support the Right to Development
• Share Benefits and Burdens Equitably
• Ensure that Decisions on Climate Change are Participatory, Transparent and Accountable
• Highlight Gender Equality and Equity
• Harness the Transformative Power of Education for Climate Stewardship
• Use Effective Partnerships to Secure Climate Justice

Improvisation: Th1; TH2;

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Solution: a.

Resolution to boycott Simon Commission was passed in December 1927, at the INC annual session in Madras.

While in jail, Gandhiji had set up the All India AntiUntouchability League in September 1932 and had started the weekly Harijan in January 1933. After his release, he shifted  to the Satyagraha Ashram in Wardha as he had vowed in 1930  not to return to Sabarmati Ashram unless swaraj was won. Starting from Wardha, he conducted a Harijan tour of  the country in the period from November 1933 to July 1934,  covering 20,000 km, collecting money for his newly set up  Harijan Sevak Sangh, and propagating removal of  untouchability in all its forms.

The Congress had organised a National Conference on  Education in October 1937 in Wardha. In the light of the  resolutions passed there, Zakir Hussain committee formulated  a detailed national scheme for basic education. The main  principle behind this scheme was ‘learning through activity’. It was based on Gandhi’s ideas published in a series of articles  in the weekly Harijan.

After Cripps departure, Gandhi framed a resolution calling  for British withdrawal and a non-violent non-cooperation  movement against any Japanese invasion. The CWC meeting  at Wardha (July 14, 1942) accepted the idea of a struggle.

Improvisation: TH;

Source: Spectrum’s ‘A brief history of modern India’;

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Solution: c.

Among others, targets under SDG #6 include:

• By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
• By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation.
• By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.
• By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity.
• By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels.
• By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.

UN SDG6;

In the news: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, UN Champions of Earth Award;

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Solution: d.

A Leverage Ratio is any one of several financial measurements that look at how much capital comes in the form of debt (loans), or assesses the ability of a company to meet its financial obligations. The leverage ratio is important given that companies rely on a mixture of equity and debt to finance their operations, and knowing the amount of debt held by a company is useful in evaluating whether it can pay its debts off as they come due.

Too much debt can be dangerous for a company and its investors. However, if a company’s operations can generate a higher rate of return than the interest rate on its loans, then the debt is helping to fuel growth in profits. Nonetheless, uncontrolled debt levels can lead to credit downgrades or worse. On the other hand, too few debt can also raise questions. A reluctance or inability to borrow may be a sign that operating margins are simply too tight.

A company’s Operating Margin, also known as return on sales, is a good indicator of how well it is being managed and how risky it is. It shows the proportion of revenues that are available to cover non-operating costs like paying interest — which is why investors and lenders pay close attention to it.

In the news (TH): As per a report prepared by the Ministry of Finance, leverage of the IL&FS Group was about 13 times, as the borrowing of about ₹91,000 crore was on the base of equity capital and reserves of about ₹6,950 crore. Incidentally, the Reserve Bank of India’s Capital to Risk weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) of 15% for Systemically Important Non-Deposit Accepting Non-Banking Finance Company would peg the leverage ratio at 6-7 times, while a CRAR of 30% for core investment company would result in a leverage ratio of about 3-4 times.

A default by IL&FS could have significant repercussions, including widespread redemption pressures, sell-off in the debt market, liquidity crunch and smaller non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) shutting shop, according to the report.

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Solution: c.

TH: India on Monday expressed “readiness” to work towards implementing the Tashkent Declaration of March 2018 that called for direct talks with the Taliban without preconditions.

In a joint statement at the end of official discussions with the visiting Uzbek President, both sides pledged to work on the goals of the Tashkent Declaration. “…They expressed full readiness to a close partnership for the implementation of the Tashkent Declaration adopted at the end of the International Conference on Afghanistan on the theme ‘Peace process, cooperation in the field of security and regional cooperation’ in Uzbekistan on March 26-27, 2018,” the statement declared.

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