QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 29 April 2019

Solution: c)

Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep islands have recently been named as the new “hope spots” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Mission Blue, an organization involved in the study of oceans.

A hope spot is an area of an ocean that needs special protection because of its wildlife and significant underwater habitats.

The two group of islands, considered extremely rich in marine biodiversity, are the first places in India to have been added in the list of global ‘hope spots’.

Source

Solution: d)

Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 Rules have been amended to improve compliance and strengthen the implementation of environmentally sound management of biomedical waste in India.

Salient features of Bio-Medical Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2018 are as follows:

1. Bio-medical waste generators including hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, dispensaries, veterinary institutions, animal houses, pathological laboratories, blood banks, health care facilities, and clinical establishments will have to phase out chlorinated plastic bags (excluding blood bags) and gloves by March 27, 2019.
2.  All healthcare facilities shall make available the annual report on its website within a period of two years from the date of publication of the Bio-Medical Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2018.
3. Operators of common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facilities shall establish bar coding and global positioning system for handling of bio-medical waste in accordance with guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board by March 27, 2019.
4. The State Pollution Control Boards/ Pollution Control Committees have to compile, review and analyze the information received and send this information to the Central Pollution Control Board in a new Form, which seeks detailed information regarding district-wise bio-medical waste generation, information on Health Care Facilities having captive treatment facilities, information on common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facilities.

1. Every occupier, i.e. a person having administrative control over the institution and the premises generating biomedical waste shall pre-treat the laboratory waste, microbiological waste, blood samples, and blood bags through disinfection or sterilization on-site in the manner as prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO) or guidelines on safe management of wastes from health care activities and WHO Blue Book 2014 and then sent to the Common bio-medical waste treatment facility for final disposal.

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Solution: c)

What are the possible actions EC can take against candidates and parties?

• The EC monitors the adherence of political parties and candidates to the ‘Model Code of Conduct’.
• If the violations are also offences under election law and the criminal law of the land, the EC has the power to recommend registration of cases against the offenders.
• However, for some violations — such as canvassing for votes during a period when electioneering is barred, making official announcements while the MCC is in force, and making appeal to voters on sectarian grounds — the EC has the power to advise or censure candidates, in addition to directing registration of cases.
• In some cases, as recent incidents would show, the EC may bar candidates or leaders from campaigning for specified periods.
• Asking individuals to leave a constituency or barring entry into certain areas are other powers that the EC may exercise. These powers are not necessarily traceable to any provision in law, but are generally considered inherent because of the sweeping and plenary nature of the EC’s responsibility under the Constitution to ensure free and fair elections.
• Its powers extend to postponing elections to any constituency, cancelling an election already notified, and even to abrogate or annul an election already held.

Solution: b)

What are the limitations of the EC’s powers?

• The EC does not have the power to disqualify candidates who commit electoral malpractices. At best, it may direct the registration of a case.
• The EC also does not have the power to deregister any political party. However, the Constitution empowers the EC to decide whether a candidate has incurred disqualification by holding an office of profit under the appropriate government, or has been declared an insolvent, or acquired the citizenship of a foreign state.
• When a question arises whether a candidate has incurred any of these disqualifications, the President of India or Governor has to refer it to the EC. The poll panel’s decision on this is binding.

Solution: a)

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity. This sub-regional organization came into being on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.

The BIMSTEC member states—Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan.

In 2018, the 4th BIMSTEC Summit concluded in Kathmandu.