Insights Revision Through MCQs – 25 November 2019

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Supreme Court issued the historic order in 1994 in SR Bommai case, which in a way put an end to the arbitrary dismissal of State governments under Article 356 by spelling out restrictions.
• The verdict concluded that the power of the President to dismiss a State government is not absolute.
• The verdict said the President should exercise the power only after his proclamation (imposing his/her rule) is approved by both Houses of Parliament.
• Till then, the Court said, the President can only suspend the Legislative Assembly by suspending the provisions of Constitution relating to the Legislative Assembly.
• Also, the concept of floor test was introduced by the SC’s in this judgement and referred to Article 164 of the constitution.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/25/maharashtra-floor-test-plea-and-supreme-courts-demands/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Under Article 137, the Supreme Court has the power to review any of its judgments or orders.
• Scope for review:
  • When a review takes place, the law is that it is allowed not to take fresh stock of the case but to correct grave errors that have resulted in the miscarriage of justice.
  • The court has the power to review its rulings to correct a “patent error” and not “minor mistakes of inconsequential import”.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/25/review-petition/

Ans: (d)

Explanation: Under the Constitution the disabled have been guaranteed the following fundamental rights:

• Article 15(1) enjoins on the Government not to discriminate against any citizen of India (including disabled) on the ground of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
• Article 15 (2) States that no citizen (including the disabled) shall be subjected to any disability, liability, restriction or condition on any of the above grounds in the matter of their access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment or in the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of government funds or dedicated to the use of the general public. Women and children and those belonging to any socially and educationally backward classes or the Scheduled Castes & Tribes can be given the benefit of special laws or special provisions made by the State.
• There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens (including the disabled) in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.
• No person including the disabled irrespective of his belonging can be treated as an untouchable. It would be an offence punishable in accordance with law as provided by Article 17 of the Constitution.
• Every person including the disabled has his life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• There can be no traffic in human beings (including the disabled), and beggar and other forms of forced labour is prohibited and the same is made punishable in accordance with law (Article 23).
• Article 24 prohibits employment of children (including the disabled) below the age of 14 years to work in any factory or mine or to be engaged in any other hazardous employment. Even a private contractor acting for the Government cannot engage children below 14 years of age in such employment.
• Article 25 guarantees to every citizen (including the disabled) the right to freedom of religion. Every disabled person (like the non-disabled) has the freedom of conscience to practice and propagate his religion subject to proper order, morality and health.
• Every disabled person can move the Supreme Court of India to enforce his fundamental rights and the rights to move the Supreme Court is itself guaranteed by Article 32.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/25/chhattisgarh-panchayats-to-have-disabled-quota/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are mutual funds listed and traded on stock exchanges like shares.
• Typically, an ETF mirrors a particular index, which means the group of stocks in the ETF would be similar to those in the index that it is benchmarked to.
• Usually, ETFs are passive funds where the fund manager doesn’t select stocks on your behalf. Instead, the ETF simply copies an index and endeavours to accurately reflect its performance.
• The traded price of an ETF changes throughout the day like any other stock, as it is bought and sold on the stock exchange.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/25/exchange-traded-funds-2/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• About Ken- Betwa project:
• Conceived as a two-part project, this is the country’s first river interlinking project. It is perceived as a model plan for similar interstate river transfer missions.
• The ₹18,000-crore project has been mired in several hurdles. The most recent one is a disagreement between the States on the share of water. There are outstanding environmental obstructions too. It involves deforesting a portion of the Panna Tiger Reserve.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/25/ken-betwa-river-interlinking-project/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Johads are community-owned rainwater storage wetland mainly used for harnessing water resources.
• Haryana state government has come out with a plan of rehabilitating over 16,400 ponds in rural areas across the state in order to analyze pond water to ascertain its suitability for irrigation and other uses.

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/25/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-25-november-2019/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• The Sumatran rhino (IUCN-Critically Endangered) is the smallest of the five extant rhino species in the world. The other species include the White Rhino, the Black Rhino, the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros and the Javan Rhino.

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/25/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-25-november-2019/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/25/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-25-november-2019/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• P-series fuels are a family of renewable, non-petroleum, liquid fuels that can substitute for gasoline.
• P-Series fuels (alternative fuels) are a blend of ethanol, natural gas liquids and methyl tetrahydrofuran (MeTHF), a co-solvent derived from biomass.
• P-Series fuels are clear, high-octane alternative fuels that can be used in flexible fuel vehicles.
• P-Series fuel addresses three problems: the need for non-petroleum energy sources, solid waste management, and affordability. Using feedstock with a negative cost – that means waste that municipalities would otherwise pay to have hauled away – allows the fuel’s selling price to be about the same as mid-grade gasoline. It also gives urban areas control over a large portion of the generated trash stream without relying on burning, burying, or bequeathing it to other states. The feedstock is not incinerated, but chemically digested, so there is no combustion with the accompanying toxic air emissions.

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Statement 1: The historic Paris Agreement of 2015 stated “Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development“(article 2.c). To achieve this objective, on May 18th 2017 in Delhi, understanding that one of the biggest obstacles to solar deployment is the cost of capital (~70% of total installation costs), 16 countries of the ISA jointly commissioned of a study to define and structure the Common Risk Mitigation Mechanism (CRMM) for solar power generation projects. This instrument, if implemented, will dramatically lower the cost of finance for renewable energy and the overall price of electricity. Even more significantly, CRMM will vastly enlarge the total size of the renewable energy market by making investments in renewables widely available to institutional investors.
• Statement 3: The Climate Finance Leadership Initiative will work to fulfill the private financing objectives included in the landmark 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, which reaffirmed the goal of mobilizing at least $100 billion per year by 2020 through a combination of public development finance and private foreign direct investment. Recognizing that the global response to climate change must include robust sub-national action, particularly in urban areas, coalitions of cities, banks, national governments and civil society organizations launched the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance at the UN Secretary- General’s Climate Summit on 23 September 2014.
• Statement 2: The Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance’s mission is to catalyse and accelerate additional capital flows to cities, maximize investment in low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure, and close the investment gap in urban areas over the next fifteen years.
• The Alliance is a coalition of thirty six leading institutions that are committed to mobilize finance for low-emission and climate-resilient infrastructure, in particular for the benefit of poor and vulnerable communities in cities. Alliance members commit to reinforce and expand their existing programs to support city leaders and city institutions, as well as to share information, coordinate activities, and seek synergies among their individual efforts.