INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS (07 DECEMBER 2019) REVISION THROUGH MCQs

Ans: (a)

Explanation:  The Reserve Banks directive related to Storage of Payment System Data provides that:

1. All system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India. This data should include the full end-to-end transaction details / information collected / carried / processed as part of the message / payment instruction. For the foreign leg of the transaction, if any, the data can also be stored in the foreign country, if required.
2. System providers shall ensure compliance of (i) above within a period of six months and report compliance of the same to the Reserve Bank latest by October 15, 2018.

• System providers shall submit the System Audit Report (SAR) on completion of the requirement at (i) above. The audit should be conducted by CERT-IN empaneled auditors certifying completion of activity at (i) above. The SAR duly approved by the Board of the system providers should be submitted to the Reserve Bank not later than December 31, 2018.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/07/data-protection-bill/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• In 2012, Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retired) filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of Aadhaar on the grounds that it violates the right to privacy. During the hearings, the Central government opposed the classification of privacy as a fundamental right. The government’s opposition to the right relied on two early decisions—MP Sharma vs Satish Chandra in 1954, and Kharak Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh in 1962—which had held that privacy was not a fundamental right.
• In M.P Sharma, the bench held that the drafters of the Constitution did not intend to subject the power of search and seizure to a fundamental right of privacy. They argued that the Indian Constitution does not include any language similar to the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, and therefore, questioned the existence of a protected right to privacy. The Supreme Court made clear that M.P Sharma did not decide other questions, such as “whether a constitutional right to privacy is protected by other provisions contained in the fundamental rights including among them, the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.”
• In Kharak Singh, the decision invalidated a Police Regulation that provided for nightly domiciliary visits, calling them an “unauthorized intrusion into a person’s home and a violation of ordered liberty.” However, it also upheld other clauses of the Regulation on the ground that the right of privacy was not guaranteed under the Constitution, and hence Article 21 of the Indian Constitution (the right to life and personal liberty) had no application. Justice Subbarao’s dissenting opinion clarified that, although the right to privacy was not expressly recognized as a fundamental right, it was an essential ingredient of personal liberty under Article 21.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/07/data-protection-bill/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Reputation is an important part of one’s life. It is one of the finer graces of human civilization that makes life worth living.
• The Supreme Court referring to D.F. Marion v. Minnie Davis [xiii] in Smt. Kiran Bedi v. Committee of Inquiry [xiv] held that “good reputation was an element of personal security and was protected by the Constitution, equally with the right to the enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. The court affirmed that the right to enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. The court affirmed that the right to enjoyment of private reputation was of ancient origin and was necessary to human society.”
• It has been held that the right equally covers the reputation of a person during and after his death. Thus, any wrong action of the state or agencies that sullies the reputation of a virtuous person would certainly come under the scope of Art. 21.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/07/data-protection-bill/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), also called Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus Elephas and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the north, Sumatra in the south, and to Borneo in the east.
• The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia.Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as the population has declined by at least 50 percent over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years
• Of the 101 corridors identified, six have been secured and six more are currently in the process of being secured through an amalgam of the four models.
• 
• • ‘Gaj Yatra’, a nationwide campaign to protect elephants, was launched on the occasion of World Elephant Day in 2017. The campaign is planned to cover 12 elephant range states. The elephant is part of India’s animal heritage and the Government celebrates this day to spread awareness about the conservation of the species.

  Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/07/asian-elephant-specialist-group-asesg/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• The Odisha had launched the KALIA Yojana in December 2018. Similarly, a Central Sector Scheme namely, “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)” was launched during February 2019, wherein income support as assistance is provided to all eligible landholding farmers’ families in the country.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/07/odishas-kalia-to-be-merged-with-pm-kisan/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• To tackle the dual menace of air and noise pollution, the Head on Generation (HOG) technology is being implemented in the trains of Indian Railways. The HOG technology works with an improvised converter has been developed, which is fitted in Electric locomotives which can replace the diesel generators.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/07/odishas-kalia-to-be-merged-with-pm-kisan/

Ans: (d)

Explanation: In December 2017, the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the India-based Neutrino Observatory project, to be built at an investment of Rs 1,500 crore.  It is the latest in a series of neutrino detectors, neutrino factories and experiments being set up worldwide to promote research in particle physics.

• What is a neutrino?
  • Neutrinos are the smallest particles that form the universe.
• Who else has a neutrino facility?
  • Underground: SNO, Canada, Kamioka in Japan and Gran Sasso, Italy.
  • Underwater: Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica.  Antares – under Mediterranean sea off coast of Toulon, France.
• Who is in-charge of the project?
  • The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is the nodal institution. The observatory is to be built jointly with the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology.
• What’s special about locating the INO in the South?
  • A project report says most of the neutrino detectors are at latitudes over 35 deg. It is possible to push such a detector down to almost 8 deg latitude in South India, within proximity to the Equator. This permits neutrino astronomy searches covering the whole celestial sky and study of solar neutrinos passing through the Earth’s core
• Why are the locals opposing it?
  • Locals fear that the excavation and blasts needed to bore the tunnel in the mountains will endanger the biodiversity of the Western Ghats. Some of the concerns voiced range from radiation, structural damage to the mountain to emission of hazardous chemicals
• The Kolar Gold Field mines housed one of the earliest laboratories to study and detect neutrinos. It was located at a depth of 2,000 m. The first atmospheric neutrinos were detected here in 1965. The laboratory was shut following the closure of the mines.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/07/neutrino-project-2/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• What is Adaptation fund?
  • Established under the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
  • It finances projects and programmes that help vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt to climate change.
  • Initiatives are based on country needs, views and priorities.
• The Montreal Protocol, finalized in 1987, is a global agreement to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODS).
• The Cancun Agreements were a set of significant decisions by the international community to address the long-term challenge of climate change collectively and comprehensively over time, and to take concrete action immediately to speed up the global response to it. Among the highlights, Parties agreed:
  • to commit to a maximum temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to consider lowering that maximum to 1.5 degrees in the near future.
  • to make fully operational by 2012 a technology mechanism to boost the innovation, development and spread of new climate-friendly technologies;
  • to establish a Green Climate Fund to provide financing to projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing countries via thematic funding windows;
  • on the Cancun Adaptation Framework, which included setting up an Adaptation Committee to promote the implementation of stronger, cohesive action on adaptation.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/07/adaptation-fund/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) was constituted under The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act, 2006 (NO. 19 OF 2006) notified via Gazette Notification dated 31st March, 2006.
• The Act provide for the establishment of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board to protect the interests of consumers and entities engaged in specified activities relating to petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas and to promote competitive markets and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
• Further as enshrined in the act, the board has also been mandated to regulate the refining, processing, storage, transportation, distribution, marketing and sale of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas excluding production of crude oil and natural gas so as and to ensure uninterrupted and adequate supply of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas in all parts of the country.

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• The National Mineral Policy 2019 lays a foundation for the systematic implementation of intergenerational equity in India with reference to natural resources including minerals. It is strongly rooted in the Constitution. However, the question is whether it will be implemented and implemented quickly.
• Intergenerational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the concept or idea of fairness or justice between generations. The concept can be applied to fairness in dynamics between children, youth, adults and seniors, in terms of treatment and interactions.