QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 17 February 2020

Solution: c)

The Election Commission of India hosted the 10th annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) at New Delhi on 24 January 2020 and took over as Chair of FEMBoSA for 2020.   FEMBoSA was established at the 3^rd Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) of SAARC Countries held at New Delhi from April 30 to May 2, 2012 through an unanimously adopted resolution on 1^st May, 2012 to establish the Forum. The Conference also unanimously adopted the Charter of the Forum.  The annual FEMBoSA meeting is held by rotation among the members.  Besides ECI, the other 7 members are EMBs from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The FEMBoSA represents a very large part of the democratic world and is an active regional association of the election management bodies of South Asia. The objectives of the Forum are to promote contact among the EMBs of the SAARC countries; share experiences with a view to learning from each other and cooperate with one another in enhancing the capabilities of the EMBs towards conducting free and fair elections.

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Solution: b)

The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

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Solution: d)

The most significant feature of the 1972 World Heritage Convention is that it links together in a single document the concepts of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties. The Convention recognizes the way in which people interact with nature, and the fundamental need to preserve the balance between the two.

The Convention sets out the duties of States Parties in identifying potential sites and their role in protecting and preserving them. By signing the Convention, each country pledges to conserve not only the World Heritage sites situated on its territory, but also to protect its national heritage. The States Parties are encouraged to integrate the protection of the cultural and natural heritage into regional planning programmes, set up staff and services at their sites, undertake scientific and technical conservation research and adopt measures which give this heritage a function in the day-to-day life of the community. It explains how the World Heritage Fund is to be used and managed and under what conditions international financial assistance may be provided.

The Convention stipulates the obligation of States Parties to report regularly to the World Heritage Committee on the state of conservation of their World Heritage properties. These reports are crucial to the work of the Committee as they enable it to assess the conditions of the sites, decide on specific programme needs and resolve recurrent problems.

A key benefit of ratification, particularly for developing countries, is access to the World Heritage Fund. Annually, about US$4 million is made available to assist States Parties in identifying, preserving and promoting World Heritage sites. Emergency assistance may also be made available for urgent action to repair damage caused by human-made or natural disasters. In the case of sites included on the List of World Heritage in Danger, the attention and the funds of both the national and the international community are focused on the conservation needs of these particularly threatened sites.

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Solution: a)

Mukurthi National Park (MNP) is a protected area located in the western corner of the Nilgiris Plateau west of Ootacamund hill station in the northwest corner of Tamil Nadu state in the Western Ghats mountain range of South India. The park was created to protect its keystone species, the Nilgiri tahr.

The park is characterised by montane grasslands and shrublands interspersed with sholas in a high-altitude area of high rainfall, near-freezing temperatures and high winds. It is home to an array of endangered wildlife, including royal Bengal tiger and Asian elephant, but its main mammal attraction is the Nilgiri tahr. The park was previously known as Nilgiri Tahr National Park.

The park is a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India’s first International Biosphere Reserve. As part of the Western Ghats, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1 July 2012.

Solution: a)

Tamil yeoman (Cirrochroa thais) butterfly species endemic to Western Ghats has been declared the state butterfly of Tamil Nadu.

For the first time Tamil Nadu has declared its state butterfly and only fifth in the country to do so. Maharashtra was the first to declare Blue Mormon as its state butterfly, followed by Uttarakhand (Common peacock), Karnataka (Southern bird wings) and Kerala (Malabar banded peacock).

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