INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 30 March 2020) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Stat1: The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985 by the 52nd Amendment Act.
• Stat2: The decision on question as to disqualification on ground of defection is referred to the Chairman or the Speaker of such House, and his decision is final but subjected to judicial review.
• Stat3: The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/30/manipur-mla-shyamkumar-disqualified-for-defection/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• The FRBM Review Committee (Chairperson: Mr. N.K. Singh) submitted its report in January 2017. The Report was made public in April 2017. The Committee proposed a draft Debt Management and Fiscal Responsibility Bill, 2017 to replace the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003(FRBM Act).  Key recommendations of the Committee and features of the draft Bill are summarised below.
• Debt to GDP ratio: The Committee suggested using debt as the primary target for fiscal policy. A debt to GDP ratio of 60% should be targeted with a 40% limit for the centre and 20% limit for the states.  It noted that majority of the countries that have adopted fiscal rules have targeted a debt to GDP ratio of 60%.Thetargeted debt to GDP ratio should be achieved by 2023.This ratio is expected to be around 70% in 2017
• Fiscal Council: The Committee proposed to create an autonomous Fiscal Council with a Chairperson and two members appointed by the centre. To maintain its independence, it proposed a non-renewable four-year term for the Chairperson and members.  Further, these people should not be employees in the central or state governments at the time of appointment.
• Role of the Council: The role of the Council would include: (i) preparing multi-year fiscal forecasts, (ii) recommending changes to the fiscal strategy, (iii) improving quality of fiscal data, (iv) advising the government if conditions exist to deviate from the fiscal target, and (v) advising the government to take corrective action for non-compliance with the Bill.
• Deviations: The Committee noted that under the FRBM Act, the government can deviate from the targets in case of a national calamity, national security or other exceptional circumstances notified by it. Allowing the government to notify these grounds diluted the 2003 Act.  The Committee suggested that grounds in which the government can deviate from the targets should be clearly specified, and the government should not be allowed to notify other circumstances.
• Further, the government may be allowed to deviate from the specified targets upon the advice of the Fiscal Council in the following circumstances: (i) considerations of national security, war, national calamities and collapse of agriculture affecting output and incomes, (ii) structural reforms in the economy resulting in fiscal implications, or (iii) decline in real output growth of at least 3% below the average of the previous four quarters. These deviations cannot be more than 0.5% of GDP in a year.
• Debt trajectory for individual states: The Committee recommended that the 15thFinance Commission should be asked to recommend the debt trajectory for individual states. This should be based on their track record of fiscal prudence and health.
• Borrowings from the RBI: The draft Bill restricts the government from borrowing from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) except when: (i) the centre has to meet a temporary shortfall in receipts, (ii) RBI subscribes to government securities to finance any deviations from the specified targets, or (iii) RBI purchases government securities from the secondary market.
• Review Committee: The draft Bill requires the centre to establish a committee to review the functioning of the Bill in 2023-24

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/30/why-has-kerala-sought-a-relaxation-of-frbm-rules/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Stat1: Business Immunity Platform is designed as a comprehensive resource to help businesses and investors get real-time updates on India’s active response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus).
• Stat2: Invest India is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India, set up as a non-profit venture under the aegis of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
• It facilitates and empowers all investors under the ‘Make in India’ initiative to establish, operate and expand their businesses in India.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/30/business-immunity-platform/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• The project CoNTeC, an acronym for COVID-19 National Teleconsultation Centre, has been conceptualised by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and has been implemented by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
• The CoNTeC is a Telemedicine Hub established by AIIMS, New Delhi, wherein expert doctors from various clinical domains will be available 24×7 to answer the multifaceted questions from specialists from all over the country.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/30/national-teleconsultation-centre-contec/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Stat1: Himalayan Ibex (Capra sibirica hemalayanus): Earlier the Himalayan Ibex was regarded as a subspecies of the Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica). The Himalyan Ibex is distributed mainly in the trans-Himalayan ranges of the Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
• Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica): t is distributed in diverse habitats, ranging from cold deserts, rocky outcrops, steep terrain, high-land flats and mountain ridges to low mountains and foothills. From Mongolia, its distribution extends towards Altai, Hangai, Gobi-Altai, the Hurukh mountain ranges as well as Sayan Mountains near Russia and scattered populations in the small mountains of Trans-Altai Gobi.
• Stat2: Its IUCN status is least concerned.
• Stat3: The National Mission on Himalayan Studies is implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• It targets to provide much needed focus, through holistic understanding of system’s components and their linkages, in addressing the key issues relating to conservation and sustainable management of natural resources in Indian Himalayan Region (IHR).

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/30/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-30-march-2020/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Stat2: The U.S. Air Force has cancelled Phase-I of its flagship multilateral air exercise, Red Flag, scheduled in Alaska from April 30. The Indian Air Force (IAF) was to take part in the exercise with its Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets.
• Stat1: Only countries considered friendly towards the United States take part in Red Flag exercises.

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/30/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-30-march-2020/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• PM- CARES fund stands for Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund.
• It is a public charitable trust.
• Contributions by corporates to this fund will be considered as social welfare spending under the companies law.
• It will be an emergency situation fund. This Fund will also cater to similar distressing situations, if they occur in the times ahead.
• How will the fund be administered?
  • The prime minister is the chairman of the new public charitable trust, its members include the defence minister, home minister and the finance minister.

Refer: Facts for Prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/03/30/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-30-march-2020/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Carbon and energy requirements of the autotrophic organism are fulfilled by photosynthesis.
• It is the process by which autotrophs take in substances from the outside and convert them into stored forms of energy.
• Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) and plants both obtain their energy through photosynthesis.
• Fungi are saprophytes that live on dead or decaying organic matter.

Refer: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/autotrophic-nutrition

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Option 1: India is a party to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity signed at Rio de Janeiro. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB), the first international regulatory framework for safe transfer, handling and use of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) was negotiated under the aegis of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
• Option 2: Following years of negotiations over the question of liability for GMO-produced damages, in 2010, the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (the Supplementary Protocol) was adopted. India has already ratified the protocol in 2014, you can see here http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=110927
• Option 3: It is the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area.
• Option 4: Geneva Protocol addresses “Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare”.

Refer: https://www.cbd.int/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• coli are a large and diverse group of bacteria. Although most strains of E. coli are harmless, others can make you sick. Some kinds of E. coli can cause diarrhea, while others cause urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia.
• Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in their hosts, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls due to food contamination.
• The harmless strains are part of the normal flora of the gut, and can benefit their hosts by producing vitamin K2, and preventing colonization of the intestine with pathogenic bacteria.
• coli is expelled into the environment within faecal matter. So, high concentration of E. Coli in river waters is an indicator of large dumping of faecal matter.

Refer: https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/index.html