QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 30 May 2020

Solution: a)

History of the 1897 Epidemic Diseases Act

The colonial government introduced the Act to tackle the epidemic of bubonic plague that had spread in the erstwhile Bombay Presidency in the 1890s.

Using powers conferred by the Act, colonies authorities would search suspected plague cases in homes and among passengers, with forcible segregations, evacuations, and demolitions of infected places.

Historians have criticised the Act for its potential for abuse.

In 1897, the year the law was enforced, freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak was punished with 18 months’ rigorous imprisonment after his newspapers Kesari and Mahratta admonished imperial authorities for their handling of the plague epidemic.

Provisions of the 1897 Epidemic Diseases Act

• The Act, which consists of four sections, aims to provide “for the better prevention of the spread of Dangerous Epidemic Diseases.”
• Section 2 empowers state governments/UTs to take special measures and formulate regulations for containing the outbreak. It reads:
• “Power to take special measures and prescribe regulations as to dangerous epidemic disease.

Examples of implementation

• In 2018, the district collector of Gujarat’s Vadodara issued a notification under the Act declaring the Khedkarmsiya village in Waghodia taluka as cholera-affected after 31 persons complained of symptoms of the disease.
• In 2015, to deal with malaria and dengue in Chandigarh, the Act was implemented and controlling officers were instructed to ensure the issuance of notices and challans of Rs 500 to offenders.
• In 2009, to tackle the swine flu outbreak in Pune, Section 2 powers were used to open screening centres in civic hospitals across the city, and swine flu was declared a notifiable disease.

Source

Solution: b)

The ePathshala, a joint initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been developed for showcasing and disseminating all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals, and a variety of other print and non-print materials for Students, Teachers, Parents, researchers and educators.

It provides access to digital textbooks for all classes, graded learning materials and enables participation in exhibitions, contests, festivals, workshops, etc.

SWAYAM Prabha is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources Development to provide 32 High Quality Educational Channels through DTH (Direct to Home) across the length and breadth of the country on 24X7 basis.

It has curriculum-based course content covering diverse disciplines. This is primarily aimed at making quality learning resources accessible to remote areas where internet availability is still a challenge.

The DTH channels are using the GSAT-15 satellite for programme telecasts.

SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is a programme initiated by Government of India and designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equity and quality. The objective of this effort is to take the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged. SWAYAM seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy. This is done through an indigenous developed IT platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses taught in classrooms to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time. All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost to the residents in India: covering school, under-graduate, post-graduate, engineering, law and other professional courses.

Solution: c)

Quite often Islands of Indonesia are into the news.

Indonesia is an archipelagic country located in Southeast Asia, lying between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It comprises five main islands: Sumatra, Java, Borneo (known as Kalimantan in Indonesia), Sulawesi, and New Guinea

Solution: d)

The objective of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 is to empower the government to allocate the coal mines on the basis of competitive bidding to ensure continuity in coal mining operations and promote optimum utilisation of coal resources.

The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, permits the government to auction coal mines to the private sector for captive and commercial purposes. The government has auctioned 24 coal blocks to private companies till March 2019, and will be further auctioning coal blocks for commercial mining by both Indian and foreign companies.

This act extends to the whole of India.

Source

Source

Solution: c)

There are three main natural carbon sinks:

• Plants
• Soil
• Oceans

Other natural carbon sinks found throughout the globe:

• Grasslands
• Agricultural Lands
• Northern, boreal forests
• Tropical Rainforests
• Peat Bogs
• Freshwater lakes and wetlands
• Coastal ecosystems such as seagrass beds, kelp forests, salt marshes and swamps
• Coral reefs

For carbon to be sequestered artificially (i.e. not using the natural processes of the carbon cycle) it must first be captured, or it must be significantly delayed or prevented from being re-released into the atmosphere (by combustion, decay, etc.) from an existing carbon-rich material, by being incorporated into an enduring usage (such as in construction). Natural-gas purification plants often already have to remove carbon dioxide, either to avoid dry ice clogging gas tankers or to prevent carbon-dioxide concentrations exceeding the 3% maximum permitted on the natural-gas distribution grid.