DAY – 13 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2020

Solution: A

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT):

• It is a messaging network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of Under SWIFT, each financial organization has a unique code which is used to send and receive payments.
• SWIFT does not facilitate funds transfer: rather, it sends payment orders, which must be settled by correspondent accounts that the institutions have with each other.
• The SWIFT is a secure financial message carrier — in other words, it transports messages from one bank to its intended bank recipient.
• SWIFT neither holds funds on its own nor manages external client accounts.
• Its core role is to provide a secure transmission channel so that Bank A knows that its message to Bank B goes to Bank B and no one else. Bank B, in turn, knows that Bank A, and no one other than Bank A, sent, read or altered the message en route. Banks, of course, need to have checks in place before actually sending messages.

SWIFT India is a joint venture of top Indian public and private sector banks and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication). The company was created to deliver high quality domestic financial messaging services to the Indian financial community. It has a huge potential to contribute significantly to the financial community in many domains.

Solution: C

PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation):

• PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) is a unique integrating and interactive platform.
• It has been launched by Prime Minister’s Office
• The platform is aimed at addressing common man’s grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State Governments.
• The PRAGATI platform uniquely bundles three latest technologies: Digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial technology.
• It also offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative federalism since it brings on one stage the Secretaries of Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States.
• With this, the Prime Minister is able to discuss the issues with the concerned Central and State officials with full information and latest visuals of the ground level situation. It is also an innovative project in e-governance and good governance.
• It is a three-tier system (PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States).
• Issues to be flagged before the PM are picked up from the available database regarding Public Grievances, on-going Programmes and pending Projects.

Solution: B

Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP):

• The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is a first of its kind, unified access portal which brings together women from different parts of India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations. It is an initiative of NITI Aayog.
• The initiative is aimed at building an ecosystem for women across India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations, scale-up innovative initiatives and chalk-out sustainable, long-term strategies for their businesses.
• The platform aspires to substantially increase the number of women entrepreneurs who will create and empower a dynamic New India.
• It aims to promote and support aspiring as well as established women entrepreneurs in India.

Solution: D

22nd National Conference on e-Governance adopts ‘Shillong Declaration’ with focus on Northeast. The declaration has outlined the future trajectory that would be taken in terms of e governance with a focus on improving connectivity in Northeast.

Solution: A

Whip

• A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This usually means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology or the will of their constituents.
• In India all parties can issue a whip to their members. Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips — this member is called a Chief Whip, and he/she is assisted by additional Whips.
• However, there are some cases such as Indian Presidential elections where whips cannot direct a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) on whom to vote.

Solution: A

Delimitation Commission:

• According to the Delimitation Commission Act, 2002, the Delimitation Commission appointed by the Centre has to have three members: a serving or retired judge of the Supreme Court as the chairperson, and the Chief Election Commissioner or Election Commissioner nominated by the CEC and the State Election Commissioner as ex-officio members.
• Delimitation is carried out by an independent Delimitation Commission.
• The Constitution mandates that its orders are final and cannot be questioned before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.
• Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census. Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
• Composition: The commission is made up of a retired Supreme Court judge, the Chief Election Commissioner and the respective State Election Commissioners

Solution: B

A proposal for reservation of seats for Limboo and Tamang communities in Sikkim Legislative Assembly is under consideration of the Government of India. Limboo and Tamang communities, notified as the Scheduled Tribes in Sikkim in January 2003

Solution: B

SANKALP Project

• SANKALP is a centrally sponsored scheme of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE). It is an outcome focused scheme marking shift in government’s implementation strategy in vocational education and training from inputs to results. SANKALP aims to implement the mandate of the National Skill Development Mission (NSDM).
• SANKALP will provide market relevant training to 3.5 crore youth.
• Objective: The Objective of the project is to enhance institutional mechanisms for skills development and increase access to quality and market-relevant training for the work force.
• The scheme provides the required impetus to the National Skill Development Mission, 2015 and its various sub missions. It is aligned to flagship Government of India programs such as Make in India and SwachhtaAbhiyan and aims at developing globally competitive workforce for domestic and overseas requirements.

The Key result areas for the project include Institutional Strengthening at the National and State Levels for Planning, Delivering, and Monitoring High-Quality Market-Relevant Training; Improved Quality and Market Relevance of Skills Development Programs; Improved access to and completion of skills training for female trainees and other disadvantaged groups; and Expanding skills training through private-public partnerships (PPPs).

Solution: D

Space debris encompasses both natural (meteoroid) and artificial (man-made) particles. Meteoroids are in orbit about the sun, while most artificial debris is in orbit about the Earth. Hence, the latter is more commonly referred to as orbital debris.
Orbital debris is any man-made object in orbit about the Earth which no longer serves a useful function. Such debris includes nonfunctional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris and fragmentation debris.
There are more than 20,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth. They travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft. There are 500,000 pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger. There are many millions of pieces of debris that are so small they can’t be tracked.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html

Solution: B

Context: Nigeria becomes fourth African nation to join global coalition to protect pollinators.

While Morroco became a member of this group in May this year, Ethiopia was the first African nation to be part of this global coalition in 2017.  Burundi was the second African country to join this global group.

About the Global Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators:

• The organisation was formed three years ago, to follow up on the findings of IPBES Assessment on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production, which found that many of the world’s pollinator species are on the decline.
• The initiative to form a coalition was taken by the Netherlands on December 12, 2016 at the Conference of the Parties–Convention of Biological Diversity held in Mexico.
• Members: The coalition now has 28 signatories including 17 European countries, five from Latin America and the Caribbean and four from Africa.

What is the importance of pollinators?

1. Plants depend on pollination.
2. Globally nearly 90% of wild flowering plant species depend on animal pollination.
3. More than 75% of leading global crop types benefit from animal pollination in production, yield and quality.
4. Around 5-8% of current global crop production is directly ascribed to animal pollination, which equates to somewhere between 235 and 577 billion American dollars worldwide.

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/08/02/global-coalition-to-protect-pollinators/

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/agriculture/nigeria-becomes-fourth-african-nation-to-join-global-coalition-to-protect-pollinators-65916

Solution: C

Here is all you need to know about the ‘one nation, one ration card’ system:

1) Under the initiative, eligible beneficiaries would be able to avail their entitled foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from any Fair Price Shop in the country using the same ration card.

2) The government wanted to implement ‘one nation, one ration card’ scheme across the country effective 1st June 2020.

3) A standard format for ration card has been prepared after taking into account the format used by different states and after consultation with other stakeholders.

4) For national portability, the state governments have been asked to issue the ration card in bi-lingual format, wherein besides the local langauge, the other language could be Hindi or English.

5) As of now, 17 states are on integrated management of the public distribution system (PDS).

6) Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Jharkhand and Tripura. Bihar, UP, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Daman and Diu have been integrated with the ‘one nation, one ration card’ system.

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/-one-nation-one-ration-card-scheme-explained-in-10-points-11589524550728.html

Solution: D

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, found in the bones, muscles, skin, and tendons.It is the substance that holds the body together. Collagen forms a scaffold to provide strength and structure.

Collagen is a hard, insoluble, and fibrous protein that makes up one-third of the protein in the human body.

Endogenous collagen is natural collagen, synthesized by the body. Exogenous collagen is synthetic. It comes from an outside source, such as supplements.These act as supporting structures and anchor cells to each other. They give the skin strength and elasticity.

U.S Scientists have successfully built functional heart parts out of collagen using a 3D bio-printer.

Solution: A

Bharat Stage (BS) VI Norms are the standards set up by the Indian government which specify the amount of air pollutants from internal combustion engines, including those that vehicles can emit.

Bharat Stage (BS) norms are based on European emission norms which, for example, are referred to in a similar manner like Euro 4 and Euro 6.

These emission standards were set by the central government to keep a check on the pollutant levels emitted by vehicles that use combustion engines.

To bring them into force, the Central Pollution Control Board sets timelines and standards which have to be followed by automakers.

Armoured and Specialised Vehicles of Armed/ Paramilitary Forces were exempted from BSVI Emission Norms that will come into Force in April 2020.

Solution: B

FAW (Spodopterafrugiperda) is an invasive and polyphagous (feeding on many foods) pest.  It can attack cereals and forage grasses.

Fall armyworm (FAW), one of the most important pests of maize in Latin America, suddenly appeared in Africa in 2016 and spread rapidly. Estimates of crop losses due to FAW are essential in order to compare the impact of these losses with the cost of controlling FAW and advise appropriate technology dissemination and policy. In this study, therefore, crop losses due to FAW in 2017 and 2018 were estimated in all the maize production areas of Kenya.

Solution: C

Hemis National Park (or Hemis High Altitude National Park) is a high altitude national park in the eastern Ladakh Union Territory of the Republic of India. Globally famous for its snow leopards, it is believed to have the highest density of them in any protected area in the world

The park is bounded on the north by the banks of the Indus River, and includes the catchments of Markha, Sumdah and Rumbak, and parts of the Zanskar Range.