DAY – 27 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2020

Solution: A

The India–Bangladesh enclaves were the enclaves along the Bangladesh–India border, in Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.

Solution: D

The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 is an Act to provide for measures to deter fugitive economic offenders from evading the process of law in India by staying outside the jurisdiction of Indian courts, to preserve the sanctity of the rule of law in India and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

It extends to the whole of India.

Declaration of fugitive economic offender.—(

1) After hearing the application under section 4, if the Special Court is satisfied that an individual is a fugitive economic offender, it may, by an order, declare the individual as a fugitive economic offender for reasons to be recorded in writing.

(2) On a declaration under sub-section (1), the Special Court may order that any of the following properties stand confiscated to the Central Government—

(a) the proceeds of crime in India or abroad, whether or not such property is owned by the fugitive economic offender; and

(b) any other property or benami property in India or abroad, owned by the fugitive economic offender

An appeal shall lie from any judgment or order, not being an interlocutory order, of a Special Court to the High Court both on facts and on law.

Every appeal under this section shall be preferred within a period of thirty days from the date of the judgment or order appealed from: Provided that the High Court may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty days, if it is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal within the period of thirty days: Provided further that no appeal shall be entertained after the expiry of period of ninety days.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pnb-fraud-nirav-modi-declared-fugitive-economic-offender/article30179164.ece

https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/4035?view_type=browse&sam_handle=123456789/1362

Solution: A

Meteor is a next generation, active radar-guided, beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) system. The missile is being developed by MBDA Systems for six European nations.

The Meteor BVRAAM can be integrated on Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab Gripen and Dassault Rafale aircraft. The Meteor missile can also be installed on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

https://theprint.in/defence/iafs-mirage-2000-jets-unlikely-to-get-meteor-missiles-makers-cite-high-integration-cost/292600/

Solution: C

The international environmental think tank ‘Germanwatch’ has recently released the Global Climate Risk Index 2020.

The annually published Risk Index analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).

Germanwatch, based in Bonn and Berlin (Germany), is an independent development and environmental organisation which works for sustainable global development.

In 2020, India’s rank has worsened from the 14th spot in 2017 to 5th in 2018 in the global vulnerability.

India has also recorded the highest number of fatalities due to climate change and the second highest monetary losses from its impact in 2018.

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/06/global-climate-risk-index-2020/

Solution: B

Rubella is an acute, contagious viral infection. While rubella virus infection usually causes a mild fever and rash in children and adults, infection during pregnancy, especially during the first trimester, can result in miscarriage, fetal death, stillbirth, or infants with congenital malformations, known as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS).

The rubella virus is transmitted by airborne droplets when infected people sneeze or cough. Humans are the only known host.

There is no specific treatment for rubella but the disease is preventable by vaccination.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/measles-outbreaks-continue-unabated-who/article30233542.ece

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rubella

Solution: C

The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project is a multi-institutional effort aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory with a rock cover of approx. 1200 m for non-accelerator based high energy and nuclear physics research in India. The project is jointly funded by Dept. of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Dept. of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India.

The project includes:

1. construction of an underground laboratory and associated surface facilities at Pottipuram in Bodi West hills of Theni District of Tamil Nadu.
2. construction of an Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) detector for studying neutrinos

and

1. setting up of an Inter Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics (IICHEP) at Madurai, for the operation and maintenance of the underground laboratory, human resource development and detector R&D along with its applications.

http://www.ino.tifr.res.in/ino/

Solution: B

Victoria Falls is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, which provides habitat for several unique species of plants and animals. It is located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and is considered to be one of the world’s largest waterfalls due to its width of 1,708 metres. It is a World Heritage Site.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/07/victoria-falls-dries-to-a-trickle-after-worst-drought-in-a-century

Solution: C

What is Western Disturbance?

It is an extra tropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the north-western parts of the Indian sub-continent. It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern driven by the westerlies.

Extra tropical storms are a global phenomenon with moisture usually carried in the upper atmosphere, unlike their tropical counterparts where the moisture is carried in the lower atmosphere. In the case of the Indian subcontinent, moisture is sometimes shed as rain when the storm system encounters the Himalayas.

Formation:

Western Disturbance originates in the Mediterranean Sea as extra-tropical cyclones. A high-pressure area over Ukraine and neighbourhood consolidates, causing the intrusion of cold air from Polar Regions towards an area of relatively warmer air with high moisture. This generates favourable conditions for cyclogenesis in the upper atmosphere, which promotes the formation of an eastward-moving extra tropical depression. They gradually travel across the middle-east from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan to enter the Indian sub-continent.

Impact:

1. Plays important role in bringing moderate to heavy rain in low-lying areas and heavy snow to mountainous areas of the Indian Subcontinent.
2. This disturbance is usually associated with cloudy sky, higher night temperatures and unusual rain. This precipitation has great importance in agriculture, particularly for the Rabi crops. Wheat among them is one of the most important crops, which helps to meet India’s food security.
3. Excessive precipitation due to this disturbance can cause crop damage, landslides, floods and avalanches. Over the Indo-Gangetic plains, it occasionally bring cold wave conditions and dense fog. These conditions remain stable until disturbed by another western disturbance. When western disturbances move across northwest India before the onset of monsoon, a temporary advancement of monsoon current appears over the region.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/western-disturbance-to-bring-rain/article30271589.ece

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/04/18/western-disturbance/

Solution: C

Recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is a daily ceiling on the amount of salt, fat, carbohydrate and trans-fat. The RDA is based on scientific consensus and has been agreed upon by expert bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad (in India).

It says that, ideally, an adult should consume no more than 5g of salt, 60g of fat, 300g carbohydrate and 2.2 g of transfat every day.

Current Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011 only require companies to disclose energy (kilo calories), protein, carbohydrates, total fat, trans-fat and saturated fat (no disclosures on high salt content and added sugar, and no compulsion on companies to disclose nutritional information on the front of the pack) .

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/cse-finds-range-of-packaged-foods-breach-safe-limits-of-salt-fat/article30331562.ece

Solution: A

Measles is a highly contagious illness caused by a virus that replicates in the nose and throat of an infected child or adult. Then, when someone with measles coughs, sneezes or talks, infected droplets spray into the air, where other people can inhale them.

India have second highest, next only to Nigeria. Measles can be prevented through two doses of vaccination.The first dose of measles vaccine was introduced as part of the national immunisation programme in the 1990s.

Based on the WHO’s recommendation to administer a second dose to prevent infection and death in 90-95% of vaccinated children, India introduced the second dose from 2010 onwards. India was one of the last countries to add a second dose of measles vaccine as recommended by the WHO.

Solution: A

ISFR is a biennial publication of Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change. The ISFR assesses the forest and tree cover, bamboo resources, carbon stock and forest fires.

The 2019 report for the first time has assessed the qualitative nature of the forest cover, including listing its biodiversity and the type of plants and trees found. It also created a national forest inventory for the first time on produce from forests.

Forest cover in the country increased by 3,976 square kilometres (sqkm) but with the sharpest declines in the northeastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram.

Forest Cover (Area-wise) – Madhya Pradesh > Arunachal Pradesh > Chhattisgarh

Forest Cover (In Percentage) – Mizoram (85.4%) > Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%) > Meghalaya (76.33%)

https://india.mongabay.com/2020/01/indias-forest-cover-is-rising-but-northeast-and-tribals-lose/

Solution: B

The Good Governance Index (GGI) has been launched by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions to determine the status of governance in the country.

It assesses the impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and UTs.

Tamil Nadu topped the index followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh whereas Odisha, Bihar, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand are poor performers.

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/12/26/good-governance-index/

Solution: C

The Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition or POSHAN Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, is Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

Launched by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on 8 March, 2018 from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, the POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan directs the attention of the country towards the problem of malnutrition and address it in a mission-mode.

NITI Aayog has played a critical role in shaping the POSHAN Abhiyaan. The National Nutrition Strategy, released by NITI Aayog in September, 2017 presented a micro analysis of the problems persisting within this area and chalked out an in-depth strategy for course correction.

Most of the recommendations presented in the Strategy document have been subsumed within the design of the POSHAN Abhiyaan and now that the Abhiyaan is launched, NITI Aayog has been entrusted with the task of closely monitoring the POSHAN Abhiyaan and undertaking periodic evaluations.

With the overarching aim to build a people’s movement (Jan Andolan) around malnutrition, POSHAN Abhiyaan intends to significantly reduce malnutrition in the next three years.

For implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan the four point strategy/pillars of the mission are:

• Inter-sectoral convergence for better service delivery
• Use of technology (ICT) for real time growth monitoring and tracking of women and children
• Intensified health and nutrition services for the first 1000 days
• Jan Andolan

As a part of its mandate, NITI Aayog is required to submit implementation status reports of POSHAN Abhiyaan every six months to the PMO. The first bi-annual report was prepared and presented at third National Nutrition Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges (which is housed within NITI) in November 2018.

The task of implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan is to be carried out through the Technical Support Unit (TSU) established at NITI Aayog which, in addition to the M&E, will also provide research, policy and technical support to the Abhiyaan

https://niti.gov.in/poshan-abhiyaan.

Solution: D

Pulicat Lagoon is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, after Chilika Lake.

The lagoon comprises the following regions, which adds up 759 square kilometres (293 sq mi) according to Andhra Pradesh Forest Department: 1) Pulicat Lake (Tamil Nadu-TN & Andhra Pradesh-AP) 2) Marshy/Wetland Land Region (AP) 3) Venadu Reserve Forest (AP) 4) Pernadu Reserve Forest (AP) The lagoon was cut across in the middle by the Sriharikota Link Road, which divided the water body into lagoon and marshy land. Major part of the lagoon comes under Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.

It is not a Ramsar site.

Solution: C

Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Jal Shakti to improve ground water management through community participation. The scheme has a total outlay of Rs.6000 crore and is to be implemented over a period of 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25).

The Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti is adopting a mix of ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches in identified ground water stressed blocks in seven states, representing a range of geomorphic, climatic and hydrogeologic and cultural settings. ATAL JAL has been designed with the principal objective of strengthening the institutional framework for participatory ground water management and bringing about behavioral changes at the community level for sustainable ground water resource management.

It doesn’t come under National Water Mission. The scheme aims to improve ground water management through community participation in identified priority areas in seven States, viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Implementation of the scheme is expected to benefit nearly 8350 Gram Panchayats in 78 districts in these States.

https://vikaspedia.in/energy/policy-support/environment-1/water/atal-bhujal-yojana