DAY – 29 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2020

Solution: D

Winter Solstice:

• December 22 was Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, conversely, December 22 was Summer Solstice, the year’s longest day.
• The winter solstice happens every year when the Sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees.
• It is when the North Pole is tilted farthest away from the Sun, delivering the fewest hours of sunlight of the year.
• The Sun is directly overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere during the December solstice and is closer to the horizon than at any other time in the year.
• The day after the winter solstice marks the beginning of lengthening days, leading up to the summer solstice in June.

Solution: B

Land boundary agreement:

• More than four years after the historic Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh, a report released by civil rights organisations on the situation in erstwhile enclaves states that protest and resistance have become an essential part of their survival in India.
• Under the Land Boundary Agreement between, the Bangladeshi enclaves in India and Indian enclaves in Bangladesh were transferred on July 31, 2015.
• The agreement involved handing over 17,000 acres of land to Bangladesh in return for 7,000 acres in 162 enclaves in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya.
• It also required an amendment to the Constitution (the 119th amendment).

Solution: A

Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme

• Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme for NBFCs gets cabinet nod
• It allows for purchase of high-rated pooled assets from financially-sound non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) by public sector banks (PSBs).
• The scheme would cover NBFCs and HFCs that might have slipped into “SMA-0” category during the one-year period prior to August 1, 2018, and asset pools rated “BBB+” or higher.
• The window for one-time partial credit guarantee offered by the government would remain open till June 30, 2020 or till such date by which Rs 1 lakh crore worth of assets get purchased by the banks, whichever is earlier.
• The Finance Minister would have the power to extend the validity of the scheme by up to three months by taking into account its progress.

Solution: B

About Swadesh Darshan Scheme:

• Tourism Ministry launched the scheme.
• Objective: to develop theme-based tourist circuits in the country. These tourist circuits will be developed on the principles of high tourist value, competitiveness and sustainability in an integrated manner.

Features of Swadesh Darshan Scheme:

• The scheme is 100% centrally funded for the project components undertaken for public funding.
• To leverage the voluntary funding available for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Central Public Sector Undertakings and corporate sector.
• Funding of individual project will vary from state to state and will be finalised on the basis of detailed project reports prepared by PMC (Programme Management Consultant).
• A National Steering Committee (NSC)will be constituted with Minister in charge of M/O Tourism as Chairman, to steer the mission objectives and vision of the scheme.
• A Mission Directorate headed by the Member Secretary, NSC as a nodal officer will help in identification of projects in consultation with the States/ UTs governments and other stake holders.
• PMC will be a national level consultant to be appointed by the Mission Directorate.

Solution: C

National Population Register (NPR):

• It will be conducted by the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Home Ministry.
• It is a Register of usual residents of the country.
• It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
• It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.
• Objectives: To create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.
• It includes both Indian citizens as well as a foreign citizen.

Solution: B

SnowEx:

• It is a five year program initiated and funded by NASA.
• Objective: To address the most important gaps in snow remote sensing knowledge and thus lay the groundwork for a future snow satellite mission.
• It focuses on airborne campaigns and field work, and on comparing the various sensing technologies, from the mature to the more experimental, in globally-representative types of snow.

The mission will utilize a suite of airborne instruments such as Lidar, SAR, Passive Microwave, Multi-spectral/hyperspectral VIS/IR, and others, as well as ground measurements, to study Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) in forested areas.

Solution: B

Adaptation fund:

• Established under the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• It finances projects and programmes that help vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt to climate change.
• Initiatives are based on country needs, views and priorities.

Financing:

• The Fund is financed in part by government and private donors, and also from a two percent share of proceeds of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) issued under the Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism projects.

Governance:

• The Fund is supervised and managed by the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB). The AFB is composed of 16 members and 16 alternates and meets at least twice a year.
• The World Bank serves as trustee of the Adaptation Fund on an interim basis.

Solution: C

Chabahar Port is a seaport in Chabahar located in southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman. It serves as Iran’s only oceanic port, and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each of which has five berths.

Solution: C

‘Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna’ is a small deposit scheme for girl child, launched as a part of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign, which would fetch an attractive interest rate and provide income tax rebate.

‘Sukanya Samriddhi Account’ can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years, with a minimum deposit of Rs 250. A maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh can be deposited during a financial year.

The account can be opened in any post office or authorised branches of commercial banks.

In an effort to motivate parents to open an account in the name of a girl child and for her welfare to deposit maximum of their savings upto the prescribed limits, higher rates of interest is given on the deposits on annually compounded basis with income tax concession.

The account will remain operative for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or marriage of the girl child after attaining 18 years of age.

To meet the requirement of higher education expenses, partial withdrawal of 50 per cent of the balance would be allowed after the girl child has attended 18 years of age

https://vikaspedia.in/social-welfare/women-and-child-development/child-development-1/girl-child-welfare/sukanya-samriddhi-yojna

Solution: D                                           

Jangubai Cave Temple and the Kaplai Caves are considered as a pilgrimage site by aboriginal tribes like Gond, Pradhan and Kolam. These caves are located at Maharashtra – Telangana border.

Kolam are a designated Scheduled Tribe in the Indian states of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra).

The Gonds tribe is spread over Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal.

Their main concentration is in forest and hilly areas between the Vidhyans and Satpura.

The Pardhan is a subgroup of the tribal Gond people who live in central India. The large majority of the Pardhan live in the Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/the-natural-and-unexplored-caves-of-adivasis-faith/article30299236.ece

Solution: B

The Indian and Russian Armed Forces have commenced the Indra 2019 joint exercise designed to improve interoperability and the relationship between the two nations.

The countries began the tri-services exercise with an opening ceremony at Babina, Uttar Pradesh on 11 December.

Three naval vessels from the Russian Navy arrived in the Indian state of Goa to participate in the exercise.

https://www.naval-technology.com/news/india-and-russia-begin-indra-2019-joint-tri-services-exercise/

Solution: B

World Habitat is an international not-for-profit organisation/foundation established
in the United Kingdom.

It works internationally to help bring the best housing to the people who need it the most.

Through peer exchanges and our networks, we bring people and ideas together – from major global institutions and national governments to grass-roots organisations and local communities.

We champion those communities that take control of solving their own housing needs. We initiated and are now working with thirteen cities to end street homelessness through the European End Street Homelessness Campaign.

Solution: D

Rabindra Sarobar is an artificial lake in South Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. The name also refers to the area surrounding the lake. It is flanked by Southern Avenue to the North, Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Road to the West, Dhakuria to the East and the Kolkata Suburban Railway tracks to the south

https://india.mongabay.com/2019/12/the-lady-of-rabindra-lake-kolkata/

Solution: D

The PPVFR act makes provisions to establish a National Gene Fund through which the conservation of varieties developed can be done, recognized and rewarded.

This fund is made of the money as fees collected from plant breeders who are required to pay for benefit sharing. This money is used to support and reward the farmers who are engaged in plant verities conservation.

https://vikaspedia.in/agriculture/policies-and-schemes/crops-related/protection-of-plant-varieties-and-rights-of-farmers/protection-of-plant-varieties-and-farmers-rights-act-2001

Solution: C

Mission Parivar Vikas is launched by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. It aims to deliver improved family planning services in 145 High Focus districts in seven states. These districts are located in the seven high focus states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam

The target of the government is to reach the replacement level fertility goals of 2.1 by the year 2025.

http://nhmmp.gov.in/WebContent/FW/Scheme/Scheme2017/Mission_Parivar_Vikas.pdf