DAY – 32 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2020

Solution: C

The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is the annual flagship event of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Instituted in 2001, the Summit series has marked 20 years in its journey of making ‘sustainable development’ a globally shared goal.

The World Sustainable Development Summit brings together Nobel laureates, political leaders, decision-makers from bilateral and multilateral institutions, business leaders, high-level functionaries from the diplomatic corps, scientists and researchers, media personnel, and members of civil society; on a common platform to deliberate on issues related to sustainable development.

http://wsds.teriin.org/about-wsds.php

Solution: C

Launched in 2003, Spitzer was one of NASA’s four Great Observatories, along with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The Great Observatories program demonstrated the power of using different wavelengths of light to create a fuller picture of the universe.

“Spitzer has taught us about entirely new aspects of the cosmos and taken us many steps further in understanding how the universe works, addressing questions about our origins, and whether or not are we alone,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

“This Great Observatory has also identified some important and new questions and tantalizing objects for further study, mapping a path for future investigations to follow. Its immense impact on science certainly will last well beyond the end of its mission.”

Among its many scientific contributions, Spitzer studied comets and asteroids in our own solar system and found a previously unidentified ring around Saturn. It studied star and planet formation, the evolution of galaxies from the ancient universe to today, and the composition of interstellar dust. It also proved to be a powerful tool for detecting exoplanets and characterizing their atmospheres.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-spitzer-space-telescope-ends-mission-of-astronomical-discovery/

Solution: A

The Global Investment Trend Monitor report, compiled by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), has been released.

Key findings:

India- specific:

1. India was among the top 10 recipients of Foreign Direct Investment in 2019, attracting $49 billion in inflows, a 16 per cent increase from the previous year.

Global scenario:

1. The global foreign direct investment remained flat in 2019 at $1.39 trillion, a one per cent decline from a revised $1.41 trillion in 2018.
2. Reasons: This is against the backdrop of weaker macroeconomic performance and policy uncertainty for investors, including trade tensions.
3. Developing economies continue to absorb more than half of global FDI flows.
4. South Asia recorded a 10 per cent increase in FDI to $60 billion and this growth was driven by India, with a 16 per cent increase in inflows to an estimated $49 billion.
5. The FDI flows to developed countries remained at a historically low level, decreasing by a further six per cent to an estimated $643 billion.
6. There was zero-growth of flows to United States, which received $251 billion FDI in 2019, as compared to $254 billion in 2018, the report said.
7. Despite this, the United States remained the largest recipient of FDI, followed by China with flows of $140 billion and Singapore with $110 billion.
8. The FDI in the UK was down six per cent as Brexit unfolded.

Way ahead:

 https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/01/22/global-investment-trend-monitor-report/

Solution: B

Juice jacking is a type of cyber-attack involving a charging port that doubles as a data connection, typically over USB. This often involves either installing malware or surreptitiously copying sensitive data from a smart phone, tablet, or other computer device.

Mobile phones can get infected through a type of cyber-attack called Juice Jacking. A USB port is not simply a power socket, you can also use it to transfer and sync your data.

A hacker can tamper with a USB charging port at a public charging station to steal passwords and export data.

The main way to avoid juice jacking is to stay away from public charging stations or portable wall chargers. Carry a personal charger or a power bank or use USB condoms which are adaptors that allow the power transfer but don’t connect the data transfer pins. Switch off your phone or lock your phone and then plug it into the charging port. But this technique only works on few mobile models.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/juice-jacking-and-how-can-it-be-avoided/article30819257.ece

Solution: A

Lithium sulphur batteries are generally considered to be the successors of the Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries because of their lower cost of production, energy efficiency and improved safety. Their cost of production is lower because sulphur is abundantly available.

There have been some difficulties when it comes to commercialising these batteries, mainly due to their short life cycle and poor instantaneous power capabilities.

The Li–S batteries are promising because of the high energy density, low cost, and natural abundance of sulfur material. However, these advantages can be achieved only when the Li–S battery uses elemental sulfur as the cathode active material and the sulfur approaches the theoretical capacity with low process cost.

In recent years, great improvement in the cycling performances of Li–S batteries has been made; however, all these achievements are obtained in exchange for the energy density and process cost.

Solution: C

The Non-nuclear aggression agreement is a bilateral and nuclear weapons control treaty between the two South Asian states, India and Pakistan, on the reduction (or limitation) of nuclear arms and pledged not to attack or assist foreign powers to attack on each’s nuclear installations and facilities.

According to the treaty, both countries inform each other of their nuclear installations and facilities on the 1st of January every year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Nuclear_Aggression_Agreement

Solution: C

Features of Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017

• It provides for full paid absence from work for a period of 26 weeks (earlier 12 weeks) to take care of the child.
• To be eligible for maternity benefit, a woman must have been working as an employee in the establishment for a period of at least 80 days in the past 12 months.
• For women who are expecting after having 2 children, the duration of paid maternity leave shall be 12 weeks.
• Maternity leave of 12 weeks also available to mothers adopting a child below the age of three months from the date of adoption as well as to the “commissioning mothers”.
• The Act makes it mandatory for employers to educate women about the maternity benefits available to them at the time of their appointment.
• Every establishment having 50 or more employees are required to have a mandatory creche facility.
• It makes mandatory for employers to educate women about the maternity benefits available to them at the time of their appointment.

https://www.icsi.edu/media/portals/22/Article%20on%20MBA%20Act,%202017.pdf

Solution: D

Reciprocal trade agreements:

Countries use bilateral/regional trade agreements to increase market access and expand trade in foreign markets. These agreements are called reciprocal trade agreements (RTAs) because members grant special advantages to each other.

RTAs include many types of agreements, such as preferential arrangements, free trade agreements, customs unions, and common markets, in which members agree to open their markets to each other’s exports by lowering trade barriers.

Need: They have become an increasingly prominent feature of the multilateral trading system in recent years, in part, because of stalled global negotiations taking place under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Many observers believe that RTAs deepen market integration and complement efforts by the WTO to liberalize international markets. While acknowledging that RTAs can open up markets, other observers contend that these agreements also distort trade and discriminate against nonmember countries.

Solution: A

Open Market Operations:

• Open market operations is the sale and purchase of government securities and treasury bills by RBI or the central bank of the country.
• The objective of OMO is to regulate the money supply in the economy.
• RBI carries out the OMO through commercial banks and does not directly deal with the public.
• Features: When the RBI wants to increase the money supply in the economy, it purchases the government securities from the market and it sells government securities to suck out liquidity from the system.
• These operations are often conducted on a day-to-day basis in a manner that balances inflation while helping banks continue to lend.

Solution: C

Taal volcano

• It is a volcano on the island of Luzon in Philippines.
• It erupted recently.
• Taal is classified as a “complex” volcano by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).
• A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano, is defined as one that consists of a complex of two or more vents, or a volcano that has an associated volcanic dome, either in its crater or on its flanks. Examples include Vesuvius, besides Taal.
• The Taal volcano does not rise from the ground as a distinct, singular dome but consists of multiple stratovolcanoes (volcanoes susceptible to explosive eruptions), conical hills and craters of all shapes and sizes.

Solution: D

The Supreme Court lifted its seven-year stay on a proposal to introduce African cheetahs from Namibia into the Indian habitat on an experimental basis. The plan was to revive the Indian cheetah population. In May 2012, the top court had stalled the plan to initiate the foreign cheetahs into the Palpur Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh fearing they may come into conflict with a parallel and a much-delayed project to reintroduce lions into the same sanctuary.

Solution: B

Economic Censuses:

• It is being conducted by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation to provide disaggregated information on various operational and structural aspects of all establishments in the country.
• Launched in 1976 as a plan scheme.
• Coverage: All entrepreneurial units in the country which are involved in any economic activities of either agricultural or non-agricultural sector which are engaged in production and/or distribution of goods and/or services not for the sole purpose of own consumption.
• Objective: It provides detailed information on operational and other characteristics such as number of establishments, number of persons employed, source of finance, type of ownership etc.
• Significance: This information used for micro level/ decentralized planning and to assess contribution of various sectors of the economy in the gross domestic product (GDP).
• Total Six Economic Censuses (EC) have been conducted till date. First one was conducted in 1977 by CSO.
• It is conducted every five years
• Implementing agency: MoSPI has partnered with Common Service Centres, CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle under the MEITY as the implementing agency.

Solution: C

‘Nagpur Resolution: A holistic approach for empowering citizens’:

• The ‘Nagpur Resolution – A holistic approach for empowering citizens’ has been adopted at the end of the Regional Conference on ‘Improving Public Service Delivery – Role of Governments’, held recently in Nagpur, Maharashtra.
• The conference was organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India, in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra and the Maharashtra State Commission for Right to Public Services.
• Previously, the Shillong Declaration and the Jammu Resolution have been adopted for good governance.

Overview of the resolution:

As per the resolution, the GOI, the Government of Maharashtra and other participating States shall collaborate to:

• To empower the citizens by policy interventions for better service delivery through timely updation of citizens charters, implementation of enactments and benchmarking standards for continuous improvement;
• To empower citizens by adopting a bottom-up approach to bring massive improvements in quality of grievance redressal and reduction in timelines of grievance redressal;
• To adopt a holistic approach of systemic public grievance reforms through improved mapping, formulation of monitoring matrix, data collection and evaluation in quality of grievance redressal;
• To provide an enabling environment for States and Ministries/Departments of the Government of India for creating web portals and to adopt a holistic approach for improved service delivery through digital platforms;
• To focus on dynamic policy-making and strategic decisions, monitoring of implementation, appointment of key personnel, coordination and evaluation;
• To achieve a sense of common identity by exchange of technical expertise in the areas of Improved Service Delivery between the paired States under the Ek Bharat – Shreshth Bharat Program;
• To ensure timely publication of Good Governance Index to identify the quality of governance in 10 sectors especially those pertaining to welfare and infrastructure at the Union, State and District levels.

Solution: C

Merchant Discount Rate:

• It is a fee charged from a merchant by a bank for accepting payments from customers through credit and debit cards in their establishments. It is the sum total of all the charges and taxes that a digital payment entails.

• MDR compensates the card issuing bank, the lender which puts the PoS terminal and payment gateways such as Mastercard or Visa for their services.
• MDR charges are usually shared in pre-agreed proportion between the bank and a merchant and is expressed in percentage of transaction amount.
• Why in News? From January onwards, all companies with a turnover of Rs 50 crore or more need to provide the facility of payment through RuPay Debit card and UPI QR code to their customers, under which no MDR fee will be charged from customers as well as merchants.

Solution: B

PUNCH mission

• It has been launched by NASA
• It is focused on understanding the transition of particles from the Sun’s outer corona to the solar wind that fills interplanetary space.
• The mission will focus directly on the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, and how it generates the solar wind.
• It will consist of a constellation of four microsatellites that through continuous 3D deep-field imaging, will observe the corona and heliosphere as elements of a single, connected system.
• The mission is expected to be launched in 2022.