DAY – 45 ( INSTA REVISION TEST)INSTA REVISION PLAN 3.0, 2020

Solution: D

The Credit Suisse Group, a Switzerland-based multinational investment bank, has released the 10th edition of its annual Global Wealth Report.

How is wealth defined and calculated?

Wealth is defined in terms of “net worth” of an individual. This, in turn, is calculated by adding up the value of financial assets (such as money) and real assets (such as houses) and then subtracting any debts an individual may have.

Key findings:

1. China has overtaken the United States this year to become “the country with most people in the top 10% of global wealth distribution”.
2. 44% of total wealth with 0.9%: 47 million people – accounting for merely 0.9% of the world’s adult population – owned $158.3 trillion.
3. Bottom half of wealth holders collectively accounted for less than 1% of total global wealth in mid-2019, while the richest 10% own 82% of global wealth and the top 1% alone own 45%.
4. Global financial crisis of 2008-09 has hurt those at the bottom of the pyramid more than the wealthiest as inequalities within countries grew in the wake of the GFC. As a result, the top 1% of wealth holders increased their share of world wealth.

Solution: A

International Religious Freedom (IRF) Report

Context: The U.S. State Department has released its annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Report.

International Religious Freedom report is an annual report released by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

What is it?

The annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom, also known as the International Religious Freedom Report, describes the status of religious freedom, government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations and individuals, and U.S. policies promoting religious freedom. The report is a survey of the state of religious freedom across the world.

Observations made on Religious freedom in India:

1. The report takes note of the change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
2. It discusses in detail mob lynchings and anti-conversion laws and related issues.
3. Lawmakers failed: The report notes, Issues of religiously inspired mob violence, lynching and communal violence were sometimes denied or ignored by lawmakers.
4. It details incidents of “cow vigilantism” and other types of mob violence.
5. The report also takes note of the Babri Masjid decision by the Supreme Court and the challenges to the 2018 reversal of a ban on some women entering the Sabarimala temple.

Solution: C

Context:

India has been elected to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a non-permanent member from the Asia-Pacific category.

India has been elected as one of the non-permanent members to the UNSC with an overwhelming majority of 184 votes out of 192, where the minimum requirement was 128.

This was for the eighth time that India has been elected to UNSC. India has served seven times earlier: 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992 and 2011-2012.

India should work with all member countries to promote global peace, security, resilience and equity.

About United Nations Security Council:

1. The UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.
2. Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions.
3. It is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
4. The Security Council consists of fifteen members. Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, and the United States—serve as the body’s five permanent members.
5. These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.
6. The Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms. The body’s presidency rotates monthly among its members.

Solution: D

UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN).

To date, the UCCN has granted membership to 246 cities around the world.

About Creative Cities Network:

What is it?

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.

Objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.

The Network covers seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Arts, Media Arts, Film, Design, Gastronomy, Literature and Music.

Joining the Network, cities commit to sharing their best practices and developing partnerships involving the public and private sectors as well as civil society in order to:

1. Strengthen the creation, production, distribution and dissemination of cultural activities, goods and services;
2. Develop hubs of creativity and innovation and broaden opportunities for creators and professionals in the cultural sector;
3. Improve access to and participation in cultural life, in particular for marginalized or vulnerable groups and individuals;
4. Fully integrate culture and creativity into sustainable development plans.

As of November, 2019, there are five Indian cities in UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) as follows:

1. Jaipur-Crafts and Folk Arts(2015).
2. Varanasi-Creative city of Music (2015).
3. Chennai-Creative city of Music(2017).
4. Mumbai – Film (2019).
5. Hyderabad – Gastronomy (2019).

Solution: D

The governor is neither directly elected by the people nor indirectly elected by a specially constituted electoral college as is the case with the president. He is appointed by the president by warrant under his hand and seal.

As held by the Supreme Court in 1979, the office of governor of a state is not an employment under the Central government. It is an independent constitutional office and is not under the control of or subordinate to the Central government.

Solution: A

Article 164 only says that the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the governor. However, this does not imply that the governor is free to appoint any one as the Chief Minister. In accordance with the convections of the parliamentary system of government, the governor has to appoint the leader of the majority party in the state legislative assembly as the Chief Minister.

The Constitution does not contain any specific procedure for the selection and appointment of the Chief Minister.

Solution: A

Cantonment Board

A Cantonment Board is a body corporate under the Cantonments Act, 2006 having perpetual succession.

As per Section 10(2) of the Act, every Cantonment Board is deemed to be a municipality under clause (e) of article 243P of the Constitution for the purpose of:

1. Receiving grants and allocations; or
2. Implementing the Central Government schemes of social sector, public health, hygiene, safety, water supply, sanitation, urban renewal and education.

How are they administered?

The overall municipal administration of the Cantt areas comes under Cantonment Boards which are democratic bodies.

Difference between Cantonments and Military Stations:

Cantonments are different from the Military Stations in that the Military Stations are purely meant for the use and accommodation of the armed forces and these are established under an executive order whereas the Cantonments are areas which comprise of both military and civil population.

Solution: A

The ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’ scheme — underway across construction sites in five states — to certify skills acquired by workers through traditional learning channels.

The project may be of particular relevance to a country where just 2 per cent of the workforce is certified as skilled.

Most deemed to be outside the skilled category in India are those who have typically picked up a skill while on the job, without any formal degree to back this up.

Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), but this isn’t applicable to trainees.

Solution: D

The features of parliamentary government in India are:

(a) Presence of nominal and real executives;

(b) Majority party rule,

(c) Collective responsibility of the executive to the legislature,

(d) Membership of the ministers in the legislature,

(e) Leadership of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister,

(f) Dissolution of the lower House (Lok Sabha or Assembly).

Solution: D

A Secular State

The Constitution of India stands for a Secular State. Hence, it does not uphold any particular religion as the official religion of the Indian State. The following provisions of the Constitution reveal the secular character of the Indian State:

(a) The term ‘secular’ was added to the Preamble of the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976.

(b) The Preamble secures to all citizens of India liberty of belief, faith and worship.

(c) The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws (Article 14).

(d) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on the ground of religion (Article 15).

(e) Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters of public employment (Article 16).

(f) All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate any religion

(Article 25).

(g) Every religious denomination or any of its section shall have the right to manage its religious affairs (Article 26).

(h) No person shall be compelled to pay any taxes for the promotion of a particular religion (Article 27).

(i) No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution maintained by the State (Article 28).

(j) Any section of the citizens shall have the right to conserve its distinct language, script or culture (Article 29).

(k) All minorities shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice (Article 30).

(l) The State shall endeavor to secure for all the citizens a Uniform Civil Code (Article 44).

Solution: A

Article 18 of the constitution justifies this. Under Right to equality, A18 abolishes titular privileges (except military or academic) granted to citizens of India.

Solution: B

Democratic

A democratic polity, as stipulated in the Preamble, is based on the doctrine of popular sovereignty, that is, possession of supreme power by the people.

Democracy is of two types–direct and indirect. In direct democracy, the people exercise their supreme power directly as is the case in Switzerland. There are four devices of direct democracy, namely, Referendum, Initiative, Recall and Plebiscite. In indirect democracy, on the other hand, the representatives elected by the people exercise the supreme power and thus carry on the government and make the laws. This type of democracy, also known as representative democracy, is of two kinds–parliamentary and presidential. The Indian Constitution provides for representative parliamentary democracy under which the executive is responsible to the legislature for all its policies and actions.

Solution: B

Context: Democracy Index 2019 has been released.

The report ranks 165 independent states and two territories, covering almost the entire population of the world.

About the index:

It is released annually by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

It provides a snapshot of the state of world democracy for 165 independent states and two territories.

 The Index is based on five categories:

1. Electoral process and pluralism.
2. Civil liberties.
3. Functioning of government.
4. Political participation.
5. Political culture.

Classification:

Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy; flawed democracy; hybrid regime; and authoritarian regime.

Performance of India:

In 2019, India slipped 10 places to 51st position.

It is placed in the “flawed democracy” category, which also includes Bangladesh (5.88).

Solution: B

It is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

It is a National ICT based portal developed primarily to connect the opportunities with the aspirations of youth. This portal facilitates registration of job seekers, job providers, skill providers, career counsellors, etc.

Solution: C

However, the term ‘federation’ has no where been used in the Constitution. Instead, Article 1 of the Constitution describes India asa ‘Union of States’. According to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the phrase ‘Union of States’ has been preferred to ‘Federation of States’ to indicate two things: (i) the Indian federation is not the result of an agreement among the states like the American federation; and (ii) the states have no right to secede from the federation. The federation is union because it is indestructible.

The Indian federal system is based on the ‘Canadian model’ and not on the ‘American model’. The ‘Canadian model’ differs fundamentally from the ‘American model’ in so far as it establishes a very strong centre. The Indian federation resembles the Candian federation (i) in its formation (i.e., by way of disintegration); (ii) in its preference to the term ‘Union’ (the Canadian federation is also called a ‘Union’); and (iii) in its centralising tendency (i.e., vesting more powers in the centre vis-a-vis the states).

Solution: D

Centre’s Directions to the States

In addition to the above two cases, the Centre is empowered to give directions to the states with regard to the exercise of their executive power in the following matters:

(i) the construction and maintenance of means of communication (declared to be of national or military importance) by the state;

(ii) the measures to be taken for the protection of the railways within the state;

(iii) the provision of adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups in the state; and

(iv) the drawing up and execution of the specified schemes for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes in the state.

The coercive sanction behind the Central directions under Article 365 is applicable in these cases.

Solution: D

The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations (1983–88) made a strong case for the establishment of a permanent Inter-State Council under Article 263 of the Constitution. It recommended that in order to differentiate the Inter-State Council from other bodies established under the same Article 263, it must be called as the Inter-Governmental Council. The Commission recommended that the Council should be charged with the duties laid down in clauses (b) and (c) of Article 263 (see above).

In pursuance of the above recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission, the Janata Dal Government headed by V. P. Singh established the Inter-State Council in 1990. It consists of the following members:

(i) Prime minister as the Chairman

(ii) Chief ministers of all the states

(iii) Chief ministers of union territories having legislative assemblies

(iv) Administrators of union territories not having legislative assemblies

(v) Governors of States under President’s rule

(vi) Six Central cabinet ministers, including the home minister, to be nominated by the Prime Minister.

Five Ministers of Cabinet rank / Minister of State (independent charge) nominated by the Chairman of the Council (i.e., Prime Minister) are permanent invitees to the Council.

Solution: B

The veto power enjoyed by the executive in modern states can be classified into the following four types:

1. Absolute veto, that is, withholding of assent to the bill passed by the legislature.
2. Qualified veto, which can be overridden by the legislature with a higher majority.
3. Suspensive veto, which can be overridden by the legislature with an ordinary majority.
4. Pocket veto, that is, taking no action on the bill passed by the legislature.

Of the above four, the President of India is vested with three–absolute veto, suspensive veto and pocket veto. There is no qualified veto in the case of Indian President; it is possessed by the American President.

Solution: B

Qualifications

To be eligible for election as Vice-President, a person should fulfil the following qualifications:

1. He should be a citizen of India.
2. He should have completed 35 years of age.
3. He should be qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
4. He should not hold any office of profit under the Union government or any state government or any local authority or any other public authority.

Solution: D

The Deputy Chairman is elected by the Rajya Sabha itself from amongst its members. Whenever the office of the Deputy Chairman falls vacant, the Rajya Sabha elects another member to fill the vacancy.

The Deputy Chairman vacates his office in any of the following three cases:

1. if he ceases to be a member of the Rajya Sabha;
2. if he resigns by writing to the Chairman; and
3. if he is removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members of the Rajya Sabha. Such a resolution can be moved only after giving 14 days’ advance notice.

The Deputy Chairman performs the duties of the Chairman’s office when it is vacant or when the Vice-President acts as President or discharges the functions of the President. He also acts as the Chairman when the latter is absent from the sitting of the House. In both the cases, he has all the powers of the Chairman.

It should be emphasized here that the Deputy Chairman is not subordinate to the Chairman. He is directly responsible to the Rajya Sabha.

Solution: A

The President has commuted death sentences to life imprisonment in at least 20 cases over the past nine years, based on the recommendations received from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Clemency powers of the President under article 72:

It says that the President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.

• Pardon –A pardon completely absolves the offender from all sentences and punishment and disqualifications and places him in the same position as if he had never committed the offence.
• Commutation– Commutation means exchange of one thing for another. In simple words to replace the punishment with less severe punishment. For example for Rigorous imprisonment-simple imprisonment.
• Reprieve– Reprieve means temporary suspension of death sentence. For example- pending a proceeding for pardon or commutation.
• Respite – Respite means awarding a lesser punishment on some special grounds. For example- the Pregnancy of women offender.
• Remissions– Remission means the reduction of the amount of sentence without changing its character, for example, a sentence of 1 year may be remitted to 6 months.

The President can exercise these powers:

• In all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a court martial;
• In all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;
• In all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.

The pardoning power of President is wider than the governor and it differs in the following two ways:

• The power of the President to grant pardon extends in cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial but Article 161 does not provide any such power to the Governor.
• The President can grant pardon in all cases where the sentence given is sentence of death but pardoning power of Governor does not extend to death sentence cases.

Key facts:

• This power of pardon shall be exercised by the President on the advice of Council of Ministers.
• Further, the constitution does not provide for any mechanism to question the legality of decisions of President or governors exercising mercy jurisdiction.
• But the SC in Epuru Sudhakar case has given a small window for judicial review of the pardon powers of President and governors for the purpose of ruling out any arbitrariness.
• The court has earlier held that court has retained the power of judicial review even on a matter which has been vested by the Constitution solely in the Executive.

Solution: C

National Pension System (NPS):

• It is a government-sponsored pension scheme. It was launched in January 2004 for government employees. However, in 2009, it was opened to all sections.
• The scheme allows subscribers to contribute regularly in a pension account during their working life. On retirement, subscribers can withdraw a part of the corpus in a lumpsum and use the remaining corpus to buy an annuity to secure a regular income after retirement.
• This system is managed by PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority).

 Who can join NPS?

• Any Indian citizen between 18 and 65 years can join NPS.
• An NRI can join NPS. However, the account will be closed if there is a change in the citizenship status of the NRI.
• Now, any Indian citizen, resident or non-resident and OCIs are eligible to join NPS till the age of 65 years.

Solution: D

NITI Aayog releases the first edition of School Education Quality Index (SEQI).

About the School Education Quality Index (SEQI):

• Developed by NITI Aayog to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.
• Aim: To bring an ‘outcomes’ focus to education policy by providing States and UTs with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and undertake requisite course corrections or policy interventions.
• The index is developed through a collaborative process, including key stakeholders such as Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), the World Bank and sector experts.

It consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education. These indicators are categorized as below:

• Category 1: Outcomes;
• Domain 1: Learning outcomes
• Domain 2: Access outcomes
• Domain 3: Infrastructure and facilities for outcomes
• Domain 4: Equity outcomes
• Category 2: Governance processes aiding outcomes.

Significance of the index:

• Schooling should result in successful learning outcomes. In this regard, SEQI acts as a credible system of assessment and helps to design necessary remedial actions.

How are they ranked?

• To facilitate a like-for-like comparison, States and UTs have been grouped as Large States, Small States and UTs.
• States’ and UTs’ performance on Learning Outcomes is driven by their results on the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2017.
• Their performance on Access Outcomes is primarily driven by enrolment ratios at the secondary level and transition rates from upper-primary to secondary level.
• In terms of Infrastructure & Facilities for Outcomes, States’ and UTs’ performance is strongly linked to the presence of Computer Aided-Learning (CAL) at the elementary level and vocational education at the secondary and senior-secondary level.

Performance of various states:

• Kerala has emerged on top among 20 large states in terms of quality of school education, followed by Rajasthan and Karnataka, while the most-populous Uttar Pradesh was ranked at the bottom position during 2016-17.
• Among 20 large states in the country 18 have improved their overall performance between 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, which is otherwise referred to as the incremental performance in the report.
• The highest incremental performance has been recorded in Kerala. As against 77.6% score in 2015-2016, the state has recorded 82.2% in 2016-2017.
• The overall performance has declined in Karnataka and Uttarakhand.
• All seven union territories have shown an improvement in their overall performance scores.
• The performance and ranks have decreased in Mizoram, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Solution: C

Siachen Glacier:

Key facts:

• Lies in the Karakoram Range system which is a part of western Himalayas.
• Lies to the south of the zone that separates Eurasion Plate with the Indian Plate, which is the result of convergence boundary interaction in geographical terms.
• It is the highest battle field in the world and lies on LoC (Line of Control) between India and Pakistan. It has been continuously contested by Pakistan as its own part which has led to militarisation of the glacier.
• After the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971, an agreement was signed between the two countries in 1972, which came to be known as the Shimla Agreement, but it failed to clearly mention who controls the glacier.
• However, in 1984, the Pakistan army tried to enter the glacier, forcing India to launch a military operation known as “Operation Meghdoot” and since then we have control over the glacier. A ceasefire agreement was signed between India and Pakistan in 2003
• The glacier is the source of many rivers including Nubra River, a tributary of Shyok, which is a part of the Indus River System.
• Siachen Glacier also boasts of the world’s highest helipad built by India at Point Sonam, to supply its troops. India also installed the world’s highest telephone booth on the glacier.
• The region is also a home to rare species of snow leopard, brown bear etc which may be affected by military presence. This has led to talks in international forums about creating a “Peace Park” in the area and demilitarise it.
• It is the Second-Longest glacier in the World’s Non-Polar areas.

Solution: C

Danx- 19:

• Second edition of Defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands 2019 (DANX-19), a large scale joint services exercise, was recently conducted by Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC).
• Carried out by Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.
• Objective: to validate defensive plans of Headquarters ANC towards pursuance of the Command’s responsibility, namely ensuring territorial integrity of the A&N Islands