INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 25 December 2020) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Governor’s ordinance-making power is not a discretionary power. This means that he can promulgate or withdraw an ordinance only on the advice of the council of ministers headed by the chief minister.
• After the 42nd Constitutional Amendment (1976), ministerial advice has been made binding on the President, but no such provision has been made with respect to the governor.
• Ordinance making powers of the Governor Just as the President of India is constitutionally mandated to issue Ordinances under Article 123, the Governor of a state can issue Ordinances under Article 213, when the state legislative assembly (or either of the two Houses in states with bicameral legislatures) is not in session.  The powers of the President and the Governor are broadly comparable with respect to Ordinance making.  However, the Governor cannot issue an Ordinance without instructions from the President in three cases where the assent of the President would have been required to pass a similar Bill. (a) if a Bill containing the same provisions would have required the previous sanction of the President for introduction into the legislature; (b) if the Governor would have deemed it necessary to reserve a Bill containing the same provisions for the consideration of the President; and (c) if an Act of the legislature containing the same provisions would have been invalid unless it received the assent of the President.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/what-the-law-says-about-a-governors-power-to-summon-prorogue-or-dissolve-an-assembly/

Explanation:

• The governor holds an independent office under the constitution. Options 2 and 3 are conventions and not mentioned in the constitution. It is solely on the discretion of the President on how he wants to appoint the Governor (given some qualifications mentioned in the constitution of India)

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/what-the-law-says-about-a-governors-power-to-summon-prorogue-or-dissolve-an-assembly/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• The governor is empowered to direct that any particular act of Parliament or the state legislature does not apply to a scheduled area or apply with specified modifications and exceptions. 6th schedule deals with the administration of the tribal areas in the four north-eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The governor is empowered to organise and re-organise the autonomous districts. If there are different tribes in an autonomous district, the governor can divide the district into several autonomous regions.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/what-the-law-says-about-a-governors-power-to-summon-prorogue-or-dissolve-an-assembly/

Ans: (a)

Explanation: What is a PIL?

• Public Interest litigation (PIL), as the name suggests, is litigation for any public interest. As the word ‘litigation’ means ‘legal action’, PIL stands for a legal action taken by a public spirited person in order to protect public interest (any act for the benefit of public).
• A Public Interest Litigation can be filed against a State/ Central Govt., Municipal Authorities, and not any private party.
• According to the Constitution of India, the petition can be filed under Article 226 before a High Court or under Article 32 before the Supreme Court of India.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/five-month-old-infant-moves-high-court-seeking-ban-on-vehicular-movement-inside-cubbon-park/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Context:
  • India has challenged the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s verdict in favour of British telecom giant Vodafone Group in a case involving a Rs 20,000 crore demand from the Indian income tax authorities, in Singapore.
• The Singapore Convention on Mediation will provide a more effective way for enforcing mediated settlements of corporate disputes involving businesses in India and other countries that are signatories to the Convention.
• Also known as the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, this is also the first UN treaty to be named after Singapore.
• With the Convention in force, businesses seeking enforcement of a mediated settlement agreement across borders can do so by applying directly to the courts of countries that have signed and ratified the treaty, instead of having to enforce the settlement agreement as a contract in accordance with each country’s domestic process.
• the Convention has 53 signatories, including India, China and the U.S.

refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/india-challenges-vodafone-arbitration-ruling-in-singapore/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Celebrated every year on December 22.
• It is observed to honor the birth anniversary of the famous mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who greatly contributed towards mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions.
• Highlights of Srinivasa Ramanujan’s life:
  • In 1911, Ramanujan published the first of his papers in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society.
  • Ramanujan traveled to England in 1914, where Hardy tutored him and collaborated with him in some research.
  • He worked out the Riemann series, the elliptic integrals, hypergeometric series, the functional equations of the zeta function, and his own theory of divergent series.
  • The number 1729 is known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number after a famous visit by Hardy to see Ramanujan at a hospital.
  • Hardy observed Ramanujan’s work primarily involved fields less known even amongst other pure mathematicians.
  • Ramanujan’s home state of Tamil Nadu celebrates 22 December as ‘State IT Day’, memorialising both the man and his achievements, as a native of Tamil Nadu.
  • The Dev Patel-starrer ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity’ (2015) was a biopic on the mathematician.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/national-mathematics-day/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• The nitrogen cycle contains several stages:
  • Nitrification
  • Assimilation
  • Ammonification
  • Denitrification
• Nitrification – Nitrificationis the biological oxidation of ammonia or ammonium to nitrite followed by the oxidation of the nitrite to nitrate. Nitrification is an aerobic process performed by small groups of autotrophic bacteria and archaea.
• Assimilation – Nitrogen compounds in various forms, such as nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and ammonium are taken up from soils by plants which are then used in the formation of plant and animal proteins.
• Ammonification – When plants and animals die, or when animals emit wastes, the nitrogen in the organic matter re-enters the soil where it is broken down by other microorganisms, known as decomposers. This decomposition produces ammonia which is then available for other biological processes.
• Denitrification – Nitrogen makes its way back into the atmosphere through a process called denitrification, in which nitrate (NO3-) is converted back to gaseous nitrogen (N2).

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/iffco-gas-leak-how-dangerous-is-ammonia/

Ans: (b)

Explanation: Good governance day:

• Observed annually on December 25.
• The day is also celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of India’s former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The day aims to let the citizens, the students, who are the future of the country know about the government’s responsibilities and duties that it needs to fulfil

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-25-december-2020/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Poet Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his collection Gitanjali published in London in 1912. The prize gained even more significance by being given to an Indian for the first time.
• What is Visva-Bharati?
  • Visva-Bharati is a public research central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India.
  • It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
  • Visva-Bharati was declared to be a central university and an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament in 1951

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/12/25/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-25-december-2020/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Parties to the UNFCCC are classified as: Annex I, Annex II and Non-Annex I.
• Annex IParties include the industrialized countries that were members of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in 1992, plus countries with economies in transition (the EIT Parties), including the Russian Federation, the Baltic States, and several Central and Eastern European States.
• Certified Emission Reductions(CERs) are a type of emissions unit (or carbon credits) issued by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board for emission reductions achieved by CDM projects under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol.