INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 11 January 2021) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (d)

Explanation: here the directive word is incorrect!!

• The Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) is an immigration status permitting a foreign citizen of Indian origin to live and work in the Republic of India indefinitely.
• It was introduced by The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 in August 2005.
• The Constitution of India prevents Indian citizens from holding dual citizenship. As such the OCI is not actual citizenship of India according to Indian law as it has many limitations such as no right to vote, no right to hold constitutional offices, and no right to buy agricultural properties.
• Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders do not enjoy fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, including the right to freedom of speech and expression, the government told the Delhi High Court.
• The government’s response came in a plea filed by former Ranbaxy executive Dinesh Thakur seeking the right to seek information under the RTI Act.
• “OCI card holders have merely been granted statutory rights under the Citizenship Act, 1955,” the government said in an affidavit filed by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/11/what-are-h-1b-visas-and-new-wage-based-rules/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• the citizen has obtained the citizenship by fraud:
• the citizen has shown disloyalty to the Constitution of India (but not to the laws, because most law breakers are only imprisoned or punished):
• the citizen has unlawfully traded or communicated with the enemy during a war;
• The citizen has, within five years after registration or naturalisation, been imprisoned in any country for two years; and the citizen has been ordinarily resident out of India for seven years

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/11/what-are-h-1b-visas-and-new-wage-based-rules/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Statement ‘c’ refers to the ‘1992 consensus’, which is considered a modified form of the ‘One China’ principle (Wikipedia).
• In 1949, after losing a protracted civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communist party, Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang, or Nationalist party, retreated to the island of Taiwan, about 180km off the mainland’s south-east coast. Ever since, the People’s Republic of China has insisted that Taiwan is simply a province of China. Any country wishing to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing must acknowledge a) there is only “One China” and b) severe all formal ties with Taiwan.
• Officially, the “Republic of China” government in Taiwan still claims sovereignty over the mainland (and even Mongolia). But Beijing and Taipei have long adhered to the “1992 consensus” in which both sides agreed there was only China, while disagreeing on which republic was its rightful representative.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/11/china-taiwan-relations-3/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• “To develop a consensus, we passed the Constitution amendment enabling the GST unanimously. All legislations enabling the GST were passed unanimously. The rules were put before the GST Council. The have been approved unanimously. We have held 27 meetings of the GST Council so far where every decision has been taken by consensus and unanimity. All the rates are fixed through consensus on the recommendation of the Rates Committee. Whenever there are contrarian views in the Council, a representative Group of Ministers of the State is constituted to work out a via media and we try to evolve consensus one way or the other. I do realise that the delicate federal balance in India has to be maintained. The GST Council is India’s first experience at cooperative-federalism based decision-making authority. We cannot afford to risk a failure and, therefore, it is functioning as to arouse confidence amongst all States. The meetings have always been consensus based. The only area where unanimity seems to be lacking is the television bites that some Ministers’ give after the meeting, which may be necessary for their own political positon. I am willing to live with the experience of a healthy debate and unanimity within the Council and a show of dissent outside the Council meetings..”
• http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=180327

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/11/hc-upholds-arrest-provision-in-cgst-act-for-tax-evasion/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• S3: Jharkhand envelops a geographical area of 7,970,000 hectare. Much of Jharkhand lies on the Chota Nagpur Platea Many rivers pass through the Chota Nagpur plateau. They are: Damodar, North Koel, Barakar, South Koel, Sankh and Subarnarekha rivers. The higher watersheds of these rivers stretch out within the Jharkhand state. Much of the Jharkhand state is still enclosed by forest. Forests sustain the population of Elephants and tigers.
• S2: Climate of Jharkhand varies from Humid subtropical in the north to tropical wet and dry in the south-east. The main seasons are summer, rainy, autumn, winter and spring. The summer lasts from mid-April to mid-June.
• S1: Jharkhand is located in the eastern part of India and is enclosed by Bihar to the northern side, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh to the western side, Odisha to the southern part and West Bengal to the eastern part.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jharkhand#Geography

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/11/why-jharkhand-has-exited-an-agreement-with-centre-rbi-on-power-dues/

Ans: (a)

Explanation: Vanadium:

• Promising concentrations of vanadium found in the palaeo-proterozoic carbonaceous phyllite rocks in the Depo and Tamang areas of Papum Pare district in Arunachal Pradesh.This was the first report of a primary deposit of vanadium in India.
• Key Points:
  • Vanadium is a high value metal used in strengthening steel and titanium.
  • India consumed 4% of about 84,000 tonnes of vanadium produced across the globe in 2017. China, which produces 57% of the world’s vanadium, consumed 44% of the metal.
  • The largest deposits are in China, followed by Russia and South Africa.

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/11/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-11-january-2021/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• 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.

Refer: Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• 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:
• if he ceases to be a member of the Rajya Sabha;
• if he resigns by writing to the Chairman; and
• 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.

Refer: Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Qualifications
• To be eligible for election as Vice-President, a person should fulfil the following qualifications:
  • He should be a citizen of India.
  • He should have completed 35 years of age.
  • He should be qualified for election as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
  • 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.

Refer: Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• 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:
  • Prime minister as the Chairman
  • Chief ministers of all the states
  • Chief ministers of union territories having legislative assemblies
  • Administrators of union territories not having legislative assemblies
  • Governors of States under President’s rule
  • 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.

Refer: Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth