INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 22 January 2021) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• The Khelo India Youth games were launched in 2018 as a multidisciplinary grassroots event for under-17 years and under-21 years.
• Conducted annually, the best performers are given an annual scholarship of ₹5 lakh for eight years to prepare for international sporting events.
• In a recent move, the Sports Ministry inducted four indigenous martial art forms — Kalaripayattu of Kerala, Mallakhamb of Central India, Gatka of Punjab and Thang-ta of Manipur — into the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG).

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/four-indigenous-martial-art-forms-included-in-khelo-india-youth-games/

Ans: (a)

Explanation: Kalaripayattu:

• It is a Martial art which originated as a style in Kerala during 3nd century BC to the 2nd century AD.
• The word kalari first appears in Sangam literature to describe both a battlefield and combat arena.
• It is also considered to be one of the oldest fighting system in existence.
• Like most Indian martial arts, Kalaripayattu contains rituals and philosophies inspired by Hinduism

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/four-indigenous-martial-art-forms-included-in-khelo-india-youth-games/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/mercy-plea-of-rajiv-case-convict/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Article 72 of the Constitution empowers the President to grant pardons to persons who have been tried and convicted of any offence in all cases where the:
• Punishment or sentence is for an offence against a Union Law;
• Punishment or sentence is by a court martial (military court); and
• Sentence is a sentence of death.
• S1 and S2: The pardoning power of the President is independent of the Judiciary; it is an executive power. But, the President while exercising this power, does not sit as a court of appeal.
• The object of conferring this power on the President is two-fold: (a) to keep the door open for correcting any judicial errors in the operation of law; and, (b) to afford relief from a sentence, which the President regards as unduly harsh.
• S3: The President can pardon death sentence while governor cannot. Even if a state law prescribes death sentence, the power to grant pardon lies with the President and not the governor. However, the governor can suspend, remit or commute a death sentence

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/mercy-plea-of-rajiv-case-convict/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• WHO is funded by a large number of countries, philanthropic organizations, United Nations organizations etc. According to information uploaded by WHO, voluntary donations from member states (such as the US) contribute 35.41%, assessed contributions are 15.66%, philanthropic organisations account for 9.33%, UN organizations contribute about 8.1%; the rest comes from myriad sources.
• India is a member state of the WHO South East Asia Region.
• The annual programme of work is passed by WHO’s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly. The decision on which country gets how much depends on the situation in the countries.
• How is the WHO funded?
• There are four kinds of contributions that make up funding for the WHO.These are:
  • Assessed contributions are the dues countries pay in order to be a member of the Organization. The amount each Member State must pay is calculated relative to the country’s wealth and population.
  • Voluntary contributions come from Member States (in addition to their assessed contribution) or from other partners. They can range from flexible to highly earmarked.
  • Core voluntary contributions allow less well-funded activities to benefit from a better flow of resources and ease implementation bottlenecks that arise when immediate financing is lacking.
  • Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Contributions were started in 2011 to improve and strengthen the sharing of influenza viruses with human pandemic potential, and to increase the access of developing countries to vaccines and other pandemic related supplies.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/u-s-resumes-who-support/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:”

• Taiwan is an island country in East Asia
• The East China Sea lies to its north, the Philippine Sea to its east, the Luzon Strait directly to its south and the South China Sea to its southwest.
• Smaller islands include a number in the Taiwan Strait including the Penghu archipelago, the Kinmen and Matsu Islands near the Chinese coast, and some of the South China Sea Islands.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/taiwan-invited-to-inauguration-in-a-rare-shift/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• The Z-shaped recovery is the most-optimistic scenario in which the economy quickly rises like a phoenix after a crash. It more than makes up for lost ground (think revenge-buying after the lockdowns are lifted) before settling back to the normal trend-line, thus forming a Z-shaped chart.
• In V-shaped recovery the economy quickly recoups lost ground and gets back to the normal growth trend-line.
• The J-shaped recovery is a somewhat unrealistic scenario, in which growth rises sharply from the lows much higher than the trend-line and stays there.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/rbi-sees-v-shaped-recovery-likely-room-for-policy-easing/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• About the law commission of India:
  • It is an executive body established by an order of the Government of India.
  • Originally formed in 1955, the commission is reconstituted every three years and so far, 277 reports have been submitted to the government.
  • The last Law Commission, under Justice B.S. Chauhan (retd.), had submitted reports and working papers on key issues such as simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies and a uniform civil code.
  • Prior to independence, the First Law Commission was established in 1834 by the British Government under the Chairmanship of Lord Macaulay.
• Composition:
  • Apart from having a full-time chairperson, the commission will have four full-time members, including a member-secretary.
  • Law and Legislative Secretaries in the Law Ministry will be the ex-officio members of the commission.
  • It will also have not more than five part-time members.
  • A retired Supreme Court judge or Chief Justice of a High Court will head the Commission.
• Roles and functions:
  • The Law Commission shall, on a reference made to it by the Central Government or suo motu, undertake research in law and review of existing laws in India for making reforms and enacting new legislation.
  • It shall also undertake studies and research for bringing reforms in the justice delivery systems for elimination of delay in procedures, speedy disposal of cases, reduction in cost of litigation, etc.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/fb-official-says-he-has-right-to-remain-silent/

Ans: (a)

Explanation: About AstroSat:

• AstroSat is India’s first multi-wavelength space telescope, which has five telescopes seeing through different wavelengths simultaneously — visible, near UV, far UV, soft X-ray and hard X-ray.
• Onboard the AstroSat is a 38-cm wide UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT), which is capable of imaging in far and near-ultraviolet bands over a wide field of view.
• AstroSat was launched on 28 September 2015 by ISRO into a near-Earth equatorial orbit.
• It is a multi-institute collaborative project, involving IUCAA, ISRO, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Bengaluru), and Physical Research Laboratory (Ahmedabad), among others.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/astrosat/

Ans: (c)

Explanation: Exercise Kavach:

• It is a Joint Military exercise involving assets of Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard.
• It is being conducted in the coming week under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), the only Joint Forces Command of the country.
• The tri-services exercise aims to fine tune joint war-fighting capabilities and SOPs towards enhancing operational synergy.

Refer: facts for prelims: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/22/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-22-january-2021/