QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 5 May 2021

Solution: b)

The World Happiness Report 2021 has been released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Finland was once again crowned as the world’s happiest country.

India has been ranked 139 out of 149 countries in the list of UN World Happiness Report 2021. In 2019, India was ranked 140th.

The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness that ranks 149 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.

The World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of Covid-19 and how people all over the world have fared.

The annual report ranks nations based on gross domestic product per person, healthy life expectancy and the opinions of residents.

Source

Solution: c)

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.

This sub-regional organization came into being in 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. It constitutes seven Member States: five deriving from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.

It is not an FTA. IT is a sector-driven organization focussing on sharing best practices and help each other in agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture etc. A BIMSTEC free trade agreement is under negotiation.

Solution: a)

Greyhounds is a police special forces unit operating in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Greyhounds specialises in anti-insurgency operations against Naxalite.

Solution: c)

Various committees have been put in place to examine electoral system, election machinery and election process from 1974 to 2011. The various committees can be mentioned here as follows:

• 1974       Tarkunde committee appointed by JP Narayana – Election process and election system.
• 1990       Dinesh Goswami Committee – Electoral reforms.
• 1993       Vohra committee – Nexus between crime and politics.
• 1998       Indrajit Gupta committee – State funding of elections.
• 1999       Law commission of India – Reform of the electoral laws.
• 2000-2002            National commission headed by MN Venkatachaliah – Working of the constitution.
• 2004       Election commission of India – Proposed electoral reforms.
• 2007       Second ARC headed by Verappa Moily – Report on ethics in governance.
• 2010       Tankha committee – Gamut of election laws and electoral reforms.

Narasimham Committee is on Banking Sector Reforms (not on electoral reforms).

Solution: d)

Washing coal increases the efficiency and quality of the dry fuel.

In theory, a process like coal washing was supposed to be good for everyone; thermal power plants would have fewer operational problems.

The combustion of washed coal would be better from an emissions and local air pollution perspective, and the unnecessary transport of large amounts of ash and non-combustible material would be minimized.