INSIGHTS CURRENT AFFAIRS ( 4 June 2021) REVISION THROUGH MCQS

Ans: (b)

Explanation: About CVC:

• The CVC was set up by the Government in February, 1964 on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam.
• In 2003, the Parliament enacted CVC Act conferring statutory status on the CVC.
• The CVC is not controlled by any Ministry/Department. It is an independent body which is only responsible to the Parliament.
• It submits its report to the President of India.
• It exercises superintendence over the functioning of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (CBI) insofar as it relates to the investigation of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/06/04/norms-for-employing-retired-officials-defined/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• S2: A minimum of 10 job seekers shall apply to sanction a new work under MGNREGA
• S1: The Gram Panchayat after due verification will issue a Job Card. The Job Card will bear the photograph of all adult members of the household willing to work under MGNREGA and is free of cost
• S3: At least one-third beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested work under the scheme.
• Refer: more salient features: https://vikaspedia.in/social-welfare/rural-poverty-alleviation-1/schemes/faqs-on-mgnrega/mahatma-gandhi-national-rural-employment-guarantee-act

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/06/04/caste-categories-for-nregs-pay/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• The Balfour Declaration was issued after Britain gained control with the aim of establishing a home for the Jews in Palestine. However during that period the Arabs were in majority in Palestine.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/06/04/palestine-flays-indias-abstention-from-vote/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• S1: Venus is the second planet from the sun and the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface temperature of 500C – high enough to melt lead.
• S2: Venus is one of just two planets that rotate from east to west. Only Venus and Uranus have this “backwards” rotation.
• S3: NASA has announced two new missions (‘Davinci+’ and ‘Veritas’) to Venus.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/06/04/nasa-announces-two-new-missions-to-venus/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Historic missions to Venus:
  • Magellan – a Nasa mission that ended in 1994.
  • Venus Express– A European mission- focused on atmospheric science.
  • Akatsuki– Japanese spacecraft- focused on atmospheric science.
• Future missions:
  • The European Space Agency (Esa) is evaluating a Venus mission, called EnVision, alongside two astronomy proposals – Theseus and Spica. Other concepts are also being proposed to Nasa.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/06/04/nasa-announces-two-new-missions-to-venus/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Agricultural soils contributed to over 70% of N2O emissions from India in 2010, followed by waste water (12%) and residential and commercial activities (6%). Since 2002, N2O has replaced methane as the second largest Greenhouse Gas (GHG) from Indian agriculture.
• Cattle account for 80% of the ammonia production, though their annual growth rate is 1%, due to a stable population.
• The poultry industry, on the other hand, with an annual growth rate of 6%, recorded an excretion of reactive nitrogen compounds of 0.415 tonnes in 2016.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/06/04/eighth-global-nitrogen-conference/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• The International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) is an international program, set up in 2003 under sponsorship of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP). The key aims of the INI are to:
  • optimize nitrogen’s beneficial role in sustainable food production, and
  • minimize nitrogen’s negative effects on human health and the environment resulting from food and energy production.
• The program is currently a sustained partner of Future Earth.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/06/04/eighth-global-nitrogen-conference/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• S1: Tarballs are dark-coloured, sticky balls of oil that form when crude oil floats on the ocean surface. Tarballs are formed by weathering of crude oil in marine environments. They are transported from the open sea to the shores by sea currents and waves.
  • Most of the times, the presence of several tarballs indicate an oil spill. However, its annual occurrence on the west coast during the monsoon has led marine biologists and experts to demand an investigation in the matter.
• S2: Oilzapper technology
  • Developed by TERI after seven years of research work and partly supported by the DBT (Department of Biotechnology), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, the Oilzapper is essentially a cocktail of five different bacterial strains that are immobilized and mixed with a carrier material (powdered corncob).

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/06/04/sri-lanka-braces-for-oil-spill-from-sinking-cargo-vessel/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Britannica: Atlas Mountains, series of mountain ranges in northwestern Africa, running generally southwest to northeast to form the geologic backbone of the countries of the Maghrib (the western region of the Arab world)—Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. They extend from the Moroccan port of Agadir in the southwest, to the Tunisian capital of Tunis in the northeast. Their thick rim rises to form a high sill separating the Mediterranean basin to the north from the Sahara to the south, thus constituting a barrier that hinders, without completely preventing, communication between the two regions. Across, the mountains filter both air masses and human migrations.

Refer: https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/sahara-snow-algeria-saudi-arabia-7152475/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Polar wandering is the migration of the magnetic poles over Earth’s surface through geologic time.
• It can be used, for example, to measure the degree to which Earth’s magnetic poles have been observed to move relative to the Earth’s rotation axis.
• Also read: https://www.firstpost.com/science/melting-glaciers-due-to-climate-change-caused-earths-axis-to-shift-since-mid-90s-9573721.html

Refer: https://www.britannica.com/science/polar-wandering