[Mission 2024] Current Affairs Quiz , 30 Jun 2023

Solution: d)

Volcanic activity is monitored with many different instruments.

The perhaps simplest to understand is GPS. The way scientists use GPS is different from that of everyday life. It can detect minuscule movements of a few centimeters. On volcanoes, any upward movement on the surface detected by GPS indicates that something is pushing from underneath.

Even more sensitive are tiltmeters, which are in essence the same as bubble levels that people use to hang pictures on a wall. Any change in the tilt on a volcano slope indicates that the volcano is “breathing,” again because of magma moving below.

Volcanoes like Hawaii’s are monitored with a large network of seismographs. Any movement of magma below will cause tremors that are picked up by the seismometers.

Other ways that volcanic activity is monitored includes chemical analysis of gases coming out through fumaroles — holes or cracks through which volcanic gases escape.

Solution: a)

Only statement 1 is correct.

Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN)’ for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government – aided Schools from 2021-22 to 2025-26. The Scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Education. Under the Scheme, there is provision of hot cooked meal to children of pre-schools or Bal Vatika (before class I) in primary schools also in addition to the 11.80 crore children of classes I to VIII studying in 11.20 lakh schools. The Scheme is implemented across the country covering all the eligible children without any discrimination of gender and social class.

The main objectives of the PM POSHAN Scheme (earlier known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme) are to address two of the pressing problems for majority of children in India, viz. hunger and education by improving the nutritional status of eligible children in Government and Government-aided schools as well as encouraging poor children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to attend school more regularly and help them concentrate on classroom activities.

Solution: b)

In genetics and developmental biology, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a laboratory strategy for creating a viable embryo from a body cell and an egg cell. The technique consists of taking an enucleated oocyte (egg cell) and implanting a donor nucleus from a somatic (body) cell. It is used in both therapeutic and reproductive cloning.

Solution: a)

Only statement 1 is correct.

• The International Criminal Court (ICC), located in The Hague, is the court of last resort for prosecution of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
• It is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.
• Its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, entered into force on July 1, 2002.
• Funding: Although the Court’s expenses are funded primarily by States Parties, it also receives voluntary contributions from governments, international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities.

Composition and voting power:

• The Court’s management oversight and legislative body, the Assembly of States Parties, consists of one representative from each state party.
• Each state party has one vote and “every effort” has to be made to reach decisions by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, decisions are made by vote.
• The Assembly is presided over by a president and two vice-presidents, who are elected by the members to three-year terms.

The ICC lacks universal territorial jurisdiction, and may only investigate and prosecute crimes committed within member states, crimes committed by nationals of member states, or crimes in situations referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council.

The U.S. government has never been a member of the court.

Some countries have neither signed nor acceded to the Rome Statute. Some of them, including China and India, are critical of the Court.

Solution: a)

Only statement 1 is correct.

The most vital mandate of the Central Information Commission, the apex body under India’s transparency regime, is to decide whether certain information sought by a citizen ought to be disclosed or not. Its primary duty is to decide the disclosure or the non-disclosure of information.

Citizens can file applications under the Right to Information Act with any public body and are guaranteed a reply from the public information officer of that public body within 30 days. In case of a no reply or dissatisfaction with the response, the citizen can file an appeal at the departmental level and then a second and final appeal with the Information Commission. Each State has its own State Information Commission to deal with second appeals concerning State bodies.

At the centre, it is the Central Information Commission (CIC). Until the 2019 amendment to the RTI Act, Information Commissioners (ICs) appointed to the CIC were equal in status to the Chief Election Commissioner, and that of a Supreme Court judge. They had a five-year fixed term and terms of service. After the amendments of 2019, the Centre gave itself powers to change and decide these terms whenever it wished, thereby striking at the independence of the commission and those who man it.