QUIZ – 2016: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 20 October 2016

Solution: a.

The same question was posted here in August.

“Skimming: An electronic method of capturing a victim’s personal information used by identity thieves. The skimmer is a small device that scans a credit card and stores the information contained in the magnetic strip. Skimming can take place during a legitimate transaction at a business.”

“Skimming can occur easily in a restaurant because your card is taken away when the bill is being settled. If your server is a skimming identity thief, he or she will, before giving the card back to you, scan the credit card with a hand-held electronic device, which takes only seconds. The electronically captured information is then used to by the thief or sold to other criminals.”

http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/multiple-banks-hit-3-2-million-debit-cards-compromised-how-it-happened-what-happens-now-3094108/

Solution: d.

“Just over a month after India declared itself free of Avian Influenza (H5N1), the Delhi Zoo and Deer Park in South Delhi have been shut following the deaths of several “local migratory” water birds.”

• Commonly known as bird flu, the disease usually spreads from bird to bird but may sometimes spread from birds to humans.
• Though human to human transmission — which takes place mostly after intimate and constant physical contact — is rare, the infection is virulent and, in an estimated 60% of cases, fatal.
• India is one of 6 nations in which the disease keeps surfacing among birds — during the last outbreak among poultry in Karnataka this May, 33,000 birds had to be culled.
• There is no vaccine against H5N1.
• According to WHO, some avian influenza viruses such as A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) “have caused serious infections in people”, with “the majority of human cases… (being) “associated with direct or indirect contact with infected live or dead poultry”. There is no evidence that the disease spreads to people through properly cooked food, even though “controlling the disease in animals is the first step in decreasing risks to humans”, says WHO.

http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/delhi-zoo-deer-park-shut-down-bird-flu-deaths-3094177/

Solution: c.

Not a question that would appear in preliminaries. It is a question framed with a mains perspective.

• The Brexit referendum, on whether Britain should stay in the European Union, concluded on June 23 with 52 per cent (of 72.2 per cent of the electorate that turned out) voting to “Leave”. The October 2 referendum called by the Colombian government to ratify the accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) resulted in a “No” vote favoured by 50.3 per cent of the less than 38 per cent of the electorate that turned out.
• With reference to the Colombian referendum, “…there should have been a minimum bar on participation to decide upon the ratification. With only 38 per cent of the electorate taking part, the referendum’s outcome should not have been binding in the first place.”
• “Second, the need is for identifying when and how referendums are used in a representative democracy and not to question their efficacy….. Referendums can lead to majoritarian and not just majority outcomes and therefore constitutional safeguards on the kinds of Bills and Acts that can be brought up for voting are a must. A lot of thought has to go into creating the mechanisms that allow for referendums.”

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/srinivasan-ramani-on-referendums-and-its-relevance-in-the-indian-context/article9246405.ece

Solution: d.

All statements are correct. Zonal councils have been established by the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, whereas Article 263 of the Indian Constitution contemplates the establishment of an Inter-State Council to effect coordination between the states and between Centre and States.

Chapter 15, Inter-State Relations, Indian Polity 4^th Edition by M Laxmikanth;

Improvisation: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=151825

Solution: d.

• Merger of Railway Budget with the General Budget: The Railway Budget will be merged with the Union Budget, and henceforth only one Budget will be presented.
• Advancement of Budget presentation: Currently, the Union Budget is presented on the last day of February. This date would be advanced to allow for the budget related legislative business (such as approval for the ministry-wise demands for grants and passage of the Finance Bill) to be completed before the commencement of the financial year on April 1.
• Merger of the Plan and Non-Plan classification: Expenditure of the government is currently classified under Plan and Non-Plan expenditure. This classification will be removed, and the expenditure will be classified only under the revenue and capital heads.

Page 2, PRS MPR – September 2016

Solution: b.

• Availability of pulses: The production of pulses in the country increased from 11 million tonnes in 2002-03 to 19.3 million tonnes in 2013-14. However, imports also grew in this period, from 0.06 million tonnes in 2000-01 to 5.53 million tonnes in 2015-16. The domestic production of pulses has to grow at 8% per year to meet the shortfall in availability, as opposed to the current growth of 3%.
• Price management of pulses: Stock limits and export bans set for pulses should be lifted in order to prevent a decline in prices of pulses. State governments should be encouraged to delist pulses from their Agricultural Produce Market Committee Acts, so that produce may be traded outside of the state-owned mandis.
• Institutional arrangement for pulses: The government should aim to create a new institutional arrangement for pulses. Such an institution would be owned by the government, public sector institutions and private players, but operated by a board on a day to day basis. Along with pulses, the institution would be allowed to engage in buying, stocking, warehousing, and trading operations for other crops including fruits and vegetables.

Page 4, PRS MPR – September 2016;

Report Summary;