QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 10 March 2017

Solution: b.

According to this PIB release dated December 14^th, 2016, border haats are operational only along India-Bangladesh border, and an MoU has been executed between GoI and GoMyanmar on border haats.

According to this TH article dated today, the government is mulling opening more ‘border haats’ (border markets), encouraged by its success at the India-Myanmar border.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is the parent ministry for these border haats.

Solution: d.

TH: NIO finds a new canyon system: “Scientists of CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Visakhapatnam have found three new canyons forming a major canyon system in the depths of Bay of Bengal close to Kovvada in Srikakulam district. The last canyon systems off the Visakhapatnam coast were discovered in 1963”.

• Unlike deep-sea trenches, which are found in areas where one tectonic plate slides beneath another, undersea canyons are found along the slopes of most continental margins.
• A relatively large number of submarine canyons are located directly offshore of river canyons of adjacent land areas and may have once been connected to extensions of the latter.
• In most cases, however, the characteristics of the submarine variety and those of the nearby land canyons are quite distinct. The submarine canyons, for example, tend to have steeper side slopes, much higher gradients, and considerably narrower floors. Moreover, the drainage pattern of submarine canyons differs from that of their terrestrial counterparts.

• Origin of Submarine Canyons: Various ideas have been proposed, but prevailing theory favours subaerial erosion as the starting point for a good number of undersea canyons. Further evidence seems to suggest that the principal agents responsible for the formation of submarine canyons are marine processes, most notably the erosion and transportation of sediments by turbidity currents activated by the slumping of unconsolidated rock material near the heads of the canyons.

Britannica: Submarine canyons;

Solution: c.

These are the probable, not definite, benefits.

Submarine Canyon: Any of a class of narrow steep-sided valleys that cut into continental slopes and continental rises of the oceans. Submarine canyons originate either within continental slopes or on a continental shelf.

The new canyon system is very huge and probably formed by the river Kandivalasa. The depth of the canyon varies from about 90 metres from the starting point to about 2,500 metres at the deepest point, and it extends to about 50 to 70 km deep into the sea and the width varies from 50 metres to two km.

• Justification for Statement 1: Most of the canyons in the ocean system across the world act as channels for depositing sediments in the shelf region. “The more the deposit, the more are the chances of finding hydro-carbons. But it is too early to say on this aspect, as we have just discovered the canyon and the shelf region is yet to be explored,” said Dr. Prasanna Kumar.
• The discovery of the canyon is not only a major breakthrough in underwater geological formations, but also gives us immense scope to study and explore new benthic ecosystem.
• Justification for Statement 2: The study of ecology and fauna and micro organisms will not only tell us about our past but also throw light on new science. The study of how organisms live and flourish at low oxygen level and high current system can lead us to understand human heart diseases better and help us develop new treatment system.

TH: NIO finds a new canyon system:

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Solution: d.

“Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana has announced that it has developed the country’s first genetically-modified varieties of cotton — the seeds of which could be reused by farmers with no commercial restrictions, resulting in savings on repeat purchases every season… with these varieties, farmers would not have to buy costly Bt cotton seeds every year. The farmers can keep their own harvest for next year’s sowing..”

TH: Punjab varsity develops new Bt cotton varieties;

Solution: c.

• Section 126A(1) of RP Act prohibits the conduct and publicising of an exit poll by the media for a period specified by the EC.
• “The Supreme Court has grappled with the question whether a provision in electoral law that makes it a corrupt practice to use religion, race, caste or language as a ground for canvassing votes in an election is a bar limited to the groups to which candidates or their rivals belong, or whether it is a general prohibition on sectarian appeals. Section 123(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, as amended in 1961, gave rise to this doubt. By a four-three majority, a seven-member Bench has ruled that it is a general prohibition on the use of religion or any other communal or sectarian value in the electoral arena.”
• Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, says that MPs or MLAs convicted of certain offences, including for corruption, are disqualified from the time they are convicted until six years have passed after their prison sentence is completed.

Improvisation: TH: Making a clean break;

Solution: a.

The BCAS was reorganized into an independent  department on 1st April , 1987 under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The main responsibility of BCAS are lay down standards and measures in respect of security of civil flights at International and domestic airports in India.

About BCAS;

Improvisation: “In Brief”, ‘News’ Page, The Hindu; NIE;

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Solution: d.

The five key issues under consideration in these negotiations are:

• categories of membership to the Council (i.e. permanent, non-permanent, or a third option),
• the question of the veto,
• regional representation,
• size of an enlarged council and working methods, and
• the relationship between the Council and the General Assembly.

Centre for UN Reform; Page 3, Framework Document;

Improvisation: TH: No change in India’s stance on UNSC Veto;