QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 27 June 2017

Solution: d.

A simple map-based question.

• In the news: “It is not the first time that such a transgression has happened at the Doka La, a place at the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction. The Chinese forces had in November 2008 destroyed some makeshift Indian army bunkers at the same place.”
• Additional Information: The mountain chains which run southwards from the main Himalayan range form the natural boundaries of Sikkim. Located between these towering mountain ranges are passes like Nathu-la, Jelep-la, Cho-la and many others which were at one time important corridors of passage between Sikkim and Tibet.

Solution: c.

A question framed solely with a mains-perspective. These are examples one can cite while discussing flaws of the GST regime.

• More than sound economic, or political, logic, the GST seems driven by the deciding authorities’ discretion. Some other examples (other than those provided in the statements above) include:
• The GST will be imposed at 18% on soaps and washing soaps, but at 28% on detergents
• Some moviegoers will pay 18% GST and, others, on the same movie, 28%, depending on the price of cinema ticket — not exactly the promised ‘One nation, one tax’.

TH: An old new tax;

Solution: b.

• Conditionality refers to the imposition of strict conditions on borrowing countries by international lenders like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
• It is aimed at encouraging borrowing countries to implement serious structural reforms that can improve their economy as well as their credit-worthiness. Since international lending is tied to fulfilling predetermined conditions, it is believed that conditionality can be used as an effective tool to enforce tough economic reforms.
• Critics have argued that the conditions for borrowing imposed on countries are influenced primarily by politics, rather than any genuine intent to improve the borrower’s economic condition.

The Hindu Explains; OPED page, 27^th June, TH;

Solution: d.

About Neutrinos:

• Second most abundant particle in the Universe, after photons of light; In fact, neutrinos are so abundant among us that every second, there are more than 100 trillion of them passing right through each of us — we never even notice them.
• Means ‘small neutral one’ in Italian
• Uncharged, and created in nuclear reactions and some radioactive decay chains
• Shown to have a tiny mass, but hardly (and not ‘never’) interacts with other particles of matter
• Comes in three flavours, or types, referred to as muon, tau and electron
• These flavours are able to oscillate – flip from one type to another – during flight;

From 2015: BBC; TH: Going all out for neutrino research;

Improvisation: Who is afraid of neutrinos?;

Solution: a.

“Do laws of physics treat matter and anti-matter exactly the same way as far as the neutrinos are concerned or do they treat them differently? While the INO will not by itself provide an answer to this question, its measurements will — by determining the order of the neutrino masses and thereby help other neutrino experiments that are already under way or being built in other parts of the world. The INO, by observing the rates at which neutrinos and anti-neutrinos oscillate, will make a substantial contribution to the quest to unravel the secrets of the ultimate laws of physics.”

Who is afraid of neutrinos?;

TH: Going all out for neutrino research;