QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 24 August 2017

Solution: d.
• The Asian Highway network is a network of 141,000kms of standardized roadways crisscrossing 32 Asian countries with linkages to Europe.
• The Asian Highway project was initiated in 1959 (ADB started functioning in 1966, so statement 1 is incorrect) with the aim of promoting the development of international road transport in the region. During the first phase of the project (1960-1970) considerable progress was achieved, however, progress slowed down when financial assistance was suspended in 1975.
• Entering into the 1980s and 1990s, regional political and economic changes spurred new momentum for the project.
• It became one of the three pillars of Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, endorsed by the UNESCAP Commission in 1992, comprising Asian Highway, Trans-Asian Railway and facilitation of land transport projects.

AH Route Map: http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/AH%20map_1Nov2016.pdf;
About: http://www.unescap.org/resources/asian-highway-route-map;
Improvisation: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=170177;
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Solution: b.
• Asian Highway 2 enters Nepal from Banbasa (Uttarakhand), then exits Nepal at Kakarvitta to enter Panitanki (West Bengal).
• River Mechi is a tributary of River Mahananda (which in turn is a tributary of River Ganga).
• In the news (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=170177): Mechi Bridge is the ending point of Asian Highway 02 in India leading to Nepal and provides critical connectivity to Nepal. Construction of the new bridge will be funded by the Government of India through an ADB loan.
• AH Route Map: http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/AH%20map_1Nov2016.pdf;
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Solution: a.
The objective of PMKSY is to supplement agriculture, modernize processing and decrease Agri-Waste. The implementation of PMKSY will
• result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.
• provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector in the country.
• help in providing better prices to farmers and is a big step towards doubling of farmers’ income.
• create huge employment opportunities especially in the rural area
• help in reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the processing level, availability of safe and convenient processed foods at affordable price to consumers and enhancing the export of the processed foods.

In the news (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=170174): The Cabinet has approved the renaming of the new Central Sector Scheme – SAMPADA (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters) as “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) “. This Central Sector Scheme was earlier known as SAMPADA (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters) and approved in May 2017 with the same allocation and period. Additionally, sustainable agriculture is dealt with by SDG 2, not SDG 12.
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Solution: d.
About the NCBC (http://ncbc.nic.in/User_Panel/UserView.aspx?TypeID=1025):
• The SC had in the Indra Sawhney case directed the Govt. of India, State Governments and Union Territory Administrations to constitute a permanent body in the nature of a Commission or Tribunal for entertaining, examining and recommending upon requests for inclusion and complaints of over-inclusion and under-inclusion in the list of OBCs.
• Pursuant to the direction of the Supreme Court, the Government of India enacted the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 for setting up a Commission at National Level viz. “National Commission for Backward Classes” as a permanent body.
About the new Commission to examine the issue of sub-categorisation of OBCs (http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=170173):
• The Cabinet approved a proposal for setting up of a Commission under article 340 of the Constitution to examine the issue of sub-categorisation of OBCs.
• The committee has a three-point mandate. One, it has to examine the “extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation” among various castes and communities that come under the Central OBC list.
• The committee also has to work out the mechanism, criteria and parameters for the actual sub-categorisation. This will be tricky. The actual reservation will continue to be 27% and within this the committee will have to do the re-arranging. For example, if the committee comes to the conclusion that in the last many years Yadavs have benefited far more than Khatiks or Sainis then the amount of reservation for them will be increased vis-à-vis the Yadavs.
• The third task is bringing order to the Central list of OBCs by removing any repetitions.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/obc-list-to-be-sub-categorised/article19547916.ece;
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Solution: a.
In the news (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41002005): “Up to 60 million people in Pakistan are at risk from the deadly chemical arsenic..” .. The problem of Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a problem that is prevalent in the Ganga and Brahmaputra river basin as well. Articles on this issue appears regularly in the newspapers.
• The greatest threat to public health from arsenic originates from contaminated groundwater. Inorganic arsenic (which is the highly toxic form of arsenic) is naturally present at high levels in the groundwater of a number of countries, including, among others, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Argentina and USA. Drinking-water, crops irrigated with contaminated water and food prepared with contaminated water are the sources of exposure.
• Fish, shellfish, meat, poultry, dairy products and cereals can also be dietary sources of arsenic, although exposure from these foods is generally much lower compared to exposure through contaminated groundwater.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs372/en/;
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Solution: d.
• The Justice Dispensing System in India has come under great stress for various reasons including huge pendency of cases in various courts. The injustice is particularly egregious in commercial disputes, where cases remain pending for years. Accordingly, arbitration provides an effective and efficient alternative window for dispute resolution.
• The Government of India has laid emphasis on making Arbitration a preferred mode for settlement of commercial disputes. We have been taking legislative and administrative initiatives on arbitration which aim at minimizing court intervention, bring down costs, fix timelines for expeditious disposal, and ensure neutrality of arbitrator and enforcement of awards. The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 envisages quick enforcement of contracts, easy recovery of monetary claims, reduce the pendency of cases in courts and hasten the process of dispute resolution through arbitration, so as to encourage foreign investment by projecting India as an investor friendly country having a sound legal framework and ease of doing business in India.
• In order to ensure speedy resolution of commercial disputes and to facilitate effective conduct of international and domestic arbitrations raised under various agreements, it has been considered necessary to go into various factors to accelerate arbitration mechanism and strengthen the arbitration ecosystem in the country. It is also important to examine specific issues and roadmap required to make India a robust centre for international and domestic arbitration.
• With the above end in view, the Government had decided to constitute a High Level Committee (HLC) in the Ministry of Law and Justice, comprising of the following:

From Dec 2016: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=155959;
Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-bit-of-critique/article19547578.ece