QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 17 NOVEMBER 2017

Solution: c.

When pollution is high, nitrogen oxides and dust particles interact with sunlight to form ground-level ozone, leading to the building up of haze. This is smog, a result of a photochemical reaction of sunlight with pollutants that have been released into the atmosphere. See the image text to be able to differentiate between SCR and Diesel Particulate Filter technology.

Source/Improvisation: http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/delhi-air-pollution-smog-health-tips-schools-shut-stubble-burning-haryana-punjab-4928852/;

Source/Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/environmentalists-welcome-early-rollout-of-bs-vi/article20460741.ece

Solution: c.

Smog a result of a photochemical reaction of sunlight with pollutants that have been released into the atmosphere. Various other factors influence its formation: geography of the place, calmness of winds, post-harvest crop burning, firing of brick kilns, pollution emitted by vehicles and industrial activity. In Delhi, there are two winds — one carrying pollutants from stubble burning in Punjab and the other bringing in moisture from Uttar Pradesh — that are colliding above the national capital. This, combined with the near-still wind conditions near the ground level, have effectively trapped the pollutants, leading to the smog.

In the context of air pollution situation currently in NCT:

• For air to get this polluted, in addition to needing a good amount of human help from the combustion of fuels and burning of crops and garbage, there needs to be specific atmospheric conditions that let the air remain still enough for pollution accumulate, NOAA said.
• “This stagnation occurs when there is an inversion layer in the atmosphere … An inversion layer refers to instances where the air does not cool as one moves up in the atmosphere,” it explained. “Instead, warmer air sits on top of denser, colder air near the ground. Since that cold air has no place to go thanks to the warm lid placed atop it, it just sits there gathering pollution like a hazy snow-globe,” NOAA said.

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/bxtJTc057ugsi8B4FB5ahN/India-Pakistan-just-entering-smog-season-pollution-to-cont.html;

http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/delhi-air-pollution-smog-health-tips-schools-shut-stubble-burning-haryana-punjab-4928852/;

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Solution: d.

The GI Registry and Intellectual Property India recently presented the GI tag status to Banglar Rasogolla of West Bengal and Mamallapuram stone sculptures of Tamil Nadu. The other three options above too have been accorded GI tags, all in recent times.

The GI tag conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to the fact of its origin in a defined geographical locality, region or country. Under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, geographical indications are covered as an element of IPRs. They are also covered under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, which was part of the agreements concluded at the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations. India, as member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 that came into force in 2003.

Latest available GI registry (not updated as yet): http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/Registered_GI.pdf;

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/banglar-rasogolla-mamallapuram-stone-sculptures-get-gi-tag/article20444856.ece?homepage=true;

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Solution: c.

“The younger generation in India, that is those born after 1980, may not even recall the border war with China except in a hazy manner. However, it merits recall that those responsible for national security at the highest level in government proved to be inept, ignorant and arrogant in the defence management of the country. Nehru was broken by this episode, unable to come to terms with what had transpired. This is evidenced in the manner that the Henderson-Brooks report undertaken by the Army was not tabled in Parliament — in fact, it has still not been declassified.”

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/strangely-forgotten/article20461145.ece;

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Solution: b.

The IAEA was created in 1957 in response to the deep fears and expectations generated by the discoveries and diverse uses of nuclear technology. The Agency’s genesis was U.S. President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on 8 December 1953.

https://www.iaea.org/about/overview/history;

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/an-unsafe-world/article20492698.ece;

Solution: a.

About the 100RC Initiative (http://www.100resilientcities.org/about-us/#section-2): Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.

100RC supports the adoption and incorporation of a view of resilience that includes not just the shocks—earthquakes, fires, floods, etc.—but also the stresses that weaken the fabric of a city on a day to day or cyclical basis.

Examples of these stresses include high unemployment; an overtaxed or inefficient public transportation system; endemic violence; or chronic food and water shortages. By addressing both the shocks and the stresses, a city becomes more able to respond to adverse events, and is overall better able to deliver basic functions in both good times and bad, to all populations.

The other Indian cities in the network apart from Surat include Pune, Chennai and Jaipur.

Improvisation: http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/diamond-producers-target-indian-market/article20492721.ece;

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/sBteoEWWKwSDmzuRgovmaJ/Surat-Indias-Diamond-City-finds-ways-to-keep-its-sparkle.html;

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