QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 23 April 2018

Solution: c.

Both statements are correct. With reference to Statement 2, we are going by M Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity. However, former Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha has, according to THIS TH report, opined that “the decision by the Rajya Sabha Chairman to refuse the impeachment motion would be judicially reviewable. His decision is open to judicial scrutiny… impeachment is a legislative process where a decision thereon is amenable to judicial scrutiny..  the Chairman’s decision is not protected by parliamentary privilege..”

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Solution: b.

PIL is brought before the Court not for the purpose of enforcing the right of one individual against another as happens in the case of ordinary litigation, but it is intended to promote and vindicate public interest.

PIL is essentially a cooperative effort on the part of the petitioner, the State or Public Authority, and the Court to secure observance of the Constitutional or legal rights, benefits and privileges conferred upon the vulnerable sections of the community and to reach social justice to them.

Chapter PIL, Indian Polity 5^th Edition by M Laxmikanth;

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Solution: d.

In keeping with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a New India by 2022, Government has embarked upon a major policy initiative for the rapid transformation of 115 backward districts across the country. Senior Government officials in the rank of the rank of Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary have been designated as Prabhari Officers or the in-charge to coordinate the efforts of the Centre and the states in addressing the specific developmental needs of the districts.

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=173788;

Improvisation: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=178820;

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Solution: b.

India’s coasts will be lashed by ‘high energy swell waves’ on Saturday and Sunday, hence fishermen as well as beach-loungers ought to be staying away, according to an alert from the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA). “There is a strong indication that high energy swell waves, with heights between 2 m and 3 m and periods between 17-22 seconds are likely to be experienced in the seas around India,” the note adds. This is based on a forecast from the Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), which is charged with issuing tsunami alerts.

‘Swell waves’ are massive ripples that form on the sea due to winds coming from as far away as Madagascar (big waves formed due to prolonged wind action). They might appear to be tsunami-like waves but have completely different characteristics.

• Swell: These are series of surface gravity waves that are generated not by the immediate local wind, but by distant weather systems, where wind blows for a duration of time over a fetch (the uninterrupted distance of open water over which the wind blows without significant change in direction) of water.
• Swells have a narrower range of frequencies and directions than locally generated wind waves, because swell waves have dispersed from their generation area, have dissipated and therefore lost an amount of randomness, taking on a more defined shape and direction.

From 2016: TH;

Source/Improvisation: TH;

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Solution: b.

ET: “The first Indo-Nordic Summit will focus on promoting a rules-based international order in the backdrop of China’s attempts to dominate sea lanes of communication that might impact global free trade. The five Nordic countries are Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland…”

PIB1; PIB2;

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Solution: c.

A GK question.

Harald Bluetooth was born a Viking and is credited with unifying Denmark and introducing Christianity there during his reign. The king was immortalised by Nordic technology firms when they embedded their wireless “Bluetooth” technology in digital gadgets.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43786129;

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Solution: c.

The National Policy and Action Plan to combat LWE was initiated in 2015. Presently, 90 districts in 11 States will now be covered by the Scheme, down from 126 (44 districts have been removed – the maximum number of which is from the state of Telangana – and 8 new districts have been added). The list of ‘Most Affected Districts’ has been pruned to 30, down from 36 (Jharkhand accounts for the largest number of such districts).

IE Explained;

PIB;

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Solution: a.

The star-rating initiative, developed under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban will rate cities on a 7-star rating system based on multiple cleanliness indicators for solid waste management, which will include, for instance, Door-to-door collection, source segregation, sweeping, scientific processing of waste, etc.

Cities can be rated as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 star based on their compliance with the protocol conditions specified for each of the rating. Further city should be ODF(Open Defecation Free) before it could be given rating of 3 star or above. While cities may self-declare themselves as 1-star, 2-star or 4-star, MoHUA will carry out an additional verification through an independent third party to certify cities as 3-star, 5-star or 7-star. Cities will need to get re-certified themselves every year to retain their star-status.

The Swachh Survekshan survey run by the SBM Urban for the past three years has successfully built up a spirit of healthy competition among cities, vying with each other every year to improve their ranking as compared to other cities. On the other hand, the distinctive feature of Star Rating System will be that many cities can have higher stars as compared to only one city can be “Cleanest city” under Swachh Survekshan.

Improvisation: PIB1;

Launch of the star-rating system in January: PIB2;

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Solution: a.

Dimapur is in Nagaland and Tinsukia in Assam.

Improvisation: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=178769;

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