QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 24 September 2018

Solution: a.

TH (from August): The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) has sounded the alarm after the invasive agricultural pest Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) was discovered in Karnataka this July. A major maize pest in North America, the Fall Armyworm arrived in Africa in 2016. Since then, it has threatened the continent’s maize crop, a staple which feeds 300 million people. The Karnataka finding is the first report of the pest in Asia. Even though the pests reported in Karnataka are only feeding on maize and sorghum at the moment, they are likely to spread to other crops. The pest feeds on around 100 different crops, such as vegetables, rice, and sugarcane.

TH: There are several reasons why the armyworm is thriving in Africa: it reproduces rapidly, and the continent’s tropical and sub-tropical climates allow it to feed all year round. In contrast, fall armyworms die in Canada’s frigid winters. So, each summer, new populations of the moth migrate to Southern Canada from warmer states in the U.S. like Texas. Such migration isn’t hard for them; the Spodoptera moth is known to be able to fly around 1,400 km. This is another reason why it spread so quickly to new countries after it landed on African shores…. In August this year, the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage issued an advisory to the agricultural departments of the States affected by the fall armyworm. It called for extensive surveys to track the pest’s spread. It also named a parasitoid that could be released to kill the eggs of the caterpillar.

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Solution: d.

This is relevant because issues related to invasive species have frequently been in the news in recent times.

The first line of defence against invasive species is a quarantine system, under which imports of grains and plants that can host invasive are inspected at shipping ports, airports and land border crossings. In India, this responsibility lies with the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage, with its headquarters in Faridabad, Haryana… To get into India, the fall armyworm would have either had to fly here, or make it past India’s plant quarantine system. This system is built around the Plant Quarantine (Regulation of Import into India) Order of 2003. The order, in turn, is notified under an Act that is over a century old: The Destructive Insects and Pests Act of 1914… because the Destructive Insects and Pests Act is subsidiary to the Customs Act, 1962, quarantine officers must wait for customs officers to flag suspicious goods before they can check them. In other words, quarantine officials do not have the power to search and seize in India.

This TH Article throws light on India’s quarantine regime and its deficiencies.

Solution: a.

THL: Algo trades were introduced in India in 2009. It accounts for 35-40 per cent of turnover on the Indian exchanges.

Investopedia: Algorithmic trading (automated trading, black-box trading or simply algo-trading) is the process of using computers programed to follow a defined set of instructions (an algorithm) for placing a trade in order to generate profits at a speed and frequency that is impossible for a human trader. The defined sets of rules are based on timing, price, quantity or any mathematical model. Apart from profit opportunities for the trader, algo-trading makes markets more liquid and makes trading more systematic by ruling out the impact of human emotions on trading activities… But they have their flip side too. Algo trades have often been blamed for wild swings and flash crashes in the market.

Source/Improvisation: TH;

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Solution: c.

Until now, this mechanism has been proposed in the context of India-China-Nepal relations.

TH: “Nepal’s decision not to participate in the India-proposed military exercise of the Bay of Bengal group of countries is not a a snub to New Delhi, but rather it signals that a new set of rules need to be evolved that will meld the collective interests of India, Nepal and China, an official source said.. the BIMSTEC military drill could have been construed as having an anti-China slant. “Before we participate in such an exercise, it would be prudent if such proposals were channelled through the two-plus-one mechanism that China backs, after the Wuhan informal summit in April between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the source said….”

TH (From June): “The spirit of the Wuhan informal summit echoed strongly last week during the visit of Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli to Beijing, with China proposing a new dialogue mechanism that would also involve India.. An official source told The Hindu that the Chinese side proposed to Mr. Oli a “two plus one” format for dialogue. “This is different from a trilateral mechanism. Under the Chinese proposal, China and India can jointly conduct a dialogue with a third regional country,” the source said.. The Chinese initiative is not Nepal-specific. “My impression is that the two-plus one formulation is flexible and can be applied to any other country in South Asia,” the source said…”

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Solution: a.

Britannica: P’anmunjŏm, a village in central Korea, lies in the demilitarized zone established after the Korean War. It was the location of the truce conference that was held for two years (1951–53) between representatives of the United Nations forces and the opposing North Korean and Chinese armies during the war. Subsequently, it has served as a meeting place for conferences between North and South Korea, including Red Cross conferences to establish means of communication and contact between people on either side of the truce line.

Improvisation and Image source: The Hindu;

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