QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 19 July 2019

            Solution: d)

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution is a ‘temporary provision’ which grants special autonomous status to Jammu & Kashmir.

All the provisions of the Constitution which are applicable to other states are not applicable to J&K.

• According to this article, except for defence, foreign affairs, finance and communications, Parliament needs the state government’s concurrence for applying all other laws. Thus the state’s residents live under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to other Indians.
• Under Article 370, the Centre has no power to declare financial emergency under Article 360 in the state. It can declare emergency in the state only in case of war or external aggression. The Union government can therefore not declare emergency on grounds of internal disturbance or imminent danger unless it is made at the request or with the concurrence of the state government.

• The Jurisdiction of the Parliament of India in relation to Jammu and Kashmir is confined to the matters enumerated in the Union List, and also the concurrent list. There is no State list for the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Solution: c)

Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (AH&D) does not regulate the prices of milk in the country. Prices are decided by the Cooperative and Private dairies based on cost of production. Since milk is a highly perishable product, this department does not have any proposal to fix MSP for milk in the country.

Under the distribution of legislatives powers between the Union of India and States under Article 246(3) of the Constitution, the preservation of cattle is a matter on which the legislature of the States has exclusive powers to legislate. Therefore, it is up to the States to enact laws on slaughter of cows.

As per article 48 of Indian Constitution the state shall endeavour to organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall in particular take steps for preserving improving the breed, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.

Several States have enacted laws banning cow slaughter and provision of penalizing the accused person has been provided in the State act.  Further, ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India and therefore, the State Governments are primarily responsible for prevention, detection, registration and investigation of crime and for prosecuting the criminals through the machinery of their law Enforcement agencies, as also for protecting the life and property of the citizens.

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Solution: b)

• The Scheme aims at providing Senior Citizens, belonging to BPL category and suffering from any of the age-related disability/infirmity Low vision, Hearing impairment, Loss of teeth and Locomotor disability, with such assisted-living devices which can restore near normalcy in their bodily functions, overcoming the disability/infirmity manifested.

• Under the scheme, free of cost distribution of the devices, commensurate with the extent of disability/infirmity that is manifested among the eligible senior citizens will take place.

• As far as possible, 30% of the beneficiaries in each district shall be women.

The Scheme is being implemented through the “Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO)”, a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of SJ&E, as the sole Implementing Agency.

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Solution: c)

A new human atlas initiative has been launched to create a unified database of molecular network of all the tissues in the human body and to derive a holistic picture of working of the human body. The project named Manav has been launched by the Department of Biotechnology and Persistent Systems, a biotechnology company.

This mega project will collate and integrate molecular information on human tissues and organs that currently lie hidden in research articles in an unstructured and disorganised form. The project would utilise large biological community, both students and scientists, for extracting and adding the information from scientific literature at the level of cells and organs.

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Solution: a)

1. The Policy categorises biofuels as “Basic Biofuels” viz. First Generation (1G) bioethanol & biodiesel and “Advanced Biofuels” – Second Generation (2G) ethanol, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to drop-in fuels, Third Generation (3G) biofuels, bio-CNG etc. to enable extension of appropriate financial and fiscal incentives under each category.
2. The Policy expands the scope of raw material for ethanol production by allowing use of Sugarcane Juice, Sugar containing materials like Sugar Beet, Sweet Sorghum, Starch containing materials like Corn, Cassava, Damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice, Rotten Potatoes, unfit for human consumption for ethanol production.

• Farmers are at a risk of not getting appropriate price for their produce during the surplus production phase. Taking this into account, the Policy allows use of surplus food grains for production of ethanol for blending with petrol with the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee.

1. The Policy encourages setting up of supply chain mechanisms for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds, Used Cooking Oil, short gestation crops.

Expected Benefits:

• Reduce Import Dependency: One crore lit of E10 saves Rs.28 crore of forex at current rates.

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