QUIZ – 2017: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 11 October 2019

Solution: a)

K2-18b is an exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf K2-18, located 124 light-years away from Earth. The planet, initially discovered through the Kepler space telescope, is about eight times the mass of Earth, and thus is classified as a super Earth. It has a 33-day orbit within the star’s habitable zone.

In 2019, two independent research studies, combining data from the Kepler space telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Hubble Space Telescope, concluded that there are significant amounts of water vapor in its atmosphere, a first for an exoplanet in the habitable zone.

A “super-Earth” is a planet with a mass between that of Earth and Neptune. The term “super-Earth” refers only to the mass of the planet, and so does not imply anything about the surface conditions or habitability.

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Solution: c)

There have been precedents when India and Pakistan have allowed a third-party to help resolve their issues.

1. Indus Water treaty: Both nations were able to reach agreements through third party mediators in case of the Indus Waters Treaty and the negotiations on the Rann of Kutch dispute.
2. Rann of Kutch Accord (mediated by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson) persuaded the combatants to end hostilities and establish a tribunal to resolve the dispute.
3. During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, the then USSR led mediation efforts paved the way for India and Pakistan to withdraw forces from each other’s territories while agreeing to discuss all future matters. This was followed by signing of the Tashkent Declaration in Uzbekistan.

The Shimla Agreement, was signed between India and Pakistan on 2 July 1972 in Shimla. It followed from the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971 that led to the independence of Bangladesh, which was earlier known as East Pakistan and was part of the territory of Pakistan.

The Tashkent Declaration was a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed on 10 January 1966 that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Solution: a)

The Group of Seven (G7) is an international intergovernmental economic organization consisting of the seven largest IMF-described advanced economies in the world.

The G7, originally G8, was set up in 1975 as an informal forum bringing together the leaders of the world’s leading industrial nations.

The summit gathers leaders from the European Union (EU) and the following countries:

1. Canada
2. France
3. Germany
4. Italy
5. Japan
6. the United Kingdom
7. the United States

French President Emmanuel Macron, the host of the G7 summit held in Biarritz in August 2019, has also invited non-member countries who are playing an important part in world politics. The invited guest nations include India, Australia, Spain, Chile, South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Iran and Rwanda.

Solution: b)

The council of Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), a Geneva-based non-profit, has decided to endorse the Certification Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) developed by Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF), an Indian non-profit.

PEFC provides independent third-party certification for sustainable forest management.

Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF) came into existence in January 2015 as a non-profit organisation, registered as a Society, to have a globally aligned certification program developed within India and addressing the concerns for sustainable management of forests and the plantations, while at the same time making the Indian wood and forest fiber based industry competent globally.

The NCCF has got support from the key forest-based stakeholders such as the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

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Solution: c)

A biological attack, or bioterrorism, is the intentional release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs that can sicken or kill people, livestock, or crops. Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax, is one of the likely agents to be used in a biological attack.

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