QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 31 January 2020

Solution: c)

In many ways, Auschwitz has become the center of Holocaust history and research and serves as a reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust. On January 27, 2020, survivors of the Holocaust and international heads of state mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The Auschwitz concentration camp was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust.

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Solution: d)

The NIA Act was enacted in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 2008. A decade later, the Act was amended with the objective of speedy investigation and prosecution of certain offences, including those committed outside India.

The 2019 amendment in the law focussed on three main areas.

OFFENCES OUTSIDE INDIA: The original Act allowed NIA to investigate and prosecute offences within India. The amended Act empowered the agency to investigate offences committed outside India, subject to international treaties and domestic laws of other countries. The amended section reads: “Where the Central Government is of the opinion that a Scheduled Offence has been committed at any place outside India to which this Act extends, it may direct the Agency to register the case and take up investigation as if such offence has been committed in India.” The NIA special court in New Delhi will have jurisdiction over these cases.

WIDENED SCOPE OF LAW: The NIA can investigate and prosecute offences under the Acts specified in the Schedule of the NIA Act. The Schedule originally had The Atomic Energy Act, 1962, The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and The Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982, among other entries. The amendment has allowed the NIA to investigate, in addition, cases related to (i) human trafficking, (ii) counterfeit currency or banknotes, (iii) manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, (iv) cyber-terrorism, and (v) offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.

SPECIAL COURTS: The 2008 Act constituted Special Courts for conducting the trial of offences under the Act. The 2019 amendment allowed the central government to designate Sessions Courts as Special Courts for the trial of scheduled offences under the Act. The central government is required to consult the Chief Justice of the High Court under which the Sessions Court is functioning, before designating it as a Special Court. When more than one Special Court has been designated for any area, the seniormost judge will distribute cases among the courts. State governments too, may also designate Sessions Courts as Special Courts for the trial of scheduled offences.

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Solution: a)

The share of older persons, those aged 60 years or above, in India’s population is projected to increase to nearly 20 per cent in 2050 and the country said equipping people in earlier age cohorts will help them remain in good health and involved in the community throughout the ageing process.

The adoption of 2002 Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing provides a roadmap for addressing challenges of an ageing society and realisation of human rights of older persons. The 2030 Agenda also recognises the importance of realizing their full potential and their contribution for inclusive development.

The Madrid International Plan of Action adopted at the Second World Assembly on Ageing in 2002 offered a bold new agenda for handling the issue of ageing in the 21st-century.

It focused on three priority areas: older persons and development; advancing health and well-being into old age; and ensuring enabling and supportive environments.

According to the State of World Population 2019 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), released last week, India’s population in 2019 stood at 1.36 billion, growing from 942.2 million in 1994 and six per cent of India’s population was of the age 65 and above.

India also recorded an improvement in life expectancy at birth, which was 47 years in 1969, growing to 60 years in 1994 and 69 years in 2019.

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Solution: d)

 The Supreme Court lifted its seven-year stay on a proposal to introduce African cheetahs from Namibia into the Indian habitat on an experimental basis.

The plan was to revive the Indian cheetah population.

In May 2012, the top court had stalled the plan to initiate the foreign cheetahs into the Palpur Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh fearing they may come into conflict with a parallel and a much-delayed project to reintroduce lions into the same sanctuary.

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Solution: b)

As per the provisions of the RBI Act, out of the six Members of Monetary Policy Committee, three Members will be from the RBI and the other three Members of MPC will be nominated by the Central Government. In exercise of the powers conferred by section 45ZB of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Central Government accordingly constituted, through a Gazette Notification dated 29^th Sept 2016, the Monetary Policy Committee of RBI.