DAY – 32 ( INSTA REVISION TEST – 32)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2021 – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: B

The Buxa Tiger Reserve is a 760-square-kilometre (290 sq mi) tiger reserve located inside the Buxa National Park in West Bengal, India, in the Buxa Hills of the southern hilly area of Bhutan. Animals found in the park include, the Tiger, Civet, Elephant, Gaur (Indian bison), Indian Boar and Red jungle fowl.

Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) lies in Alipurduar district of West Bengal. Its northern boundary runs along the international border with Bhutan. The Sinchula hill range lies all along the northern side of BTR and the eastern boundary touches that of the Assam State. National Highway No.31 C roughly runs along its southern boundary. It is the eastern most extension of extreme bio-diverse North-East India & represents highly endemic Indo-Malayan region. The fragile “Terai Eco-System” constitutes a part of this Reserve. The Phipsu Wildlife Sanctuary of Bhutan is contiguous to North of BTR. Manas National Park lies on east of BTR. BTR, thus, serves as international corridor for Asian elephant migration between India and Bhutan.

Solution: D

Irreparable computers and other electronic goods are known as electronic wastes (e-wastes). E-wastes are buried in landfills or incinerated. Over half of the e-wastes generated in the developed world are exported to developing countries, mainly to China, India and Pakistan, where metals like copper, iron, silicon, nickel and gold are recovered.

Barium is a soft silvery-white metal that is used in computers in the front panel of a CRT to protect users from radiation.

Cadmium occurs in SMD chip resistors, infrared detectors, and semiconductor chips. Some older cathode ray tubes contain cadmium.

Lead is used in glass panels and gaskets in computer monitors, solder in printed circuit boards and other components

Mercury is used in thermostats, sensors, relays, switches, medical equipment,
lamps, mobile phones, and batteries.

Solution: C

The Living Planet Report, WWF’s flagship publication released every two years, is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet.

Solution:  B

Biodiversity Heritage Sites” (BHS) are well defined areas that are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems – terrestrial, coastal and inland waters and, marine  having rich biodiversity comprising of any one or more of the following components: richness of wild as well as domesticated species or intra-specific categories, high endemism, presence of rare and threatened species, keystone species, species of evolutionary significance, wild ancestors of domestic/ cultivated species or their varieties, past pre-eminence of biological components represented by fossil beds and having significant cultural, ethical or aesthetic values and are important for the maintenance of cultural diversity, with or without a long history of human association with them.

List of Biodiversity Heritage Sites

Dal Lake is not a Biodiversity Heritage Site.

Solution: B

The Constitution has constituted the Supreme Court as the guarantor and defender of the fundamental rights of the citizens. The Supreme Court is empowered to issue writs including   habeas corpus, mandamus, certiorari, prohibition and quo-warrento for the enforcement of the fundamental rights of the citizens and for any other purpose. The phrase ‘for any other purpose’ refers to the enforcement of an ordinary legal right

The writ jurisdiction of the high court (under Article 226) is not exclusive but concurrent with the writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court (under Article 32). It means, when the fundamental rights of a citizen are violated, the aggrieved party has the option of moving either the high court or the Supreme Court directly. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

The writ jurisdiction of the high court is wider than that of the Supreme Court. This is because, the Supreme Court can issue writs only for the enforcement of fundamental rights and not for any other purpose, and that is, it does not extend to a case where the breach of an ordinary legal right is alleged. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Solution: B

Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is an electronic device for recording votes. An Electronic Voting Machine consists of two Units – a Control Unit and a Balloting Unit – joined by a five-meter cable. The Control Unit is placed with the Presiding Officer or a Polling Officer and the Balloting Unit is placed inside the voting compartment.

Instead of issuing a ballot paper, the Polling Officer in-charge of the Control Unit will release a ballot by pressing the Ballot Button on the Control Unit. This will enable the voter to cast his vote by pressing the blue button on the Balloting Unit against the candidate and symbol of his choice.

EVMs do not require electricity. EVMs run on an ordinary battery assembled by Bharat Electronics Limited/Electronics Corporation of India Limited.

An EVM being used by ECI can record a maximum of 2,000 votes.

EVMs were first used in 70-Parur Assembly Constituency of Kerala in the year 1982.

Solution: C

The NITI Aayog is a policy think tank of the Government of India, established with the aim to achieve sustainable development goals with cooperative federalism by fostering the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach.

NITI AYOG has never been passed as an act of Parliament nor it has been mentioned anywhere in the Constitution thus it’s definitely neither statutory nor a constitutional body.

NITI Aayog plays important role in designing strategic and long term policies and programmes for the Government. It also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre and States.

Solution: C

The Food Corporation of India is an organization created and run by the Government of India. It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India. Its top official is designated as Chairman. It was set up in 1965 with its Initial headquarters at Chennai. Later this was moved to New Delhi. It also has regional centers in the capitals of the states. Important regions of the state also serve as district centers.

Objectives:

• Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the poor farmers
• Distribution of foodgrains throughout the country for Public Distribution System (PDS)
• Maintaining a satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure National Food Security
• Regulate market price to provide food grains to consumers at a reliable price.
• It has primary duty to undertake purchase, store, and move/transport, distribute and sell food grains and other foodstuffs.

Solution: D

Niche

A niche is the unique functional role or place of a species in an ecosystem. It is a description of all the biological, physical and chemical factors that a species needs to survive, stay healthy and reproduce.

A niche is unique for a species, which means no two species have exact identical niches. Niche plays an important role in conservation of organisms.

If we have to conserve species in its native habitat we should have knowledge about the niche requirements of the species and should ensure that all requirements of its niche are fulfilled.

Solution: B

Guru Ghasidas National Park

• This will be Chattisgarh’s 4th tiger reserve.
• Current 3 tiger reserves: Achanakmar, Udanti- Sitanadi and Indravati tiger reserves.

Solution: A

National Policy on Biofuels-2018

• The National Policy on Biofuels-2018 approved by the Government envisages an indicative target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol and 5% blending of bio-diesel in diesel by 2030.
• National Policy on biofuels- salient features:
  • o Categorization: The Policy categorises biofuels as “Basic Biofuels” 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.
  • o Scope of raw materials: 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.
  • o Protection to farmers: 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.
  • o Viability gap funding: With a thrust on Advanced Biofuels, the Policy indicates a viability gap funding scheme for 2G ethanol Bio refineries of Rs.5000 crore in 6 years in addition to additional tax incentives, higher purchase price as compared to 1G biofuels.
  • Boost to biodiesel production: The Policy encourages setting up of supply chain mechanisms for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds, Used Cooking Oil, short gestation crops.

Solution: C

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put in place a Central Fraud Registry. It has informed that 13,083, 16,468 and 13,653 cases of ATM/Debit Card and Internet Banking frauds, where the amount involved is Rs. 1 lakh and above, were reported by commercial banks during financial years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively. As per RBI’s instructions, banks are required to report cases of fraud to law enforcement agencies. No centralised information is maintained regarding the outcome of investigations by law enforcement agencies.

Solution: B

Namami Gange Programme

• It is an umbrella programme which integrates previous and currently ongoing initiatives with more comprehensive & better coordinated interventions.
• Implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterparts—State Programme Management Groups.

National Ganga Council (NGC):

• o Created in October 2016 under the River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Authorities Order, 2016, dissolving the National Ganga River Basin Authority.
• o Headed by the Prime Minister.
• o NGC would have on board the chief ministers of five Ganga basin states—Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal—besides several Union ministers and it was supposed to meet once every year.

Main Pillars of the Namami Gange Programme are:

1. Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure
2. River-Surface Cleaning
3. Afforestation
4. Industrial Effluent Monitoring
5. River-Front Development
6. Bio-Diversity
7. Public Awareness
8. Ganga Gram

Solution: C

The World Energy Outlook series is a leading source of strategic insight on the future of energy and energy-related emissions, providing detailed scenarios that map out the consequences of different energy policy and investment choices. It has been released by International Energy Agency. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has projected a rapid increase in installed capacity of solar power by 2040, from 495 GW now to 3,142 GW. IEA projects a ‘profound shift’ in global energy systems, with rapid increase in the installed solar capacity by 2040, flattening of coal-based power generation and a decline in reliance of oil.

Solution: A

Universal Postal Union (UPU):

• A specialized agency of United Nations that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to worldwide postal system.
• Established in 1874 and is second oldest international organization worldwide after International Telecommunication Union (ITU) which was established in 1865.
• Headquartered in Berne, Switzerland.
• Has 192 member countries.
• It is primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players among member countries.
• UPU has four units: the Congress, the Council of Administration, the International Bureau, and the Postal Operations Council.
• Regulates40 lakh postal outlets worldwide.
• India joined the UPU on July 1, 1876 and Pakistan on November 10, 1947.