DAY – 43 ( INSTA REVISION TEST – 43)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2021 – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: C

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi:

• The scheme was started with a view to augment the income of the farmers by providing income support to all farmers’ families across the country, to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.
• Under the Scheme an amount of Rs.6000/- per year is transferred in three 4-monthly installments of Rs.2000/- directly into the bank accounts of the farmers, subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to higher income status.
• The entire responsibility of identification of beneficiaries rests with the State / UT Governments
• The Scheme initially provided income support to all Small and Marginal Farmers’ families across the country, holding cultivable land upto 2 hectares. Its ambit was later expanded w.e.f. 01.06.2019 to cover all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
• Affluent farmers have been excluded from the scheme such as Income Tax payers in last assessment year, professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants etc, pensioners drawing at least Rs.10,000/- per month (excluding MTS/Class IV/Group D employees) and All Institutional Land holders.

Solution: A

One Stop Centre (OSC) scheme

• Popularly known as Sakhi, Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has formulated this Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• It is a sub – scheme of Umbrella Scheme for National Mission for Empowerment of women including Indira Gandhi Mattritav Sahyaog Yojana.
• Under the scheme, One Stop Centres are being established across the country to provide integrated support and assistance under one roof to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces in phased manner.
• Target group: The OSC will support all women including girls below 18 years of age affected by violence, irrespective of caste, class, religion, region, sexual orientation or marital status.
• The Scheme will be funded through Nirbhaya Fund. The Central Government will provide 100% financial assistance to the State Government /UT Administrations under the Scheme.

The Centres will be integrated with a Women Helpline to facilitate access to following services:

• Emergency response and rescue services.
• Medical assistance.
• Assistance to women in lodging the FIR.
• Psycho- social support and counselling.
• Legal aid and counselling.
• Shelter
• Video conferencing facility.

Solution: A

DadabhaiNaoroji

• September 4, 2019 was the 194th birth anniversary of DadabhaiNaoroji, the “Grand Old Man of India”, who was among the first leaders who stirred national consciousness in the country.
• Born in 1825 at Navsari, in present-day Gujarat.
• He was closely involved with the Indian National Congress in its early phase.
• He served as the first Indian member of the British parliament.
• His first agitation, in 1859, concerned recruitment to the Indian Civil Service.
• In 1865 and 1866, Naoroji helped found the London Indian Society and the East India Association The two organisations sought to bring nationalist Indians and sympathetic Britons on one platform.
• As the secretary of the East India Association, Naoroji travelled in India to gather funds and raise national awareness.
• In 1885, Naoroji became a vice-president of the Bombay Presidency Association, was nominated to the Bombay legislative council by Governor Lord Reay, and helped form the Indian National Congress.
• He was Congress president thrice, in 1886, 1893, and 1906.
• In 1893, he helped form an Indian parliamentary committee to attend to Indian interests.
• In 1895, he became a member of the royal commission on Indian expenditure.
• Dadabhai Naoroji was among the key proponents of the ‘Drain Theory’, disseminating it in his 1901 book ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’.

Solution: D

Global Liveability Index

• The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the Global Liveability Index 2019.
• The index ranks 140 global cities based on their living conditions.
• Significance: The liveability index quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual’s lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide, and assesses which locations provide the best living conditions.
• The list is topped by Vienna (Austria) for the second consecutive year.

The survey rates cities worldwide based on 30 qualitative and quantitative criteria, which fall into five general categories:

• Stability
• Health care.
• Culture and environment.
• Education
• Infrastructure.

Solution: A

The Indian bull frog, a recent arrival from the mainland, is steadily occupying the Andaman Islands’ ecosystem and threatening the local economy.

Barely 10 cm long, this particular specimen is small. But the larger ones weigh at least half a kilo. The golden stripe on their backs and the glitter around their throats shine in the diffused light of a mobile phone.

Less than two feet from the centipede-eater sits another frog. Next to that, one more, and another, and another scores of frogs in varied sizes, basking in the warmth of the asphalt. Every now and then, one of them leaps toward the murky waters of the paddy fields.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-andamans-new-colonisers/article24659652.ece

Solution: D

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum established in 1989 to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific. APEC’s 21 members aim to create greater prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional economic integration.

APEC ensures that goods, services, investment and people move easily across borders. Members facilitate this trade through faster customs procedures at borders; more favorable business climates behind the border; and aligning regulations and standards across the region. For example, APEC’s initiatives to synchronize regulatory systems is a key step to integrating the Asia-Pacific economy. A product can be more easily exported with just one set of common standards across all economies.

APEC operates as a cooperative, multilateral economic and trade forum. Member economies participate on the basis of open dialogue and respect for views of all participants. In APEC, all economies have an equal say and decision-making is reached by consensus. There are no binding commitments or treaty obligations. Commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis and capacity building projects help members implement APEC initiatives.

https://www.apec.org/About-Us/About-APEC

Solution: D

Toda, pastoral tribe of the Nīlgiri Hills of southern India. Numbering only about 800 in the early 1960s, they were rapidly increasing in population because of improved health facilities. The Toda language is Dravidian but is the most aberrant of that linguistic stock.

The criteria for identifying Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups are: –

1. Pre-agricultural level of technology,
2. Low level of literacy,
3. Economic backwardness,
4. A declining or stagnant population.

PVTGs in the state of Tamil Nadu:

1. Kattu Nayakans
2. Kotas
3. Kurumbas
4. Irulas
5. Paniyans
6. Todas

Solution: B

Mitra is a lunar impact crater that is attached to the western outer rim of the larger crater Mach, on the far side of the Moon. Just to the west of Mitra is Bredikhin, and to the south-southeast lies Henyey. It is named after Sisir Kumar Mitra.

Solution: A

Strait of Malacca connects Bay of Bengal and South China Sea and Strait of Gibraltar connects Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean.

Solution: A

What is Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP)?

The OALP, a critical part of the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, provides uniform licences for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbons, enabling contractors to explore conventional as well as unconventional oil and gas resources.

Fields are offered under a revenue-sharing model and throw up marketing and pricing freedom for crude oil and natural gas produced.

Solution: D

Section 8 disqualifies a person convicted with a sentence of two years or more from contesting elections. But those under trial continued to be eligible to contest elections. The Lily Thomas case (2013), however, ended this unfair advantage.

Currently, under the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act, lawmakers cannot contest elections only after their conviction in a criminal case.

Solution: B

Russia is not a member of OECD itself.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development  is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.

Most OECD members are high-income economies with a very high Human Development Index (HDI) and are regarded as developed countries.

Solution: D

International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC)

• Multi modal transport corridor signed in 2000 in St. Petersburg with Iran, Russia and India as founding members.
• It was expanded to include 11 new members: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Oman, Syria and Bulgaria.
• It aims to link India and Iran via the sea route and then through Iran to the Caspian sea onwards to Central Asia.

International North–South Transport Corridor will also synchronize with the Ashgabat agreement, (not a part of it) a Multimodal transport agreement signed by India (2018), Oman (2011), Iran (2011), Turkmenistan (2011), Uzbekistan (2011) and Kazakhstan (2015) (figure in the bracket indicates the year of joining the agreement), for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. This route will be operationalized by mid-January 2018.

Solution: D

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq, with the signing of an agreement in September 1960 by five countries namely Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. They were to become the Founder Members of the Organization.
These countries were later joined by Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962), Libya (1962), the United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969), Nigeria (1971), Ecuador (1973), Gabon (1975), Angola (2007), Equatorial Guinea (2017) and Congo (2018). Ecuador suspended its membership in December 1992, but rejoined OPEC in October 2007.
Indonesia suspended its membership in January 2009, reactivated it again in January 2016, but decided to suspend its membership once more at the 171st Meeting of the OPEC Conference on 30 November 2016. Gabon terminated its membership in January 1995. However, it rejoined the Organization in July 2016. Qatar terminated its membership on 1 January 2019.

Solution: A

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change constituted under provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Environment Minister is the Chairman of the NTCA.
• Below chairman are eight experts or professionals having qualifications and experience in wildlife conservation and welfare of people including tribals, apart from three Members of Parliament (1 Rajya Sabha, 2 Lok Sabha).

Objectives of NTCA are
üProviding statutory authority to Project Tiger so that compliance of its directives become legal.
üFostering accountability of Center-State in management of Tiger Reserves, by providing a basis for MoU with States within our federal structure.
üProviding for an oversight by Parliament.
üAddressing livelihood interests of local people in areas surrounding Tiger Reserves.