PAPER : IAS GENERAL STUDIES PRELIMS QUESTION PAPER - 2004 (PART -1)

1. With reference to Indian Public Finance, consider the following statements :

1. Disbursements from Public Accounts of India are subject to the Vote of Parliament.

2. The Indian Constitution provides for the establishment of a Consolidated Fund, a Public Account and a Contingency Fund for each State.

3. Appropriations and disbursements under the Railway Budget are subject to the same form of Parliamentary control as other appropriations and disbursements.

Which of these statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 (b) 2 and 3

(c) 1 and 3 (d) 1, 2 and 3

2. Consider the following statements :

1. Narasimha Saluva ended the Sangama dynasty and seized the throne for himself and starged the Saluva dynasty.

2. Vira Narasmiha deposed the last Saluva ruler and seized the throne for himself.

3. Vira Narasimha was succeeded by his younger brother, Krishnadeva Raya.

4. Krishnadeva Raya was succeeded by his half-brother, Achyuta Raya.

Which of these statements given above are correct?

(a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 2, 3 and 4

(c) 1 and 4 (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

3. Consider the following statements :

Some of the main features of the Government of India Act, 1935 were the

1. abolition of diarchy in the Governor's provinces

2. power of the Governors to veto Legislative action and to Legislative on their own

3. abolition of the principle of communal representation

Which of these statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only (b) 1 and 2

(c) 2 and 3 (d) 1, 2 and 3

4. Consider the following statements :

1. The First Session of the Indian National Congress was held in Calcutta.

2. The Second Session of the Indian National Congress was held under the president ship of Dadabhai Naoroji.

3. Both Indian National Congress and Muslim League held their sessions at Lucknow in 1916 and concluded the Lucknow Pact.

Which of these statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 (b) 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 (d) 3 only

5. Which one of the following statements is correct ?

(a) The Constitution Assembly of India was elected by the Provincial Assemblies in the year 1946.

(b) Jawaharlal Nehru, M.A. Jinnah and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were members of the Constituent Assembly of India.

(c) The First Session of the Constituent Assembly of India was held in January, 1947.

(d) The Constitution of India was adopted on 26th January, 1950.

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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 5 January 2018

::National::

Bill to raise Judges salary cleared in lower house

• The Lok Sabha passed a Bill to hike the salaries of judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts.
• The Bill proposes to hike the salary of the Chief Justice of India to Rs. 2.80 lakh a month, and that of judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices of High Courts to Rs. 2.5 lakh a month. Judges of High Courts will draw a salary of Rs. 2.25 lakh a month once this Bill becomes law.
• The Rajya Sabha has to pass the Bill by the last day of this session, failing which it will spill on to the budget session.
• The salary hike, in line with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for officers of all-India services, will come into force with effect from January 1, 2016.
• The discussion on the Bill saw members express concern over what they saw as threats to separation of powers, calls for hiked salaries for MPs, and even for reservation in the judiciary.
• Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad expressed his support for the idea of an All-India Judicial Service on the lines of the Indian Administrative Service for drawing the best legal minds to the judiciary. He said reservation could become a reality if such a service comes up.
• He expressed concern over the Supreme Court setting aside the National Judicial Appointments Commission on the plea that the presence of the Law Minister would mean a judge appointed through the process may not be fair when hearing a case against the government.
• Mr. Prasad said some of the finest judges were appointed in times when the Law Minister was part of the process of appointment.
• Making a strong pitch for separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary, Mr. Prasad said this was part of the basic structure of the Constitution none could violate, adding that only those who were accountable could legislate.
• He also referred to the pendency of judges’ vacancies, adding that the government could fill the vacancies only when the collegium made recommendations.
• He said there were six vacancies in the Supreme Court and while the process was on to fill 129 vacancies in High Courts, there were 269 vacant posts of High Court judges for which no recommendations by the collegium had been received.
• “It is the responsibility of the judiciary to fill these,” Mr. Prasad said.

NHRC directed six State govts to make concerted efforts to curb social menace of child marriage

• Concerned over high prevalence of child marriage in six States — Odisha, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal — the National Human Rights Commission has directed the State governments to make concerted efforts to curb this social menace.
• In the first of a three-part regional conference, the NHRC and representatives of the six States met to discuss factors responsible for continuation of this archaic social custom, and practices adopted to eliminate child marriages from the society. The two other conferences would be held in western and southern States of India.
• The National Family Health Survey-4 had found that 26.8% of women aged 20 to 24 years were married before the age of 18.Of the six States under review at the Bhubaneswar conference, Bihar and West Bengal had the highest incidence of child marriages.
• In fact, West Bengal topped the list with 40.7% of women aged 20 to 24 years married before the age of 18.
• Bihar followed with 39.1% against the national average of 26.8%. While Jharkhand and Assam were ranked higher than the national average, Chhattisgarh and Odisha were placed just below the national average.
• According to a report, 40% of all child marriages in the world are performed in India. It is totally unacceptable. Despite Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, being in force, only 293 and 326 cases were reported under the Act in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
• The low reporting of child marriages indicates that there are social sanctions, said Mr. Sinha. An estimated 3,600 child marriages are solemnised in India every day.
• “A girl remaining unmarried is still an oddity in society. In most cases, parents resort to early marriage of their girls in order to protect their chastity. It is normal in many communities,” said the NHRC member.
• “The society is still unaware of the health risk being faced by a girl if she is married early. Since the reproduction decisions are taken mostly by males, health condition of girls deteriorates at the time of childbirth,” he pointed out.
• The NHRC emphasised the need for creating opportunities for continuation of girls’ education and skill development to make them employable.

Key economic indicators are showing upward swing

• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha that key economic indicators were showing an upward swing.
• Mr. Jaitley assured the members that a positive impact of the bold reforms like the Goods and Services Tax and demonetisation would get reflected in the medium to long term.
• However, the Congress attacked the BJP government over what it termed a “gasping” economy.It pointed to increasing unemployment as a bad sign.
• Opposition members also raised the issues of farmer suicides and the demonetisation’s impact on small industries.
• Mr. Jaitley listed GST rollout, demonetisation, containing of inflation and recapitalisation of public sector banks as major policy decisions under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• He said it was a good sign that even though the country’s economy grew at a rate of 7-8%, people aspired for more.
• Mr. Jaitley said the growth was maintained despite the fact that there were droughts in two of the three-and-half years of the NDA government.
• On the issue of recapitalisation, Mr. Jaitley said it was not an ideal situation. But, the decision had to be taken to ensure that the bank system remained robust enough to fuel economic growth.
• He said the “reckless” lending in the past did not take care of risk management.
• Responding to the charge that GST had badly hit small-scale and medium industries, the Finance Minister said the government had levied just 1% on businesses with Rs. 1 crore turnover, the lowest in the world.
• The GST Council had then proposed its extension to all those with turnover till Rs. 1.5 crore. About 16 lakh industrial units had registered under the scheme and paid Rs. 250 crore in taxes, he said.
• On the issue of highway constructions, Mr. Jaitley said in the previous government there were no takers for tenders and now, 255 highways were being constructed and about Rs. 28,000 crore was being given for rural roads.
• Earlier, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Anand Sharma said under the current government, there was a continuous decline in the economic parameters.
• “There is not even one engine of growth which is actually running,” he said.
• He said the average GDP growth during UPA rule was 7.8% and job creation was the highest in the manufacturing sector.

Separate High court for AP would be decided by full High Court bench

• The ‘timeline’ for shifting of separate A.P. High Court to Andhra Pradesh will be decided by the Full Court comprising all the Judges of the common High Court after the report is submitted by the committee of Judges on the proposed buildings.
• The Full Court will have to be satisfied about all the requirements like fully secured compound exclusively for the High Court with parking space for 2,000 cars and large built up area along with 30 court halls.
• It is learnt that the letter addressed to the Acting Chief Justice did not specify any particular place or building for the proposed temporary High Court. A section of lawyers petitioned the Judges that the major stakeholders —2,000 practising advocates of High Court — will have to be taken into confidence.
• One section of lawyers reportedly circulated the judgment of a Division Bench of Hyderabad High Court delivered in May 2015. In that judgment, the High Court did not appreciate ad hoc arrangement.
• Now the committee of five Judges who have opted to State of Andhra Pradesh will be visiting the buildings (though not yet disclosed by Government) and report back to the Full Court.
• The Full Court will then consider whether all the requirements for a respectful functioning of a constitutional Court have been met with or not.
• It is learnt that the Judges have assured the advocates that the requirements of a constitutional court keeping in tune with its majesty will have to be fulfilled and then only the issue of shifting will be considered.
• A section of advocates and employees have pointed out that nearly 4,500 families will have to shift to either to Guntur or Vijayawada and the issue of local status of the children will have to be taken care of by the State and the Central Governments.

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Current Affairs MCQ for UPSC Exams - 5 January 2018

Ques.1)- With reference to `IFC Masala Bonds’, sometimes seen in the news, which of the statements given below is/are correct?

1. The International Finance Corporation, which offers these bonds, is an arm of the World Bank.
2. They are the rupee-denominated bonds and are a source of debt financing for the public and private sector.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 only
(h) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Ques.2)- Prompt corrective action is related to which of the following?

A. Railways
B. Corruption in public sector
C. Banking sector
D. None of the above

Ques.3)- Which of the following is correct regarding NGT?

1. It's chairperson should be retired or serving High court or Supreme Court judge only
2. It looks cases environmental protection only
3. Present chairperson is justice swatanter Kumar.

A. 1,2
B. 2,3
C. All
D. 3 only

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Current Affairs Daily Voice Notes

Spotlight/News Analysis (05, January 2018):

• Topic of Discussion: Discussion on recent decision of cabinet committee on economic affairs
• Expert Panel : Taja Mul Haque (From Niti Aayog), Aditi Fadnis (Journalist)

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(The Gist of Kurukshetra) WASTE TO WEALTH: THE WASTE MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES -

December -2017

WASTE TO WEALTH: THE WASTE MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES

Industrializations become very significant for developing countries like India having large number of population. Rapid increase in urbanization and per capita income lead to high rate of municipal solid waste generation. In recent times, Ewaste and plastic waste also contribute considerably to total waste stream due to utilization and electronic and other items. These wastes may cause a potential hazard to human health or environment if any of the aspects of solid waste management is not managed effectively. Even today, large portion of solid waste is dumped indiscriminately on outskirts of towns or cities without any prior treatment.

India-waste Generation Scenario

Every year, about 55 million tones of municipal solid waste (MSW) and 38 billion liters of sewage are generated in the urban areas of India. In addition, large quantities of solid and liquid wastes are generated by industries. Waste generation in India is expected to increase rapidly in the future.

Type of Waste

Waste can be broadly classified into:
1. Urban waste
2. Industrial waste
3. Biomass waste
4. Biomedical waste
Urban waste includes Municipal solid Waste, Sewage and Faecal sludge, whereas industrial waste could be classified as Hazardous industrial waste and Nonhazardous industrial waste.

Importance of Waste to Energy

Most wastes that are generated, find their way into land and water bodies without proper treatment, causing severe water pollution. They also emit greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide, and add to air pollution. Any organic waste from urban and rural areas and industries is a resource due to its ability to get degraded, resulting in energy generation. The problems caused by solid and liquid wastes can be significantly mitigated through the adoption of environmentfriendly waste-to-energy technologies that will allow treatment and processing of waste before their disposal. These measures would reduce the quantity of wastes, generate substantial quantity of energy from them, and greatly reduce environmental pollution. India’s growing energy deficit is making the government central and state governments become keen on alternative and renewable energy sources. Waste to energy is one of these, and it is garnering increasing attention from both the central and state governments. While the Indian Government’s won figures would suggest that the cost of waste to energy is somewhat higher than other renewable sources, it is still and attractive option, as it serves a dual role of waste disposal and energy production.

Technologies for the Generation of Energy from Waste

Energy can be recovered from the organic fraction of waste through thermal, thermo-chemical, biochemical and electrochemical methods.

Thermal Conversion: The process involves thermal degradation of waste under high temperature. In this, complete oxidation of the waste occurs under high temperature. The major technological option under this category is incineration.

Thermo-chemical conversion: This  process entails high temperature driven decomposition of organic matter to produce either heat energy of fuel oil or gas. They are useful for wastes containing high percentage of organic non-biodegradable matter and low moisture content. The main technological options under this category include Paralysis and Gasification.

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(Paper) Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) Exam (Assistant Commandant) Solved Paper - 2016 "Mathematics"

119. A vehicle with mileage 15 km/L contains 2 L of fuel. The vehicle gets some defect asa result of which 5 L of fuel gets wasted per hour, when the engine is on. With what minimum speed, the vechile has to move to travel 20 km with the existing amount of fuel, if it travels with a uniform speed?

(a) 100 km/h

(b) 120 km/h

(c) 150 km/h

(d) 200 km/h

Ans: (c)

120. A device can write 100 digits in 1 min. It starts writing natural numbers. The device is stopped after running it for half an hour. It is found that the last number it was writing, is incomplete. The number is

(a) 3000

(b) 3001

(c) 1026

(d) 1027

Ans: (d)

121. A circular coin of radius 1 cm is allowed to roll freely on the periphery over a circular disc of radius 10 cm. If the disc has no movement and the coin completes one revolution rolling on the periphery over the disc and without slipping, then what is the number of times the coin rotated about its centre?

(a) 10

(b) 10.5

(c) 11

(d) 12

Ans: (a)

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प्रारंभिक  परीक्षा (Preliminary Examination)

सिवील सेवा परीक्षा तीन चरणों में संपन्न होती है । प्रारंभिक, मुख्य एवं साक्षात्कार

प्रारंभिक परीक्षा- यह त्रि-स्तरीय सिविल सेवा परीक्षा का पहला एवं सबसे महत्वपूर्ण चरण है । प्रत्येक वर्श लगभग चार लाख अभ्यर्थी प्रारंभिक परीक्षा में षामिल होते हैं लेकिन इनमें से केवल
13-14 हजार ही मुख्य परीक्षा के लिए क्वालिफाई कर पाते हैं ।

प्रारंभिक परीक्षा की प्रकृति वस्तुनिश्ठ होती है, जिसमें दो पत्र होते है-

प्रथम पत्र सामान्य अध्ययन का होता है, जिसमे इतिहास, भूगोल, राजनीति विज्ञान, विज्ञान, सामयिक घटनाओं से संबंधित प्रष्न पूछे जाते है । प्रत्येक प्रष्न के लिए दो अंक निर्धारित हैं । प्रत्येक गलत उत्तर के लिए 1/3 अंक काटे जाते हैं । (कुल अंक में से)

द्वितीय पत्रःतार्किक क्षमता एवं योग्यता है । इस पत्र में प्रष्न संख्या 73-80 को छोड़कर सभी प्रष्नों के लिए नकारात्मक अंक की व्यवस्था है । यहाँ उल्लेखनीय है कि जो अभ्यर्थी प्रारंभिक परीक्षा में सफल होते हैं उनके अंक मुख्य परीक्षा में नहीं जोड़े जाते ।

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(Download) NCERT Book For Class IX : Indian Geography

BOOK NAME: Contemporary India

Table of Content

• CHAPTER 1 India – Size and Location
• CHAPTER 2 Physical Features of India
• CHAPTER 3 Drainage
• CHAPTER 4 Climate
• CHAPTER 5 Natural Vegetation and Wild Life
• CHAPTER 6 Population

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(VIDEO) India's Foreign Policy In : 2017 - Lok Sabha TV Insight Discussion

Topic of Discussion: India's Foreign Policy In : 2017 - Lok Sabha TV Insight Discussion

Expert Panel Name :  Natasha Jha Bhaskar (Studio, Anchor)

Model Questions for UPSC PRE CSAT PAPER SET - 25

Passage: Instruction for question- read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Your answers to the questions should be based on the passage only.

Reserve Bank of India deputy governor K.C. Chakrabarty maintained the while high interest rate was not solely responsible for the economic slowdown. High inflation was definitely one of the reasons for the sluggish growth, interacting with journalistic on the growth, inflation issues at an assoc ham event, Dr. Chakrabarty said, “ slowdown in the growth is for a variety of reasons what we are trying to say is the interest rate is not the only reason for the slowdown in growth. But inflation is definitely a reason for slowing down the growth”
Dr. chakrabarty also went on to admit that in a way, monetary policy was also responsible for the tepid growth in that it was unable to contain inflation .yes to the extent monetary policy is not responsible. We cannot say something wrong happening in the economy, we are not responsible, collectively we are all responsible. In his address at the event, exhorted banks to provide credit to the productive sectors of the economy and not shy away from given loans to them in view of their own rising NPAs (non performing assets).
Because of NPA fear banks need not stop lending but banks must improve their credit management capability for which there is enough scope when NPAs are high, your risk management system has to be improved. Dr. Chakrabarty said while pointing out that banks need to pay more attention to the credit need of agriculture and SMEs. Dwelling further on the NPA issue, Dr Chakrabarty sought to blame the corporate for most of the rising bad loans and for which the honest borrows have to pay more NPA is creation of the corporate sector, a major part of NPA. You borrow from banks. You don’t.’ pay them in time they because NPA in the books of the books, so why you are not able to pay back. Because your cost is more and income is less.

1. Which one of the following statements conveys the inference of the passage?

(a) High inflations is definitely one of the reasons for sluggish growth
(b) Monetary policy is also a reason for the tepid growth
(c) Corporates are mainly to blame for NPA issue
(d) Monetary policy is not effective enough to check inflation

2. Consider the following statements with reference to the passage.

1. Honest borrowers will have to pay less in the corporates were able to bring down the risk perception of the banks
2. There is a complete policy paralysis on growth of inflation issue for which collectively we are all responsible

(a) Only1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both are correct
(d) Both incorrect

3. According to the passage, the economic growth can be effected by focusing on

(a) check on high interest rate
(b) effective monetary policy
(c) lowering of inflation rate
(d) improvement in risk management

4. According to the passage what could be the obstacles to the high economic growth?

1. The NPA fear of the Banks created by the corporate
2. High interest rates
3. High inflation
4. Ineffective monetary policy

(a) Only 1 and 2
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 3 and 4
(d) All

5. According to the passage banks need to pay more attention on

(a) their credit management capability
(b) their credit appraisal system
(c) their risk management system
(d) credit needs of agriculture SMECs ( small and medium enterprises) and retail

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(VIDEO) Economy And Employment - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate

Topic of Discussion:Economy And Employment - Rajya Sabha TV Big Picture Debate
Expert Panel Name : Ajay Dua, Former Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Priya Ranjan Dash, Senior Journalist, Nitin Desai, Former Chief Economic Advisor, GoI, S.K. Shashikumar, Senior Fellow, VV Giri National Labour Institute,Frank Rausan Pereira (Anchor)

Model Questions for UPSC PRE यूपीएससी आईएएस (प्री) सीसैट CSAT (Hindi) Set-25

नीचे दिए गए प्रश्नो में एक कथन साथ दो संभावनाए भी दी गयी है ;1 - 2 आपको कथन तथा संभावनाओ को पढ़कर यह बताना है कि कौन सी संभावना कथन के हिसाब से शंकाहीन है ।

(a) यदि केवल संभावनाः 1 शंकाहीन हो
(b) यदि केवल संभावनाः 2 शंकाहीन हो
(c) न तो तर्क 1 शंकाहीन न ही 2 शंकाहीन
(d) दोनो शंकाहीन है।

1. कथनः

रेलवे प्रशासन ने कई लंबी दूरी की ट्रेनो के टाइम में परिवर्तन किया है तथा इसे अपनी वेबसाइट में डाला है

संभावनाः

1. यात्री वेबसाइट से ट्रेनो के छूटने का समय नोट कर सकते है
2. यात्री वेबसाइट से सूचना देखकर ट्रेन छूटने के पहले अपनी संबन्धित ट्रेनो में बैठ सकते है।

2. कथनः

विद्यालय ने कक्षा 9 के सभी विद्यार्थियो को अंगे्रजी में 5 कृपांक देने की धोषणा की है क्योंकि उन लोगो के अंग्रेजी में उम्मीद से कम अंक आए थे

संभावनाः

1. कक्षा 9 के अधिकांश विद्यार्थी कृपांक देने के बावजूद अंगे्रजी में फेल हो गए
2. अधिकांश विद्यार्थी कृपांक देने के कारण अंगे्रजी में पास हो गए

3. कथनः

योग्यता की पहचान के लिए आपको योग्य होना पड़ेगा

संभावनाः

1. योग्यता प्राप्त की जा सकती है एवं इसका विकास किया जा सकता है
2. योग्यता आनुवांशिक होती है

4. कथनः

नौकरी परिवर्तन, कर्मचारी को संगठन को परखने में सहायता करता है

संभावनाः

1. नौकरी परिवर्तन, ही संगठन को परखने क एकमात्र उपाय है
2. इसके लिए परखने की क्षमता आवश्यक है।

5. कथनः

बैंको को किसी उपभोक्ता को धन देेने के पहले सदैव उसकी वित्तीय स्थिति की जांच कर लेनी चाहिए

संभावनाः

1. ऋण देने के पहले उपभोक्ता की वित्तीय स्थिति की जानकारी से उपभोक्ता का वास्तविक चित्र सामने आ जाता है
2. उपभोक्ता कई बार लोन चुका पाने की उनकी क्षमता की वासविक स्थिति को नहीं बताते है

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BIHAR State GK Questions (Set-14) for BPSC Exam

Q.1 : निम्न में से कौन-सा यात्री बिहार आने वाला सेल्यूकस का राजदूत था ?

(a) इत्सिंग
(b) फाह्यान
(c) मेगस्थनीज
(d) ह्नेनसांग

Q.2 : चीनी यात्री "इत्सिंग" ने बिहार की यात्रा किस शताब्दी में की थी ?

(a) छठी शताब्दी
(b) पांचवी शताब्दी
(c) सातवीं शताब्दी
(d) आठवीं शताब्दी

Q.3 : चीनी यात्री ह्नेनसांग ने किसके शासन काल में सम्पूर्ण बिहार की यात्रा की थी ?

(a) अशोक
(b) बिम्बिसार
(c) हर्षवर्द्धन
(d) चन्द्रगुप्त

Q.4 : बिहार में स्थित नालन्दा विश्वविद्यालय की अधिक जानकारी मिलती है ?

(a) मेगस्थनीज के विवरण से
(b) फाह्यान व ह्नेनसांग के विवरण से
(c) चन्द्रपाल के विवरण में
(d) इनमें से कोई नहीं

Q.5 : बिहार में पुरातात्विक संग्रहालय, नालन्दा की स्थापना कब की गई थी ?

(a) 1916 ई. में
(b) 1919 ई. में
(c) 1917 ई. में
(d) 1918 ई. में

बिहार लोक सेवा आयोग प्रारम्भिक परीक्षा के लिए अध्ययन सामग्री

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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 6 January 2018

::NATIONAL::

Adultery law to be looked at by Supreme Court

• The Supreme Court on referred to a Constitution Bench a plea to decide if the pre-Independence provision of adultery in the Indian Penal Code, Section 497, treats a woman as a commodity owned by her husband and violates the constitutional concepts of gender equality and sensitivity.
• A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, said it was time to reconsider the consistent view from 1954 onwards that the penal provision was necessary to uphold family ties.
• Terming the penal provision as archaic, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said it was time to reconsider its past decisions and consistent view from 1954 onwards that the penal provision was necessary to uphold family ties.
• Section 497 mandates that if a man has sexual intercourse with another’s wife without the husband’s “consent or connivance”, he is “guilty of the offence of adultery and shall be punished.”
• The court had issued notice on December 8, 2017 on a petition filed by Joseph Shine, represented by advocates Kaleeswaram Raj and Suvidutt M.S. The Bench observed in the order that the provision raised a question mark on social progress, outlook, gender equality and gender sensitivity.
• It was time to bring to the forefront a different view with focus on the rights of women, Chief Justice Misra observed.
• The Constitution Bench would likely consider whether Section 497 would treat the man as the adulterer and the married woman as always a victim.

Women can be inducted in territorial army

• Clearing the path for the induction of women in the Territorial Army, the Delhi High Court observed that any provision that bars them from joining the force was against the Fundamental Rights provided under the Constitution.
• Territorial Army is an organisation of volunteers who receive military training in order to be mobilised for the country’s defence in case of an emergency.
• “Women are eligible for recruitment and appointment to the Territorial Army under Section 6 of the Indian Territorial Army Act, 1948,” a Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said.
• It said the government has not given any rationale to justify its action of enforcing a bar against recruitment of women in the force.
• The court noted that more and more countries have moved away from positions of total prohibition to permitting recruitment of women even in combat roles in the armed forces. It listed around 22 countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, which permit recruitment of women even in combat roles.
• Section 6 of the Territorial Army Act lays down rules on who is eligible for enrolment in the Territorial Army, which is also known as the second line of defence after the regular Army.
• The High Court said the words “any person” in Section 6 shall include both men and women.
• The court order came after a PIL was filed by lawyer Kush Kalra seeking to quash the provisions in the Territorial Army Act which prohibit gainfully employed women from being recruited in the force.
• Contending that not allowing women to join amounted to “institutionalised discrimination” and went against the Constitution’s spirit, the petitioner claimed the state had a duty to ensure no discrimination was practised by anyone in the country.
• “At present, Territorial Army recruits only males [gainfully employed]. Due to this institutionalised discrimination, women are being deprived of their right to serve in the Territorial Army,” the petition said. The role of the Territorial Army, in which actor Mohanlal, and cricketers Kapil Dev and M.S. Dhoni are honorary members holding senior ranks, is to “relieve the regular Army from static duties and assist the civil administration in dealing with natural calamities....”
• It also helps in maintenance of essential services in situations where life is affected or the security of the country is threatened, the petition said.

Label mandatory for food certified as ‘organic’

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had issued regulations that required food companies selling organic produce to get certified with one of the two authorities — National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) or the Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India). Companies could also get a voluntary logo from the FSSAI that marked its produce as ‘organic.’
• Though NPOP and PGS-India had been in the certification business for some years, it was mostly a voluntary exercise. “From July, any company that claims to sell organic food and not sticking to standards can be prosecuted,” Pawan Aggrawal, CEO, FSSAI told
• “Labelling on the package of organic food shall convey full and accurate information on the organic status of the product. Such product may carry a certification or quality assurance mark of one of the systems mentioned in addition to the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India’s organic logo,” said a FSSAI notification on January 2 and published in the Gazette. These rules were finalised after almost a year of being sent out as a draft for public comments.
• For nearly two decades now, organic farming certification had been done through a process of third party certification under the NPOP. It was run by the Ministry of Commerce and was used for certifying general exports. Nearly 24 agencies were authorised by the NPOP to verify farms, storages and processing units and successful ones got a special ‘India Organic’ logo.
• The PGS-India programme, in contrast, had been around for only two years and — unlike the top-down approach of the NPOP — involves a peer-review approach. Here, farmers played a role in certifying whether the farms in their vicinity adhered to organic-cultivation practices. This programme was implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture through the National Centre of Organic Farming.

SC says the new Haj policy is fair

• The Centre defended its new Haj policy, saying it is not discriminatory and the allocation of subsidy for pilgrims is based on the objective criterion of Muslim population in each State.
• The Centre was responding to allegations made by the Kerala State Haj Committee that the policy, which allots subsidised seats based on the Muslim count in each State, denies Muslims from smaller States such as Kerala an opportunity to make the pilgrimage.
• “Bihar has a quota of 12,000 seats, but at least 5,000 seats remain vacant. Kerala has 95,000 applicants who want subsidy, but the quota is only for 6,000 seats. So, only one per cent goes,” Prashant Bhushan, advocate appearing for the Kerala Haj panel, submitted.
• Countering this, Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal argued that the allocation of subsidy quota on the basis of Muslim population of a State had been there from the very beginning and did not start with the current Haj guidelines for 2018-22.
• The Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, made it clear that the court would intervene in the Haj policy only if it is found to be “palpably arbitrary”.
• “This is a matter of policy,” Justice D.Y. Chandrachud orally remarked even as the court asked the Centre to file a detailed counter-affidavit by January 13, the next date of hearing.
• Mr. Venugopal said the central Haj committee was consulted before the new policy was finalised. “The State Haj Committees are bound by the policy of the central Haj body. Each and every stakeholder was consulted. Now they cannot turn around and say this is not the right way to do Haj,” Mr. Venugopal argued.

Official State emblem for Bengal

• The official emblem of West Bengal was unveiled by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee . Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Chief Minister emphasised the importance of the “individuality” of every State. Designed by Ms. Banerjee, it features the Ashoka emblem on top.
• “We had to do this [create the State emblem] 70 years after Independence because it has never been thought of before. No one here thought that every State should have its individuality,” the CM said at the State Secretariat Nabanna.
• She also said that the Bengal government received the Centre’s approval for the emblem on Wednesday.
• Describing the occasion as “historic”, Ms. Banerjee said, “We will use the emblem in all the official documents and work of the State government after issuing a notification from today. But executing the process in all the departments will take some time.”
• She added, “Some States have their own emblem and some don’t. When it came to our notice, an expert committee was set up and the design was sent to the Centre for approval. It took quite sometime but better late than never.

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Current Affairs MCQ for UPSC Exams - 6 January 2018

Ques.1) Which of the following is/are tributary tributaries of Brahmaputra?

1. Dibang
2. Kameng
3. Lohit

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Ques.2) ‘Mission Indradhanush’ launched by the Government of India pertains to

(a) immunization of children and pregnant women
(b) construction of smart cities across the country
(c) India’s own search for the Earth-like planets in outer space
(d) New Educational Policy

Ques.3) Who of the following had first deciphered the edicts of Emperor Ashoka?

(a) Georg Bilhler
(b) James Prinsep
(c) Max Muller
(d) William Jones

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