10 PM Current Affairs Quiz : February 20, 2018

The Appropriation Bill becomes the Appropriation Act after it is assented to by the President. This act authorises (or legalises) the payments from the Consolidated Fund of India. This means that the government cannot withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund of India till the enactment of the appropriation bill. This takes time and usually goes on till the end of April. But the government needs money to carry on its normal activities after 31 March (the end of the financial year). To overcome this functional difficulty, the Constitution has authorised the Lok Sabha to make any grant in advance in respect to the estimated expenditure for a part of the financial year, pending the completion of the voting of the demands for grants and the enactment of the appropriation bill. This provision is known as the ‘vote on account’. It is passed (or granted) after the general discussion on budget is over. It is generally granted for two months for an amount equivalent to one-sixth of the total estimation.

Statement 1 is incorrect. World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) is not an organization promoted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Founded in 1978, the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) is a leading consortium of ICT industry association members from over 80 countries/economies around the world.

Statement 2 is correct. As the leading recognized voice of the global ICT industry, WITSA aims to drive transformation and grow the industry given that ICT is the key driver of the global economy. Its functions are:

1.   Advocating international public policies that advance the industry’s growth and development;
2.  Facilitating international trade and investment in ICT products and services through our global network of contacts;
3.  Promoting industry cooperation and strengthening our national associations through the sharing of knowledge, experience, and critical information;
4.  Working closely with internationally recognized organizations to promote and facilitate growth;
5.  Awarding signature events – WITSA World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) – to member countries from around the world;
6.  Organizing Global ICT Excellence Awards to recognize outstanding ICT users.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The Global Innovation Fund is a non-profit innovation fund headquartered in London with an office in Washington D.C. that invests in the development, rigorous testing, and scaling of innovations targeted at improving the lives of the world’s poorest people.

NASSCOM and FICCI are two prominent pressure groups working in India.

NASSCOM: The National Association of Software and Services Companies is a trade association of Indian Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing industry. Established in 1988, NASSCOM is a non-profit organisation.

FICCI – The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry: It is an association of business organisations in India. Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by GD Birla and Purushottam Das Thakurdas, it is the largest, oldest and the apex business organisation in India.It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation. FICCI draws its membership from the corporate sector, both private and public, including SMEs and MNCs.

ITPO – India Trade Promotion Organisation: India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), headquartered at Pragati Maidan, is the nodal agency of the Government of India under aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry (India) for promoting country’s external trade. ITPO is a Mini-Ratna Category-1 Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE)[8] with 100 percent shareholding of Government of India.

APEDA – Agricultural And Processed Food Product Export Development Authority: The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act passed by the Parliament in December, 1985. The act came into being in 1986.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The Central Institute of Indian Languages was established to coordinate the development of Indian languages, to bring about the essential unity of Indian languages through scientific studies, promote inter-disciplinary research, contribute to mutual enrichment of languages and thus contribute towards emotional integration of the people of India.

Functions:

1.   Advices and Assists Central as well as State Governments in the matters of language.
2.  Contributes to the development of all Indian Languages by creating content and corpus.
3.  Protects and documents the languages of Minority groups and Tribes.
4.  Promotes Linguistic harmony by teaching 15 Indian languages to non-native learners.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) at Mysore, a subordinate office of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, was set up in 1969 to help in evolving and implementing the language policy of Government of India and to coordinate the development of Indian Languages by conducting research in the areas of language analysis, language pedagogy, language technology and language use in the society. The Institute promotes Indian languages through several comprehensive schemes.

Statement 1 is correct. The Election Commission is a Quasi-Judicial body.  It acts as a court for settling disputes related to granting of recognition to political parties and allotment of election symbols to them.

Under the Constitution, the Commission also has advisory jurisdiction in the matter of post-election disqualification of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures. Further, the cases of persons found guilty of corrupt practices at elections which come before the Supreme Court and High Courts are also referred to the Commission for its opinion on the question as to whether such person shall be disqualified and, if so, for what period. The opinion of the Commission in all such matters is binding on the President or, as the case may be, the Governor to whom such opinion is tendered.

The Commission has the power to disqualify a candidate who has failed to lodge an account of his election expenses within the time and in the manner prescribed by law. The Commission has also the power for removing or reducing the period of such disqualification as also other disqualification under the law.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The Chief Election Commissioner is provided with the security of tenure not any other election commissioner or a regional commissioner. The Chief Election Commissioner cannot be removed from his office except in same manner and on the same grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court. In other words, he can be removed by the president on the basis of a resolution passed to that effect by both the Houses of Parliament with special majority, either on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. Thus, he does not hold his office till the pleasure of the President, though he is appointed by him. Article 324 of the Constitution has made the following provisions to safeguard and ensure the independent and impartial functioning of the Election Commission.

The Chief Election Commissioner and the two other election commissioners have equal powers and receive equal salary, allowances and other perquisites, which are similar to those of a judge of the Supreme Court.

The President may also appoint after consultation with the election commission such regional commissioners as he may consider necessary to assist the election commission. The conditions of service and tenure of office of the election commissioners and the regional commissioners shall be determined by the President.

Active Case Finding is a term used in systematic screening for active tuberculosis; TB detection and diagnosis. Systematic screening for active TB is defined as the systematic identification of people with suspected active TB, in a predetermined target group, using tests, examinations or other procedures that can be applied rapidly.

As per the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 2.8 million cases of TB occur in India every year, out of which only 1.7 million cases are reported, thus around one million cases of TB get missed every year. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has set ambitious target to decrease incidences of tuberculosis by 90% by 2025 and reduce mortality due to the disease by 95% by 2030 under the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP).  Under the 3rd phase of RNTCP called Active Case Finding (ACF), government has identified 186 high-risk districts with the help of states. Besides, government rolled out the daily drug course of therapy recently to combat the disease across the country.

Both the statements are incorrect.

Turkey is located between Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.

Turkey shares land borders with 8 countries: Greece, Bulgaria, Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia.

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