10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: June 6, 2020

Option 1 is incorrect. The Bhopal gas tragedy was a methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leak incident in December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Option 2 is correct. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a nuclear radiation accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Japan in 2011.

Option 3 is correct. The Visakhapatnam gas leak was an industrial accident in May 2020 that occurred at the LG Polymers in which people were exposed to Styrene.

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical conditions in 149 countries. WHO lists includes:

Buruli ulcer, Chagas disease, Dengue and Chikungunya, Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), Echinococcosis, Foodborne trematodiases, Human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), Leishmaniasis, Leprosy (Hansen’s disease), Lymphatic filariasis, Mycetoma, chromoblastomycosis and other deep mycoses, Onchocerciasis (river blindness), Rabies, Scabies and other ectoparasites, Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted helminthiases, Snakebite envenoming, Taeniasis/Cysticercosis, Trachoma and Yaws (Endemic treponematoses).

Statement 1 is correct. Act provides term of patent in India as 20 years from the date of filing the patent application. In case of applications filed under the Patent Cooperative Treaty (PCT), the term of 20 years begins from the international filing date.

Statement 2 is correct. The act provides that at any time after the expiration of three years from the date of the grant of a patent, any person interested may make an application to the Controller of Patents for grant of compulsory license on patent on any of the following grounds, namely:

(a) that the reasonable requirements of the public with respect to the patented invention have not been satisfied, or

(b) that the patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price, or

(c) that the patented invention is not worked in the territory of India.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The act provides that if the applicant mentions a biological material in the specification and if such material is not available to the public, the application shall be completed by depositing the material to an international depository authority under the Budapest Treaty.

Statement 1 is incorrect. A private company issuing its shares for first time to go public is called Initial-public offer (IPO). FPO (Follow on Public Offer) is a process by which a company, which is already listed on an exchange, issues new shares.

Statement 2 is correct. A rights issue is an offer to existing shareholders of a company to purchase additional new shares in the company.

Statement 3 is correct. A preferential issue is an issue of shares or convertible securities by companies to a select group of investors; it does not include rights issue or public issues.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Solicitor General is not a constitutional post, unlike the Attorney General of India which finds mention in the constitution.

Statement 2 is incorrect. A person who has held the post of Law officer such as Solicitor General is eligible for reappointment.

Statement 3 is correct. There are certain restrictions on the Law Officers of the government like they cannot defend an accused person in a criminal prosecution, without the permission of the Government of India or accept appointment to any office in any company or corporation without the permission of the Government of India.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued draft Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2020.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The rules state that “no person other than a Qualified Remote Pilot ‘under these rules shall operate a UAS in India except the Nano class of UA.”

Nano Unmanned Aircraft weigh less than or equal to 250 grams.

Statement 2 is correct. — To be authorized by the Director-General of Civil Aviation as Authorized UAS Importer, Authorized UAS Manufacturer, Authorized UAS Trader, Authorized UAS Owner or Authorized UAS Operator, an applicant shall be:

(i) An individual who is— (a) a citizen of India, and (b) 18 years of age or more; or

(ii) a company or a body corporate provided that— (a) it is registered and has its principal place of business within India, and(b) the Chairman and at least two-thirds of its directors are citizens of India.

(iii) a firm or an association of persons or body of individuals or a local authority or any legal entity, whether incorporated or not, Central and State Government or an agency thereof.

Statement 1 is correct. Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth’s neighborhood.

Statement 2 is incorrect. Potentially hazardous objects are NEOS with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact on earth. As per NASA, Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA) are NEAs whose Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) with the Earth is 0.05 au or less.

It is not necessary that asteroids classified as PHAs will impact the Earth; it only means there is a possibility for such a threat.

Statement 1 is correct. The Vaccine Summit 2020 was hosted recently by London, United Kingdom. India also participated in the summit.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The summit was to raise the funds for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. World leaders have pledged an additional US$ 8.8 billion for Gavi. India also pledged $15 million as India’s contribution to the Gavi.

Both statements are correct.

The ordinance states that the supply of such food stuffs (including cereals, pulses, potato onions, edible oilseeds and oils) as the Central Government may by notification in the Official Gazette, specify, may be regulated only under extraordinary circumstances which may include war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature.

Further any action on imposing stock limit shall be based on price rise and an order for regulating stock limit of any agricultural produce may be issued under this Act only if there is —

(i) Hundred percent increase in the retail price of horticulture produce; or

(ii) Fifty percent increase in the retail price of non-perishable agricultural foodstuffs,

over the price prevailing immediately preceding twelve months, or average retail price of last five years, whichever is lower.

Statement 1 is correct. The article 123(3) of the constitution provides that if and so far as an Ordinance makes any provision which Parliament would not under this Constitution be competent to enact, it shall be void.

Therefore the Ordinance issued by the President has same limitations and powers as the laws enacted by the Parliament.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The ordinance is subject to judicial review as any other act of the parliament.

In RC Cooper vs. Union of India (1970) the Supreme Court held that the President’s decision could be challenged on the grounds that ‘immediate action’ was not required; and the Ordinance had been passed primarily to by-pass debate and discussion in the legislature.

In AK Roy vs. Union of India (1982) Supreme Court argued that the President’s Ordinance making power is not beyond the scope of judicial review.

In DC Wadhwa vs. State of Bihar (1987) Court stated that the legislative power of the executive to promulgate Ordinances is to be used in exceptional circumstances and not as a substitute for the law-making power of the legislature.