10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: September 7, 2020

Statement 1 is incorrect. The 2019 rankings are the 4th edition of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) ranking of states.

Ranking of States based on the implementation of Business Reform Action Plan started in the year 2015. Till date, State Rankings have been released for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017-18.

The Business Reform Action Plan 2018-19 includes 180 reform points covering 12 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, etc.

The larger objective of attracting investments and increasing Ease of Doing Business in each State was sought to be achieved by introducing an element of healthy competition through a system of ranking states based on their performance in the implementation of Business Reform Action Plan.

Statement 2 is correct. The top ten states under State Reform Action Plan 2019 are:

Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Gujarat.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is the investment of funds by an organisation from one country into another, with the intent of establishing ’lasting interest’.

The difference between FDI and FPI (Foreign Portfolio Investments): In FPI the investor purchases equity of foreign companies. FPI means only equity infusion, and does not imply the establishment of a lasting interest.

Potential advantages of FDI:

Recipient businesses get access to latest financing tools, technologies and operational practices from across the world.

Human Capital refers to the knowledge and competence of the workforce. Once developed, human capital is mobile. It can train human resources in other companies, thereby creating a ripple effect.

Not all goods produced through FDI are meant for domestic consumption. Many of these products have global markets and thereby increase export potential of a country.

The constant flow of FDI into a country translates into a continuous flow of foreign exchange. This helps the country’s Central Bank maintain a comfortable reserve of foreign exchange. This in turn ensures stable exchange rates.

‘Master of the Roster’ refers to the privilege of the Chief Justice of the Court to constitute Benches to hear cases.

Supreme Court has also held that ‘Chief Justice in his individual capacity is the Master of Roster and it cannot read as Collegium of first three or five Judges. Thus, it is his prerogative to constitute the Benches and allocate the subjects which would be dealt with by the respective Benches’.

Statement 1 is correct. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition is a voluntary partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, scientific institutions and civil society organizations committed to improving air quality and protecting the climate through actions to reduce short-lived climate pollutants.

Statement 2 is correct. In 2012, the governments of Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden and the United States, along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), came together to initiate efforts to treat short-lived climate pollutants as an urgent and collective challenge.

The coalition has 70 state partners. India announced it was joining the Climate & Clean Air Coalition during on 2019 World Environment Day.

India works with Coalition partners to implement National Clean Air Programme, leveraging the Coalition’s action-oriented partnership platform to help define priority actions that reduce air pollution and achieve development and climate co-benefits.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution to hold an International Day of Clean Air for blue skies in 2019. The first International Day of Clean Air for blue skies is being observed on September 7, 2020.

Dictionary of Martyrs: India’s Freedom Struggle 1857-1947 is a project of Indian Council of Historical Research and Ministry of Culture, Govt of India. It contains brief biographical notes based to the extent possible on authentic archival and other contemporary documents.

A martyr is a person who died or who was killed in action or in detention or was awarded capital punishment while participating in a national movement for emancipation of India. It includes an ex-INA or ex-military person who died fighting the British.

The publication released in 2019, has been brought out in five volumes (zone wise).

Both statements are correct.

The Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition or POSHAN Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, is Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

For implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan the four-point strategy/pillars of the mission are:

-Inter-sectoral convergence for better service delivery

-Use of technology (ICT) for real time growth monitoring and tracking of women and     children

-Intensified health and nutrition services for the first 1000 days

-Jan Andolan

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal Ministry for POSHAN Abhiyaan. The programme through the targets strives to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies. It will create synergy, ensure better monitoring, issue alerts for timely action, and encourage States/UTs to perform, guide and supervise the line Ministries and States/UTs to achieve the targeted goals.

The 3rd Rashtriya Poshan Maah is being celebrated during the month of September 2020.

The Keshavananda Bharti v State of Kerala 1973 case was primarily about the extent of Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution.

In its majority ruling of the 13 judge bench, the court held that fundamental rights cannot be taken away by amending them. While the court said that Parliament had the powers to amend the Constitution, it drew the line by observing that certain parts are the basic structure of the Constitution as they are so inherent and intrinsic to the Constitution that even Parliament cannot amend it.

# In S.R. Bommai case (1994), a nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court issued the historic order, which in a way put an end to the arbitrary dismissal of State governments under Article 356 by spelling out restrictions.

# In Coelho case (2007), court upheld the authority of the judiciary to review any law, which destroy or damage the basic structure including the one in 9^th Schedule of the Constitution.

# In D. C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1986), court held that it is unconstitutional to repromulgate ordinances, unless in exceptional circumstances.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assists state governments by providing them support of the Central Armed Police Forces.

The Ministry maintains seven CAPFs: (i) the Central Reserve Police Force, which assists in internal security and counterinsurgency, (ii) the Central Industrial Security Force, which protects vital installations (like airports) and public sector undertakings, (iii) the National Security Guards, which is a special counterterrorism force, and (iv) four border guarding forces, which are the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal, and Assam Rifles.

The administrative control of the Assam Rifles is with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the operational control of Assam Rifles rests with the Ministry of Defence.

Statement 1 is correct. There are two types of African trypanosomiasis (also called sleeping sickness); each is named for the region of Africa in which they were found historically.

East African trypanosomiasis is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. West African trypanosomiasis is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. Both types of African trypanosomiasis are transmitted by the tsetse fly which is found only in rural Africa.

Statement 2 is incorrect. East and West African trypanosomiasis are eventually fatal if not treated.

Progressive confusion, personality changes, and other neurologic problems occur after infection has invaded the central nervous system (second stage). If left untreated, the illness becomes worse and death will occur within months.

# The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that Togo has become the first country in Africa to eliminate human African Trypanosomiasis.

The Spanggur Tso, also called Maindung Co is a saltwater lake south of Pangong Tso on India China border (East of LAC) between Ladakh UT and Tibet Autonomous Region, China.