Miscellanous Quiz: Miscellanous |7 Apr, 2021

Montreux Record is the principal tool under the Ramsar Convention, is a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance.

• It highlights those sites where adverse changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference and which are therefore in need of priority conservation attention.
• It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List.

Source: Ramsar Convention

The Ganga Action Plan was launched on 14th January 1986 with the main objective of pollution abatement, to improve water quality by interception, diversion and treatment of domestic sewage and toxic and industrial chemical wastes present, from identified grossly polluting units entering in to the river.

• After reviewing the effectiveness of the “Ganga Action Plan”, the Government announced the “Mission Clean Ganga” project on 31st December, 2009 with the objective that by 2020, no municipal sewage and industrial waste would be released in the river without treatment, with the total budget of around Rs.15,000 crore.
• The Government also established the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), chaired by the Prime Minister, with the objective to ensure effective abatement of pollution and conservation of the river Ganga, by adopting a river basin approach for comprehensive planning and management.

Source: Shankar

Ash is produced whenever combustion of solid material takes place.

Fly ash is one such residue which rises with the gases into the atmosphere.

Fly ash is a very fine powder and tends to travel far in the air. The ash which does not rise is termed as bottom ash.

Nearly 73% of India’s total installed power generation capacity is thermal, of which 90% is coal-based generation, with diesel, wind, gas, and steam making up the rest.

Composition:

Aluminum silicate (in large amounts)

Silicon dioxide (SiO2) and

Calcium oxide (CaO).

Fly ash particles are oxide rich and consist of silica, alumina, oxides of iron, calcium, and magnesium and toxic heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cobalt, and copper.

Source: Shankar

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) were notified in the year 1982, duly revised in 1994 based on health criteria and land uses.

The NAAQS have been revisited and revised in November 2009 for 12 pollutants, which include

sulphur dioxide (SO2),

nitrogen dioxide (NO2),

particulate matter having size less than 10 micron (PM10),

particulate matter having size less than 2.5 micron (PM2.5),

ozone,

lead,

carbon monoxide (CO),

arsenic,

nickel,

benzene,

ammonia, and

benzopyrene.

Source: The Hindu

Regulating Act, 1833 was the final step towards centralization in British India.

The features of this Act were as follows:

It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor – General of India and vested in him all civil and military powers. Thus, the act created, for the first time, Government of India having authority over the entire territorial area possessed by the British in India. Lord William Bentick was the first Governor-General of India.

It deprived the Governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers. The Governor-General of India was given exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India. The laws made under the previous acts were called as Regulations, while laws made under this act were called as Acts.

It ended the activities of the East India Company as a commercial body, which became a purely administrative body. It provided that the Company’s territories in India were held by it ‘in trust for His Majesty, His heirs and successors’.

Source: Laxmikanth

On December 13, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru moved the historic ‘Objectives Resolution’ in the Assembly. It laid down the fundamentals and philosophy of the constitutional structure. It read:

“This Constituent Assembly declares its firm and solemn resolve to proclaim India as an Independent Sovereign Republic and to draw up for her future governance a Constitution”.

Where in shall be guaranteed and secured to all the people of India justice, social, economic and political; equality of status of opportunity, and before the law; freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action, subject to law and public morality; and

Where by shall be maintained the integrity of the territory of the Republic and its sovereign rights on land, sea and air according to justice and the law of civilized nations.

Source: Laxmikanth

The Constitution of India is neither rigid nor flexible, but a synthesis of both. Article 368 provides for two types of amendments:

Some provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament, i.e., a two-third majority of the members of each House present and voting, and a majority of the total membership of each House.

Some other provisions can be amended by a special majority of the Parliament and with the ratification by half of the total states.

At the same time, some provisions of the Constitution can be amended by a simple majority of the Parliament in the manner of ordinary legislative process. Notably, these amendments do not come under Article 368.

Source: Laxmikanth

Inner Line Permit is a concept drawn by colonial rulers; the Inner Line separated the tribal-populated hill areas in the Northeast from the plains.

To enter and stay for any period in these areas, Indian citizens from other areas need an Inner Line Permit (ILP).

The Inner Line protects Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, and Manipur was added lately.

Source: Indian Express

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations released the World Happiness Report on 20th March, 2020.

The World Happiness Report ranks 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.

The rankings are based on polling (Gallup World Poll) which looks at six variables: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.

The 2020 Report for the first-time ranked cities around the world by their subjective well-being and looked into how the social, urban and natural environments combine to affect happiness.

Source: The Hindu

Eight countries in East Asia–Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia–have become known as the “East Asian miracle” because of their economies’ dramatic growth.

In these eight countries real per capita GDP rose twice as fast as in any other regional grouping between 1965 and 1990.

Even more impressive is their simultaneous significant reduction in poverty and income inequality.

Source: Ramesh Singh