{"id":18239,"date":"2018-04-05T13:32:35","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T08:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=18239"},"modified":"2018-04-05T12:33:19","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T07:03:19","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-4-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-4-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 April 4, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.1 What are the reasons for which India is experiencing an escalation in heat waves? Also examine the various strategies followed by states to address the consequences of heat waves. (GS-3)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the temperature rises 3\u00b0C to 4\u00b0C above normal it is termed as a &#8216;heat wave&#8217;. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Escalation in heat waves in India: <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India experiences an escalation in heat waves because: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is sudden increase in the atmospheric pressure, <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no cloud formation,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is delayed monsoons, \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">El Nino effect occurs periodically,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rapid and unplanned urbanisation , and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rapid encroachment of lakes and deforestation. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Strategies followed by states to address the consequences of heat waves:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Initiatives to deal with heat waves have mostly come from state governments. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the devastating heat wave of 1998, which claimed over 2,000 lives in Odisha, the state put in place <\/span><b>district-level disaster management centres. <\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, after the 2010 heat wave that caused 1,344 deaths in Ahmedabad, a <\/span><b>City Heat Action Plan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was launched in 2013 to improve public awareness and promote inter-agency coordination. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>City-specific data from IMD<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> will immensely help in generating <\/span><b>warnings and predicting heat waves<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because it allows better use of vital local factors such as humidity. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nagpur and Bhubaneshwar has also launched their own <\/span><b>city-level plans.<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Andhra Pradesh announced a compensation of R1 lakh to the kin of those who had died in the heat wave last year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Q.2 \u00a0\u00a0Why do the prices of diesel and petrol increase in India frequently? What are the strategies adopted by India in controlling this increase in rate of fuel? (GS -3)<\/p>\n<p><b>Introduction:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, diesel prices reached Rs64.69 per litre in Delhi, a record high for the fuel. Petrol prices rose to Rs73.83 per litre, the highest since they were raised to Rs76.06 per litre on 14 September 2013.<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Reason behind the price increase:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Price of fuel in India depends upon the <\/span><b>global crude oil prices<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and fluctuations in the same are expected to reflect in the amount of money paid at the petrol pump.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the <\/span><b>supply cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and Russia <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">led to a rally in global oil prices, the cost of the Indian basket of crude, which averaged $47.56 a barrel in 2016-2017, rose to touch $63.80 (average price) in March 2018. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Various Indian states are also responsible for increasing <\/span><b>VAT (Value Added Tax) on Petrol and Diesel.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Strategies adopted by India in controlling this increase in rate of fuel:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has been seeking reasonable rates as its energy demand grows. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India is also reworking its import strategy by stepping up the share of short-term contracts whenever the market is favourable and exploring long-term supply deals at discounted prices.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new energy architecture also involves acquiring hydrocarbon assets abroad.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It aslo diversifies \u00a0India\u2019s supply sources from geographies such as the US and adding renewable energy sources to its energy mix to tackle possible price shocks.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Q.3 \u00a0\u00a0Write short notes on:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>(a) \u00a0SC and ST Act, 1989 (GS-2)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is popularly known as POA, the SC\/ST Act, the Prevention of Atrocities Act, or simply the Atrocities Act. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SC\/ST Act was enacted on September 9, 1989 and rules for the Act were notified on March 31, 1995.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SC\/ST Act lists 22 offences relating to various patterns or behaviours inflicting criminal offences and breaking the self-respect and esteem of the scheduled castes and tribes community. This includes denial of economic, democratic and social rights, discrimination, exploitation and abuse of the legal process.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the SC\/ST Act, the protection is provided from social disabilities such as denial of access to certain places and to use customary passage, personal atrocities like forceful drinking or eating of inedible food sexual exploitation, injury etc, atrocities affecting properties, malicious prosecution, political disabilities and economic exploitation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For speedy trial, Section 14 of the SC\/ST Act provides for a Court of Session to be a Special Court to try offences under this Act in each district.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The prime objective of the SC\/ST Act is to deliver justice to marginalised through proactive efforts, giving them a life of dignity, self-esteem and a life without fear, violence or suppression from the dominant castes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>(b) Alma Ata Declaration (GS -2)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Declaration of Alma-Ata was adopted at the International Conference on Primary Health Care (PHC), Almaty (formerly Alma-Ata), Kazakhstan (formerly Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic), 6\u201312 September 1978.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It expressed the need for <\/span><b>urgent action by all governments, all health and development workers, and the world community<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to protect and promote the health of all people. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was the <\/span><b>first international declaration <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">underlining the importance of primary health care. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The primary health care approach has since then been accepted by member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) as the key to achieving the goal of<\/span><b> &#8220;Health For All&#8221; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">but only in developing countries at first. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This applied to <\/span><b>all other countries <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">five years later.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives Q.1 What are the reasons for which India is experiencing an escalation in heat waves? Also examine the various strategies followed by states to address the consequences of heat waves. (GS-3) Introduction: When the temperature rises 3\u00b0C to 4\u00b0C above normal it is termed as a &#8216;heat wave&#8217;. Escalation in heat waves in India:&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-april-4-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 April 4, 2018<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":2292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mains-marathon-answers","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pen-paper-laptop.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704577674},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}