{"id":25098,"date":"2018-09-06T13:57:58","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T08:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=25098"},"modified":"2018-09-07T11:58:37","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T06:28:37","slug":"answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-september-5-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-september-5-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 September 5, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/mains-marathon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Archives<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Q.1) The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017 recently passed by the Parliament \u00a0will ensure better corporate governance. Discuss (GS 3)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ans)\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The term \u2018Corporate governance\u2019 is the mechanisms, processes and relations by which corporations are controlled and directed. It includes rules and procedures for making decisions in corporate affairs. Corporate governance \u00a0includes the processes through which corporations objectives are set and pursued in the context of the social, regulatory and market environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Parliament has passed Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to strengthen corporate governance standards, initiate strict action against defaulting companies and help improve ease of doing business in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u00a0Bill will ensure better corporate governance through the following ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Group company structure and compliance procedures: The bill has changed definitions relating to \u2018holding company\u2019, \u2018subsidiary \u00a0company\u2019 and \u2018associate company\u2019. It will have impact on group company structure and compliance procedures.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Compliance procedures and approval mechanism: It enhances scope of compliance procedures and approval mechanism of Related Party Transaction of related parties.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shares on private placement basis: It amends this provision in parent Act. It will have impact on both \u2013 private companies and public companies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maintenance of Register of significant beneficial owners in a company: The bill adds this new provision. Besides, changes provisions relating to board meetings and shareholders\u2019 meetings, based on operational and compliance issues faced by the corporate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The amendment to CSR provisions are particularly related to its applicability and constitution of CSR. It takes into account the interpretational and operational issues.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Resident Director and Independent Director: It provides for clarity in applicability and role of Resident Director and Independent Director. Further it elaborated \u2018Pecuniary relationship\u2019 in relation to independent directors.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Loans to Directors: The bill substitutes entire section relating to \u2018Loans to Directors\u2019 under the Companies Act, 2013. It introduces certain checks and balances by way of approval process and for enabling \u2018loans to directors\u2019, in certain cases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Managerial Remuneration: It liberalises provision related to Managerial Remuneration. It replaces requirement of Central Government approval by requirement of approval of shareholders, secured creditors and non-convertible debenture holders, as the case maybe.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Auditors Report: It mandates requirement that Statutory Auditor of company to report in its Auditors Report on compliance of provisions of managerial remuneration and whether remuneration paid to any director is in excess of prescribed limits.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q.2) The Union Cabinet has recently approved the establishment of International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography in Hyderabad. In this context discuss the meaning of the Operational Oceanography . How this move will help India to emerge as \u00a0a leading country in the Indian Ocean?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ans)\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography, as a Category-2 Centre (C2C) of UNESCO, in Hyderabad. The purpose of this Agreement is to establish a training centre towards development of capacity for the countries on the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR), African countries bordering the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, small island countries under the framework of UNESCO.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is operational oceanography?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The operational oceanography is an activity of conducting systematic oceanographic studies towards providing information services to various sectors viz. fisherman, disaster management, shipping, ports, coastal states, navy, coast guard, environment, offshore industries for conducting their day-to- day operations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Significance:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The establishment of UNESCO Category-2 Centre will provide an opportunity for India to emerge as a leading country in the Indian Ocean.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will also help India to forge cooperation and improve engagement among the counties of the Indian Ocean, including South Asian and African states bordering the Indian Ocean.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The establishment of the centre would respond to the worldwide increasing need to build technical and management capacity to address marine and coastal sustainability issues and prepare the region for and react efficiently to marine natural hazards.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Centre could contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal-14 (SDG 14) related to building marine scientific research capacity in geographical area of the Centre responsibility which will also fulfill the commitments to support Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The establishment of C2C is also expected to increase ancillary development leading to employment generation in India.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Q.3) \u201cIntroduction of GM crops needs a balance between benefits and challenges\u201d- comment.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Answer: <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Genetically modified crops are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Benefits of GM crops:<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Insect \/ pest resistance<\/li>\n<li>Disease resistance &#8211; Plants can be genetically modified to be resistant to bacterial, fungal or viral infestation.<\/li>\n<li>Crops that can withstand environmental stresses &#8211; (e.g. drought, heat, frost, acid or salty soil)<\/li>\n<li>Herbicide tolerance &#8211; Plants can be genetically modified to be tolerant to a specific weedkiller.<\/li>\n<li>Improved nutritional value &#8211; Crops can be genetically modified to contain additional nutrients that are lacking from the diets of many people in developing countries.<\/li>\n<li>Biopharmaceuticals &#8211; Plants could be genetically modified to produce vaccines or other medicines.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Challenges of GM Crops:<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Health impact &#8211; studies cite animal studies showing organ damage, gastrointestinal and immune system disorders, accelerated aging, and infertility. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel. It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most GM crops are engineered to be \u201cherbicide tolerant\u201d\u2015they deadly weed killer. They increase herbicide tolerance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By mixing genes from totally unrelated species, genetic engineering unleashes a host of unpredictable side effects.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of the health and environmental risks of GMOs are ignored by governments\u2019 superficial regulations and safety assessments.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GM crops and their associated herbicides can harm birds, insects, amphibians, marine ecosystems, and soil organisms.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Q.4) What is RCEP? What were India\u2019s concern for recent RCEP talks held in singapore? How can India benefit from it? Comment.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Answer:\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of the ASEAN and their six Free Trade Partners. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>India\u2019s concerns<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trade deficit with ten of the RCEP countries, particularly with China with whom India has a huge trade imbalance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the tariff levels in the important RCEP markets are already low, it may affect Indian industry. Major sectors that may be impacted include steel, plastics, copper, aluminium, machine tools, chemicals, textiles and pharma, which would suffer from cheaper imports.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agri products &#8211; the huge concessions being sought by Australia in agri products can be an extremely sensitive issue for India\u2019s farmers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has been emphasising the need for a balanced agreement through access to services market and investments. Services are India\u2019s major trade strength, and it enjoys a 3% share in global services exports.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indian industry has raised its concerns about tariff concession to China.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>How can India benefit:<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It complements India\u2019s existing FTAs with ASEAN nations. It will address the issues of multiple agreements by streamlining rules and regulations. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It boosts trade with ASEAN countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It gives a direction to India\u2019s Act East policy and benefits the North Eastern states.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It strengthens India\u2019s integration with regional supply chains of the East Asia. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If given access, Indian service exports get a boost due to the might of India in services.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archives Q.1) The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017 recently passed by the Parliament \u00a0will ensure better corporate governance. Discuss (GS 3) Ans)\u00a0The term \u2018Corporate governance\u2019 is the mechanisms, processes and relations by which corporations are controlled and directed. It includes rules and procedures for making decisions in corporate affairs. Corporate governance \u00a0includes the processes through which&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answers-mains-marathon-upsc-mains-current-affairs-questions-september-5-2018\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Answers: Mains Marathon \u2013 UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions \u2013 September 5, 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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mains-marathon-answers","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":1704743611},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25098","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=25098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25098\/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=25098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}