IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Jan 15, 2016

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
- Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PM Crop Insurance Scheme) has provisions of lowest ever premium, post-harvest cover, individual farmer as unit of insurance and mandatory interventions of technology for quicker settlement of claims.
- It will come into effect from the Kharif crop cycle, beginning June.
- It also makes a provision of compensation to insured farmers if they have to skip sowing due to natural calamities like floods, unseasonal rains, hailstorm and cyclones.
- Premium : 2% for kharip, 1.5% for Rabi, 5% for commercial and horticulture plants
- The remaining sum of premium under the new scheme would be borne by the Centre and state governments equally.
- At present, there are two schemes - National Agricultural Insurance Schemes (NAIS) and Modified NAIS in the market, having high variability in premium rates. While NAIS was launched in 1999, the MNAIS has been in operation since 2010.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
- EPFO administers a compulsory contributory Provident Fund Scheme, Pension Scheme and an Insurance Scheme.
- The EPFO's apex decision making body is the Central Board of Trustees (CBT).
- On 1 October 2014, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi launched universal account number for Employees covered by EPFO to enable PF number portability.
- It has won the National Award on e-Governance 2015-16 for launching the Universal Account Number (UAN).
- The UAN facility enables workers to transfer their provident fund deposits while switching jobs anywhere in India easily.

ANSWER: Ministry of Labour and Employment

Explanation:
- The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation is a statutory body of the Government of India under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
- It administers a compulsory contributory Provident Fund Scheme, Pension Scheme and an Insurance Scheme.
- The schemes cover Indian workers as well as International workers.
- K.K. Jalan is the Central Provident Fund Commissioner

ANSWER: Alternate energy

Explanation:
- The IEA is an inter-governmental organization with a broad role of promoting alternate energy sources (including renewable energy), rational energy policies and multinational energy technology cooperation and acts as energy policy advisor to 29 member countries.
- The OES, launched in 2001, is an intergovernmental collaboration between countries, which operates under framework established by the International Energy Agency.
- This initiative is to advance research, development and demonstration of technologies to harness energy from all forms of ocean renewable resources, as well as for other uses, such as desalination etc. through international cooperation and information exchange.
- India became a member country of the International Energy Agency - Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) by signing the Implementing Agreement (IA).
- The nodal agency for the membership would be Earth System Science Organization - National Institute of Ocean Technology (ESSO-NIOT) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

ANSWER: Architecture

Explanation:
- The Pritzker Prize is awarded annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture."
- This year’s Pritzker prize winner is Alejandro Aravena of Chile has pioneered radical models of social housing and public space from Chile to Switzerland, including build-it-yourself homes, tsunami defenses and chairless chairs

ANSWER: Sugar

Explanation:
- The Sugar Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2015 would give powers to the Centre to raise the ceiling on such a cess from the existing Rs 25 per quintal to Rs 200 per quintal.
- At present, the central government levies a sugar cess at the rate of Rs 24 per quintal, while the ceiling was at Rs 25.
- The amendment to the Act will enable it to raise the actual cess to Rs 124 per quintal as then the ceiling or the power to impose it would be limited to Rs 200 per quintal
- No increase in retail price is seen as cess would kick in only when retail price drops.

ANSWER: Aerosol monitoring unit

Explanation:
System of Aerosol Monitoring And Research (SAMAR) which is a network of 16 Aethalometers, 12 Sky radiometers and 12 Nephelometers to characterize aerosol radiative properties & climate impacts. IMD has made rapid strides in modernizing its services by adopting DIGITAL INDIA initiative of the Prime Minister by using latest technology for information dissemination. IMD has upgraded its website to make it more user-friendly and we are now widely using GIS platform, mobile apps and SMS for dissemination of its alerts and advisories. Under MAKE IN INDIA programme, Department has already deployed 20 Drishti Transmissometers at critical Airports and 222 DTH based Digital Cyclone Warning Dissemination Systems (CWDS). Automatic weather observing system jointly developed by National Aeronautical Laboratory and IMD is under validation.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
The Union Cabinet approved the launch of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme) in which the premium rates to be paid by the farmers have been brought down substantially so as to enable more farmers avail insurance cover against crop loss on account of natural calamities. PMFBY will replace the existing two schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme as well as Modified NAIS which have had some inherent drawbacks. Private insurance companies, along with the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd, will implement the scheme. All claim liability will be on insurer and the government would give upfront premium subsidy. The scheme will come into effect from the upcoming kharif season. Under the new scheme, farmers will have to pay a uniform premium of two per cent for all kharif crops and 1.5 per cent for all rabi crops. For annual commercial and horticultural crops, farmers will have to pay a premium of 5 per cent. The remaining share of the premium, as in previous schemes, will continue to be borne equally by the Centre and the respective state governments. The use of technology will be encouraged to a great extent. Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments. The new Crop Insurance Scheme will also seek to address a long standing demand of farmers and provide farm level assessment for localized calamities including hailstorms, unseasonal rains, landslides and inundation.

ANSWER: National Institute of Ocean Technology

Explanation:
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for India becoming a member country of the International Energy Agency - Ocean Energy Systems (IEA-OES) by signing the Implementing Agreement (IA). The nodal agency for the membership would be Earth System Science Organisation - National Institute of Ocean Technology (ESSO-NIOT) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

By becoming a member of the IEA-OES, India will have access to advanced R&D teams and technologies across the world. India will partner in developing test protocols along with other countries. This will help in testing Indian prototypes as per international requirements and norms. Joint cooperative programs with institutes of member countries could be taken up. India's own research projects with specific targets can be taken up in conjunction with other countries.

Background - The long coastline of India and severe power deficit in the country, warrant the study of ocean renewable energies. Vagaries of the sea make harnessing ocean energy a technological challenge. In the Indian context designing of scaled up ocean energy devices (including wave, currents and tidal) and their techno-commercial viability needs to be undertaken. Tropical countries have high sea surface temperatures and hence Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a good option for countries like India. NIOT, an autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, is working in the area of ocean energy and desalination.

The IEA is an inter-governmental organization with a broad role of promoting alternate energy sources (including renewable energy), rational energy policies and multinational energy technology co¬operation and acts as energy policy advisor to 29 member countries. The OES, launched in 2001, is an intergovernmental collaboration between countries, which operates under framework established by the International Energy Agency. This initiative is to advance research, development and demonstration of technologies to harness energy from all forms of ocean renewable resources, as well as for other uses, such as desalination etc. through international cooperation and information exchange.

ANSWER: State List

Explanation:
It falls under the State List. Entry 28 of the Seventh Schedule brings markets and fairs under the ambit of the State. The Centre cannot issue ordinances on it. The State however can issue an ordinance on this issue as a measure to fight the stay given by the Supreme Court. This sport is seen in Tamil Nadu during the harvest season as a part of Pongal celebration.

ANSWER: Kerala

Explanation:
Kerala has become the first Indian state to achieve 100% primary education. This has been achieved through the primary education equivalency drive of the state literacy mission – Athulyam. The programme offers a chance for those who failed to get primary education due to various reasons to achieve the education qualification equivalent to fourth standard. Those aged 15 to 50 were beneficiaries of the programme and were identified through family registries prepared by anganwadis under the social justice department and also through ward-level surveys carried out by instructors in continuing education programmes.

ANSWER: Initiative to assess resources and expenditure for biodiversity conservation

Explanation:
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is implementing a global multi-country project on Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), which provides tools and methodological framework for measuring expenditure on biodiversity, which the countries may choose to use in their efforts to mobilize resources required for achieving the global and national biodiversity targets. In response to an invitation from UNDP, the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change has communicated its willingness to participate in the BIOFIN project in India, emphasizing that BIOFIN implementation in India would be completely country-driven, taking into account the activities already undertaken by India for development of national biodiversity targets and for assessing funding for biodiversity in the country. For the purpose of implementing BIOFIN project, the Ministry has also identified National Biodiversity Authority as the host organization.
BIOFIN is India's Biological Finance initiative that has been drafted to perform four crucial activities. The first is to review biodiversity policies and estimate the amount of money the public and private sector are spending on biodiversity or need to spend on it. The second phase would be to figure out a definitive action plan for preserving biodiversity. Third is to raise the finances and revenue to work on the above mentioned strategies and finally the most important phase of implementation.

ANSWER: Muslim

Explanation:
47% of Muslims are aged below 20 years, the highest among all religious communities, while it was 40 per cent for Hindus, according to the data. Around 41% of India's population is below the age of 20, with Muslims having the highest proportion of children and teenagers among all religions, according to Census 2011 data that was released recently. The share of the young population has, however, declined in the country since the previous census in 2001, when it was 45 per cent.