IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Nov 27, 2015

ANSWER: Afghanistan

Explanation:
- The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001 by Resolution 1386, as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement.
- Its main purpose was to train the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and assist Afghanistan in rebuilding key government institutions, but was also engaged in the 2001–present war with the Taliban insurgency.
- ISAF ceased combat operations and was disbanded in December 2014, with some troops remaining behind in an advisory role as part of ISAF's successor organization, the Resolute Support Mission.

ANSWER: Iraq

Explanation:
- Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the U.S. military operation name for the military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), including both the campaign in Iraq and the campaign in Syria.
- Effective 22 Sep 2015, III Corps is responsible for Combined Joint Task Force- Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR).

ANSWER: France

Explanation:
- Operation Chammal is the name of the French military operation which is currently ongoing in Iraq and Syria in an attempt to contain the expansion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and to support the Iraqi Army.
- Its name comes from the Shamal (Chammal in French), a northwesterly wind blowing over Iraq and the Persian Gulf states.
- The operation is limited to airstrikes; French president François Hollande has reiterated that no ground troops would be used in the conflict.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:
- The "Gujarat Sabha" was established in 1884 at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Gujarat Sabha was a public political organization formed and based in the Indian state of Gujarat.
- Most of its membership were Gujarati lawyers and civic leaders, including men like Vallabhbhai Patel, Narhari Parikh, Ravi Shankar Vyas and Mohanlal Pandya, who would become famous freedom fighters and political leaders.
- Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi served as its president from 1918 to 1919.
- The Sabha played a pivotal role in organizing the peasant rebellion in Kheda in 1918-19.
- It merged into the Indian National Congress in 1920 - becoming the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
- The Payments Bank will be set up as a differentiated bank and shall confine its activities to acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services, Internet banking and other specified services.
- Payments Banks will initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs. 1 lakh per individual customer.
- They will be allowed to issue ATM/debit cards as also other prepaid payment instruments, but not the credit cards.
- These banks can also distribute non-risk sharing simple financial products like mutual funds and insurance products.
- They will not be allowed to undertake lending services and non resident Indians will not be allowed to open accounts.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
- Prior to 1999, the Schengen treaties and the rules adopted under them operated independently from the European Union
- However, the Amsterdam Treaty incorporated them into European Union law, while providing opt-outs for the only two EU member states which had remained outside the Area: Ireland and the United Kingdom.
- Schengen is now a core part of EU law.Only six of the 28 EU member states are outside the Schengen zone - Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania and the UK.

ANSWER: Luxembourg

Explanation:
- Schengen is a small wine-making village and commune in far south-eastern Luxembourg, near the tripoint where the borders of Germany, France, and Luxembourg meet.
- “Schengen agreement", which came into effect in 1995, eliminated border checks among its members and allowed foreign visitors to travel throughout the area using one visa.
- Schengen is now a core part of EU law.Only six of the 28 EU member states are outside the Schengen zone - Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania and the UK.

ANSWER: 3,4,5,6

Explanation:
- The Central America-4 (CA-4) Border Control Agreement was a treaty signed in June 2006 between the Central American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
- It establishes the free movement across borders between the four signatory states of their citizens without any restrictions or checks.
- Foreign nationals who enter one of the signatory countries can also travel to other signatory states by land (but not by air) without having to obtain additional permits or to undergo checks at border checkpoints.
- Similar to the Schengen Agreement in Europe, the CA-4 Agreement establishes a harmonized visa regime for foreign nationals traveling to the area.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
- The Economic Intelligence Council is the apex forum overseeing government agencies responsible for economic intelligence and combating economic offences in India.
- The Council is also the apex of 18 regional economic intelligence committees, and is part of the Union Ministry of Finance.It was formed in 1990.
- The chairperson of the Economic Intelligence Council is the Finance Minister of India.
- Its chief members include the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.
Members from the Finance Ministry include the Secretaries of Finance, Revenue, Company Affairs and the Additional Secretary of Banking.

ANSWER: CSO

Explanation:
- The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index for India which details out the growth of various sectors in an economy such as mining, electricity and manufacturing.
- The all India IIP is a composite indicator that measures the short-term changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products during a given period with respect to that in a chosen base period.
- It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) six weeks after the reference month ends.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
The endeavour of Project ‘Mausam’- Maritime Routes and Cultural Landscapes is to position itself at two levels:

1. At the macro level, it aims to re-connect and re-establish communications between countries of the Indian Ocean world, which would lead to an enhanced understanding of cultural values and concerns
2. While at the micro level, the focus is on understanding national cultures in their regional maritime milieu.

- The central themes that hold Project ‘Mausam’ together are those of cultural routes and maritime landscapes that not only linked different parts of the Indian Ocean littoral, but also connected the coastal centres to their hinterlands.

- More importantly, shared knowledge systems and ideas spread along these routes and impacted both coastal centres, and also large parts of the environs.

- Project ‘Mausam’ is an exciting, multi-disciplinary project that rekindles long-lost ties across nations of the Indian Ocean ‘world’ and forges new avenues of cooperation and exchange.

- The project, launched by India in partnership with member states, will enable a significant step in recording and celebrating this important phase of world history from the African, Arab and Asian-world perspectives.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
India’s climate change offer consists mainly of three parts:

1. To reduce India’s emissions intensity per unit of GDP 33 percent to 35 percent from 2005 levels by 2030
2. To achieve about 40 percent installed electric power capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030
3. To create an additional “carbon sink” of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent through afforestation by 2030.

ANSWER: None

Explanation:
- 26 November is being observed as National Milk Day (NMD) to mark birth anniversary Father of the White Revolution Dr.Verghese Kurien.
- World Milk Day observed on June 1 under the aegis of UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
- Verghese Kurien was an Indian social entrepreneur known as the "Father of the White Revolution" for his Operation Flood, the world's largest agricultural development programme.
- He was founder-chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)
- He was recipient of World Food Prize, Ramon Magsaysay Award & Padma Vibhushan.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:
- Andorra and San Marino are not part of Schengen, but they no longer have checks at their borders.
- The UK and Republic of Ireland have opted out. The UK wants to maintain its own borders, and Dublin prefers to preserve its free movement arrangement with the UK - called the Common Travel Area rather than join Schengen.
- The UK and Ireland began taking part in some aspects of the Schengen agreement, such as the Schengen Information System (SIS), from 2000 and 2002 respectively.
- The SIS enables police forces across Europe to share data on law enforcement. It includes data on stolen cars, court proceedings and missing persons.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
- Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (Department of Sports) have formulated ‘NSDF Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme’ in the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) with the objective of identifying and supporting potential medal prospects for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Focused disciplines will be Athletics, Archery, Badminton, Boxing, Wrestling and Shooting.
- Anju Bobby George, the former long jump world champion, was on 24 November 2015 appointed as the chairperson of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
- An EU regulation in 2013 specified that such controls "should remain an exception and should only be effected as a measure of last resort, for a strictly limited scope and period of time".
- Any state that does so has to notify EU institutions and allow EU monitoring of the controls.
- France has also reimposed border controls that were abandoned as part of Europe's free-travel zone after recent Paris attacks.
- Earlier they were re-imposed after the bomb attacks on London in 2005.
- Austria, Portugal and Germany re-imposed border controls for some major sporting events, such as the Fifa World Cup.