IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Sep 26 & 27, 2016

ANSWER: Lady Hardinge Medical College

Explanation:

• Lady Hardinge Medical College gets a commemorative stamp at its Centenary Celebrations.
• 100 years ago, the wife of the then Viceroy Lord Hardinge had taken note of the paucity of women doctors in India and decided to establish a dedicated lady medical college which was named as Lady Hardinge.
• She collected money to establish this institution from the rulers of the then Princely States, Social workers and common man.
• The old building of Lady Hardinge Medical College had already been declared as National Heritage monument in 2005.

ANSWER: Cleanliness

Explanation:
Ahead of the second anniversary of ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ on October 2, 2016, a countrywide intensive Swachh Bharat Week will be organized.

• As a part of Swachh Bharat Week, Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation together will be organizing a day long ‘INDOSAN-2016’ i.e India Sanitation Conference.
• Besides taking stock of the progress in urban and rural areas under Swachh Bharat Mission over the last two years and looking at the way forward, INDOSAN seeks to renew the commitment at the highest political level to ensure Clean India by 2019.
• During the day long INDOSAN Conference, various issues like Behavior Change, Best Sanitation Practices, Swachh Technologies, Financing Swachh Bharat Mission, Inclusive Sanitation, Cleanliness at 100 iconic places, Solid and Liquid Waste Management will be discussed.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the average number of children expected to be born per woman during her entire span of reproductive period.
• High Total Fertility Rate (TFR) states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam that constitute 44% of the country’s population.
• In India the Total Fertility Rate is 2.4.
• Among the bigger States, Tamilnadu and West Bengal has the lowest TFR of 1.7
• The highest TFR recorded is 3.6 for Bihar.
• TFR is considered to be a useful indicator for analysing the prospects for population stabilization.

ANSWER: Family planning services

Explanation:

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will soon launch “Mission Parivar Vikas” in 145 high focus districts having the highest total fertility rates in the country.
• These 145 districts are in the seven high focus, high TFR states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam that constitute 44% of the country’s population.
• The main objective of ‘Mission Parivas Vikas’ will be to accelerate access to high quality family planning choices based on information, reliable services and supplies within a rights-based framework.
• The key strategic focus of this initiative will be on improving access to contraceptives through delivering assured services, dovetailing with new promotional schemes, ensuring commodity security, building capacity (service providers), creating an enabling environment along with close monitoring and implementation.

ANSWER: SAARC

Explanation:

• STOMD is SAARC Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk.
• SDOMD is SAARC Drugs Offences Monitoring Desk.
• During 2nd meeting of the High Level Group of Eminent Experts to strengthen the SAARC Anti-Terrorism Mechanism, the member countries shared their national experiences on various related legislations to counter terrorism.
• All member countries of SAARC agreed to move forward towards operationalizing the STOMD and the SDOMD in order to strengthen the combat efforts against terrorism.
• All member countries agreed to cooperate on capacity building by way of sharing their expertise on the subjects related to suicide terrorism, counter radicalisation, drugs trafficking and cyber security.
• Other issues like corruption and money laundering were also brought up for discussions as they also contribute towards terror financing.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• The West Pakistani Refugees settled in J&K are citizens of India and they have the right to vote in Parliamentary Elections.
• However, they are not permanent residents of the State in terms of J&K Constitution.
• They do not enjoy voting rights to the State Assembly and Local Bodies.
• The conferment of Permanent Resident Status to the West Pakistani refugees settled in J&K falls within the purview of J&K Constitution, which will enable them for Jobs under State Government, for admission into the State Technical/ Professional institutions and the right to purchase/ acquire land/ immovable properties in the State of J&K.

ANSWER: Both 1 and 2

Explanation:

• In the wake of Pakistani aggression in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, about 5764 families who migrated from the then West Pakistan are residing mainly in Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri Districts of Jammu Division.
• No separate proposal is under consideration of the Government to recruit the children of West Pakistani Refugees (WPRs) in paramilitary forces.
• The children of these refugees are eligible to apply against the vacancies in paramilitary forces earmarked for the State of J&K.
• However, these children were allowed to be recruited in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) without the condition of having domicile certificate from the designated authority of the State Govt. of J&K.
• Other proof such as names in the Parliamentary voter list, are to be taken as proof of their being refugees from West Pakistan and the certificate issued by the village Numberdar/ Sarpanch can be accepted and taken into account for the purpose of recruitment in CAPFs and Assam Rifles against the quota of the J&K State.

ANSWER: ADIP

Explanation:

• Three Guinness World Records were created at Samajik Adhikarita Shivir and Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fittings of Aids/Appliances (ADIP) Camp in Navsari, Gujarat.
• The first record - “Highest number of Oil lamps lit simultaneously at single location” - An incredible 989 Divyangs (Person with Disabilities) came together to set an all-new record- almost doubling the minimum of 500 participants they needed in order to achieve the title. The challenge was for each person to light the lamp exactly at the same time after a given signal within 30 seconds.
• The second record ‘Biggest Wheelchair Logo’ - The 1,000 participants in wheelchairs depicted a message saying ‘Happy Birthday PM’ in Tri-colour. It bettered the previous record of 346 participants that was achieved by Hope Inc. in Moorhead, Minnesota, USA.
• The third world record ‘Most people fitted with Hearing Aid in 8 hours – Single location (600 Hearing Aid) was also set. Free assistive devices kits were handed out to thousands of Divyangs throughout the weekend, in addition to the hearing aids distributed during the record attempt.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a Public Sector Undertaking under the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
• In the National Biotechnology Development Strategy, 2015-2020, Bio-incubators would be scaled up to 50 and 5 new Bio-clusters would be formed.
• With over 500 Start ups and SMEs, 100 Entrepreneurs being a part of this ecosystem, BIRAC has nearly 50 products in different stages of development and commercialization.
• The target is scaling this 10 times in the next 5 years through initiatives like BIG (Biotechnology Ignition Grant), SITARE (supporting grass root student innovators), eYUVA (creating entrepreneurial culture in universities), BioNEST (nurturing entrepreneurship by establishing Bio Incubation Centres), tax exemptions to biotech startups in Budget 2015-16, inter alia.

ANSWER: Indian Wild Orange

Explanation:

• A rare, endemic and endangered species of wild citrus fruit having medicinal properties which was so far reported only from Meghalaya, has now been found in a remote village of Manipur.
• A team of field biologists and researchers of Centre for Conservation of Nature and Cultivation of Science (CCNCS), Manipur, reported the species 'citrus indica' commonly known as Indian Wild Orange from Dailong village in Tamenglong district.
• The species is considered to be the most primitive and ancestors of all cultivated citrus fruits in the world and endemic to north-east India. Earlier the species was reported only from Nokrek Biosphere Reserve in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya.
• The species is known to local villagers as 'Biurengthai' and is known to have medicinal properties.