IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - July 10, 2015

ANSWER: c) 1,2,3,5

Following are Millennium Development Goals by 2015:

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. To achieve universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability
8. To develop a global partnership for development

ANSWER: c) Both

The state of Telangana was officially formed on 2 June 2014. Most of it was part of the princely state of Hyderabad, ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad during the British Raj, joining the Union of India in 1948. In 1956, the Hyderabad state was dissolved as part of the linguistic reorganization of states, and the Telugu speaking part of Hyderabad state, known as Telangana, was merged with former Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh.

ANSWER: c) Both

eMudhra Limited is a statutory licensed Certifying Authority of India to issue digital signature certificates.It was established in 2008 under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. eMudhra offers variety of other services including Tax filing Services, Digital Signing Solutions, PAN Card Online applications. Digital Certificate Authentication System and Trusted Time Stamping etc.

ANSWER: b) 2,3

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor is being developed at Kalpakkam will be commissioned in September. The Kalpakkam PFBR is using uranium-238 not thorium, to breed new fissile material, in a sodium-cooled fast reactor design.

ANSWER: b) Kalpakkam

The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is one of India's premier nuclear research centres. The centre is engaged in a broad-based multidisciplinary programme of scientific research and advanced engineering directed towards the development of Fast Breeder Reactor technology. The Reactor Research Centre set up at Kalpakkam in 1971 under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was renamed Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in 1985.

ANSWER: d) 1-ii, 2-i, 3-iii

India's three-stage nuclear power programme was formulated by Dr. Homi Bhabha in the 1950s to secure the country’s long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands of coastal regions of South India.

ANSWER: a) Only 1

The Assam Agricultural University is fighting for a geographical indications (GI) tag for a local variety of rice joha.The GI office is under the Union ministry of commerce. Assam already has four products with the GI tag - Karbi Anglong ginger, Tezpur litchi, muga silk and Assam orthodox tea.

ANSWER: b) Only 2

In Gold bond scheme schemes, investors buying gold don't get the metal in physical form. Instead, they get a paper or certificate issued by the government saying they bought a certain amount of gold.
Under the gold monetisation scheme It is a scheme that facilitates the depositors of gold to earn interest on their metal accounts. Once the gold is deposited in metal account, it will start earning interest on the same.
Both principal and interest to be paid to the depositors of gold, will be ‘valued’ in gold.

ANSWER: d) None

It aims to immunize all children against seven vaccine preventable diseases namely diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B by 2020.

ANSWER: d) All the above

A political party becomes eligible to be recognized as a national party if it fulfils any of the three conditions. Currently there are six national parties include BJP, Congress, CPM, CPI, BSP and NCP.

ANSWER: d) Bishan Narayan Dar

Jana Gana mana was first sung on the second day of the annual conference of the Indian National Congress in Calcutta on December 27, 1911. Sarala Devi Chowdhurani, Tagore's niece intoned the song, along with a few schoolstudents, in front of the gathering of the then INC president Bishan Narayan Dar and other leaders such as Bupendra Nath Bose and Ambika Charan Mazumder. Soon after the Congress conference, in January 1912, the song first appeared before the public under the title Bharata-vidhata in Tottvobodhini Patrika.

ANSWER: b) Only 2

Krishnapatnam Port is a privately built and owned all weather, deep water port on the east coast of India, located in the Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh. The port has its history back to Vijayanagar Emperor, when Sri Krishnadevaraya used to operate it. So, the name was given to it as Krishnapatnam Port.The Krishnapatnam Port is India's largest private sector port.

ANSWER: a) 1,2

No new dams based on large scale storage be permitted in Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1.

ANSWER: a) Only 1

It is applicable to all companies except those engaged in infrastructure and power sectors. Normally, a company is liable to pay tax on the income computed in accordance with the provisions of the Income-Tax Act, but the profit and loss account of the company is prepared as per provisions of the Companies Act.

In the past, a large number of companies showed book profits on their profit and loss account and at the same time distributed huge dividends. However, these companies didn’t pay any tax to the government as they reported either nil or negative income under provisions of the Income-Tax Act. These companies were showing book profits and declaring dividends to their shareholders but were not paying any tax. These companies are popularly known as ‘zero tax’ companies.

The Indian Income-Tax Act allows a large number of exemptions from total income. Besides exemptions, there are several deductions permitted from the gross total income. Further, depreciation allowable under the Income-Tax Act, is not the same as required under the Companies Act. The latter provides a lower rate viz-a-viz the I-T Act which computes a higher rate of depreciation.
The result of such exemptions, deductions, and other incentives under the Income-Tax Act in the form of liberal rates of depreciation is the emergence of zero tax companies, which in spite of having high book profit are able to reduce their taxable income to nil.In order to bring such companies under the I-T net, Section 115JA was introduced from assessment year 1997-98. Now, all companies having book profits under the Companies Act shall have to pay a minimum alternate tax at 18.5%.

ANSWER: b) Changpa

The Changpa or Champa are a semi-nomadic Tibetan people found mainly in the Changtang in Ladakh and in Jammu and Kashmir. A smaller number resided in the western regions of the Tibet Autonomous Region until they suffered forced relocation by China.

ANSWER: c) Both

Carbon sequestration is the process of capture and long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Carbon sequestration describes long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to either mitigate or defer global warming and avoid dangerous climate change. It has been proposed as a way to slow the atmospheric and marine accumulation of greenhouse gases, which are released by burning fossil fuels.Carbon dioxide is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, or physical processes. Artificial processes have been devised to produce similar effects, including large-scale, artificial capture and sequestration of industrially produced CO using subsurface saline aquifers, reservoirs, ocean water, aging oil fields, or other carbon sinks.

ANSWER: b) Only 2

National Housing Bank is subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).was set up on July 9, 1988 under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987. NHB is an apex financial institution for housing. NHB has been established with an objective to operate as a principal agency to promote housing finance institutions both at local and regional levels and to provide financial and other support incidental to such institutions and for matters connected therewith.