IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Apr 13, 2016

ANSWER: 2022

Explanation:

• The Government is committed to double the income of farmers by the year 2022 to mark India’s 75 years of independence.
• To attain that goal, the Centre had adopted a scientific approach to farming and urged farmers to utilize the various agricultural initiatives introduced by his government.
• Along with farming, allied activities too are being encouraged to increase the farmer’s income.
• Fleshing out a formula for productive agriculture, the Centre stressed the need to divide farming practices into three sectors, traditional farming, tree or timber plantation (along the periphery and borders of fields) and livestock rearing.
• These are supplemented by initiatives like National Agricultural Market, etc.

ANSWER: Sports

Explanation:

• He has won the Olympic gold, World Championship gold, holds the world record in javelin throw, and is the first para-athlete to have been conferred the Padma Shri.
• He lost his left hand when he was a child. He overcame all the adversities and became an accomplished sportsperson.
• He is from Rajasthan.

ANSWER: Fermion that is its own antiparticle

Explanation:

• A Majorana fermion also referred to as a Majorana particle, is a fermion that is its own antiparticle. They were hypothesized by Ettore Majorana in 1937.
• The term is sometimes used in opposition to a Dirac fermion, which describes fermions that are not their own antiparticles.
• Because particles and antiparticles have opposite conserved charges, Majorana fermions must be uncharged.
• The only possible candidate for a fundamental Majorana fermion in the Standard Model is the neutrino, since all the other fermions have charge.
• All of the Standard Model fermions except the neutrino behave as Dirac fermions at low energy (after electroweak symmetry breaking), but the (massive) nature of the neutrino is not settled and it may be either Dirac or Majorana.

ANSWER: Autotomy

Explanation:

• The voluntary shedding of an appendage from the body of an animal in response to mechanical and/or visual stimulation is termed “Autotomy.”
• An example is lizard-tail autotomy.
• It is used usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp or to distract the predator and thereby allow escape. The lost body part may be regenerated later.

ANSWER: Bharti Airtel

Explanation:

• Bharti Airtel's payments bank venture — Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd. — has become the first entity to receive final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to start a payments bank.
• RBI, the banking regulator granted in-principle licenses to 11 entities to start payments banks. The ‘in-principle’ approval was valid for 18 months, during which time the applicants were asked by RBI to comply with the licensing norms.
• The payments banks are not allowed to lend. Hence, a tie-up with banks will help them source loans for their customers.

ANSWER: Five-Year Plans

Explanation:

• NITI Aayog, the government’s policy think tank, is working on a sector-based medium-term planning framework.
• The new planning framework could replace five-year plans, the last of which is set to end in 2016—17. It was possible to synchronise with the finance commission cycle, the financial approval of schemes and projects of both the central and state governments.
• The current financial year, 2016-17, is the last year of the 12th five-year plan.
• With the Planning Commission scrapped, the process for formulating a 13th five-year plan government has not been initiated, as a consequence of which the era of five-year plans is set to end in India this year.
• The government had constituted a committee for proposing a new format of budget statements and accounts.
• From the next financial year, the plan and non-plan distinction will be done away with for expenditure classification in Budget.

ANSWER: 14, 25

Explanation:

• Equality before law and equal protection of laws (Article 14).
• Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15).
• Abolition of untouchability and prohibition of its practice (Article 17).
• Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion (Article 25).
• Freedom to manage religious affairs (Article 26).
• Freedom from payment of taxes for promotion of any religion (Article 27).
• Freedom from attending religious instruction or worship in certain educational institutions (Article 28).
• Thus articles 14, 15 and 25 are closely related to ending of discrimination against women on the issue of temple entry.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• Article 25 - Freedom of Conscience and Free Profession, Practice and Propagation of Religion.
• Article 25 covers not only religious beliefs (doctrines) but also religious practices (rituals). Moreover, these rights are available to all persons—citizens as well as non-citizens.
• However, these rights under article 25 are subject to public order, morality, health and other provisions relating to fundamental rights.

Further, the State is permitted to:
(a) Regulate or restrict any economic, financial, political or other secular activity associated with religious practice; and

(b) Provide for social welfare and reform or throw open Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus.

• Like the rights under Article 25, the rights under Article 26 are also subject to public order, morality and health but not subject to other provisions relating to the Fundamental Rights.

ANSWER: Mulberry

Explanation:

• NEMHARI - A Plant based Formulation for Management of Mulberry Root Knot Disease” developed at Central Sericulture Research and Training Institute (CSR&TI), Central Silk Board (CSB), Mysuru.
• National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) has been appointed as the nodal agency for commercializing the technical knowhow in India and abroad. The company has ambitious plans to taking forward this technology to all sericulture regions in the world through a network of dealers and also promoting through different Government support schemes of the Department of Sericulture and other Allied Departments in various states.
• The formulation is safe to the native soil micro flora and fauna but effective against the nematodes causing the root knot disease in mulberry. Tests conducted in the field revealed reduction of disease severity by about 84% and prevented loss of leaf yield by 24%.

ANSWER: Procurement of power

Explanation:

• Ministry of Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy launched “DEEP (Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price) e-Bidding & e-Reverse Auction portal” for procurement of short term power by DISCOMs.
• The short term procurement could be for a period of more than one day up to one year.
• The Guidelines for short term procurement of power has already been notified by Ministry of Power, Government of India w.e.f.April 1, 2016, making it mandatory for all the Procurer(s) to procure short term power by using this e-Bidding portal. Power Procurement from Power Exchange shall be excluded from the scope of these guidelines.
• This would introduce uniformity and transparency in power procurement by the DISCOMs and at the same time promote competition in electricity sector. The scope of this portal shall be further expanded soon to cover medium term and long term procurement of power.
• This e-Reverse auction process for competitive procurement is expected to result in overall reduction of cost of procurement of power thereby significantly benefiting the ultimate consumers.
• This will also provide a common e-bidding platform with e-Reverse Auction facility; provide nation-wide power procurement to a wider network including the stakeholders in power sector, to bring uniformity in the process of power procurement.