IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Aug 26, 2016

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• A woman will be allowed to become a surrogate mother only for altruistic purpose and under no circumstances money shall be paid to her, except for medical expenses.
• No permanent structure is proposed to be created in the Draft Bill. Neither there are proposals for creating new posts.
• The proposed legislation, while covering an important area is framed in such a manner that it ensures effective regulation but does not add much vertically to the current regulatory structure already in place at the central as well as states.
• Accordingly, there will not be any financial implications except for the meetings of the National and State surrogacy Boards and Appropriate Authorities which will be met out of the regular budget of Central and State governments.

ANSWER: Ray Tomlinson

Explanation:

• Ray Tomlinson, the inventor of email has died recently.
• Raymond Samue Tomlinson implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971.
• He used the @ sign to separate the user name from the name of their machine, a scheme which has been used in email addresses ever since.

ANSWER: Lucknow

Explanation:

• Zardozi is beautiful metal embroidery, which was used for the attire of the Kings and the royals in India. Persian terms Zar meaning gold and Dozi meaning embroidery.
• It involves making elaborate designs, using gold and silver threads. Precious stones, diamonds, emeralds, and pearls are also used.
• Uses: to adorn walls of the royal tents, scabbards, wall hangings and the paraphernalia of regal elephants and horses.
• Zardosi attained its summit in the 17th century, under the patronage of Akbar. Under the rule of Aurangzeb, the royal patronage stopped and led to the decline of craft.
• With the 18th and 19th century bringing industrialization, it suffered further setback.
• Zardosi embroidery work is mainly a specialty of Lucknow, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Delhi, Agra, Kashmir, Mumbai, Ajmer and Chennai.
• In 2013 the Geographical Indication Registry (GIR) accorded the Geographical Indication (GI) registration to the Lucknow Zardozi.

ANSWER: Thailand

Explanation:

• Union Minister of Home Affairs, a UN designated Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Champion for the Asia Region, attended the First Asian Science and Technology Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction held at Bangkok in Thailand.
• The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 heralds a shift from managing disasters to managing risks.
• The Sendai Framework calls for “Academia, scientific and research entities and networks to: focus on the disaster risk factors and scenarios, and support the interface between policy and science for decision-making.”
• The 1st Asian Science and Technology Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction provides an opportunity to generate a more dynamic and enduring interchange between science and policy.

ANSWER: New rating method for ACs

Explanation:

• The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has introduced a new star rating methodology called Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER) for air conditioners.
• This evolved rating methodology factors in variance in higher temperature in India and rates air conditioners accordingly.
• Consumers can now purchase air conditioners with higher efficiency leading to lower electricity bills.
• Keeping the performance of air conditioners during higher temperature in mind, ISEER will address the different climatic zones in India and higher temperature.
• ISEER measures energy efficiency of air conditioners based on a weighted average of the performance at outside temperatures between 24 and 43 degree C based on Indian weather data.

ANSWER: Chicken

Explanation:

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) initiated the mechanism for “Registration of Animal Germplasm” through National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR).
• Kaunayen chicken’s breeding tract consists of Thoubal, Imphal West, Imphal East and Bishnupur districts in the valley region. Some birds are also available in hill region consisting of Chandel, Churachandpur, Senapati, Ukhrul, Tamenglong districts.
• Kaunayen birds have elongated body with long neck and long legs. And are used for cock fighting.
• Kendrapada sheep’s breeding tract comprises of six coastal districts of Odisha viz. Kendrapada, Jagatsingpur, Cuttack, Puri, Jajpur and Bhadrak .
• These sheep are mostly brown in colour. Adult body varies from 24 to 30kg.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• Ratings based on ISEER have been introduced on a voluntary basis for Variable Speed (Inverter) Air Conditioners since June 2015 and proposed to be merged with fixed speed air conditioners in the mandatory regime from January 2018.
• Some of the leading manufacturers have already adopted the rating for inverter air conditioners.
• Since 2010, Bureau of Energy Efficiency has mandated air conditioners as a mandatory-labelled appliance under Energy Conservation Act and since then air conditioners cannot be sold without star label.
• Now as per latest notification, from January 2016, Star-2 is the least efficiency level to be sold in the market, hence variation in power consumption is compared between Star-5 (most efficient) and Star-2 (least efficient) air conditioners.

ANSWER: Divyangs

Explanation:

• “Sugamya Pustakalaya: A step towards an Accessible Digital India” (An online library for persons with visual disabilities) was launched.
• “Sugamaya Pustakalaya” is an online platform that makes accessible content available to print-disabled people.
• The library houses publications across diverse subjects and languages and multiple accessible formats.
• It has been created by Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in collaboration with member organizations of Daisy Forum of India and powered by TCS Access.
• Books are available in Accessible formats for people with visual impairment and other print disabilities. Over 2 lakhs books in diverse languages, integrating libraries across India and the Globe, including the largest international library, ‘Bookshare’.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• Sugamya Pustakalaya services can be availed by Print Disabled, NGOs as well as school, libraries, colleges and universities.
• In case of a Publisher/Government House/Textbook Production House: They can be part of creating history by creating the largest accessible online library in a developing country. Increase their reader base to include persons with print disabilities by sharing accessible formats of their publications to be put up on Sugamya Pustakalaya.
• In case of a Corporate: Their employees can volunteer for accessible content creation and help reach out to millions of users with print disabilities. The IT industry can contribute with technology development to fill gaps in authoring and reading of digital content in all Indian languages.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:

• The Government of India and the World Bank signed a $500 million loan agreement for the National Highways Interconnectivity Improvement Project to help improve the national highway network’s connectivity with economically lagging and remote areas.
• The project will focus on three low-income states – Rajasthan, Bihar and Orissa – and on less developed regions in the states of Karnataka and West Bengal.
• In recent years there has been an increasing recognition of the importance of improving transport connectivity in remote and economically lagging areas which do not fall under the National Highways Development Program (NHDP).

ANSWER: 1, 2

Explanation:
Fly ash is one of the coal combustion products and is composed of fine particles that are driven out of the boiler with flue gases. Ash that falls at the bottom of the boiler is called bottom ash. Recently an expert panel of MoEF has expressed concerns over use of fly ash for filling mines as this can have environmental consequences in the form of:

• Contamination of ground water due to leaching of heavy metals in fly ash
• Reduction in recharging of ground water due to fly ash filled mine voids
• Ash-filled voids cannot support tree species because of poor root system development which in turn results in uprooting of trees even by low velocity winds.
  Since its findings are not conclusive, it has called for a 10-year exhaustive study over this issue.