IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Dec 15, 2015

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:
- Zonal Council are statutory bodies established under the States Reorganisation Act 1956.
- Zonal councils have been established by the Parliament to promote interstate cooperation and coordination.
- There are 6 zonal councils.
- Only North Eastern Council was created by North Eastern Council Act, 1972.
- The 26th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council, inaugurated by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
- It decided to issue more biometric cards to fishermen for safety, urged railways to reconsider policy on sharing of costs, and discussed reimbursing the expenditure in certain areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE).
- Southern Zonal Council is composed of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

ANSWER: Union Home minister

Explanation:
Composition of Zonal Council
- The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
- The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
- Other Members: Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
- Advisers: One person nominated by the Planning Commission for each of the Zonal Councils, Chief Secretaries and another officer/Development Commissioner nominated by each of the States included in the Zone.
- Besides these, Union Ministers are invited to participate in the meetings of Zonal Councils depending upon necessity.

ANSWER: Supply of 24x7 power

Explanation:
- “Power for All” is a joint initiative of the Center with State governments for supply of quality and reliable 24 x 7 power to agricultural, industrial and domestic consumers.
- It aims at addressing all the key aspects and activities to be undertaken across generation, transmission and distribution, including achieving 100% household electrification.
- Telangana has become the sixth State in the country to sign up for ‘Power for All’ scheme.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
- The ISS program is a joint project among five participating space agencies: NASA(USA), Roscosmos(Russia), JAXA(Japan), ESA(Europe), and CSA(Canada).
- The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations.
- NASA is planning to move out of the International Space Station (ISS) by 2024.

ANSWER: Ministry of New & Renewable Energy

Explanation:
- Under this scheme, improved biomass cookstoves will be disseminated for domestic and community cooking applications on cost sharing basis.
- It will address the problems of health, climate change and energy security.
- Biomass cookstove is basically a combustion device which burns biomass fuel more efficiently with reduced emissions and offers cleaner cooking energy solutions.
- Unnat Chulhas yojana is launched to develop and deploy improved biomass cook-stoves for providing cleaner cooking Energy solutions in rural, semi-urban and urban areas using biomass as fuel for cooking.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
TAPI : Turkmenistan – Afghanistan – Pakistan – India pipeline

- It is funded by the Asian Development Bank.
- The ceremony for inaugurating TAPI project was held at ancient city of Mary.
- Turkmenistan's state company Turkmengas will lead the consortium for building the 1800-kilometre-long pipeline carrying gas from the former the Soviet state to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- GAIL India has signed a Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) with Turkmengas for import of 38 mmscmd of natural gas for 30 years.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
- Ken River passes through Panna National Park.
- Bandhavgarh National Park is located in the Vindhya Hills in Madhya Pradesh.
- Bandhavgarh has one of the highest density of Bengal tigers known in the world.