IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Feb 07 & 08, 2016

ANSWER: Cyber-Physical systems

Explanation:

• The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production.
• The Second used electric power to create mass production.
• The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production.
• Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century.
• It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. It includes cyber-physical systems.
• There is integration of technologies and devices.

ANSWER: INS Sumitra

Explanation:

• INS Sumitra is the fourth and last Saryu class patrol vessel of the Indian Navy, designed and constructed by Goa Shipyard Limited.
• It is the presidential yacht of India. It is designed to undertake fleet support operations, coastal and offshore patrolling, ocean surveillance and monitoring of sea lines of communications and offshore assets and escort duties.
• It is an indigenously built Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel (NOPV).

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• The National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) is a research institution in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• The institute is established along the lines of the IISc in Bangalore, and its five sister institutions, the IISERs that are being established at Pune, Mohali, Kolkata, Bhopal and Thiruvananthapuram in India.
• Unlike the IISERs, which will be governed by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India, NISER operates under the umbrella of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

ANSWER: Cartoonist

Explanation:

• He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004 for his contribution to the art of cartooning.
• Born in Bikaner, Tailang came out with his first cartoon in 1970. He started his career with the Illustrated Weekly of India in Mumbai in 1982.
• He recently launched a book of cartoons titled "No, Prime Minister", a set of cartoons on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
• A year later, he joined the Navbharat Times in New Delhi. He had worked with all major English newspapers including the Hindustan Times, the Times of India and the Indian Express. His last assignment was with the Asian Age.

ANSWER: Puducherry

Explanation:

• Sri Aurobindo International Centre for Education, Puducherry has become India's first fully solar-powered educational institute.
• The institute generates thrice the electricity it consumes through solar power plants installed on the roofs of the dining room, primary school, library and high school in the campus.
• The institute has been self-reliant in energy since September 2014.

ANSWER: 1 and 2

Explanation:

• Government is targeting to reduce country's oil import dependence by 10 per cent by 2022.
• It will be by creating policy environment that supports raising domestic output and mixing bio-fuels like ethanol in auto fuels.
• Government is also appealing for th manufacturers of automobiles and equipment which use fuel to increase efficiency.
• Government is also appealing to citizens to reduce the use of fuels.

ANSWER: Traditional wrestling

Explanation:

• Mysuru’s heritage — Nada Kushti (wrestling) — has made it to the cover page of an international publication titled Beyond the Body , with 183 black-and-white pictures by renowned Polish photographer Tomasz Gudzowaty.
• Beyond the Body has been edited by Nan Goldin, a well-known American photo journalist.
• Garadi is the traditional gym.
• Nada Kusti is traditional wrestling played in mud.
• The other projects featured in the book include Kalaripayattu and women’s boxing shot in Kerala, Yoga (with Mysore Yoga practitioners shot in Varanasi), and Urban Golf in India (shot with caddies in Mumbai and in other countries.)

ANSWER: Ecuador

Explanation:

• Julian Assange has been given refuge in London by the Ecuadorean Embassy.
• Recently, a United Nations panel ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s three-and-a-half year forced-stay in the Ecuadorean embassy in London is a case of “arbitrary detention” and a “deprivation of liberty” and that he should be allowed to walk free.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• Haemophilia (also spelled hemophilia) is a group of disorders that impairs the body's ability to control blood clotting, which is used to stop bleeding when a blood vessel is broken.
• Haemophilia is a genetic disorder in which the patient tends to bleed excessively. Anti-haemophilic factor concentrates (VIII & IX) that are given to patients to control the bleeding.
• These concentrates are proteins that help the blood clot. Indian patients depend on American pharmaceutical company Baxter International for the proteins.
• Haemophilia A (clotting factor VIII deficiency) is the most common form of the disorder, present in about 1 in 5,000–10,000 male births. Haemophilia B (factor IX deficiency) occurs in around 1 in about 20,000–34,000 male births.
• Like other recessive sex-linked, X chromosome disorders, haemophilia is more likely to occur in males than females. This is because females have two X chromosomes while males have only one, so the defective gene is guaranteed to manifest in any male who carries it.

ANSWER: 1, 2 and 3

Explanation:

• Basmati rice cultivated in the Indo-Gangetic Plains on the foothills of the Himalayas, covering areas of the rice grown in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Western U.P. and two districts of Jammu and Kathua, will now be issued the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) on Friday cleared the decks for issuing the tag.
• India is the world’s leading producer and exporter of the Basmati rice, according to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the statutory body responsible for export promotion and development of certain scheduled products. India exports a major quantity of basmati rice to Saudi Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait.
• Petition of Lahore-based Basmati Growers Association challenging India’s claim was dismissed.
• A Geographical Indication (GI) is a place name used to identify the origin and quality, reputation or other characteristics of products.
• Other examples of GI in India – Mysore Pak (sweet), Mysore Silk, Kolhapur jaggery, Solapuri Chaddar, Kancheepuram Silk, Nagpur Orange, Kashmir Pashmina, Bikaneri Bhujia, Mysore Traditional Paintings, etc.