IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Jan 21, 2017

ANSWER: SBI

Explanation:

• INS Vikramaditya, the largest warship and latest aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, has a strength of over 1500 personnel.
• A versatile national capability and a full-fledged township by herself, the ship has a new acquisition – an ATM machine installed on-board by the nation’s largest bank and banking network, the State Bank of India.
• The facilities offered by the State Bank of India to the ship include cash withdrawals, generation of mini-statements, access to bank balance details and change of PIN numbers.
• In the near future, the facility will be upgraded to a recycler machine with a cash deposit facility.
• Additionally, facilities like cash transfer, Card-to-Card transfer, Credit Card payment, mobile number registration and updating would also be available.
• The ATM machine is a unique floating banking system, and along with the Point of Sale machine that is also proposed to be installed on-board, would go a long way in supporting cashless transactions on the ship, in line with the government’s policy of digitising the India economy.
• It will enable personnel of the ship to manage their domestic financial requirements better and assist them in conducting their money transactions at their own convenience.

ANSWER: Child Labour

Explanation:

• The Government of India finally decided last week to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour and Convention 138 on Minimum Age of Employment.
• The main bottleneck in the way of India ratifying Conventions 182 and 138 was addressing forced or compulsory recruitment of children and appropriately raising the age of employment in hazardous occupations from 14 to 18 years.
• Consequent to the passing of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 by the Indian Parliament, prohibiting the employment of children up to 14 years of age, and children up to 18 years of age in hazardous occupations, we could ratify Conventions 182 and 138.
• Moreover, our failure to ratify the two conventions, which are two of the eight core labour conventions, despite being a founder-member of the ILO, reflected poorly on us as a nation.
• However, under the provisions of the ILO Conventions 182 and 138, India will not adhere to a fixed deadline by which the worst forms of child labour must be eliminated.

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:

• A team of Indian researchers has successfully decoded the molecular basis of extreme fiery hot (pungency) property of Bhut jolokia (Capsicum chinense) which is native of northeast India;
• Bhut jolokia has the highest pungency level in the world.
• In the study, many varieties belonging to C. chinense, C. frutescens, C. annuum were studied and comparative analysis carried out for pungency, vitamins and other metabolites.
• The high level of pungency and vitamins was found to be positively correlated with high antioxidant activities - the higher the pungency of the capsicum variety the higher was its antioxidant property.
• Pungency and vitamin C show high correlation, and these two along with other metabolites have high antioxidant activity.
• When we tested the extract on in vitro cell-free assays the highly pungent capsicum varieties showed very high potential for free radical scavenging activity compared with low pungent varieties.
• To compare the free radical scavenging capacity of the capsicum varieties, the researchers generated free radical through chemical reactions and tested how effectively the extracts from different varieties scavenged the free radicals.
• The capsicum Bhut jolokia [popularly known as ghost chilli] has more anticancer property compared with other capsicum varieties.
• The scavenging property is useful in humans and animals as it neutralises the free radicals which are otherwise harmful.
• The team also identified crucial genes involved in pungency development.

ANSWER: Gujarat

Explanation:

• Tangaliya is a 700-year-old indigenous weave of Gujarat which employs an exquisite technique of weaving, using raw wool yarn.
• Tangaliya a dotted woven textile of Surendranagar district, Saurashtra is found only in Gujarat.
• It is usually worn as a wraparound skirt by the women of the Bharwad shephered community.
• Tangalia designs are used for preparing Shawl, Dupatta, Dress material and products of Home décor & accessories such as bedsheets, pillow covers etc.
• The patterns formed during weaving process to create design in dots for floral and geometrical motifs by using cotton or woolen yarn.
• The shawls are woven in pit looms at homes and knot a contrast color thread with the warp, which are woven into the textile to create the effect of raised dots, which have become the signature style of the textile. Besides dots, several, geometric patterns are also created.
• A Tangaliya Shawl is a handwoven, GI protected shawl and textile made by the Dangasia community from Schedule Caste in Gujarat, India.
• In 2007, with the help of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), in Gandhinagar, the Tangaliya Hastkala Association (Tangaliya Handicraft Association) was formed, which included 226 Tangaliya weavers from five villages as members.
• Over the subsequent years, NIFT conducted workshops for skill building, quality control and design development.
• Eventually, the Tangaliya Hastkala Association (THA) received GI registration status.
• These days, the textile is used for dupatta, dress material and home furnishing products like bedsheets and pillow covers.
• Instead of traditional cotton or sheep wool yarn, merino wool and eri silk are used.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• Non-Communicable diseases (NCDs) which are Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) such as heart attacks and stroke, Diabetes, Chronic Respiratory Diseases (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases and Asthma) and Cancer inter alia account for over 60% of all mortality in India.
• Of these, nearly 55% are premature mortality.
• This imposes a financial and social cost on families and the country.
• According to the World Economic Forum, India stands to lose $ 4.58 trillion (Rs 311.94 trillion between 2012 and 2030 due to non-communicable diseases.
• Since these conditions do not exhibit symptoms until complications set in, it is essential to detect them early.
• Early detection of NCDs not only enables onset of treatment but prevents high financial costs and suffering.
• For some cancers, survival rates are good when they are detected and treated in the early stages.
• Screening for these conditions, which can be undertaken at the level of the sub centre or Primary health Centres helps early detection and also serves to raise health awareness among people to lead healthy lifestyles.
• Given that primary health care, including prevention and health promotion can lead to improved health and developmental outcomes at much lower cost, the Ministry is now expanding access to prevention and primary care services,
• As part of the National Health Mission, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is launching population based prevention, screening and control programme for five common non-communicable diseases, namely Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cancers of oral cavity, breast and cervix.
• On February 4th coinciding with World Cancer Day, Union Health and Family Welfare Minster is expected to launch the programme.
• The training of frontline workers- the ASHA and ANM which will be initiated and in some sub-centres, population based screening will also start.
• Detailed protocols for treatment, referrals and follow-up on these disease conditions will be provided.
• In the first phase, the population based screening component will be rolled out in 100 districts in 32 states and UTs with about 1000 sub-centres undertaking screening before March 31st of this year.
• ASHAs will also be capturing information on major risk factors so that persons at risk could be counselled on leading healthy lifestyles to prevent onset of NCDs.
• In subsequent phases, Chronic Obstructive Respiratory diseases will be included and the programme will be scaled up to cover other districts.
• Support to states will also be provided for community health promotion and prevention efforts, and referral and treatment.