IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Mar 08, 2016

ANSWER: SBI

Explanation:

• The State Bank of India is among four new foreign banks given preliminary approval to open 100 per cent-owned branches in Myanmar.
• Earlier 9 banks were given approval. With these 4 the total now is 13.
• SBI is the only Indian bank among the 13.
• This assumes significance as Myanmar is a country with a lot of opportunity and was till now ruled by the military and hit by Western sanctions.
• With India’s North-East connected to Myanmar, It opens road to development of the North-East.

ANSWER: TB

Explanation:

• GeneXpert is a popular test for detecting TB that provides result in a couple of hours with minimal hands-on technical time.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that an indigenous and cost-effective diagnostic tool for tuberculosis (TB) would be available in a year.
• A Bengaluru-based company has made the new diagnostic tool which is going to be more point-of-care and will be as good as GeneXpert test.
• The idea is to reduce the cost and have an indigenous diagnostic tool.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• The application — TrustID — has been developed by Swabhimaanya, which is a registered authentication user agency with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
• The mobile application aims to provide instant verification using the Aadhaar number, name, gender and phone number of a person in less than a minute. It is a sort of assurance that the person is who he/she is says he/she is.
• The person who has been verified receives a phone call along with a message saying that their Aadhaar number was used to verify them.
• The company plans to integrate with the application available digitized court records. They soon plan to add criminal records within the application. These will be linked to Aadhaar. If Aadhaar is not available, then a search can be made on the basis of name, phone number, location or photograph.
• The application can be used to verify the identity of a person; it is broadly aimed at domestic helps and quick service segments like maids, carpenters, cleaners and plumbers.
• The main source of revenue for the company, however, will come from corporate users doing bulk verification. For individual users, the first 25 verifications will be free of cost. Following this, each verification will cost Rs 5.
• Swabhimaanya will target small and medium-sized enterprises, which need to verify users in a quick and cost-effective manner, besides insurance and telecom companies.
• Besides the domestic help segment [which includes maids, cooks, drivers and babysitters], people are using the application to verify tutors, guitar teachers and gym instructors.
• There is LinkedIn for professionals. But for people in this segment, there is nothing that can promote good work. This could also bring down instances of theft, as that can be mentioned in the review too.
• TrustID has also tied up with Gurgaon police, where in once a person is verified under category of domestic help, employee and tenants, they are automatically registered for a police verification.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• An electric current is the flow of electric charge. But electric charge is not an entity; it is a property that must be 'carried' by a charge carrier.
• An electron current, the flow of electrons, contributes to an electric current since the electron carries negative electric charge. However, an electric current is not necessarily an electron current.
• The flow of ions (either positively or negatively charged) also contributes to an electric current in, for example, the electrolyte of an electrochemical cell.
• In a metal conductor, it is the electrons that flow. In a semiconductor, it is electrons and electron ‘holes’. And in an electrolyte, it is ions (both charges possible).

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• In October 2015, the Supreme Court decided to register a PIL suo motu titled “Muslim women’s quest for equality” on gender discrimination women face under Muslim personal law.
• The initiative by the Supreme Court has received nationwide support.
• SC admitted a petition filed by Shayara Bano to declare the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala (bar against remarriage with divorced husband without an intervening marriage with another man) and polygamy under Muslim personal laws as illegal, unconstitutional, and violative of the rights to equality, dignity, life and freedom of religion under the Constitution.
• Progressive laws like the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, and the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, have not been able to wean the community away from discrimination shown to Muslim women.

ANSWER: Open Wallets

Explanation:
Different Types of Wallets

• OPEN WALLETS: The ones that allow you to buy goods and services, withdraw cash at ATMs or banks and transfer funds; these services can only be jointly launched with a bank. Apart from the usual merchant payments, it also allows you to send money to any mobile number bank account. M-Pesa by Vodafone is an example.
• SEMI-OPEN WALLETS: You can't withdraw cash or get it back. In this scenario, a customer has to spend what he loads. Airtel Money is a semi-open wallet, which allows you to transact with merchants having contract with Airtel.
• CLOSED WALLETS: Quite popular with e-commerce companies, where a certain amount of money is locked with the merchant in case of a cancellation or return of the order, or gift cards.
• SEMI-CLOSED WALLETS: These do not permit cash withdrawals or redemption, but allow you to buy goods and services from listed merchants and perform financial services at listed locations. Paytm is an example.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• India becomes the first country to propose a levy on digital economy.
• The government’s decision to levy an equalization tax of 6 per cent on online advertisement services offered in the country by non-resident entities will impact users, especially start-ups that rely almost entirely on the online world to popularize their services.
• Further, as the levy is not introduced as part of the Income Tax Act but as a separate legislation under the Finance Bill, global firms that offer such services in India cannot claim a tax credit in their home country under the double taxation avoidance agreements.
• In the absence of ability to claim credit, the non-resident service provider offering such online advertisement services may not absorb such deduction thus adding to the cost of the end-user here. Service providers may ask Indian firms to gross up the levy, adding to the cost of business, which would hurt many start-ups and medium-sized businesses using the service.
• The move may impact Indian businesses (that buy online advertisement space). Indian businesses use global advertising platforms extensively to reach out to their customers in India and overseas.
• In order to tap tax on income accruing to foreign e-commerce companies from India it is proposed that a person making a payment to a non-resident (global advertising platform), who does not have a permanent establishment, exceeding in aggregate Rs.1 lakh in a year, as consideration for online advertisement, will withhold tax at 6 per cent of gross amount paid, as equalization levy. The equalization levy looks at taxing online advertisements, provision of digital advertising space or any other facility or service for the purpose of online advertisements.