IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Mar 15, 2016

ANSWER: Kalpakkam

Explanation:

• The Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd. (BHAVINI) is a government-owned corporation of India established in 2004 in Chennai.
• One of the public sector undertakings, it is wholly owned by the Union Government and is responsible for the construction, commissioning and operation of all Stage II fast breeder reactors envisaged as part of the country’s three stage nuclear power programme.
• BHAVINI is administered by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
• Once the first fast breeder reactor, called Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) goes into commercial power production, BHAVINI will be the second power utility in India after Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), to use nuclear fuel sources to generate power.
• It will operate the reactor at Kalpakkam.

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:

• Common symptoms of infection with the virus include mild headaches, maculopapular rash, fever, malaise, conjunctivitis, and arthralgia (joint pain).
• The first well documented case of Zika virus was in 1964, beginning with a mild headache and progressing to a maculopapular rash, fever, and back pain.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• The bill is a money bill.
• The bill will provide a framework for time bound resolution of corporate bankruptcy, ensuring that stakeholder interest are protected and the assets are put to use quickly.
• The bill seeks to consolidate and amend the laws relating to reorganization and insolvency resolution and will also apply to partnership firms and individuals.
• The code allows a corporate debtor itself to initiate insolvency resolution process once it has defaulted on a debt.
• In the Insolvency Resolution Process, the creditors and the debtor will engage in negotiations to arrive at an agreeable repayment plan for composition of the debts and affairs of the debtor, supervised by a resolution professional.
• The bankruptcy of an individual can be initiated only after the failure of the resolution process. The bankruptcy trustee is responsible for administration of the estate of the bankrupt and for distribution of the proceeds on the basis of the priority.

ANSWER: Malnutrition

Explanation:

• The new tool to screen malnutrition is measuring the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) of a child with a flexible tape.
• According to World Health Organisation’s guidelines, states, including Maharashtra, measure stunting (low height for the age) and wasting (low weight for a height). Now, the government has included MUAC as a standard tool to measure malnourishment at anganwadis, prathamik arogya kendras, and district hospitals.
• The mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) method must now be stressed upon as a parameter and be given more emphasis. Accordingly, Severe Acute Malnourishment (SAM) and Moderately Acute Malnourishment (MAM) are to be identified along with the use of height-weight ratio.
• Already implemented in Odisha, officials said that MUAC numbers can be a strong indicator of chronic malnutrition.
• The reason for introducing MUAC is rooted in the ambiguity in prevailing methods. At the primary screening of children for severe and moderately acute malnourishment, in anganwadis, weight as per age is measured, but in gram bal vikas kendras, the height-weight ratio is preferred. With the amendment, the measurement processes for preliminary and secondary screenings will ‘give preference’ to MUAC.

ANSWER: Communication

Explanation:

• At least 97 per cent of smartphone users in India use communication apps every day.
• The next most popular category is shopping with 53%.
• Then is News and magazines (about 34%), then gaming (about 30%) and then music and audio (about 27%).
• Though communication apps are popular, the tools that help share documents have the most data usage at 2.3 times more than the communication app combined.
• It added that SHAREit, Xender and Zapya are the three top tools by data usage.
• Whatsapp is installed on almost 96% of devices in India.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• MIP, which would set the floor price, below which imports into the country would not be allowed is the floor price, below which imports into the country would not be allowed
• The MIP is defined as equivalent to the weighted average global price of a product and the non-injury price arrived at during the course of safeguard and anti-dumping proceedings, whichever is lower.
• This price helps the domestic industry.
• However some are also of the point of view that MIP will inflate prices of raw materials. Engineering exports, start-up projects as well as 'Make in India' will also suffer.

ANSWER: Computing

Explanation:

• Software-as-a-service is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet.
• The term "software as a service" (SaaS)[8] is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS), managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).

ANSWER: European and Russian Scientists

Explanation:

• The probe, ExoMars 2016 — the first of a two-phase exploration of the Red Planet by European and Russian scientists — is scheduled to be blasted into space on a Proton rocket from Baikonour cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
• The spacecraft consists of a module called Schiaparelli that will test heat shields and parachutes in preparation for future probe landings on Mars and a second main component, the Trace Gas Orbiter or TGO that will seek out methane — usually produced by living organisms — in planet’s atmosphere.

ANSWER: Methane

Explanation:

• The Trace Gas Orbiter or TGO will analyse the planet’s atmosphere. In particular it will seek out the presence of the gas methane which, on Earth, is produced by living organisms.
• The U.S. robot rover Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2012, initially found no sign of methane. Subsequent analyses in 2014 did report the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere in one area. However, some scientists have argued that it may have been created by non—biological means.

ANSWER: One who can pay the debt but is still defaulting on payment

Explanation:

• It is an entity that can is defaulting on its payment even if it an pay back the debt.
• In an attempt to tighten the regulatory framework, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred ‘wilful defaulters’ from accessing the capital market or acquiring another listed entity.
• The capital and commodity market regulator has decided that if a listed entity or its promoter has been declared a wilful defaulter, it will not be allowed to make a public issue of equity shares, debt or any other convertible securities.
• The guidelines for determining ‘fit and proper person’ will also be amended to keep such wilful defaulters out of its ambit.
• Any company or its promoter or director categorised as willful defaulter may not be allowed to take control of other listed entity. However, if a listed company or its promoter or its director is categorised as willful defaulter, and there is a take-over offer in respect of the listed company, they may be allowed to make a competing offer.