IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Oct 12 & 13, 2016

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:

• The Right to the City (RTC) recognises equal access to urban life as a basic human right for all including migrants, slum dwellers and the homeless.
• RTC was the most contentious issue during the series of negotiations in the run-up to the once-in-twenty-year United Nations housing and sustainable urban development conference.
• India has opposed the inclusion of ‘Right to the City’ on the ground that its admission would mean that the country would have to adhere to the principle of social justice for all urban inhabitants and not merely the legally-recognised citizens.
• There is opposition from developed bloc of the USA, Japan and EU countries.
• Latin American countries and civil society groups are for the concept and want it within the draft of the New Urban Agenda.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• The term Right to the City has its origin in the writings of French philosopher Henri Lefebvre in his 1968 book Le Droit à la ville.
• It prioritises collective right over the individual right to urban space. It gives every inhabitant, and not just the legal citizens, the right to not only occupy a pre-existing urban space but also to produce such a space according to their needs.
• RTC would make it incumbent on city and state government to provide equal access to shelter and basic services to everyone irrespective of their legal status or duration of domicile in the city.
• Civil society groups point out that the resistance from EU countries is a result of the migrant crisis in Europe.
• EU’s official stated position is that RTC is not an agreed human right recognised by international human rights instruments.
• India’s position too was that managing migrants and refugees should be left to the individual nations and should not be dictated by the New Urban Agenda.
• This shows that even refugees can ask for RTC under the mandate of the New Urban Agenda.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• Besides RTC, the other major sticking point in the run-up to Habitat III is the role of UN Habitat in monitoring the commitments made by each country.
• A recent review of the commitments made by all countries during Habitat II (Habitat Agenda and Istanbul Declaration) in Istanbul in 1996 shows that in the absence of any monitoring mechanism and due to the non-binding nature of the commitments, the overall global Habitat Commitment Index score has increased only 1.49 points.
• India, on its part, has shown no improvement on its various urban development indices in the last 20 years and lags behind other South Asian countries such as Pakistan and Nepal.

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:
The agenda has 4 points. 2 of them are –
1) Economic Growth and Productivity.

• Fully planned and sustainable human settlements
• High travel speed, above 30 kmph peak time
• Well-distributed business district centres
• Intensive use of technology/innovations
• E-governance
• Smart grid
• Normative norms/self-declaration/ approvals of buildings/ town layouts.
  
  2) Improving Quality of Life
  
  
• 100 per cent sanitation
• Well-developed public facilities
• Easy access to public utilities and services
• High-security streets and buildings by CCTV
• Crime-free society and access to social justice and gender equity
• Full of greenery/ plantation, bamboo and other suitable trees
• Green and barrier-free buildings

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
The agenda has 4 points. 2 of them are –
1. Inclusive Development

• Composite living representing socio-economic population dynamics - inclusive development
• Adequate and affordable housing for urban poor and senior citizens
  
  2. Sustainability and Issues of Climate Change
  
  
• 60–90 per cent population to travel by public transport
• Dominant mode of travel does not emit pollution in immediate environment
• Local travel, E-rickshaw, walking, etc. for last mile connectivity
• Street light LED with dimmer, low consumption, almanac micro-processor controlled
• Rainwater harvesting in all roads, streets and buildings
• Barrier-free pedestrian pathways and bicycle-ways
• Natural drainage pattern, climate change, cloud burst
• Waste-water treatment, on-site and re-use in immediate surroundings for gardening, sprinklers for dust control, etc.
• Reclaiming water bodies
• Bringing water use to half from standard use
• Cut down electricity consumption to 50 per cent level than normal use and 50 per cent generation from non-conventional sources
• Waste (collection 100 per cent) to electricity
• RCC roads, supported by pipes, integrated with future expansion plans, no digging
• Disaster preparedness.

ANSWER: 2, 3

Explanation:
Various events and their locations are -

• BRICS Convention of Tourism – Khajuraho
• Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Science, Technology & Innovation - Jaipur
• Meeting of BRICS Environment Ministers - Goa
• BRICS Youth Summit, Guwahati
• BRICS Film Festival, New Delhi
• Meeting of the BRICS Ministers for Disaster Management, Udaipur
• BRICS Women Parliamentarians' Forum, Jaipur
• BRICS Wellness Forum, Bengaluru
• 3rd Meeting of the BRICS Urbanization Forum, Visakhapatnam
• Meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers, New Delhi
• Meeting of BRICS Education Ministers, New Delhi
• BRICS Trade Fair, New Delhi

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• The IMFC advises and reports to the IMF Board of Governors on the supervision and management of the international monetary and financial system, including on responses to unfolding events that may disrupt the system.
• The size and the composition of the IMFC mirrors that of the Executive Board.
• The IMFC has 24 members who are central bank governors, ministers, or others of comparable rank and who are usually drawn from the governors of the Fund’s 189 member countries.
• Each member country that appoints an Executive Director and each group of member countries that elects an Executive Director appoints a member of the IMFC.
• The group is currently chaired by Agustín Carstens, Governor of Banco de México, who was selected to head the Committee in March 2015.
• A number of international institutions, including the World Bank, participate as observers in the IMFC’s meeting.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• The IMFC usually meets twice a year.
• There is an Indian currently amongst the current members of IMFC.
• Although the IMFC has no formal decision-making powers, in practice, it has become a key instrument for providing strategic direction to the work and policies of the Fund.
• It also considers proposals by the Executive Board to amend the Articles of Agreement and advises on any other matters that may be referred to it by the Board of Governors.

ANSWER: 5th November 2016

Explanation:

• The First World Tsunami Awareness Day will be celebrated on November 5, 2016.
• The significance of this day, the 5th November, to tsunami awareness can be traced back to the year 1854.
• A villager in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, was concerned about an impending tsunami after a high-intensity earthquake on November 5, 1854.
• He set up a fire to rice sheaves on the top of a hill. Fellow villagers, who went atop to put off the fire, were saved even as a tsunami destroyed their village down below. This was the first documented instance of a tsunami early warning.
• To commemorate that day of “Inamura no Hi” (the burning of rice sheaves), a resolution was jointly proposed by 142 countries including Japan as a follow up of the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The United Nations designated the 5th November as World Tsunami Awareness Day.

ANSWER: Musical instrument

Explanation:

• Ka Bom is a musical instrument.
• It is a traditional drum of Meghalaya.
• It belongs to the Khasi tribe.
• PM Modi even tried playing the drum and complemented its rhythm.