IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Oct 24 & 25, 2016

ANSWER: Both 1 and 2

Explanation:

• The wife of a service voter shall, if she is ordinarily residing with him, be also deemed to be a service voter in the constituency specified by that person.
• The service voter has to make a statement to the effect in the relevant Form 2/2A/3 that his wife ordinarily resides with him. The wife will be enrolled as a service voter on the basis of declaration made by her husband in the application form itself submitted by him and no separate declaration / application is required to be made by the wife.
• A son / daughter / relative / servant etc. residing ordinarily with a service voter cannot be enrolled as service voter.
• Under the existing law, this facility is available only to the wife of a male service voter and is not available to the husband of a female service voter.

ANSWER: A service voter who opts for voting through a proxy appointed by him/her

Explanation:

• Service voter belonging to Armed Forces or forces to which provisions of Army Act, 1950 are applicable, has option of either voting through postal ballot or through a proxy voter duly appointed by him/her.
• A service voter who opts for voting through a proxy is called Classified Service Voter (CSV).
• A service voter may appoint (by applying to Returning Officer in Form 13 F of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961) any person as his / her proxy to give vote on his / her behalf and in his / her name at the polling station.
• The proxy shall have to be ordinary resident of that constituency. He need not be a registered voter but he / she must not be disqualified to be registered as a voter.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
There are 10 indicators used-

• Enforcing Contracts
• Getting Electricity
• Paying Taxes
• Starting a Business
• Registering Property
• Resolving Insolvency
• Construction Permits
• Getting Credit
• Protecting Minority Investors
• Trading Across Borders

ANSWER: 2, 3

Explanation:

• The World Bank’s annual Doing Business 2017 report recognizes India’s achievements in implementing reforms in four of its ten indicators – Trading Across Borders, Getting Electricity, Enforcing Contracts and Paying Taxes.
• This is the first time in its history that India has been recognized for improvement in four indicators.
• The Doing Business report ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier, an absolute score that measures the gap between India and the global best practice.
• India’s absolute score improved from 53.93 to 55.27 in the previous year. This is the first time in history that India has improved its absolute score in two consecutive years.
• Additionally, India’s Distance to Frontier score improved on 6 out of the 10 indicators, showing that India is increasingly progressing towards best practice.
• The World Bank acknowledges only such reforms which have been implemented in Mumbai and Delhi by 1st of June each year; if they are reported as implemented by business intermediaries.

ANSWER: 130

Explanation:

• India has moved one rank up to the 130^th position in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking for 2017 amongst 190 economies.
• India’s absolute score improved from 53.93 to 55.27 in the previous year.
• On Getting Electricity, the report recognized the efforts of Tata Power in Delhi to make it faster and cheaper to obtain an electricity connection. These efforts, combined with efforts in Mumbai last year, have allowed India to improve its rank on this indicator from 137 in Doing Business 2015 to 26 in this year’s report, a 111 rank improvement.
• The report has also recognized the establishment of Commercial Divisions within the High Courts in Delhi and Mumbai to deal with commercial cases above Rs. 1 crore. This has allowed India to improve its rank by 14 places in 2 years.
• In the area of Trading Across Borders, the report recognized the implementation of the Single Window Interface for Trade (ICEGATE), which integrates approvals and risk-based frameworks of customs and nine departments to provide traders with a single online interface for import clearances.
• On Paying Taxes, the report recognized online filing and payment of returns at the Employee’s Social Insurance Corporation.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• The Micro data Management Toolkit developed by the World Bank Data, Asian Development Bank, ADP (Accelerated Data Program), OECD (Organisation of Economic Corporation and Development & PARIS21 for the International Household Survey Network (IHSN), is open source data, DDI (Data Documentation Initiative) compliant application for cataloguing and dissemination of Metadata & Microdata.
• The International Household Survey Network (IHSN) is designed to address the technical issues facing data producers.
• The Survey and Census micro data are valuable resources for government departments and academic researchers.
• It has been experienced that IHSN tool is quite useful for creation of documentation, dissemination and archive as well as survey data can be transformed into an international format.
• It would attract more users, researchers, increase the revenue towards data dissemination and reduce the data duplication, increasing return on investment etc.

ANSWER: Dhanwantari Jayanti

Explanation:

• Ministry of AYUSH has decided to celebrate the National Ayurveda Day every year on Dhanwantari Jayanti.
• In 2016 it will be celebrated on 28^th October.
• On the occasion of National Ayurveda Day, the Ministry of AYUSH is organizing a one day National Seminar on "Prevention and Control of Diabetes through Ayurveda" on 28^th October 2016 at New Delhi.
• The Ministry of AYUSH is also going to launch "Mission Madhumeha through Ayurveda" on the occasion.
• The Mission Madhumeha will be implemented throughout the country through a specially designed National Treatment Protocol for effective management of Diabetes through Ayurveda. The national treatment Protocol will be also released on the occasion of National Seminar.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• The Government of India, Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana (VKY) for welfare of Tribals.
• VKY aims at creating enabling environment for need based and outcome oriented holistic development of the tribal people.
• It covers all tribal people and all areas with tribal population across the country.

Its objectives are
1. Improving the quality of life in tribal areas
2. Improving the quality of education
3. Qualitative and sustainable employment for tribal families
4. Bridging infrastructure gaps with focus on quality
5. Protection of tribal culture and heritage

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:

• Gram Sabhas or Panchayats at appropriate level shall also have powers to manage minor water bodies; power of mandatory consultation in matters of land acquisition; resettlement and rehabilitation and prospecting licenses/mining leases for minor minerals; power to prevent alienation of land and restore alienated land; regulate and restrict sale/consumption of liquor; manage village markets, control money lending to STs; and ownership of minor forest produce.
• PESA, 1996 has been enacted for 5^th Schedule areas. It includes 10 states.

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:

• The provisions of Panchayats with certain modification and exceptions have been extended to the Schedule V areas viz. the ten States where the Panchayats exists in the country including Andhra Pradesh.
• Gram Sabhas have been constituted in every State as per the Panchayat Raj Act/PESA Rules of the concerned State.
• Only four States have framed their Rules for implementation of PESA. These are, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.