IAS Prelims GS Questions and Answers - Oct 29, 2015

ANSWER: 1,4,5

Explanation:
- The coal of India is classified under two categories: Gondwana coal and tertiary coal.
- Gondwana coal is found in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Orisaa, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Telanagana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim.
- Tertiary coal is found in Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya,Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh.

ANSWER: 3 and 5

Explanation:
- Jim Kim is President of the World Bank Group
- Margaret Chan is the Director-General of the World Health Organization.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
- A panel on innovation under Chairmanship of Prof. Tarun Khanna was appointed to work out the detailed contours of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
- AIM would have 4 working groups: Idea and Networks, Angel Funds, Governance and Innovation and Missions.

Recommendations of a panel on innovation lead by Prof. Tarun Khanna:

- Improved tax benefits for investments equivalent to a percentage of corporate profits in research labs in universities and startups.
- All contracts with foreign defence companies above $5 billion should include a clause for five per cent of contract value to be directed to establish research-centric universities with strong emphasis on its core product areas in particular and broadly focused on the related areas in general.
- “Grand Prizes” approach to finding ultra-low-cost solutions to India’ s most intractable problems.
- Increase in investment in business incubators with up to Rs.200 crore public spending per year and roping in the private sector for the purpose.
- Establishing a ‘fund-of-funds (FOF)’ by the government to seed other early stage venture funds with a corpus of Rs.5,000 crore.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
- It will provide financial assistance for medical treatment at any of the super specialty hospitals/institutes or other Government hospitals.
- Government has decided to enhance the financial powers delegated to designated Central Government hospitals/institutes from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh for providing financial assistance in cases where emergency surgery is to be conducted.
- Accordingly only cases for financial assistance beyond Rs. 5 lakh would now be required to be referred to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
- This is the first time in the history of the Inter- Governmental Negotiation (IGN) process that a decision on UNSC reform has been adopted through an official formal Document of the UNGA.
- Also letters were circulated containing the positions of groups and member states that indicated they did not wish their proposals to be included in the body of the negotiating text.
- These countries include the US, Russia and China.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:
- The ease of doing business index is an index created by the World Bank Group.
- India now ranks 130 out of 189 countries in the ease of doing business, moving up 12 places from last year, according to a World Bank report.
- China is ranked 84 and Pakistan is at 138th place. Pakistan in fact has slipped 10 spots from 128 last year while China has moved six spots in a year from 90 since the last report.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:
- Equator passes through Galapagos islands.
- The Galapagos Islands belong to Ecuador, in South America.
- The Galapagos Islands are influenced by three ocean currents.

1. The cold South Equatorial Current
2.The warm Panama Current runs
3. The deep sea Cromwell Current

ANSWER: Maritime

Explanation:
- SLINEX series of bilateral maritime exercises were initiated in 2005 and since then three successful engagements have been conducted.
-Indian and Sri Lankan Navies would undertake the 4th edition of Sri Lanka-India Exercise (SLINEX) off Trincomalee, Sri Lanka from October 27 to November 15.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
Some key features of the scheme are:
- Available to citizens aged 60 years and above.

- Pension would be on immediate annuity basis in monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual mode, varying, respectively, between Rs. 500 to 5000 (monthly), Rs. 1500 to 15,000 (quarterly), Rs. 3000 to Rs. 30,000 (half-yearly) and from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 60,000 (annually), depending on the amount subscribed and the option exercised.

- The payout implies an assured return of 9% on monthly payment basis, which amounts to an annualized return of 9.38%.

- Loan (up to 75% of subscribed amount) can be availed after 3 years from the Date of Commencement.

- On death, the full purchase price will be refunded to nominee.

- Exit/surrender would be allowed after 15 years or earlier in special circumstances like critical / terminal illness of self or spouse.

ANSWER: Only 1

Explanation:
- The Ministry of Urban Development launched the National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) scheme
- Action Plans under Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) for eight missions cities have been approved at a total cost of Rs.431 cr. - Mathura, Ajmer, Dwaraka(Gujarat), Badami (karnataka), Warangal(Telangana), Amaravati(Andhra Pradesh) and Vellankini(Tamil Nadu)
- The action plans approved broadly seek to conserve and develop core heritage assets of respective cities besides improving sanitation through solid waste management, easy access through signages and better mobility, interpretation centers, landscaping, provision of green spaces etc.

ANSWER: Telanagana

Explanation:
- Mahachaitya Stupa is also known as the Amravati stupa.
- The stupa was discovered by a British archaeologist, Colonel Colin Mackenzie in 1797.
- The stupa was earlier a simple structure with limestone crossbars and simple carvings, but when renovated by the Satavahana rulers, became a highly marked architectural monument.

ANSWER: 1,2,3

Explanation:
- Coral reefs are estimated to cover 284,300 km² just under 0.1% of the oceans' surface area.
- The Indo-Pacific region (including the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific) account for 91.9% of this total.
- Southeast Asia accounts for 32.3% of that figure
- While the Pacific including Australia accounts for 40.8%.
- Atlantic and Caribbean coral reefs account for 7.6%

ANSWER: North Sea

Explanation:
- Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea off the east coast of England.
- It is shallower than the surrounding sea.
- It has long been known by fishermen to be a productive fishing bank; it was named after the doggers, Old Dutch fishing boats especially used for catching cod.

ANSWER: Both

Explanation:
- Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth.
- Kelp forests occur worldwide throughout temperate and polar coastal oceans.
- Of the more dominant species, Laminaria is mainly associated with both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the coasts of China and Japan
- Ecklonia is found in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa and Macrocystis occurs throughout the northeastern and southeastern Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean archipelagos, and in patches around Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
- The region with the greatest diversity of kelps (>20 species) is the northeastern Pacific, from north of San Francisco, California, to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.

ANSWER: South Pacific Ocean

Explanation:
- The Pitcairn Islands are some of the most remote on Earth. The surrounding waters contain intact deep-sea ecosystems, and their coral reefs harbor abundant sharks and large fishes.
- In March 2015 the U.K. government established the area as a no-take marine reserve—the largest single reserve in the world

ANSWER: Moon of Saturn

Explanation:
- Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn.
- Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, reflecting almost all the sunlight that strikes it and making its surface temperature at noon reach only -198 °C.
- Enceladus has a wide range of surface features, ranging from old, heavily cratered regions to young, tectonically deformed terrains that formed as recently as 100 million years ago, despite its small size.
- In 2014, NASA reported that Cassinifound evidence for a large south polar subsurface ocean of liquid water within Enceladus with a thickness of around 10 km.