IAS Prelims GS Questions & Answers - Feb 11, 2016

ANSWER: Spider

Explanation:

• Tarantulas are a type of Spiders. Spider and Tarantula share many things, while certain characters are strangely different in tarantulas from the spiders.
• Tarantulas are usually larger than many of the spiders.
• Not all the spiders are necessarily hairy-bodied, whereas tarantulas are always.
• The herbivores are present among spiders albeit, not among tarantulas.
• The lifespan is very long and economic value as a pet is very high for tarantulas compared to spiders. Most species of tarantulas are not dangerous to humans, and some species have become popular in the exotic pet trade.

ANSWER: 1, 4

Explanation:

• New horizons mission has captured images of frozen nitrogen glaciers
• NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has captured images of frozen nitrogen glaciers on Pluto carrying numerous ‘floating’ hills that may be fragments of water ice, giving an insight into the dwarf planet’s fascinating geological activity.
• These hills individually measure one to several kilometres across. The hills, which are in the vast ice plain informally named Sputnik Planum within Pluto’s ‘heart,’ are likely miniature versions of the larger, jumbled mountains on Sputnik Planum’s western border. They are yet another example of Pluto’s abundant geological activity.
• ‘Chains’ of the drifting hills are formed along the flow paths of the glaciers. When the hills enter the cellular terrain of central Sputnik Planum, they become subject to the convective motions of the nitrogen ice, and are pushed to the edges of the cells, where the hills cluster in groups reaching up to 20 kilometres across.

ANSWER: Spotted Deer

Explanation:

• Spotted deer from Mysuru zoo will soon be part of the famed night safari at the Singapore zoo, which is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city.
• It has over 1,000 animal collections of more than 120 species from across the world. The Mysuru zoo has surplus deer and has offered to spare over two dozen of them for display at the night safari.
• The Mysuru zoo had asked for a female chimpanzee from Singapore’s collection since the zoo lacks female chimps following the recent death of chimp Mirella. There are plans for captive breeding if the female chimp is sent over to India.

ANSWER: Gangtok

Explanation:

• National Organic Farming Research Institute (NOFRI) is established at Gangtok, Sikkim.
• Sikkim has recently been declared as the first organic state in the country. In view of above, Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister has given approval to execute NOFRI.
• Institute will provide research and technological backstopping to Organic Production System in the country in general and North East Hills Region in particular.
• The institute will undertake basic, strategic and adaptive research on efficient, economically viable and environmentally sustainable organic farming systems for improving productivity, resource use efficiencies and quality of produce. Besides, it will impart vocational and advanced training to stakeholders for promotion of organic farming in the country. Required financial resources, manpower and infrastructure facilities will be made available accordingly.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• New horizons mission has captured images of frozen nitrogen glaciers on Pluto.
• Since water ice is less dense than nitrogen-dominated ice, scientists believe these water ice hills are floating in a sea of frozen nitrogen and move over time like icebergs in Earth’s Arctic Ocean.
• Atomic number of Nitrogen is 7. Melting Point of nitrogen is -210°C.
• Liquid nitrogen can easily be converted to a solid by placing it in a vacuum chamber.

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:

• First National Deworming day was observed on 10th February 2016.
• As a part of this programme Government aims to de-worm around 27 crore pre-school and school-age children this year.
• The initiative will be carried out at schools and anganwadi centres . And aims at improving the children's overall health and quality of life.
• Treatment of this infection is very simple, but most of the times, ignorance on the part of parents make situation worse. the poor strata of the society is the most affected.
• Considering the severity of the situation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing the National Deworming Day in schools and preschools or anganwadis across the country.
• worm infections are transmitted through the mouth by eating with dirty hands, eating contaminated food and drinking water that is not potable.
• Besides medicine, worm infections can be prevented by using clean toilets, not walking barefoot, cleaning hands with soap and water before eating or handling food.
• The tablet effective in combating worm infection is Albendazole tablets.

ANSWER: GSI

Explanation:

• Geological Survey of India (GSI) is the only nodal agency authorized to possess and carry out research on meteorites in India.
• Meteorites can possess important information regarding geology of planets as well as the earth and hence GSI is considered prominent agency to handle meteorite.
• The GSI is the custodian of all meteorite falls or finds in India and all such falls or finds have to be registered in the National Meteorite Repository of India (NMRI) in GSI, Kolkata. instantly after reportage.
• The circular also states that meteorites may be categorised as “contraband items”, entailing a restriction on their free movement both within the country and across the borders. NMRI has over 700 meteorites on display collected from across the country.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• With the help of Hand held Terminals for TTEs, after all allotments, remaining vacant berths will be sent back to HHT Application Servers and can be viewed on PRS terminal as well as web site (indianrail.gov.in) and information of all NT passengers will be sent to coaching refund system to get speedier refund and eliminate the preparation of manual Exception Data Reports (EDR).
• Occupancy chart can be viewed on HHT device to dispense with the manual preparation of food-chart/occupancy chart

The biggest spinoffs of the Project are:-

• Revenue Yield Maximization, by making onboard accommodation availability visible to downstream Stations so that they can do current bookings against these vacant seats, realizing additional revenue against the same as presently these seats usually go vacant up to the terminal stations due to non-availability of this information with the prospective Passengers.
• The Application ensures greater transparency in the allotment of Accommodation onboard.
• It will ensure better productivity norms amongst TTE’s as the process of ticket checking will get simplified considerably.