IAS Prelims GS Questions & Answers - Feb 14 & 15, 2016

ANSWER: 1 and 2

Explanation:

• The LIGO is the most precise instrument that has ever been built. It consists of two identical L-shaped laser interferometer systems, one at Hanford in Washington and one at Livingston in Louisiana.
• There are two systems to ensure that detection at both the instruments that are about 3000 km apart with the calculated time delay ensures that the detected signal is not due to any spurious seismic signal or any other local vibration.
• Each of the arms of the L is a 4 km tunnel in which laser beams bounce back and forth between two highly sensitive suspended mirrors. The laser beams are tuned to be perfectly in opposite phase so that there is total interference when the beams arrive at the intersection of the arms and no light passes through the beam splitter at the intersection into the photo-detector behind.
• But when a gravitational wave passes through the detector, the space-time gets distorted much like a squeezed ball, oscillating between the two states compressed in one direction and elongated in the other. So the effect of this oscillatory compression of one arm and elongation of the other is that there is no total cancellation of the interfering laser beams and a net signal gets through to the photo detector.

ANSWER: 2 and 3

Explanation:

• National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) 2016-2030, outlines India’s strategy for elimination of the disease by 2030.
• The objectives of the NFME are to:

1. Eliminate malaria from all low (Category 1) and moderate (Category endemic states/UTs (26) by 2022;
2. Reduce incidence of malaria to less than 1 case per 1000 population in all States/UTs and the districts and malaria elimination in 31 states/UTs by 2024;
3. Interrupt indigenous transmission of malaria in all States/ UTs (Category 3) by 2027;
4. Prevent re-establishment of local transmission of malaria in areas where it has been eliminated and to maintain malaria-free status of the country by 2030.

• The milestones and targets are set for 2016, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2027 and 2030 by when the entire country has sustained zero indigenous cases and deaths due to malaria for 3 years and initiated the processes for certification of malaria elimination status to the country.

ANSWER: GRIHA

Explanation:

• Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) was conceived by TERI and developed with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, is a national rating system for green buildings in India.
• Commonwealth Games Village, New Delhi, Fortis Hospital, New Delhi, CESE (Centre for Environmental Sciences & Engineering) Bldg, IIT Kanpur, Suzlon One Earth, Pune and many other buildings has received GRIHA rating.
• The Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is the rating system developed for certifying Green Buildings. LEED is developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the organization promoting sustainability through Green Buildings. Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has licensed the LEED Green Building Standard from the USGBC.
• BEE developed its own rating system for the buildings based on a 1 to 5 star scale. More stars mean more energy efficiency. BEE has developed the Energy Performance Index (EPI). The unit of Kilo watt hours per square meter per year is considered for rating the building and especially targets air conditioned and non-air conditioned office buildings. The Reserve Bank of India’s buildings in Delhi and Bhubaneshwar, the CII Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre and many other buildings have received BEE 5 star ratings.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• The Energy and Resources Institute, also known as TERI (formerly Tata Energy Research Institute), established in 1974, is a research institute based in New Delhi that conducts research work in the fields of energy, environment and sustainable development.
• In 2013, the institute was ranked as the topmost global think-tank by the International Centre for Climate Governance (ICCG).
• TERI has a global presence with many centers in India and abroad like – Tokyo, Washington DC, Kuala Lumpur, London, Utrecht (Netherlands).
• TERI has also established a research base in Africa to provide technical assistance as well as to facilitate exchange of knowledge amongst the communities in various African states.

ANSWER: Vulture

Explanation:

• Rare Himalayan griffon is also known as Himalayan vulture.
• According to the GBCN, the Himalayan griffon was previously believed to belong to the upper Himalayas and was presumed to stray till the Gangetic plains at the most.
• In recent years there were sightings in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, etc.
• Such long-distance straying from home territory also points towards a lack of navigational experience in immature birds. All individuals of the species previously reported as sighted from south India, including the one spotted in Goa, are the immature ones.
• Himalayan griffons do not breed in the first three years, and hence juvenile birds of the species do not remain in breeding grounds to avoid competition.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• Khadi or Khaddar is a term for handspun and hand-woven cloth from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily made out of cotton.
  
• It’s mandatory to obtain Khadi mark registration under the law, without which no one can use the word Khadi for selling products.
  
• Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) Act, 1956 regulates the production, trading and sale of khadi and its products. No textile shall be sold or otherwise traded by any person or institution as Khadi without it bearing a Khadi mark tag or label issued by KVIC, according to the rule.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• The Ministry of Urban Development is finding creative ways to turn mounting waste into a national asset.
• The Ministry has made it “mandatory” for private fertilizer companies to buy compost that is extracted from municipal solid waste.
• About 45 compost producing plants across the country were almost “defunct” because the private firms were not interested in marketing their products.
• In early January, the Ministry arrived at an agreement with the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers that private companies must promote the municipal compost and slowly reduce the market size of urea. Otherwise, serious fines would be imposed on them.
• The government is also weighing whether to offer a deal where subsidy would be granted if one bag of municipal compost is bought with every two bags of chemically rich urea.
• The Central government has issued a circular to all power distribution companies stating it was mandatory for them to buy electricity from power plants fuelled by solid waste.
• The Centre now aims at generating 700 megawatts of electricity from solid waste-run plants in the next five years.

ANSWER: Girls/women dedicated to worship and service of a deity

Explanation:

• In South India, a devadasi is a girl "dedicated" to worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. Recently the devadasi system has started to disappear, having been outlawed in all of India in 1988.
• Condemning the prevalence of the illegal practice of “dedicating” young girls as Devadasis, the Supreme Court described the practice as an “evil” done to women, who were later even subjected to sexual exploitation and pushed into prostitution.
• Taking a stern view, a Bench of Justices F.M.I. Kalifulla and S.A. Bobde directed all States and Union Territories, especially Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh; to strictly enforce the Centre’s law to check “undesired and unhealthy” practice of forcing young girls to serve as Devadasis.
• The practice of Devadasis system violates Sections 370 and 370 A of the IPC as amended through the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013.

ANSWER: 1, 2 and 3

Explanation:

• Showcasing India as a land of immense opportunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told representatives from 68 countries participating in the Make in India Week that India was blessed with Democracy, Demography, and Demand and his government had added Deregulation making it a four-dimensional India waiting for foreign investment and manufacturing companies.
• India was committed to harnessing its growth potential in a cleaner and greener way.

ANSWER: Group of scientists

Explanation:

• Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations (IndIGO) comprises scientists from nine institutions working under the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC).
• The group, which focusses on novel gravitational wave detection algorithms, directly contributed in testing general relativity with the black hole binary termed GW150914. With extensive computational analysis, the study found that the emitted signal is consistent with the predictions of general relativity.