Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) defined the EEZ as a zone in the sea over which a sovereign nation has certain special rights with respect to the exploration and usage of marine resources, which includes the generation of energy from wind and water, and also oil and natural gas extraction.
• The EEZ is an area that is adjacent to and beyond the territorial sea.It can extend to a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the baseline. The baseline is normally measured as the low-water line along the coast as indicated on large-scale charts officially approved by the coastal state.
• The EEZ does not include the territorial sea and the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.
• The EEZ includes the contiguous zone.

Rights of a country in the EEZ

• Explore and exploit, conserve and manage the natural resources (living or non-living).
• Produce energy from wind, currents and water.
• Establish and use artificial islands, structures and installations.
• Conduct marine scientific research.
• Protect and preserve the marine environment.

Explanation :

• The Hoolock Gibbons are three primate species of genus Hoolock in the Gibbon family and are native to Eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, Myanmar and Southwest China.
• North-eastern India is home to two ape species: eastern and western Hoolock Gibbons.
• Gibbons are diurnal (active during the day) and arboreal (live on trees).
• They live together in monogamous pairs.

Eastern Hoolock Gibbons

• Inhabits specific pockets of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India, and southern China and north-east Myanmar.
• Eastern Uoolock is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List.

Western Hoolock Gibbons

• Found in all the states of north-east India, restricted between the south of the Brahmaputra River and east of the Dibang River.
• Also found in Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar.
• Western Hoolock is listed as ‘Endangered’ in the IUCN Red List.

Explanation :

• China has completed its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System constellation, coming up with a product that can potentially rival the US Global Positioning System (GPS).
• China initiated BeiDou in 1994 with aims to integrate its application in different sectors, including fishery, agriculture, special care, mass-market applications, forestry and public security.
• The name BeiDou comes from Chinese word for the Big Dipper or Plough constellation.
• It consists of 27 satellites in medium Earth orbit, five in geostationary orbit and three more in inclined geosynchronous orbits.
• The navigation satellite system was completed in three steps: BDS-1 which provided services to China, BDS- 2 to provide services to the Asia-Pacific region and BDS-3 which provides services worldwide.
• China’s navigation system uses a network of satellites and can provide positional accuracies of under ten meters (GPS provides positioning accuracies of under 2.2 meters).
• BeiDou offers services including accurate positioning, navigation and timing as well as short message communication.

Other Countries’ Navigation Systems

• The GPS is owned by the US government and operated by the US Air Force.
• Apart from this, Russia has its navigation system called GLONASS, the European Union (EU) has Galileo, while India’s is called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).

Explanation :

• A whip is an official of a political party who acts as the party's 'enforcer' inside the Legislative Assembly or House of Parliament.
• Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips — this member is called a Chief Whip, and he/she is assisted by additional Whips.
• India inherited the concept of the whip from the British parliamentary system.

Role

• They try to ensure that their fellow political party legislators attend voting sessions and vote according to their party’s official policy.

What happens if a ‘whip’ is disobeyed?

• A legislator may face disqualification proceedings if she/he disobeys the whip of the party unless the number of lawmakers defying the whip is 2/3rds of the party’s strength in the house.
• Disqualification is decided by the Speaker of the house.

Limitations

• There are some cases such as Presidential elections where whips cannot direct a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) to vote in a particular fashion.

Types

• One-line whip: Issued to inform members of a party about a vote. It allows a member to abstain in case they decide not to follow the party line.
• Two-line whip: Issued to direct the members to be present in the House at the time of voting.
• Three-line whip: Issued to members directing them to vote as per the party line.