Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The ISA is an Indian initiative that was launched by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France on 30th November 2015 in Paris, France on the side-lines of the Conference of the Parties (COP-21), with 121 solar resource rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn as prospective members.
• The overarching objective of the ISA is to collectively address key common challenges to the scaling up of solar energy in ISA member countries.
• The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. Countries that do not fall within the Tropics can join the alliance and enjoy all benefits as other members, with the exception of voting rights.
• After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states world-wide.
• When the ISA Framework Agreement entered into force on December 6th, 2017, ISA formally became a de-jure treaty based International Intergovernmental Organization, headquartered at Gurugram (Haryana, India).

Explanation :

Gallantry Awards

• The gallantry awards are announced twice in a year – on Republic Day and Independence Day.
• Order of precedence: ParamVir Chakra, Ashoka Chakra, Mahavir Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Vir Chakra and Shaurya Chakra.

Wartime gallantry awards

• Established on 26th January, 1950 with effect from 15th August, 1947.
• ParamVir Chakra: Highest-military award in India. Awarded for National bravery in the presence of enemy.
• MahaVir Chakra: Second-highest military decoration in India. Awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in presence of enemy, whether on land, at sea or in air.
• Vir Chakra: Third in precedence in the awards for wartime gallantry.

Peacetime gallantry awards

• Established on 4th January, 1952 with effect from 15th August, 1947.
• Ashoka Chakra: An Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It is the peacetime equivalent of the ParamVir Chakra.
• Kirti Chakra: Second in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards.
• Shaurya Chakra: Third in order of precedence of peacetime gallantry awards.

Explanation :

• Mediterranean Sea, an intercontinental sea that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to Asia on the east and separates Europe from Africa.
• It has often been called the incubator of Western civilization.
• It connects to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar (known in Homer’s writings as the “Pillars of Hercules“) in the west.
• It connects to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, by the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus respectively, in the east.
• The 163 km (101 mi) long artificial Suez Canal in the southeast connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

Explanation :

• Article 129: The Supreme Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself.
• Article 215: Every High Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself.
• Article 32 of the Indian Constitution and Article 226 of the Indian Constitution lay down the provisions for filing Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Supreme Court and High Courts respectively.

Explanation :

• Arrow 2 is an advanced missile defence system developed jointly by Israel and US.
• It is part of the multi-layered system Israel has developed to defend against both short- and mid-range rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Iran's long-range missiles. It includes Iron Dome, David's Sling and the Arrow-3 system - capable of defending against threats from outside the atmosphere.
• It is a two-stage missile equipped with solid propellant booster and sustainer rocket motors.
• The United States and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to co-develop and co-fund the Arrow program on May 6, 1986.
• The Arrow missiles family was designed for a theater missile defense system that would be more effective against ballistic missiles than the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile.
• Arrow 2 is able to intercept its targets above the stratosphere, high enough so that any nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons do not scatter over Israel.

Explanation :

• The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus Elephas and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the north, Sumatra in the south, and to Borneo in the east.
• Three subspecies are recognized —E. m. maximus from Sri Lanka, E. m. indicus from mainland Asia and E. m. sumatranus from the island of Sumatra.
• Asian elephants inhabit grasslands, tropical evergreen forests, semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, dry deciduous forests and dry thorn forests, in addition to cultivated and secondary forests and scrublands.

Conservation Status

• Government of India has declared Indian elephant as National Heritage Animal in year 2010.
• Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List.
• It is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• The Asian elephant is listed on CITES Appendix I.

Explanation :

• The National Health Policy, 2017 (NHP, 2017) seeks to reach everyone in a comprehensive integrated way to move towards wellness.
• It aims at achieving universal health coverage and delivering quality health care services to all at affordable cost.
• It denotes an important change towards a comprehensive primary health care package which includes care for major NCDs (non-communicable diseases), mental health, geriatric health care, palliative care and rehabilitative care services.
• It envisages providing larger package of assured comprehensive primary health care through the ‘Health and Wellness Centres’.
• The policy proposes free drugs, free diagnostics and free emergency and essential health care services in all public hospitals in a bid to provide access and financial protection.
• It also envisages a three-dimensional integration of AYUSH systems encompassing cross referrals, co-location and integrative practices across systems of medicines.
• The policy proposes raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP by 2025.

Explanation :

• Odisha continued to be the top performer in implementation of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation Scheme (AMRUT) by making significant strides in providing piped water supply to households in urban areas of the State.
• According to the ranking of the states released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Odisha has secured first position by scoring 85.67 percent.
• Nine cities of the State - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Baripada, Balasore, Bhadrak, Berhampur and Puri - are covered under the scheme.
• Odisha is followed by Chandigarh, Telangana, Gujarat and Karnataka in the implementation of AMRUT.

AMRUT Scheme

• It was launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• It aims to ensure universal coverage of drinking water supply and substantial improvement in coverage and treatment capacities of sewerage and septage along with storm water drainage, non-motorized urban transport and green spaces and parks.

Explanation :

• Mount Sinabungis a Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano of andesite and dacite in the Karo plateau of Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia.
• It is among more than 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific’s Ring of Fire.

Explanation :

• The term Mitakshara is derived from the name of a commentary written by Vijnaneswara, on the Yajnavalkya Smriti.
• It is observed in all parts of India and subdivided into the Benares, the Mithila, the Maharashtra and the Dravida schools.
• According to the Mitakshara law school a joint family refers only to the male member of a family and extends to include his son, grandson and great-grandson. They collectively have co-ownership/Coparcenary in the Joint Family.Thus a son by birth acquires an interest in the ancestral property of the joint family.
• Under this school all the members of the Joint family enjoy coparcenary rights during the father’s lifetime.
• Here, none of the members of the coparceners can claim a definite physical share of the joint property. So partition in this system involves in ascertaining and defining the share of the coparcener i.e.In the numerical division of the property.
• In the Mitakshara system the wife cannot demand partition. She however has the right to a share in any partition affected between her husband and her sons.