Current Affairs Question - August 2020

Explanation :

• Teesta river is a tributary of the Brahmaputra (known as Jamuna in Bangladesh), flowing through India and Bangladesh.
• It originates in the Himalayas near Chunthang, Sikkim and flows to the south through West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.
• The literary meaning of the word ‘Teesta’ is Trishna (desire) which never ends. The legend of the Teesta River is mentioned in KalikaPurana.
• Among the other rivers of northern India, Teesta River is also called as younger daughter of Himalaya.
• Originally, the river continued southward to empty directly into the Padma River (main channel of Ganga in Bangladesh) but around 1787, the river changed its course to flow eastward to join the JamunaRiver.
• The river flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal before entering the territory of Bangladesh.

Explanation :

• The Kerala government is carrying out a unique programme called “Namath Basai” of teaching tribal children in their mother tongue.
• The programme, implemented by the SamagraSiksha Kerala (SSK), has succeeded in retaining hundreds of tribal children in their online classes by making them feel at home with the language of instruction.
• It offers pre-recorded classes through a YouTube channel in three tribal languages in Attappady valley in Palakkad District Kerala.
• These languages are Irula, Muduka and Kurumba.
• Namath Basai is being introduced in the tribal belts of Wayanad and Idukki as well. Classes are offered in the Oorali, Mutuvan and Paniya languages in Idukki.

Explanation :

Myopia

• Myopia is the term used to define being shortsighted.
• A myopic person has clear vision when looking at objects close to them, but distant objects will appear blurred. This is because light is focused in front of the retina and, being too far forward in the eye, things in the distance look blurred.

Presbyopia

• It occurs when your eyes gradually lose the ability to see things clearly up close. It is a normal part of aging.

Hypermetropia

• Sometimes called hyperopia, is the term used to define being longsighted.
• If one is hypermetropic, the image of a nearby object is formed behind the retina. This means that light is focused too far back in the eye, causing things which are close up to appear blurred.

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.

Explanation :

• On 4th August, 2020, Tourism Ministry virtually inaugurated the state-of-the-art Thenzawl Golf Resort project in Mizoram.
• The project was implemented under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
• It was sanctioned under the Integrated Development of New Eco-Tourism under Swadesh Darshan-North East Circuit at Thenzawl and South Zote, District Serchhip and Reiek, Mizoram.
• The Golf Course is designed by Graham Cooke and Associates, one of the top-ranked Canada based Golf Course architectural firm.

Explanation :

• The Indian Council for Cultural Relations(ICCR) is an autonomous body under the administrative control of the Ministry of External Affairs.
• It was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who was the first Education Minister of independent India.
• Its objectives are to actively participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes pertaining to India’s external cultural relations; to foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries; to promote cultural exchanges with other countries and people, and to develop relations with nations.
• ICCR has also been assigned the responsibility of facilitating the celebration of the International Day of Yoga by Indian Missions/Posts abroad since 2015.
• It publishes six quarterly journals in five different languages:

Explanation :

• Loya Jirga is a mass national gathering that brings together representatives from the various ethnic, religious, and tribal communities in Afghanistan.
• In Afghanistan, loyajirgas have been reportedly organized since at least the early 18th century when the Hotaki and Durrani dynasties rose to power.
• It is a highly respected centuries-old consultative body that has been convened at times of national crisis or to settle national issues.
• According to the Afghan Constitution, it is considered the highest expression of the Afghan people.
• However, it is not an official decision-making body and its decisions are not legally binding.

Explanation :

• Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) of India is the apex authority responsible for external and internal audits of the expenses of the National and state governments.
• Part V of the Indian Constitution describes the role and responsibilities of this office in Chapter V.
• The CAG is mentioned in the Constitution of India under Article 148 – 151.
• The Comptroller and Auditor General is one of the few offices directly appointed by the President of India.
• He is the head of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department.
• CAG is the guardian of the public purse and controls the entire financial system of the country at both the levels- the centre and state.
• It audits all expenditure from the Contingency Fund of India and the Public Account of India as well as the Contingency Fund and Public Account of each state.
• He submits his audit reports relating to the accounts of the Centre and State to the President and Governor, who shall, in turn, place them before both the houses of Parliament and the state legislature respectively.
• He submits 3 audit reports to the President: audit report on appropriation accounts, audit report on finance accounts and audit report on public undertakings.

Explanation :

• Ammonium Nitrate (NH4NO3) is a nitrogen-rich white, crystalline chemical which is soluble in water.
• It is a common chemical ingredient of agricultural fertilisers.
• It is used as an ingredient for the production of anaesthetic gases and cold packs.
• It is also the main ingredient in the manufacture of commercial explosives used in mining and construction.
• Pure ammonium nitrate is not an explosive on its own. It is classified as an oxidiser (Grade 5.1) under the United Nations classification of dangerous goods.
• If mixed with ingredients like fuel or some other contaminants, or because of some other external factors, it can be very explosive.

Explanation :

• The Nagara style of temple architecture is found in northern India.
• In the Nagara style, the temple is generally constructed on a upraised platform called jagati.
• Mandapas are present in front of the Garbhagriha. These are adorned with the Shikhara, the tallest one being above the Garbhagriha.
• Unlike the temples in south India, Nagara style doesn’t usually have elaborate boundary walls or gateways (South Indian temples often sport magnificent Gopurams).
• Generally, there is no water tank in the temple premises and the pradakshinapatha is covered.
• NagaraSchool is further subdivided into different schools based on region like Odisha, Khajuraho, Solanki, etc.
• Three subtypes of Nagara temple depending upon the shape of Shikhara- Rekha Prasad / Latina, Phamsana and Valabhi.
• Some of the best examples of the north Indian style (Nagara style) of temple architecture are the Khajuraho Group of temples, Sun temple (Konark), Sun temple at Modhera, Gujarat and Ossian temple, Gujarat.

Explanation :

• The Mullaperiyar Dam is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River,located on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala, SouthIndia.
• The dam is situated at the confluence of the Mullayar and Periyar rivers.
• It was constructed between 1887 and 1895 by John Pennycuick and also reached in an agreement to donate water eastwards to the Madras Presidency area (present-day Tamil Nadu).
• The Periyar National Park in Thekkady is located around the dam’s reservoir.
• Although the dam is located in Kerala, it is operated by Tamil Nadu following an 1886 lease indenture for 999 years (the Periyar Lake Lease Agreement) that was signed between the Maharaja of Travancore and the Secretary of State for India for the Periyar Irrigation works.
• The agreement was renewed in 1970.
• Tamil Nadu was given rights to the land and the water from the dam as well as the authority to develop hydro-power projects at the site, and Kerala would receive rent in return.

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.