INSIGHTS - Simplifying UPSC IAS Exam Preparation

insightsonindia.com

http://www.insightsonindia.com/2015/04/02/insights-daily-current-events-02-april-2015/

Insights Daily Current Events, 02 April 2015

By INSIGHTS

Insights Daily Current Events, 02 April 2015

Around half of Indian children under 5 stunted
Leading up to World Health Day on April 7, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in partnership with
Amway has launched the Malnutrition Mapping Project, which they describe as A new education and advocacy
tool that shows the multiple impacts of malnutrition around the world using global data from 30 low-, middle- and
high-income countries. The project aims to map global malnutrition trends and raise awareness about a
preventable problem.
Important findings:
The project has found that while India is home to third-highest number of obese people after the U.S. and
China, 48% of women of reproductive age and 59% of children under the age of five are anaemic, and
close to 48% of children under the age of five are stunted.
The project found that the country has over 58 million children under the age of five who were stunted and
2.3 million children in the age cohort who were obese.
The project also notes that high among the causes of childhood malnutrition in India are vitamin and
mineral deficiencies, as well as sub-optimal breastfeeding practices.
The project report says the high proportion of anaemic women of reproductive age is linked to 62% of
children in the country showing insufficient vitamin A status, which raises the risk of decreased immune
function, increased morbidity and mortality and blindness.
The GAIN-Amway project highlighted the deleterious effects of this malnutrition status, arguing that several noncommunicable diseases were associated with unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyles and obesity in India.
Sources: The Hindu.

Unravelling the blood rain mystery

A recent study by Indian and Austrian scientists has led to the discovery of the cause of the Blood Rain
phenomenon to be dispersal of spores of micro algae. Since 1896, reports have been coming in of sporadic
instances of red coloured rain over parts of Kerala and Sri Lanka. The latest one was in 2013 over Kerala.
Details of the new study:

The study confirmed that the red colour in the rain was caused by the presence of spores of a European
species of green microalgae, Trentepohlia annulata that was reported previously only from Austria a
Central European country.
The study confirmed that the blood rain is nothing but a mechanism employed by this alga to disperse its
spores (similar to plant seeds) to a very large area at once, so that algae can quickly colonize a large area.
The study revealed that DNA sequence of this species from Kerala and that from Austria had very little
differences and they evolve slowly, which suggests that the alga got introduced from Europe not very
long ago.
The research also confirmed the likelihood that the introduction happened through clouds over ocean a
phenomenon of intercontinental species dispersal previously reported for bacteria and fungi, but first time
for alga.
Scientists have said that spores of this alga from Europe get transported to India via clouds that drift across the
Arabian Sea.
But if the spores travelled across the Arabian Sea all the way to Kerala and Sri Lanka, why did the phenomenon
not occur in intermediate regions like Gujarat, MP?
Experts say that they do not have any proof for this clouds over ocean hypothesis, but probability is high
because this is how spores of Trentepohlia get transported.
How exactly these lower stratospheric clouds got into Kerala remains unknown but aerial route from
Austria to Kerala wont pass through other states like Gujarat, MP etc. they also note that It might be
related to monsoon as well, as Kerala is the first state which the SW monsoon strikes together with Sri
Lanka.
The study is yet to be completed.
Sources: The Hindu.

Palestine joins ICC

Palestine has formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC). Palestinians now hope that this could open
the door to the possible prosecution of Israelis for alleged war crimes.
The accession was marked at a closed-door ceremony at ICC headquarters in The Hague, exactly 90 days
after Palestine joined the courts founding Rome Statute.
The Palestinians called on Israel to also join the global court, which was set up in 2002 to try crimes
against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
Exasperated after decades of failed negotiations with Israel and no prospect of achieving statehood
anytime soon, Palestinians have been waging a campaign for recognition at international bodies including
the ICC.
ICC:
The International Criminal Court (ICC), located in The Hague, is the court of last resort for prosecution of
genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal
court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the
international community.
Its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, entered into force on July 1, 2002.
Presently, the ICC had 123 states parties, opened investigations in eight countries, and issued two verdicts
(Lubanga case and Ngudjolo case).

The governments on which the ICC depends to carry out its mandate have been inconsistent in their
support, particularly when it comes to arrests.
The ICC is an independent international organisation, and is not part of the United Nations system.
Although the Courts expenses are funded primarily by States Parties, it also receives voluntary
contributions from governments, international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities.
The Courts management oversight and legislative body, the Assembly of States Parties, consists of one
representative from each state party. Each state party has one vote and every effort has to be made to
reach decisions by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, decisions are made by vote.
The Assembly is presided over by a president and two vice-presidents, who are elected by the members to
three-year terms.
India and the ICC:
The government of India has consistently opposed the Court. It abstained in the vote adopting of the statute in
1998, saying it objected to the broad definition adopted of crimes against humanity; the rights given to the UN
Security Council to refer and delay investigations and bind non-states parties; and the use of nuclear weapons
and other weapons of mass destruction not being explicitly criminalized. Other anxieties about the Court concern
how the principle of complementarity would be applied to the Indian criminal justice system, the inclusion of war
crimes for non-international conflicts, and the power of the Prosecutor to initiate prosecutions.
Sources: The Hindu, ICC, Wiki.

Government Issues Guidelines for Administration and Operationalization of Nirbhaya Fund

The Government of India has issued the Guidelines for utilization of Nirbhaya Fund with the approval of the
Union Finance Minister. The Guidelines are as follows:
Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) is the nodal authority which can be approached by
various Ministries/Departments with the proposals/schemes, to be funded from Nirbhaya Fund targeted to
strengthen the safety and security of women in the country.
Ministry of WCD would appraise these schemes to decide their suitability to qualify for getting funds from
the Nirbhaya Fund.
Ministry of WCD shall forward the suitable proposals to Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) for
necessary budgetary allocations in the respective Demands. DEA shall appraise the proposal on financial
and other aspects to avoid any duplicity of schemes/Government efforts to strengthen safety and security
of women in the country.
Budget Division (DEA), with the approval of Finance Minister would approve the funding of schemes from
the fund and would also be the nodal Ministry for any accretion into and withdrawal from the fund.
The respective line Ministries/Departments shall take necessary action for approval of SFC/EFC/PIB and
Cabinet for implementation of the scheme on the ground.
Ministry of WCD shall be the nodal Ministry to review and monitor the progress of these schemes in
conjunction with the line Ministries/Departments.
Nirbhaya Fund:
Announced by the government of India in its 2013 Budget, the Fund was established to support initiatives by the
government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in India.
The Fund was created with a corpus of Rs. 1000 Crores for empowerment, safety and security of women
and girl children.

The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.

Utilization of Nirbhaya Fund would be preceded by formulation of viable schemes and necessary
approvals from the competent authority.
The fund was set up after the horrific rape and murder of a 23-year old medical student in the national
capital in 2012.
Sources: The Hindu, Wiki, PIB.

Government unveils new foreign trade policy

The government recently unveiled a five-year plan for lifting Indias exports in a policy that seeks to make the
country a bigger player in global trade by doubling overseas sales to $900 billion by 2019-20 while giving a boost
to the Make in India initiative.
Details:
In a drastic change of stance in keeping with global trading norms under the World Trade Organization
(WTO), the new FTP sought to consolidate all previous export incentive schemes under two: Merchandise
Exports From India Scheme (MEIS) and Services Exports From India Scheme (SEIS).
The Merchandise Exports From India Scheme has replaced five existing schemes: Focus Products
Scheme, Market-linked Focus Products Scheme, Focus Market Scheme, Agriculture Infrastrucutre
Incentive Scrips and Vishesh Krishi Grameen Udyog Yojana (VKGUY).
Services Exports From India Scheme has replaced the existing Served From India Scheme (SFIS).
In a big relief for exporters, all scrips issued under MEIS and SEIS and the goods imported against these
scrips will be fully transferable. This means that scrips issued under export from India schemes can now be
used for payment of customs duty for import of goods, payment of excise duty on domestic procurement of
inputs or goods, and payment of service tax.
In an effort to push the domestic content requirement, measures have been adopted to encourage
procurement of capital goods from indigenous manufacturers under the EPCG scheme by reducing
specific export obligation to 75 per cent of the normal export obligation.
The FTP also introduced a concept of import appraisal mechanism which will be done on a quarterly basis
by the commerce department. In a view to boost exports from Special Economic Zones (SEZs) the
government also expanded the benefits under MEIS and SEIS to the units located inside the tax-free
zones.
The FTP from now on will have a mid-term review after two and a half years, except for exigencies. In an
attempt to achieve greater policy coherence and mainstreaming of all export incentive schemes, the
commerce department will now direct state governments to prepare their own export strategies based on
the new FTP.
The new policy has come at a time when Indias merchandise exports continue to log a decent growth, having
expanded by just 0.88% in the first 11 months of the current fiscal.
Sources: BS, ET.

Insights Secure Prelims 2015

Time limit: 0

Quiz-summary
0 of 4 questions completed

Questions:
1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

Information
Welcome to Insights Secure Prelims 2015 initiative. The following questions are based on current events that
appear in PIB (Public Information Bureau) and from some important newspapers. For more challenging question
papers (Full Length), please join our Preliminary Exam 2015 Test Series (Please Click Here for Reviews)
To view Solutions, follow these instructions:
1. Click on Start Quiz button
2. Solve Questions
3. Click on Quiz Summary button
4. Click on Finish Quiz button
5. Now click on View Questions button here you will see solutions and links.
You have already completed the quiz before. Hence you can not start it again.
Quiz is loading...
You must sign in or sign up to start the quiz.
You have to finish following quiz, to start this quiz:

Results
0 of 4 questions answered correctly
Your time:
Time has elapsed
You have reached 0 of 0 points, (0)

Categories
1. Not categorized 0%
Your result has been entered into leaderboard
Loading
maximum of 8 points
Pos.

Name

Table is loading

Entered on

Points

Result

Pos.

Name

Entered on

Points

Result

No data available
1

sameer

2015/04/04 12:51 AM

100 %

shivpreet

2015/04/04 9:28 AM

100 %

Ajit Yadav

2015/04/07 1:40 PM

100 %

sid

2015/04/04 4:02 PM

100 %

sneha

2015/04/02 11:11 PM

100 %

Janani

2015/04/02 11:19 PM

100 %

euva

2015/04/02 11:26 PM

100 %

pooja

2015/04/04 7:51 PM

100 %

yogitha

2015/04/02 11:28 PM

100 %

10

Ajinkya

2015/04/02 11:32 PM

100 %

11

sonam

2015/04/02 11:47 PM

100 %

12

akks

2015/04/02 11:51 PM

100 %

13

Siddu

2015/04/03 12:20 AM

100 %

14

Raju Gogula

2015/04/03 12:40 AM

100 %

15

IAS

2015/04/03 12:59 AM

100 %

16

ABC

2015/04/03 1:03 AM

100 %

17

SUVIGY

2015/04/03 1:11 AM

100 %

18

PRATIK

2015/04/03 1:14 AM

100 %

19

mahi

2015/04/03 8:30 AM

100 %

20

sky

2015/04/03 8:54 AM

100 %

21

rakesh k gupta

2015/04/03 8:57 AM

100 %

22

TatS

2015/04/03 2:39 PM

100 %

23

Radhe Shyam

2015/04/03 3:21 PM

100 %

24

Azhar shaikh

2015/04/03 5:32 PM

100 %

25

2015/04/03 5:40 PM

100 %

26

G shankar

2015/04/05 10:55 AM

100 %

27

smita

2015/04/03 9:33 PM

100 %

28

Yash Agrawal

2015/04/05 2:08 PM

100 %

29

santosh

2015/04/03 11:14 PM

100 %

30

R V Shiva

2015/04/02 11:19 PM

75 %

Pos.

Name

Entered on

Points

Result

31

shilpa

2015/04/02 11:51 PM

75 %

32

shiv sundar

2015/04/02 11:59 PM

75 %

33

Dinesh Angirus

2015/04/03 12:03 AM

75 %

34

sajan

2015/04/03 1:29 AM

75 %

35

AP

2015/04/03 1:42 AM

75 %

36

Roopali

2015/04/03 1:45 AM

75 %

37

dilip kumar

2015/04/03 3:35 AM

75 %

38

thewarlock

2015/04/03 8:32 AM

75 %

39

Ashuto

2015/04/04 11:46 PM

75 %

40

Ashok

2015/04/03 9:28 AM

75 %

41

R RAJA

2015/04/03 1:56 PM

75 %

42

saikiran

2015/04/03 2:11 PM

75 %

43

Pratima

2015/04/03 3:58 PM

75 %

44

MANIKANDAN

2015/04/03 5:38 PM

75 %

45

Adarsh

2015/04/05 9:50 AM

75 %

46

prerna

2015/04/03 6:05 PM

75 %

47

india

2015/04/03 6:08 PM

75 %

48

sfhdhdhfhgsgd

2015/04/03 6:50 PM

75 %

49

simar

2015/04/03 8:26 PM

75 %

50

DB

2015/04/03 8:56 PM

75 %

51

ABHISHEK C RAJ

2015/04/03 9:24 PM

75 %

52

devika

2015/04/07 1:34 AM

75 %

53

mukesh

2015/04/03 10:57 PM

75 %

54

brij

2015/04/04 1:59 AM

50 %

55

IM

2015/04/06 11:40 AM

50 %

56

abhishek

2015/04/04 12:40 PM

50 %

57

mk mishra

2015/04/06 4:55 PM

50 %

58

GD

2015/04/03 12:55 AM

50 %

59

shgupta11

2015/04/03 1:34 AM

50 %

60

Gughapriya

2015/04/03 1:43 AM

50 %

61

sri

2015/04/03 3:10 AM

50 %

62

jky

2015/04/03 6:58 AM

50 %

Pos.

Name

Entered on

Points

Result

63

Megh

2015/04/03 7:52 AM

50 %

64

Palash Gupta

2015/04/03 8:36 AM

50 %

65

rajaramasamy

2015/04/03 8:38 AM

50 %

66

donnnnnnnnnnnnn

2015/04/03 8:40 AM

50 %

67

anunay

2015/04/03 9:16 AM

50 %

68

nitish

2015/04/03 9:23 AM

50 %

69

Demos

2015/04/03 9:48 AM

50 %

70

malikhan singh

2015/04/03 12:13 PM

50 %

71

naren

2015/04/03 2:38 PM

50 %

72

Wolvering

2015/04/03 3:34 PM

50 %

73

zakir

2015/04/03 4:05 PM

50 %

74

RANJEET

2015/04/03 6:45 PM

50 %

75

upasna

2015/04/03 7:35 PM

50 %

76

amol

2015/04/03 9:43 PM

50 %

77

RaviM

2015/04/06 12:18 AM

25 %

78

kumar gourav

2015/04/04 4:03 PM

25 %

79

ujjwal

2015/04/04 5:51 PM

25 %

80

Mayuresh

2015/04/02 11:26 PM

25 %

81

bhadra

2015/04/02 11:27 PM

25 %

82

Avinash

2015/04/03 12:24 AM

25 %

83

ISHA GUPTA

2015/04/03 12:31 AM

25 %

84

prassi

2015/04/03 1:36 AM

25 %

85

vibhu

2015/04/03 8:15 AM

25 %

86

jaishree

2015/04/03 11:25 AM

25 %

87

routula sriniva

2015/04/03 9:03 PM

25 %

88

inderjit

2015/04/03 10:40 PM

25 %

89

shreedevi

2015/04/04 5:56 AM

0%

90

Divya maha

2015/04/03 12:20 AM

0%

91

SELONGKYU

2015/04/03 8:56 AM

0%

92

kamlesh

2015/04/03 10:12 AM

0%

93

Rockey

2015/04/03 11:29 AM

0%

Pos.

Name

Entered on

Points

Result

94

prakhar

2015/04/03 7:37 PM

0%

95

napolean

2015/04/03 11:36 PM

0%

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
1. Answered
2. Review
1. Question 1 of 4

1. Question
Consider the following statements with reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC):
1. The ICC is an independent international organisation, and is not part of the United Nations system.
2. Palestine has formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is the 123rd member of ICC.
3. India has neither signed nor acceded to its founding treaty, the Rome Statute.
Which of the above statements is/are true?
Correct
Answer: a
Incorrect
Answer: a
2. Question 2 of 4

2. Question

Who formulates and implements the foreign trade policy of India?

Correct
Answer: a
Incorrect
Answer: a

3. Question 3 of 4

3. Question
Consider the following statements with reference to the Nirbhaya Fund:
1. The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.
2. Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) is the nodal authority which can be approached
by various Ministries/Departments with the proposals/schemes, to be funded from Nirbhaya Fund
targeted to strengthen the safety and security of women in the country.
Which of the above statements is/are INCORRECT?
Correct
Answer: d
Incorrect
Answer: d
4. Question 4 of 4

4. Question
Which of the following are the tributaries of Ganga?
1. Yamuna
2. Son
3. Mahananda
4. Kosi
5. Mahakali
Choose the correct answer using the codes below:
Correct
Answer: d
Incorrect
Answer: d

INSIGHTS 2015. All Rights Reserved.