Daily Quiz 11th June 2024

Explanation:
● Statement 1 is Correct: Under the Constitution, Parliament has the authority to create a state by passing a law through the ordinary process of legislation, which typically requires a simple majority.
○ But the bill for the purpose of state creation cannot be introduced in Parliament without the President’s recommendation.
● Statement 2 is Incorrect: Before recommending the introduction of such a Bill, the President must refer the Bill to the Legislature of the state or states concerned for their views.
○ The President and Parliament are not bound by the views of the state legislature.
● Statement 3 is Correct: If the affected State Legislature does not present its views within a stipulated time as decided by the President, the President may recommend the introduction of the Bill without obtaining the views of that state’s Legislature
○ The Constitution does not specify a time limit within which the state legislature must provide its views on the Bill.
○ However, the President has the authority to set a time limit for the state legislature to submit its views and can extend this period if deemed necessary.

Explanation:
● Statement 1 is Incorrect: The Securities and Exchange Board of India was constituted as a non-statutory body on April 12, 1988 through a resolution of the Government of India.
○ Later in 1992, it was established as a statutory body on the recommendations of the Narasimham Committee.
○ The objectives of SEBI as a regulatory body are to monitor and regulate India’s securities market to safeguard investors’ interests.
○ It aims to inculcate a safe investment environment by implementing several rules and regulations and formulating investment-related guidelines.
○ Furthermore, one of the other main objectives was to avoid malpractices in the Indian stock market.
● Statement 2 is Correct: SEBI has three powers rolled into one body: quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial and quasi-executive.
○ It drafts regulations in its legislative capacity, it conducts investigation and enforcement action in its executive function, and it passes rulings and orders in its judicial capacity.
○ In 2014, the Indian government awarded SEBI new regulatory powers, allowing it to undertake search and seizure operations and apply harsher punishments for rigging markets and insider trading.
● Statement 3 is Correct: In India, mutual funds are established as trusts under the Indian Trust Act, 1882 and are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996.

Explanation:
● Statement 1 is Correct: Nipah is a zoonotic disease.
○ Nipah Virus is a single-stranded, enclosed, negative-sense RNAvirus.
○ It is transmitted to humans through infected animals or contaminated food.
○ It can also be transmitted directly from person to person through close contact with an infected person.
○ Eating contaminated fruits (e.g., bitten by infected fruit bats) is a major source in Bangladesh and India.
○ Dual mode of transmission (animal-to-human and human-to-human) makes it a concern.
● Statement 2 is Incorrect: Fruit bats are the natural carriers of the virus without being affected by it.
○ The virus can contaminate fruits bitten by bats, leading to infection in humans and pigs.
● Statement 3 is Incorrect: The first outbreaks of the Nipah virus among humans was reported from Malaysia (1998) and Singapore (1999).

Explanation:
● Statement 1 is Correct: The Preston Curve is an empirical cross-sectional relationship between life expectancy and real per capita income.
○ It was first described by Samuel H. Preston in 1975.
○ It suggests that individuals born in richer countries tend to live longer than those born in poorer countries, likely due to factors like better healthcare access, education, sanitation, and nutrition.
● Statement 2 is Incorrect: However, the relationship between income and life expectancy is not linear; it flattens out at higher levels of income.
○ This means that while at low levels of income, increases in income are associated with large gains in life expectancy, at high levels of income, further increases in income have little effect on life expectancy.

Explanation:
● Pair 1 is Incorrect: Campi Flegrei, also known as the Phlegrean Fields, is an active volcanic area located near Naples, Italy, characterized by a complex system of volcanic features rather than a single volcano.
○ This region features a caldera that was formed 39,000 years ago and measures between 12 to 15 kilometers in diameter. One-third of the caldera extends under the Tyrrhenian Sea.
○ It is the largest active caldera in Europe and exhibits more volcanic activity than its famous neighbor, Mount Vesuvius.
○ Since 1950, Campi Flegrei has shown signs of unrest due to bradyseism, which is the movement of the surface caused by changes in an underground magma chamber.
● Pair 2 is Correct: Mount Vesuvius active volcano is located in southern Italy, prominently standing above the Bay of Naples on the Campanian plain.
○ It is notable as the only active volcano on the European mainland.
○ Classified as a complex stratovolcano, its eruptions are characterized by both explosive activity and pyroclastic flows.
○ Famously, it obliterated the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in an eruption in 79 AD.
○ The volcano forms part of the Campanian volcanic arc, a series of volcanoes that emerged from the tectonic convergence of the African and Eurasian plates.
● Pair 3 Is Incorrect: The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano is situated in the western South Pacific Ocean, west of the main populated islands of the Kingdom of Tonga.
○ It is one of twelve known submarine volcanoes that are part of the Tofua Arc, which itself is a segment of the larger Tonga-Kermadec volcanic arc.
○ This arc was formed by the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Indo-Australian Plate.
○ The volcano comprises two small, uninhabited islands, named Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga, and is primarily underwater.