Daily Quiz 16th June 2024

Answer: A

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is Incorrect: It was introduced by the 5th Finance Commission in 1969.
  • Special Category Status was designed to assist states facing historical economic or geographical disadvantages.
  • Criteria (Based on Gadgil Formula):
    • Hilly Terrain;
    • Low Population Density and/or Sizeable Share of Tribal Population;
    • Strategic Location along Borders with Neighbouring Countries;
    • Economic and Infrastructure Backwardness; and
    • Nonviable Nature of State finances.
  • Statement 2 Is Incorrect:The 14th Finance Commission recommended discontinuing SCS, proposing instead to increase the tax devolution from 32% to 42% to bridge the resource gap in states.
  • Statement 3 is Correct: Benefits of Special Category Status (SCS)
    • Financial Support: The central government covers 90% of the funds for centrally sponsored schemes in SCS states, in contrast to the usual 30% grant and 70% loan ratio for non-SCS states.
    • Special Plan Assistance: SCS states receive special plan assistance for state-specific projects that are considered of critical importance.
    • Fund Utilisation Flexibility: Funds allocated to SCS states do not lapse at the end of the financial year, allowing unused funds to carry over.

Answer: B

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is Correct: The proposal to introduce negative voting to reject all the candidates if voters found them unsuitable was first discussed by the Law Commission in its 170th Report in 1999, as part of its “alternative method of election” where candidates would only be declared elected if they obtained 50%+1 of all the valid votes cast.
  • Although agreeable with the 50%+1 idea, on which negative voting was predicated,496 the Commission citing practical difficulties did not issue any final recommendations on the topic of negative voting.
  • Later it was supported by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in 2001 and 2004 to address voter secrecy concerns with EVMs by proposing the addition of a NOTA option.
• Statement 2 is Correct: NOTA stands for “None Of The Above,” a ballot option for Indian voters.
  • It allows voters to reject all candidates in an election without compromising their vote’s secrecy.
  • First Use: NOTA was first used in the 2013 Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh, and then in the 2014 General Elections.
  • Legal Introduction: The option was introduced following a 2013 Supreme Court directive in the PUCL vs Union of India case.
  • Casting a NOTA Vote: Voters can select NOTA on the EVM, located at the end of the candidates’ list.
  • Previous Method: Before EVMs, voters had to verbally inform the presiding officer to cast a negative vote.
  • Shailesh Manubhai Parmar v. Election Commission of India Through the Chief Election Commissioner & Ors. (2018): The Supreme Court expressed concerns that NOTA could compromise the integrity of democracy and potentially encourage defection and corruption in these types of elections.
    • Consequently, the court decided to eliminate the NOTA option from Rajya Sabha elections.
  • Statement 3 is Incorrect: NOTA votes do not affect the election outcome. The candidate with the highest number of votes wins, regardless of NOTA votes.

Answer: D

Why in News:

In FY24 china once again became the largest trading partner of India.

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: in 2019 and 2020 the trade between two countries decreased 2% and 10% respectively.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: In FY22 USA was the largest trading partner of india. In FY24 china replaced the USA to become the top trading partner.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: Mobile/Telephone sets are the largest import from China (75%). Followed by automatic data processing machines and semiconductor units. Textile and textile articles aren’t among the top trading items. India’s reliance on china for electronics is one of the reasons for the huge trade deficit.

Answer: D

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is Incorrect: Antimicrobials – including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics – are medicines used to prevent and treat infectious diseases in humans, animals and plants.
  • Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines.
  • As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become difficult or impossible to treat, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, disability and death.
  • AMR is a natural process that happens over time through genetic changes in pathogens.
• Statement 2 is Correct: Its emergence and spread is accelerated by human activity, mainly the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials to treat, prevent or control infections in humans, animals and plants.

Answer: A

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is Correct: Newtonian dynamics consistently reveal substantial discrepancies between the observed direct masses and the much larger dynamical masses required to account for the observed motions within galaxies and galaxy systems.
  • Standard dynamics led to the hypothesis of “dark matter” (DM) to explain why galactic gravity appears significantly stronger than observed, suggesting the presence of substantial undetected matter.
  • Observations in cosmology, under standard dynamics, indicate the need for two dark components: dark matter and a less understood component known as “dark energy.”
  • MOND is a hypothesis that proposes modifications to Newton’s laws of motion and gravity to explain the observed properties of galaxies, particularly the galaxy rotation curves.
  • It is a theoretical framework proposed by physicist Mordehai Milgrom in 1983.
  • The theory was based primarily on the observation that rotation curves of galaxies tend to flatten at their outer edges.
• Statement 2 is Incorrect: MOND proposed to eliminate the need for dark matter by modifying the laws of gravity for very small accelerations, characteristic of the outer regions of galaxies.
  • MOND argues that discrepancies are not due to unseen matter but rather to a failure of standard dynamics at galactic and cosmic scales.

It suggests that the calculated dynamical masses should align with directly observed baryonic masses, eliminating the need for dark matter.