Daily Current Affairs Quiz – Day 87

Answer (c)

Renowned scientist and cyclone warning specialist Mrutyunjay Mohapatra has been appointed as the chief of IMD.

About IMD:

Established in 1875; Headquarter – Delhi and operates hundreds of observation stations across India and Antarctica.

Regional offices are at Mumbai, Kolkata, Nagpur and Pune.

Under the administrative control of – Ministry of Earth Sciences

It is the principal government agency in all matters relating to meteorology, seismology ( to detect and locate earthquakes and to evaluate seismicity in different parts of the country for development projects) and allied activities.

IMD is also one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres of the World Meteorological Organization.

It has the responsibility for forecasting, naming and distribution of warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean region, including the Malacca Straits, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.

Answer (d)

Data from the 2017-18 annual financial audits of government finances conducted by the CAG show that Rs. 94,036 crore of secondary and higher education cess (SHEC) proceeds is lying unutilized in the Consolidated Fund of India.

A cess is levied on the tax payable and not on the taxable income. A cess can be levied on both direct and indirect taxes. Unlike a tax, a cess is levied to meet a specific purpose; its proceeds cannot be spent on any kind of government expenditure. For example: education cess. From the point of view of the government, the proceeds of all taxes and cesses are credited in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), an account of the Government of India. While the tax proceeds are shared with the States and Union Territories according to the guidelines by the Finance Commission, the cess proceeds need not be shared with them.

Data from the 2017-18 annual financial audits of government finances conducted by the CAG show that Rs. 94,036 crore of secondary and higher education cess (SHEC) proceeds is lying unutilized in the Consolidated Fund of India.

Answer (b)

Senior bureaucrat Shefali Juneja has been appointed as India’s representative in the council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

About ICAO:

ICAO is a UN specialized agency, established by States in 1944 to manage the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention).

It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.

Its headquarters is located in the Quartier International of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

It has several component bodies:

(1) an Assembly of delegates from all member countries that meets every three years,

(2) a Council of representatives from 33 member states, elected by and responsible to the Assembly, that sits in continuous session at ICAO headquarters,

(3) an Air Navigation Commission appointed by the Council for addressing technical matters, and

(4) various standing committees

Note: The United Nations has six principal organs: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat.

TraceNet is an internet based electronic service offered by APEDA to the stakeholders for facilitating process certification for export of organic products from India which comply with the NPOP or NOP standards.

As per the latest government data, 4,53,622 farmers are practicing organic farming under Participatory Guarantee System (PGS India) and 11, 47,401 farmers are registered in TraceNet under third party certification.

Answer: (c)

10% EWS reservation quota is given only for the General Category candidates. Other category candidates already have reservation benefits – OBC (27%), SC (15%), and ST (7.5%).