Ans Dedar Singh Gill

Explanation
An leading Indian-origin intellectual property lawyer of
Singapore has been appointed as a judicial commissioner of the country'sapex Çourt.

Answer Bangkok

Explanation
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.It was established in order to increase economic activity in Asia and the Far East, as well as to foster economic relations between the region and other areas of the world

Unlawful Activities and (Prevention) Act (UAPA)

Civil rights activist Gautam Navlakha and Prof Teltumbde surrendered before the NIA court on orders of Supreme Court.

Brief History of the case

In 2018, violence broke out at the 200th anniversary celebration of a  Bhima-Koregaon battle primarily between Dalits & upper caste people

Clashes then broke out across the Maharashtra state 

Police have alleged that several activists & academics including Prof Teltumbde( a Dalit) and his organisation Elgar Parishad, as responsible for the violence that erupted in Bhima Koregaon

They have been charged under UAPA and accused of having Maoist links.

About Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

The UAPA, an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA (lapsed in 1995) and the Prevention of Terrorism Act – POTA (repealed in 2004) was passed in the year 1967

It aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
.

Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory.

The 2004 amendment, added “terrorist act” to the list of offences.

Under the act, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.

Powers to Union Government: If Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.

It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments.

2019 Amendment of UAPA

The act was amended to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the Act.

Earlier only organisations could be declared as such

Not designating individuals as terrorists, would give them an opportunity to circumvent the law and regroup under different name

It empowers the Director General of NIA to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by NIA

Earlier it required the consent of State Police which delayed the process

It empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism

This will help solve the human resource crunch in the NIA.

Criticism of UAPA

Experiences of Anti-terror laws in India such as POTA and TADA reveals that they are often misused and abused.

The law could also be used against political opponents and civil society activists who speak against the government and brand them as “terrorists.”

Critics argue that the law, especially after 2019 amendment gives unfettered powers to investigating agencies.

Some experts feel that it is against the federal structure, given that ‘Police’ is a state subject under 7th schedule of Indian Constitution.

Importance of Civil Society Groups/ Social Activists

Acts as a conduit between people and authority

They help in interest articulation and interest aggregation in a Democratic setup

Collaboration with the government in welfare delivery programmes especially in remote places where administrative machinery is thin

Constructive criticism of government actions which leads to improvements in governance

Helps in preventing the excesses of executive through their active civic participation

Holds the government accountable for their action and ensures transparency in government functioning

Promotes brotherhood and harmony in society

Promotes environmental consciousness among people

Ensures that government keep humans at the centre of development strategy

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday pledged to invest (1) billion over the next five years on environment-friendly urban mobility in India. Ms. Merkel, whose visit to the country coincided with one of the worst spells of air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region, emphasized the need to replace diesel-run public transport with electric vehicles. .
“We have agreed to cooperate on climate protection and green urban mobility and have earmarked (1) billion euros towards this,” Ms. Merkel said at an event here. Germany would also put in (2) million to reform the bus sector in(3), she added. Touching upon the subject of air pollution in Delhi, she said that looking at the severity of the situation, it would be a good idea to replace diesel buses with electric ones.

1.Who was the first chancellor of Germany ?

(A)Helmut Kohl (B)Willy Brandit
(C)konrad Adenauer (D)Gerhard Schroder

2.which of the following is replaced by (1) in the above passage?

A) €1 (B) €5 (C) €10 (D) €3

3.Which of the following is replaced by (3) in the above passage?

(A)Andhra Pradesh (B)Karnatka
(C)Tamil Nadu (D)Gujarat

4. Which of the following is replaced by (2) in the above passage?

(A) €200 (B) €500 (C) €100 ( D) €300

5.which of the follwing is major component of compressed natural Gas?

(A)Butane (B)Liquid Hydrogen
(C)Methane ( D)Propane

The Doctrine of Basic Structure- Application

Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain 1975

• The validity of 39th Constitution amendment
enacted in 1975 which (Article 39-A ) sought to place the election of the President, the Vice President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of
the Lok Sabha beyond the scrutiny of the constitutional courts was challenged in this case. The S.C. resorting to the theory of basic structure of the Constitution struck down Clause (4) of Article 329-A on the grounds that it was
beyond the Parliament’s amending power as it
destroyed the basic structure of the Constitution.

Answer Spanish Flu

Explanation
The Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. Lasting from January 1918 to December 1920, it infected 500 million people – about a third of the world's population at the time.

Answer Fuzhou

The city of Fuzhou (China) will host the next session of the World Heritage Committee in 2020. This decision concluded the work of the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee, meeting in Baku since 30 June.

During this year’s session, the World Heritage Committee inscribed a total of 29 new sites on the World Heritage List (one in Africa, two in the Arab States, ten in the Asia Pacific region, 15 in Europe and North America and one in Latin America).

It has been postponed due to Covid-19.

Answer A
Explanation

On February 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of India made a landmark verdict on civil suit ‘The Secretary, Ministry of Ministry of Defence versus Babita Punia and Others’ of 2013 by allowing permanent commission status to women officers in the Indian armed forces and making them eligible for command positions (which enables them now to perform all types of military roles – full combat, combat support and services)

Answer
1-C 2-A 3-C 4-A 5-C

The Ocean Cleanup Project

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-government engineering environmental organization based in the Netherlands, that develops technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans. After a couple of years of various tests they deployed their first full-scale prototype. It ran into difficulty after two months and was towed to Hawaii for inspection and repair. In June 2019, their second prototype system was deployed.The organization conducts scientific research into oceanic plastic pollution. It was founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, a Dutch-born inventor-entrepreneur of Croatian origin who serves as its CEO. It has conducted two expeditions to the North Pacific Gyre, and published scientific papers.The clean-up approach uses barriers in ocean gyres to scoop up marine debris as the barrier is pushed by wind and current. The project aims to launch a total of 60 such systems in the patch by 2021. They predict this capability could clean up 50% of the debris in the in the 

 Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years.

In late October 2019, TOC announced a new initiative, The Interceptor, to attack the trash problem closer to the source, with plans to prevent the 80% of ocean trash coming from 1000 rivers worldwide

Passage

Economic slowdown may lighten India’s carbon burden
Carbon dioxide emissions are poised to grow at their slowest since 2001 due to a lower demand for coal in power and manufacturing sectors: study.There’s a silver lining to India’s economic slowdown. Carbon dioxide emissions are poised to grow at their slowest a 2% rise from last year since 2001, according to an analysis published in Carbon Brief, a site that tracks emission and carbon dioxide trends. The rise in C02 issions from India sees wild swings from 7.7% in 2014 to 3.5% the next year and then back to 7.8% in 2018. This is the first time that emissions are expected to grow below 3% from the previous year. “Our analysis, based on data from various Ministries responsible for lectricity, coal, oil, gas and foreign trade, shows that emissions increased by 2% in the first eight months of the year, a lower rate than any annual increase since 2001,” said the research note by Lauri My llyvirta, an energy and pollution analyst with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and Sunil Dahiya, analyst and campaigner with Green Peace East Asia.

1.which of the follwing is the best form of coal ?

a)peat (B)Anthracite (C)Bituminous (D)Lignite

2. The list of industrial sources of air pollution and their emissions are given.

Match the following.

A. Ammonia    1. Car monoxide
B. Plating        2. Particulates
C. Fertilizers    3. Metal fumes

The correct order is:

A)A-1, B-2, C-3
B)A-3, B-2, C-1
C)A-1, B-3, C-2
D)A-3, B-1, C-2

3.Greenhouse effect refers to:

A. Ability of atmosphere to retain water vapor

B. Ability of certain atmospheric gases to trap heat and keep the planet relatively warm

C. Ability of cloud to scatter electromagnetic radiation

D. None of the above

4. Green Peace East Asia was established in which year ?

(A).1997 (B)1999 (C)2001 (D)2002

5.Which is the largest Thermal power plant of India?

(A) Hussain Sagar Thermal Power Station,Telangana

(B) Mundra Thermal Power Station,Gujarat

(C)Indira Gandhi Super thermal power plant ,Haryana

(D)Vindhyachal power plant,MP

Human Rights: Right to Privacy a Fundamental Right under Article 21

Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (retd.) Vs. Union of India
and ors. , (2017) (Right To
Privacy )

• In this case , popularly known as Aadhaar Case, the SC held that privacy is a constitutionally protected right which emerges primarily from the guarantee of life and personal liberty in Article 21
of the Constitution.

• Further held that elements of privacy also arise in varying contexts from the other facets of freedom and dignity recognised and guaranteed
by the fundamental rights contained in Part III .