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EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
Jan 29th, 2022 - Daily Quiz
1. Committee which recommends appointment of CBI Director consists of which of the following?
1) Central Vigilance Commissioner.
2) Union Minister of Home Affairs.
3) Prime Minister.
(a) 1
(b) 1, 3
(c) 2, 3
(d) 1, 2, 3
2. Which of the following has/have been inscribed as India’s Mixed World Heritage Site on UNESCO World Heritage List?.
1) Valley of Flowers
2) Rani-Ki-Van
3) Khangchendzonga National Park
(a) 3
(b) 1
(c) 2, 3
(d) 1, 2, 3
3. Boost in oxygen level between 445 and 485 million years ago caused
(a) Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event
(b) Ice Age
(c) Cambrian Explosion
(d) Global Warming
4. Which of the following refer to clouded leopards?
Natural World Heritage Site of India list
Mixed Word Heritage Sites in India list
3 – (a)
A boost in levels of oxygen may have caused a three-fold increase in biodiversity during between 445 and 485 million years ago, a study has found.
The explosion of diversity, recognised as the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, brought about the rise of various marine life, tremendous change across species families and types, as well as changes to the Earth, starting at the bottom of the ocean floors.
This oxygenation is supported by two approaches that are mostly independent from each other, using different sets of geochemical records and predicting the same amount of oxygenation occurred at roughly the same time as diversification.
During the Ordovician where near-modern levels of oxygen were reached about 455 million years ago.
It should be stressed that this was probably not the only reason why diversification occurred then. It is likely that other changes - such as ocean cooling, increased nutrient supply to the oceans and predation pressures - worked together to allow animal life to diversify for millions of years.
Chemical signatures of Oxygen Increase
- Kelral
- Sanghar
- Marbled cats
- CBI Academy is located at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
- It started functioning in 1996.
- A Director heads the CBI.
- A special director or an additional director assists the Director.
- It has joint directors, deputy inspector generals, superintendents of police and all other usual ranks of police personnel.
- It also has some law officers.
- By the CVC Act of 2003, Director of CBI has been given security of tenure of 2 years.
- Mechanism for the selection of the Director of CBI and other officers of the rank of SP and above in the CBI has also been given by the CVC Act of 2003.
- The Director of CBI in role of the Inspector-General of Police, Delhi Special Police Establishment, is responsible for the administration of the Delhi Special Police Establishment.
- By the CVC Act, 2003, the superintendence of Delhi Special Police Establishment now rests with the Union Government except investigations of offences which come under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, in which, the superintendence still rests with the Central Vigilance Commission.
- A committee recommends Union Government regarding Director of the CBI. The committee consists of - (a) Central Vigilance Commissioner as Chairperson. (b) Vigilance Commissioners. (c) Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. (d) Secretary (Coordination and Public Grievances) in the Cabinet Secretariat.
S.No. | Name of Cultural World Heritage Site | Year of Notification | State |
1 | Agra Fort | 1983 | Uttar Pradesh |
2 | Ajanta Caves | 1983 | Maharashtra |
3 | Ellora Caves | 1983 | Maharashtra |
4 | Taj Mahal | 1983 | Uttar Pradesh |
5 | Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram | 1984 | Tamil Nadu |
6 | Sun Temple, Konarak | 1984 | Orissa |
7 | Churches and Convents of Goa | 1986 | Goa |
8 | Elephanta Caves | 1987 | Maharashtra |
9 | Group of Monuments at Hampi | 1986 | Karnataka |
10 | Fatehpur Sikri | 1986 | Uttar Pradesh |
11 | Khajuraho Group of Monuments | 1986 | Madhya Pradesh |
12 | Group of Monuments at Pattadakal | 1987 | Karnataka |
13 | Great Living Chola Temples | 1987 | Tamil Nadu |
14 | Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi | 1989 | Madhya Pradesh |
15 | Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi | 1993 | Delhi |
16 | Mountain Railways of India | 1999 | Tamil Nadu |
17 | Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi | 1993 | Delhi |
18 | Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya | 2002 | Bihar |
19 | Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park | 2004 | Gujarat |
20 | Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Formerly Victoria Terminus) | 2004 | Maharashtra |
21 | Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka | 2003 | Madhya Pradesh |
22 | Red Fort Complex | 2007 | Delhi |
23 | The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur | 2010 | Rajasthan |
24 | Hill Forts of Rajasthan | 2013 | Rajasthan (Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambhore, Amber Sub-Cluster, Jaisalmer, Gagron) |
25 | Rani-Ki-Van (the Queen’s Stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat | 2014 | Gujarat |
26. | Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University) at Nalanda | 2016 | Rajasthan Bihar |
27. | The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement | 2016 | Chandigarh |
28. | Historic City of Ahmedabad | 2017 | Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India |
29. | Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles | 2018 | Mumbai, Maharashtra |
30. | The walled city of Jaipur | 2019 | Rajasthan |
S.No. | Natural World Heritage Site | Year of inclusion | State |
1 | Kaziranga National Park | 1985 | Assam |
2 | Keoladeo Ghana National Park | 1985 | Rajasthan |
3 | Nanda Devi National Park and Valley of Flowers | 1982 2005 | Uttarakhand |
4 | Manas Wildlife Sanctuary | 1985 | Assam |
5 | Sunderbans National Park | 1984 | West Bengal |
6 | Western Ghats | 2012 | Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala |
7 | Great Himalayan National Park | 2014 | Himachal Pradesh |
S. No. | Name of Mixed World Heritage Site | Year of Inclusion | State |
1 | Khangchendzonga National Park | 2016 | Sikkim |
- Using geochemical proxies, high-resolution data and chemical signatures preserved in carbonate rocks formed from seawater, researchers were able to identify an oxygen increase during the Middle and Late Ordovician periods.
- They found a nearly 80% increase in oxygen levels where oxygen constituted about 14% of the atmosphere during the Darriwilian Stage (Middle Ordovician 460-465 million years ago) and increased to as high as 24% of the atmosphere by the mid-Katian (Late Ordovician 450-455 million years ago).
- This study suggests that atmospheric oxygen levels did not reach and maintain modern levels for millions of years after the Cambrian explosion, which is traditionally viewed as the time when the ocean-atmosphere was oxygenated.
- In this research, scientists were able to show that the oxygenation of the atmosphere and shallow ocean took millions of years, and only when shallow seas became progressively oxygenated were the major pulses of diversification able to take place.
- This committee was created in 1964 on the recommendation of the Krishna Menon Committee.
- Originally, it had 15 members (10 from the Lok Sabha and 5 from the Rajya Sabha).
- In1974, its membership was raised to 22 (15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha).
- The members of this committee are elected by the Parliament every year from amongst its own members according to the principle of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
- Thus,all parties get due representation in it.
- The term of office of the members is one year.
- A minister cannot be elected as a member of the committee.
- The chairman of the committee is appointed by the Speaker from amongst its members who are drawn from the Lok Sabha only.
- Thus, the members of the committee who are from the Rajya Sabha cannot be appointed as the chairman. Functions - To examine the reports and accounts of public undertakings. 2. To examine the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General on public undertakings. 3. To examine (in the context of autonomy and efficiency of public undertakings) whether the affairs of the public undertakings are being managed in accordance with sound business principles and prudent commercial practices. 4. To exercise such other functions vested in the public accounts committee and the Estimates Committee in relation to public undertakings which are allotted to it by the Speaker from time-to-time. The committee cannot examine and investigate - 1. Matters of major government policy as distinct from business or commercial functions of the public undertakings. 2. Matters of day-to-day administration. 3. Matters for the consideration of which machinery is established by any special statute under which a particular public undertaking is established. Effectiveness of the committee is limited by - 1. It cannot take up the examination of more than ten to twelve public undertakings in a year. 2. Its work is in the nature of a post-mortem. 3. It does not look into technical matters as its members are not technical experts. 4. Its recommendations are advisory and not binding on the ministries.