UPSC 2023: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Feb 18 - Feb 24

CPI (Urban Non-Manual Employees) is published by the Central Statistical Organization which is now the National Statistical Office.

Project BOLD, which stands for Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought, aims to provide livelihood, reducing desertification and providing multi-disciplinary rural industry support to the local population of the area by creating bamboo-based green patches in arid and semi-arid land zones.

Brent Crude is sourced from the North Sea.

• Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a new name given to Aajeevika – NRLM in November 2015. The initiative to move towards a demand-driven strategy enabling the states to formulate their own livelihoods-based poverty reduction action plan is at the core of the mission.
• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the ambit of the Ministry of Rural Development.
• The programme is financially supported partially by the World Bank.

• A property transaction is treated as a benami transaction even if the owner of the property is not aware of the transaction based on the principle that ignorance of the law can never be an excuse for the violation of law.
• An appellate mechanism has been provided in the form of adjudicating authority and appellate tribunal.

• The Living Root Bridges in Meghalaya  are made from rubber tree roots also known as Ficus elastica tree.
• The double-decker root bridge in Cherrapunji and the single-decker root bridge in Shillong are unique living root bridges in the world.
• Hence Option C is correct.

• “Public authority” is defined in Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. The “public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self government established or constituted—
  • (a) by or under the Constitution;
  • (b) by any other law made by Parliament;
  • (c) by any other law made by State Legislature;
  • (d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government,
• and includes any—
  • (i) body owned, controlled or substantially financed;
  • (ii) non-Government organization substantially financed.

• The definition clearly delineate bodies created
  • by the Constitution of India (Union and state executives, Election Commission, etc.),
  • by laws made by Parliament and state legislatures (Central and state universities, regulators such as RBI, SEBI, TRAI etc.), and
  • by government orders or notifications as public authorities.

• Hence Option C is correct.

• The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, lays down the law on contempt of court.
• In the case of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General or the Solicitor General, and in the case of High Courts, the Advocate General, may bring in a motion before the court for initiating a case of criminal contempt.
• The AG’s consent is mandatory when a private citizen wants to initiate a case of contempt of court against a person. Hence Statement 1 is correct.
• The Contempt of Court Act, 1971 provides for limitation for filing contempt petitioner within 1 year(NOT 2) for bringing in action against an individual. Hence Statement 2 is incorrect.
• Article 129 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power to initiate contempt cases on its own, independent of the motion brought before it by the AG or with the consent of the AG. Hence Statement 3 is correct.

• The Saraswati is a major Rig Vedic river mentioned in the Rig Veda and other Vedic texts.
• It is part of the Sapta Sindhu rivers mentioned in the Rig Veda.
• The river, which had formed in the Himalayas west of Kailash at Kapal tirith, was flowing southward to Mansarovar before turning westward.
• Hence All the Statements are correct.

Monitoring System for Tiger-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-STRIPES)

• The Indian government launched M-STrIPES, a software-based monitoring system, across Indian tiger reserves.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has improved the monitoring system for tigers in the country’s tiger reserves (TRs) by adopting M-STrIPES.
• Hence Option B is correct.

• Statement 1 is correct, Chakmas are predominantly Buddhists in faith.
• Statement 2 is not correct, They are found in northeast India, West Bengal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
  • Chakmas were originally residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of former East Pakistan (Bangladesh); they fled when their land was submerged by the Kaptai dam project on the Karnaphuli River in the 1960s.
• Statement 3 is correct, Chakma language is part of the Indo-Aryan language family of the Indian subcontinent, and is closely related to the Bengali language.

• Statement 1 is correct, The national tiger count takes place once every four years to estimate the total number of tigers in India.
• Statement 2 is not correct, Madhya Pradesh with 526 Tigers had the highest number of tigers followed by Karnataka with 524 Tigers and Uttrakhand with 442 Tigers Population according to the 2018 tiger census.

Read more about Important Tiger Reserves in India.

Butt rot or Basal stem rot disease of Coconut

• The basal stem rot of coconut is known by several names in different parts of India:
  • Ganoderma wilt in Andhra Pradesh
  • Anaberoga in Karnataka
  • Thanjavur wilt in Tamil Nadu
• The infection begins at the roots; the symptoms include discolouration and rotting of stems and leaves.
• Researchers from Kerala have identified two new species of fungi from the genus Ganoderma that are associated with coconut stem rot disease.
• A reddish-brown secretion is seen and this secretion is reported only in India.
• Once infected, recovery of the plants is highly unlikely.
• In the final stages, the flowering decreases and the coconut palm dies.

• Bhavbhuti was the court poet of Maukhari king Yashovarma (Kannauj) who ruled around 730 AD.
  • The works attributed to poet Bhavbhuti are Mahaviracharita, Malatimadhava and Uttararamacharita
• Hastimalla was a 13th century Kannada poet and a playwright in the Hoysala Empire.
  • His works include Purvapurana, Vikrantakaurava, Subhadra-Maithilikalyana and Anjana-Pavananjaya
• Kshemeshvara was an 11th-century Sanskrit poet from Kashmir.
  • Dasavatar Charita is his important work.

Sri Ramanujacharya was an Indian philosopher and one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism. He is famous as the chief proponent of Vishishtadvaita subschool of Vedanta.
He wrote influential texts in Sanskrit. The scholars attribute the following Sanskrit texts to Ramanuja – Vedārthasangraha (“Summary” of the “Vedas meaning”), Sri Bhāshya (a review and commentary on the Brahma Sutras), Bhagavad Gita Bhāshya (a review and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita).
The ‘Statue of Equality’ being installed to mark Sri Ramanujacharya 1,000th birth anniversary is made up of a combination of gold, silver, copper, brass and zinc.

• Hogenakkal Integrated Drinking Water project has been a source of dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

• The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), jointly initiated by the Union Health Ministry of Health, and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is a consortium of laboratories to monitor the genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2.
• INSACOG is a multi-laboratory, multi-agency, Pan-India network to monitor genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2 by a sentinel sequencing effort which is facilitated by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi involving the Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP).
• Genomics for Public Health in India (IndiGen) programme was initiated in 2019 by CSIR. The programme aims to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India. The objective is to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data.

• The book Hind Swaraj was authored by Mahatma Gandhi.
• Naujawan Bharat Sabha which sought to foment revolution against the British Raj by gathering together worker and peasant youths was founded by Bhagat Singh in 1926.

• Desert National Park is a national park situated in the Indian state of Rajasthan, near the towns of Jaisalmer and Barmer. This is one of the largest national parks in India. There is human habitation inside the Park.

• There is no law that defines who is a star campaigner. It is a status that political parties contesting an election give to certain big names who the parties feel have more vote-fetching ability in the polls than others.
• A star campaigner is a celebrity vote seeker in an election for a party. This person can be a politician or even a film star. There is no law governing who can or cannot be made a star campaigner.
• They are nominated by the concerned political parties specifying their constituencies and duration of the status.
• A ‘recognised’ party declared as such by the Election Commission — can nominate a maximum of 40 star campaigners. An unrecognised political party can nominate a maximum of 20 star campaigners. However, owing to the pandemic this has been reduced to 30 for recognized parties and 15 for unrecognized parties.
• The Supreme Court in one of its rulings has said the Election Commission does not have the power to decide who can be a star campaigner.

• ‘Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research’ (INSPIRE) scheme is one of the flagship programmes of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. The INSPIRE Awards – MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge), being executed by DST with National Innovation Foundation – India (NIF), an autonomous body of DST, aims to motivate students studying in classes 6 to 10.
• The objective of the scheme is to target one million original ideas/innovations rooted in science and societal applications to foster a culture of creativity and innovative thinking among school children.
• Award of Rs. 10,000 is disbursed into the bank accounts of short-listed students through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.

Minsk Agreement was signed in 2015 between Russia and Ukraine. It mainly dealt with a commitment to a ceasefire along the existing line of contact between Russia and Ukraine.

Kanaklata Barua also called Birbala was an Indian independence activist who was shot dead by the British police while leading a procession bearing the National Flag during the Quit India Movement of 1942.

• Wildlife trade is one of the world’s most pressing conservation challenges, affecting hundreds of millions of people and thousands of wildlife species. Trade Related Analysis of Fauna and Flora in Commerce (TRAFFIC) is a leading non-governmental organization working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
• It was founded in 1976 as a strategic alliance of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Milena Salvini, an Italy-born dancer, was a great enthusiast of Indian classical art, especially Kathakali.

• The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) is the first tri-service theatre command of the Indian Armed Forces.
• Strategic Forces Command overlooking nuclear command of India is a tri-service command.
• Defence Cyber Agency is a tri-services command.
• Defence Space Agency draws staff from all 3 services of the Indian Armed Forces.

• The SSLV is intended to cater to a market for the launch of small satellites into low earth orbits which has emerged in recent years on account of the need for developing countries, private corporations, and universities for small satellites.
• The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) project of ISRO dealing with the design and development of the SSLV is a recent undertaking of ISRO. The launch of the maiden flight of the SSLV was scheduled for July 2019 but has been delayed due to setbacks from the Covid 19 crisis and other issues.

• The United States House of Representatives has recently unveiled the ambitious America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength Act of 2022, or the America COMPETES Act of 2022, which proposes to open up new vistas for talented individuals from across the world with a new start-up visa.
• It would mean more opportunities in the US for Indian talent, and for skilled workers.

• Article 39(A), promoting equal justice and free legal aid to the poor, Article 48A, stating the principle to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife and Article 43A, stating the right of participation of workers in the management of industries, were added to the Directive Principles during the 42nd Constitutional Amendment of 1976.
• Equal pay for equal work for both men and women – Article 39
• Right to work, education and public assistance – Article 41
• Securing living wage and human conditions of work to workers – Article 43