UPSC 2023: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Jul 16 - Jul 22

Brent crude oil is a major classification of crude oil. It is sourced from the North Sea. The Brent crude oil also contains sulphur.

• Natural gas is a combustible mixture of hydrocarbon gases. While natural gas is formed primarily of methane, it can also include ethane, propane, butane and pentane.
• Natural gas that contains larger amounts of hydrogen sulphide is termed sour gas. Before using it must be “sweetened” by removal of Hydrogen sulphide.

• Under the Indian constitution, certain fundamental rights are available only to the citizens, namely: Right against discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15); right to equality of opportunity in matter of public employment (Article 16); freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence and profession (Article 19); cultural and educational rights (Article 29 and 30); and right to vote and become members of the union and state legislatures.
• Equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India (Article 14) and protection of life or personal liberty (Article 21) are applicable to non-citizens as well. The right to freedom of religion (article 25-28) is available to both citizens and foreigners except enemy aliens.

• Article 23 of the Indian Constitution explicitly prohibits and criminalises human trafficking and forced labour. Apart from protecting an individual against the State it also protects against private persons
• India signed the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) and its three Protocols in 2002
  • Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children;
  • Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; and
  • Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in firearms. Their Parts and Components and Ammunition.

Georgia is strategically located at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

The Kheda Satyagraha of 1918 during the period of the British Raj, is a Satyagraha movement organized in support of peasants of the Kheda district as they were unable to pay high taxes levied by the British due to crop failure and an epidemic plague.

• The Chenab is the largest tributary of the Indus.
• The area enclosed between Beas and Ravi rivers is called Bari doab. 

• Kesaria stupa is a Buddhist stupa in the State of Bihar. The stupa is in the east Champaran district of Bihar.
• It is regarded as the largest Buddhist stupa in the world.

• Hawa Mahal, also known as the “Palace of Breeze”, was built in 1799 as an extension to the Royal City Palace of Jaipur.
• It was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh.
• Mr. Lal Chand Usta was the architect of Hawa Mahal.
• The five-storey palace was built in the form of Krishna’s crown because Sawai Pratap Singh was devoted to Krishna.

• The establishment of the Lok Adalat system of dispute settlement system was brought about with the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 for expediting the system of dispute settlement.
• It can deal with cases pending before a court and also with disputes at the pre-litigation stage.
• It is one of the components of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system.
• Lok Adalat shall have no jurisdiction in respect of matters relating to divorce or matters relating to an offence not compoundable under any law.

• Green India Mission comes under the umbrella of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
• It was launched in 2014.
• Its aim is restoring and enhancing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures.

Read more Green India Mission (GIM).

• Contempt of court is the offence of being defiant or disrespectful to the court.
• Section 20 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 states that “No court shall initiate any proceedings of contempt, either on its own motion or otherwise, after the expiry of a period of one year from the date on which the contempt is alleged to have been committed”.
• The Supreme Court or High Court can take the cognizance of criminal contempt on its own motion or on a motion made by the Attorney-General or the Solicitor-General.
• Truth can be a valid defence in any contempt proceedings if such a defence is in the public interest and the request for invoking the defence is bona fide.

• Red Sanders is a tree endemic to South India.
• They are found in the Tropical Dry Deciduous forest of the Palakonda and Seshachalam hill ranges of Andhra Pradesh and also found in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
• IUCN has classified red sanders as endangered (Assessment year: 2020).

• Cloudburst is extreme precipitation, which lasts only for a short period of time and is extremely local in nature.
• Cloudbursts usually occur in connection with a thunderstorm.
• While there is a greater probability of cloudbursts occurring in the mountains and hilly areas, cloudbursts can also occur in plains.

The Cool Temperate Continental (Siberian) Climate is experienced only in the northern hemisphere. Southern Hemisphere is typically more temperate and warmer than the various landmasses in the Northern Hemisphere because of the effect of the oceans. Oceans absorb and store huge amounts of energy.
The Cool Temperate Western Margin regions are under the influence of Westerlies all-round the year. They are also regions of much cyclonic activity, typical of Britain, and therefore, they are said to experience the British type of climate.

Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile produced in Andhra Pradesh. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari.

The Cairo Consensus adopted in the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 called for the promotion of reproductive rights, empowering women, universal education, maternal and infant health to tackle the challenge of poverty and high fertility.

Pulichintala Project is a multipurpose project serving irrigation needs, hydropower generation and flood control. It is constructed across river Krishna near Pulichinta Village.
It has been a source of interstate water dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

India’s largest floating solar project has been commissioned at Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Its capacity is 10 MW.

• Satras are institutional centres associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, largely found in the Indian state of Assam.
• These monastic institutions were created as part of the Neo-Vaishnavite reformist movement by Srimanta Sankaradeva.
• Satras were established as centres of religious, social and cultural reforms. Satras promulgate Sankaradeva’s unique “worship through art” approach with music (borgeet), dance (sattriya) and theatre (bhauna).

• Pyrolysis and Plasma gasification are associated with waste to energy technologies.
• Pyrolysis is the heating of an organic material, such as biomass, in the absence of oxygen. Because no oxygen is present the material does not combust but the chemical compounds (i.e. cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) that make up that material thermally decompose into combustible gases and charcoal.
• Plasma gasification is an extreme thermal process using plasma which converts organic matter into a syngas which is primarily made up of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. A plasma torch powered by an electric arc is used to ionize gas and catalyze organic matter into syngas, with slag remaining as a byproduct. Plasma gasification is an emerging technology which can process landfill waste to extract commodity recyclables and convert carbon-based materials into fuels.

• The Wholesale Price Index covers only goods.
• The Wholesale price Index calculated with 2011-12 base year does not include taxes in order to remove the impact of fiscal policy. This also brings the new WPI series closer to the Producer Price Index and is in consonance with the global practices.

• On April 1, 2014, India became the first country to legally mandate corporate social responsibility. The new rules in Section 135 of India’s Companies Act make it mandatory for companies of a certain turnover and profitability to spend two percent of their average net profit for the past three years on CSR.
• As per Section 135 of the Act and rules issued thereunder, CSR norms are applicable on companies that has –
  • net worth of Rs 500 Crore or more;
  • turnover of Rs 1000 Crore or more; or
  • net profit of Rs 5 Crore or more.
• Contribution of any amount directly or indirectly to any political party under section 182 of the Act shall not be considered as CSR activity.
• Also, expenses incurred by companies for the fulfillment of any Act/Statute of regulations would not count as CSR expenditure under the Companies Act.

Tabla, Mridangam, Ghatam and Kanjira are all percussion instruments.
The Kanjira is a South Indian frame drum. As a folk and bhajan instrument, it has been used in India for many centuries.

• Almost the whole of South Africa is a high plateau sloping towards the west.
• The Orange River flows westward into the Atlantic Ocean.
• The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa.

• Conventional sugarcane cultivation is found to be seed, water, and space intensive. Issues like high input costs, disease infestation, low yields, varietal degeneration, drought and waterlogging are the major limiting factors for achieving optimum profits.
• Thus the conventional method of sugarcane cultivation has become unviable for small and marginal farmers.

Major principles of SSI:

• The farmers are also being encouraged under the programme to practice inter-cropping of soybean and groundnut with sugarcane cultivation. This would help ensure the effective utilization of land.
• Installing a drip irrigation system is a major component of the Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI).
• The SSI emphasizes the in-house preparation of seedlings. This would help cut the seed costing.
• SSI does not rule out the usage of chemical fertilizers but emphasizes optimal usage of such fertilizers.

• Privy Purses abolished – 26^th Amendment
• Voting age decreased from 21 to 18 – 61^st Amendment

Important Amendments in Indian Constitution

• PPIs are instruments that facilitate (a) purchase of goods and services, including financial services, (b) remittances, (c) funds transfers, etc., against the value stored in/on such instruments.
• Interest is not paid on PPI balances.
• Semi-closed System PPIs do not permit cash withdrawal, irrespective of whether they are issued by banks or non-banks.

• The primary object of an adjournment motion is to draw the attention of the House to a recent matter of urgent public importance having serious consequences.
• It is an extraordinary device, needs the support of 50 members and can only be initiated in the Lok Sabha and not in the Rajya Sabha.

• It is a proposal made by European Commission to reduce the EU’s carbon emissions by 55% compared with 1990 levels by 2030.
• According to the proposals, dependence on fossil fuel-run cars would be reduced and zero-emission cars such as electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles would be permitted to be manufactured.
• It is an ambitious plan to tackle climate change.