UPSC 2023: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Jul 29 - Aug 04

• Statement 1 is correct, Repo rate is the interest rate at which RBI lends money to the banking system and an increase in repo rate increases the borrowing rates of all kinds.
• Statement 2 is not correct, An increase in Repo rate can also adversely affect economic growth due to decrease in consumption resulting from lower money supply in the economy.
• Statement 3 is correct, OBICUS (Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilization Survey) of the RBI provides an insight into the demands of the Indian manufacturing sector.

• Statement 1 is correct, START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the United States of America on the limitation and reduction of strategic offensive arms.
  • The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994.
• Statement 2 is correct, The treaty barred its signatories from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop a total of 1,600 inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and bombers.
• Statement 3 is correct, The New START treaty limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, which is down nearly two-thirds from the original START treaty.

• Statement 1 is correct, The motto of the 2022 Commonwealth Games was “Sport is just the beginning”
• Statement 2 is correct, Unlike the Olympics, para athletes also participated in the same Commonwealth games, making it the first fully inclusive international multi-sport event.
• Statement 3 is correct, The 2022 Commonwealth games are the first global multi-sport event to have more events for women than men.

• The “porcupine strategy” proposed in 2008 by US Naval War College research professor William S Murray, is a strategy of asymmetric warfare focused on fortifying a weak state’s defences to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses rather than taking on its strengths.

• Statement 1 is not correct, If the inflation is too high, RBI would sell government securities to ease out the pressure.
• Statement 2 is correct, If the rupee is rapidly depreciating, RBI is likely to sell dollars in the market to maintain liquidity and reduce volatility in the market.
• Statement 3 is correct, Elimination of exchange rate variation between legacy currencies is expected to lead to an increase in trade and investment between the countries. When the central bank sells dollars, it sucks out an equivalent amount in rupees, thus reducing the rupee liquidity in the system. Dollar inflow into the market will strengthen the rupee. So, RBI will buy dollars in case interest rates fall in the USA or European Union.

• Usha Mehta was a Gandhian and freedom fighter who organized the Congress Radio (Secret Congress Radio) an underground radio station, which functioned during the Quit India Movement.
• Matangini Hazra was an Indian revolutionary who participated in the Quit India Movement. She was affectionately known as Gandhi Buri.
• Sucheta Kripalani played an active part in the Quit India Movement. She is also the first women to become a Chief Minister of a state in India (Uttar Pradesh)
• Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was designated as a member of the Advisory Board of Education by the colonial authorities. However, she quit the board owing to her involvement in the Quit India Movement.
  • Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was the first Indian woman to join the Cabinet of Independent India as its health minister.

• Statement 1 is correct, The most recent Chess Olympiad was hosted in India for the first time and saw the largest participation in any Chess Olympiad.
• Statement 2 is correct, International Chess Federation (FIDE) was recognised as a Global Sporting Organization by the International Olympic Committee in 1999
• Statement 3 is correct, The India women’s A team achieved a first at the 44th Chess Olympiad by winning the country’s first-ever medal in the women’s section.

• Statement 1 is correct, The NASA-ISRO SAR mission will observe Earth and measure its changing ecosystem and masses globally.
• Statement 2 is correct, It is a dual-frequency Radar imaging satellite and is using both L-Brand and S-Brand Radar frequencies. The S-Brand Radar is being built by ISRO and the L-Brand Radar is being built by NASA
• Statement 3 is correct, The main objective of this research is to make global measurements of the causes and consequences of land surface changes. This includes:

• • Imbalance in the Ecosystem
  • Natural Hazards
  • Ice Sheet Collapse
  • Agricultural and Forest Biomass
  • Soil Moisture Estimation

• Delhi’s first bamboo theme park titled “Baansera” is being constructed on the Yamuna floodplain.
• “Bashgram”(bamboo village) is India’s first bamboo park set up in Tripura.

• The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Scheme is an assessment process in which an individual’s existing skills and experience (formal or informal) are evaluated and certified. 
• The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) was launched in 2016, and RPL is a part of it.
• It is overseen by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development.

• Option 1 is incorrect, Supreme Court in Kehar Singh v Union of India, 1988 case talks about Article 72 of the Indian Constitution regarding the power of the President to grant pardons, etc. and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases.
• Option 2 is incorrect, ‘Kihoto Hollohan vs Zachillhu And Others’ (1992) case is regarding the constitutional challenge to the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and discretionary powers granted to the Speaker.
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the sweeping discretion available to the Speaker in deciding cases of disqualification of MLAs.
• Option 3 is correct, The judgment in Lily Thomas v Union of India case has provided that all the elected or non-elected MPs and MLAs would be disqualified with immediate effect if they were convicted in a criminal case by a trial court and the saving clause under section 8(4) will not be applicable.
• Option 4 is incorrect, Lok Prahari v Union Of India And Others case deals with the provision of Article 224A of the Constitution of India regarding the appointment of ad hoc Judges to deal with the backlog of cases in High Courts.

• Statement 1 is correct. If there is any inconsistency between laws made by Parliament and laws made by the Legislatures of States on subjects in the concurrent list then the central law prevails over the state law.
• Statement 2 is correct, as per Article 254(2) of the Indian Constitution, the law made by the State shall prevail if it has been reserved for the consideration of the President and has received his assent.
• Statement 3 is correct, Malimath Committee headed by Justice V.S. Malimath to examine the fundamental principles of criminal law favoured making Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (dowry harassment) a bailable and compoundable offense.

Read more on the 7th schedule of the Indian Constitution.

• Pair 1 is correctly matched, Vellanvagai was land of non-Brahmana peasant proprietors, and land gifted to temples was referred to as devadana or tirunamattukkani.
• Pair 2 is incorrectly matched, Pallichchhandam was land donated to Jaina institutions.
• Pair 3 is incorrectly matched, Shalabhoga refers to the land denoted to the maintenance of a school.

• Statement 1 is incorrect, Tipu was defeated in the first phase of the war against Lord Cornwallis and his forces had to retreat.
• Statement 2 is incorrect, the war ended with the Treaty of Seringapatam in 1792.
• Statement 3 is correct, as per the treaty, Tipu had to surrender two of his sons as surety to the British till he paid his due.

Read more on the Third and Fourth Anglo-Mysore wars.

The Tea Board was set up under the Tea Act 1953. It has succeeded the Central Tea Board and the Indian Tea Licencing Committee which functioned respectively under the Central Tea Board Act, 1949 and the Indian Tea Control Act, 1938 which were repealed. The Tea Board is functioning as a statutory body of the Central Government under the Ministry of Commerce.

• Statement 1 is incorrect, An Indian citizen who has completed 35 years of age is qualified to become the Vice-President of India given he is also qualified to be a Rajya Sabha/Upper House member.
• Statement 2 is incorrect, The President of India administers the oath to the vice president.
• Statement 3 is incorrect, there is no provision of a ‘six-month’ time frame to fill the vacancy to the post of Vice president as in the case for the President of India in the Indian Constitution.

Read more on the Vice President of India.

• Statement 1 is correct, The Asian elephant has been listed as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List since 1986 as the elephant population has declined over the last 60-55 years.
• Statement 2 is correct, Only some male Asian elephants have tusks, while both male and female African elephants grow tusks.
• Statement 3 is incorrect, The African elephant was recently split into two different species, the African forest elephant and the African savanna elephant, by IUCN.
  • Critically Endangered African savanna elephants are larger and their tusks curve outward. The tusks of the  Endangered African forest elephant are straighter, pointing downward, and they have more rounded ears.

Image Credit: Elephant Aid International

United Nations Security Council Resolution 39, adopted on January 20, 1948, offered to assist in the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir Conflict by setting up a commission of three members.

• Pair one is correctly matched, Kunchikal Falls is formed by Varahi River in Shimoga district of Karnataka. It is India’s highest waterfall with a height of 1493 feet.
• Pair two is correctly matched, Barehipani Falls is a two-tiered waterfall located in Simlipal National Park, Odisha. The waterfall is situated on the Budhabalanga river flowing over the Meghasani mountain of the Eastern Ghats.
• Pair three is correctly matched, Nohkalikai Falls is the tallest plunge waterfall in India with a height of 340 meters. It is located in Meghalaya. Nohkalikai Falls is located on the edge of the Cherrapunji Plateau and is always fed by the rain.
• Pair four is correctly matched, The Vajrai Waterfall is located on the Urmodi river in Maharashtra. It is the second highest plunge waterfall in India with a drop of 335 meters.
• Pair five is incorrectly matched, Wei Sawdong Falls is a three-tiered waterfall located in Meghalaya.

Read more on the highest waterfalls in India.

• Statement 1 is correct, Convertible bonds offer a lower coupon rate in exchange for the value of the option to convert the bond into common stock.
• Statement 2 is correct, The option to convert to equity affords the bondholder a degree of indexation to rising consumer prices as equity prices can differ widely from the given interest and the difference in that can be used as a hedge for the inflation.

• Statement 01 is correct, Project Elephant is a Central Government sponsored scheme launched in February 1992.
• Statement 02 is correct, India has the world’s largest population of Asian Elephants with around 27,000 Elephants. As per the 2017 Elephant Census, Karnataka has the highest number of elephants (6,049), followed by Assam (5,719) and Kerala (3,054).
• Statement 03 is correct, The elephant herd is led by the oldest and largest female member (known as the matriarch). This herd includes the daughters of the matriarch and their offspring.

• Statement 01 is correct, There is no specific definition of essential commodities in The EC Act. Section 2(A) of the Act states that an “essential commodity” means a commodity specified in the “Schedule” of this Act.
• Statement 02 is incorrect, The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution implements the Act.
• Statement 01 is correct, The Act empowers the central government to control the production, supply, distribution, trade, and commerce in certain commodities by adding or removing a commodity in the list of essential commodities.

The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India directed that every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of a minimum of one km starting from their demarcated boundaries.

• Statement 01 is correct, The Iran Nuclear Deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)  is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program reached in Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States—plus Germany).
• Statement 02 is correct, Iran agreed to implement a protocol that would allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency unrestricted access to its nuclear facilities. This access can also be applied to undeclared sites.
• Statement 03 is correct, after the exit of the United States, the other powers, in an attempt to keep the deal alive, launched a barter system known as INSTEX to facilitate transactions with Iran outside the US banking system.

In the 1930s, using Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity and the principles of quantum physics, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar proved that it is impossible for a white dwarf star, which is supported solely by a degenerate gas of electrons, to be stable if its mass is greater than 1.44 times the mass of the Sun. This limit is crucial in the evolution of stars. This is known as Chandrasekhar Limit.

• Statement 01 is incorrect, The holy book is Avesta.
• Statement 02 is correct, Fire along with clean water are considered agents of ritual purity. Fire is used as a medium to communicate with God, whom they call Ahura Mazda
• Statement 03 is incorrect, Dakhma-nashini is a method of corpse destruction.

• Statement 01 is correct, Basmati rice is long slender looking rice that has its origin in India and some parts of Pakistan.
• Statement 02 is correct, India is the leading producer as well as exporter of Basmati rice with about 70 percent share in global production.
• Statement 03 is correct, The yield of Basmati rice from the agricultural land is almost half the non-basmati varieties. This is also the reason for its high cost.
• Statement 04 is correct, Basmati has a characteristic aroma that is not there in non-basmati varieties.

Parul Mukherjee was connected in the Titagarh conspiracy case together with Purnanondo Das Gupta, Sita Nath Dey, Nihar Ranjan Ray, Shyam Benode Pal Chowdhury, and others for making explosives to fight against the British, due to their severe torture in the labours.

Matangini Hazra (19 October 1870 – 29 September 1942[1]) was an Indian revolutionary who participated in the Indian independence movement until she was shot dead by the British Indian police in front of the Tamluk Police Station (of erstwhile Midnapore District) on 29 September 1942. She was affectionately known as Gandhi Buri, Bengali for old lady Gandhi.

Indirect transfers refer to situations where when foreign entities own shares or assets in India, the shares of such foreign entities are transferred instead of a direct transfer of the underlying assets in India.