UPSC 2023: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Jul 30 - Aug 05

PRAGYATA guidelines issued by the government of India refer to a set of guidelines issued for the planning and implementation of Digital Education.

Read more on PRAGYATA: Guidelines on Digital Education released by HRD Ministry

• The 97th Constitutional amendment act dealt with the issues related to the effective management of co-operative societies in the country.
• Only the states can enact laws with regard to cooperative societies.
• The subject “co-operative societies” is enumerated in Entry 32 of the State List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

• As money supply in the economy falls the interest rate also has the tendency to rise.
• An expansionary monetary policy is implemented by lowering key interest rates.
• The policy interest rate required to achieve the inflation target is decided by the Monetary Policy Committee.

• The Democracy Index is published by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
• There is a range of 60 indicators within the five categories on which the Democracy Index is based. Five indicators:
  1. Electoral Process and Pluralism
  2. The Functioning of the Government
  3. Political Participation
  4. Political Culture
  5. Civil Liberties

Read more on Democracy Index 2020.

The Belle II experiment conducted in Japan dealt with particle physics.
Digital/Cryptocurrency is based on blockchain technology.
CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome-editing tool.

• The Members of Parliament are granted certain privileges individually and collectively so as to perform their duties properly. But if any of the members disregards or misuses any of these privileges or rights, it is considered as a breach of the privilege motion and is liable for punishment under the parliamentary laws.
• Privilege motion can be moved against any member of the parliament.
• The Speaker/RS chairperson can decide on the privilege motion himself or herself or refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament.

Read more Privilege Motion – Breach of Privilege Motion & Cases

Storm Centres                                                   Leaders of the 1857 Revolt

• Kanpur                                                                          Nana Sahib
• Jhansi                                                                         Rani Laxmibai
• Lucknow                                                            Begum Hazrat Mahal
• Faizabad                                                               Maulvi Ahmadullah
• Rajasthan                                                  Jaidayal Singh/Hardayal Singh
• Bihar                                                               Kunwar Singh/Amar Singh

Read more: Revolt of 1857 – Causes, Impact, Failure, List of Important Leaders Involved

• Madhubani painting has its origins in the Maithili village of Bihar.
• Madhubani paintings bear the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

Read more on Madhubani Paintings.

• A biosimilar is a biological medical product highly similar to another already approved biological medicine.
• Chemical drugs have a simple structure whereas biosimilars have a relatively complex structure.
• Biosimilars are sensitive to storage and handling, while chemical drugs are stable.

• National Career Service (NCS) project is a Mission Mode Project launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.
• It was launched for establishing quick and efficient career-related services across the country by revamping the existing nationwide set-up of Employment Exchanges into IT-enabled Career Centers.

• The dominant mechanism thought to underpin planet formation is called “core accretion”.
  • As per this mechanism, material spinning around a newly formed star coalesces into planets. The small dust grains, coated in ice, gradually grow to larger and larger sizes through successive collisions with other grains. This continues until the grains have grown to a size of a planetary core, at which point the young planet has a strong enough gravitational potential to accrete gas which will form its atmosphere.
• The circumplanetary discs surrounding some planets similarly yield moons.

• Sittanavasal Cave is a 2nd-century Tamil Śramaṇa complex of caves in Sittanavasal village in Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated mainly to Jainism.
• The Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. It has no such sculpture of the reclining Buddha.
• Ajantha caves and Kushinagar have reclining Buddha sculptures.

• Maguri Motapung Beel is a wetland and lake located near Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Motapung Village of Tinsukia district in Assam.
• It is not a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
• Keibul Lamjao National Park is located in the state of Manipur.

• Hindu temples are built in the Panchayatana layout wherein the main shrine is surrounded by four subsidiary shrines.
• Generally, Hindu temples are built along a west-east axis. So the four subsidiary shrines are at the north-east, south-east, south-west, north-west.

Bills that can be introduced in the Parliament only with the prior recommendation of the President include:

• Bills that seek to alter the boundaries of any state under Article 3.
• Money bill under Article 110.
• State bills which impose restrictions on the freedom of trade under Article 304.
• Bills affecting taxation in which states are interested under 274.

• Ramappa temple which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site is a temple that was built by Racherla Senapati Rudrayya, a general of Kakatiya king Ganapatideva, in the 13th century.
• Ramappa was the sculptor of the temple.
• Famous Italian merchant and explorer Marco Polo had visited the temple. Marco Polo, during his visit to the Kakatiya Empire, allegedly called the temple “the brightest star in the galaxy of temples”.

• Artemis is NASA’s program to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024.
• NASA wants to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by the year 2024, which it plans on doing through the Artemis lunar exploration program.
• ARTEMIS stands for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of Moon’s Interaction with the Sun.

• The Quit India movement was officially launched by the Indian National Congress (INC) led by Mahatma Gandhi on 9 August 1942. The movement gave the slogans ‘Quit India’ or ‘Bharat Chodo’.
• Lord Linlithgow was the viceroy of India during Quit India Movement.
• Some parties did not support the movement. There was opposition from the Muslim League, the Communist Party of India and the Hindu Mahasabha.
• Independent parallel governments were established during the Quit India movement in different parts of the country.
• ‘Jatiya Sarkar’ was formed in Tamluk in West Bengal. It was called ‘Prati Sarkar’ in Satara.

• The uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide is occurring at a rate exceeding the natural buffering capacity of the oceans.
• Ocean acidification is the decrease in the pH of the Earth’s oceans, caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The following will be affected due to ocean acidification:
  • The growth and survival of calcareous phytoplankton will be adversely affected.
  • The growth and survival of coral reefs will be adversely affected.
  • The survival of some animals that have phytoplanktonic larvae will be adversely affected.

• Bhagat Singh was not against the non-cooperation movement since the very beginning. He supported Mahatma Gandhi in the Non-cooperation movement.
• But when the movement was called off by Mahatma Gandhi after the Chauri-Chaura incident, Bhagat Singh turned to revolutionary nationalism.
• In 1928 Bhagat Singh established the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) along with Sukhdev, Chandrashekhar Azad and the others.

• Kandla SEZ (KASEZ) has become the First Green SEZ to achieve the IGBC Green Cities Platinum Rating for Existing Cities.
• KASEZ earlier known as the Kandla Free Trade Zone, is located at the port town Gandhidham in Gujarat.
• It is the first in Asia and the largest multi-product Special Economic Zone in India.
• IGBC Green Cities (Existing Cities) rating system is a voluntary and consensus-based programme.

Read more on this covered in PIB Summary & Analysis for 26th July 2021.

• A proposal has been submitted to declare Thane creek Flamingo Sanctuary as a Ramsar site. It is not yet included in the Ramsar Convention.
• Wetlands include lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, rice paddies, and salt pans.

Jordan and Iraq do not border the Mediterranean Sea.

• An amendment to the Constitution of India can be initiated by an introduction of a bill in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
• If such an amendment seeks to make changes in the federal character of the Constitution, the amendment also requires to be ratified by the legislature of all the 50% of the States of India (half of the total states). That is with the consent of half of the state legislatures by a simple majority.

• A commission set up under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 shall have the powers of a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure.
• Inquiry commissions set up by the central government can make an inquiry into the matters relatable to any of the entries in Union List, State List or Concurrent List.
• Inquiry commissions set up by the state government can make an inquiry into the matters relatable to any of the entries in Concurrent List or State List only.
• If the Centre has appointed an Inquiry Commission, then the state government cannot set up a parallel commission on the same subject matter without the consent of the central government.
• If a state has appointed an Inquiry Commission, then the Centre can set up a parallel commission on the same subject if it believes that the scope of the inquiry can extend to other states.

• Dholavira, inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list is in the Khadir Island in the Rann of Kutch and is located on the Tropic of Cancer.
• Beads, terracotta, gold, ivory have been excavated from the site.
• The city demonstrates a sophisticated water management system.
• The first actual remains of horses were found in Surkotada in Gujarat.

• Exercise Cutlass Express is a U.S. Naval Forces Africa led all-domain exercise sponsored by U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).
• It is an all-domain exercise in East African coastal regions and the West Indian Ocean.
• The 2021 edition of the exercise involves the participation of 12 Eastern African countries, US, UK, India and various international organisations like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO) and EUCAP Somalia.

• Nauka is a space laboratory launched by Russia to be integrated with the International Space Station (ISS).
• It was launched by Russia and will serve as the country’s main research facility on the space station.
• Nauka will be attached to the critical Zvezda module on the ISS.

• A budget deficit is when spending exceeds income.
• Reducing revenue expenditure, rationalizing subsidies will help in reducing the expenditure thereby reducing the deficit.
• Introducing new welfare schemes will lead to additional expenditure.
• Reducing import duty will reduce the income received by the government in the form of import duties.