UPSC 2022: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz May 28 - Jun 03

• State of the Global Climate Report is published by the World Meteorological Organization.

• In a given year in India, official poverty lines are higher in some States than in others because price levels vary from State to State.
• Poverty lines are measured based on the minimum consumption cost incurred by the people in a particular region as per the Tendulkar Committee recommendations.
• The minimum consumption cost differs from state to state as the price levels vary for each of the states.

• The National AI Portal is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and NASSCOM.
• It serves as a central hub for AI related news, learning, articles, events and activities, etc., in India and beyond.
• The portal was launched by the Union Minister for Electronics and IT, Law and Justice and Communications on the 30^th of May 2020.

• The “Great Gatsby Curve” highlights differences in mobility across countries.
• It shows the relationship between income inequality and intergenerational income mobility.
• The Great Gatsby Curve illustrates the connection between concentration of wealth in one generation and the ability of those in the next generation to move up the economic ladder compared to their parents.

• The three values of Olympism are excellence, friendship and respect.
• These values constitute the foundation on which the Olympic Movement builds its activities to promote sport, culture and education with a view to building a better world.

• An IAS officer may, with the concurrence of the state governments concerned and the central government, be deputed for service under the central government or another state government.
• With respect to disagreement between the centre and state on the central deputation of an officer, Rule 6(1) of the Indian Administrative Service (cadre) Rules, 1954 states that “provided that in case of any disagreement, the matter shall be decided by the Central Government and the State Government shall give effect to the decision of the Central Government.”

• Union territories such as Delhi and Puducherry have representation in Rajya Sabha.
• Election disputes are adjudicated by the respective state High Courts.
• As per the Constitution of India, the parliament of India consists of three parts:
  • The President
  • Rajya Sabha
  • Lok Sabha

• The Hangul is also known as the Kashmir stag. It is native to Kashmir and is found in dense riverine forests in the high valleys and mountains of the Kashmir Valley and northern Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh.
• The Sundarbans forest is among the largest mangrove forest ecosystem in the world. It is home to Indian python, Batagur baska (Northern river terrapin-a species of riverine turtle), Irrawaddy dolphins, Estuarine Crocodile and Royal Bengal Tiger among the others.

IUCN classification:

• Batagur baska – Critically Endangered
• Irrawaddy dolphins – Endangered
• Gharial – Critically Endangered

• The Comptroller and Auditor General is the sole authority prescribed in the Constitution entrusted with the responsibility of audit of accounts of the Union and of the States.
• The Executive does not have powers of direction in relation to Comptroller and Auditor General‘s audit mandate and its execution.
• Audit is required to report not only significant cases of irregularity and breach of rules, regulations and orders but also – all the matters which, in the judgment of the Audit, appears to involve significant unnecessary, excessive, extravagant or wasteful expenditure of public money and resources despite compliance with the rules, regulations and orders or expenditure that has not yielded the intended outputs and/or outcomes.

YUVA (Young, Upcoming and Versatile Authors) is an Author Mentorship programme to train young and budding authors (below 30 years of age) in order to promote reading, writing and book culture in the country, and project India and Indian writings globally.
It was launched by the Department of Higher Education as a scheme Mentoring Young Authors.
The National Book Trust, India under the Ministry of Education is the Implementing Agency.

Global Health Index (GHI) ranks countries on a 100 point scale, 0 representing zero/no hunger. The GHI scores are based on four indicators.

1. Undernourishment: the share of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient.
2. Child Stunting: the share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age.
3. Child Wasting: the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height.
4. Child Mortality: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).

Taken together, the component indicators reflect deficiencies in calories as well as in micronutrients. Thus, the GHI reflects both aspects of hunger (undernutrition and malnutrition).

NSA is a preventive detention law.
The NSA empowers the Centre or a State government to detain a person to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to national security.
Under NSA, a person could be kept in the dark about the reasons for his arrest for up to five days.

Under ‘The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, the following circumstances, among other circumstances, if it occurs or is present in relation to or connected with any act or behaviour of sexual harassment may amount to sexual harassment:

• implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her employment; or
• implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her employment; or
• implied or explicit threat about her present or future employment status; or
• interference with her work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment for her; or
• humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.

• Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is a Public Sector entity under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• IREDA reported an all-time high annual Profit Before Tax (PBT) in 2020-21.
• IREDA has been notified as a “Public Financial Institution” as well as a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC).
  • A public financial institution takes funds from customers and places them in financial assets. The most common financial assets include deposits, loans and bonds issued by or made by the public financial institution.

The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin that normalised connections between Israel and Egypt in 1978.

• President’s rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state.
• When the President’s Rule is imposed in a state, the President removes/dismisses the council of ministers in the state headed by the chief minister. The governor of the state carries on the administration of the state.
• The President can either suspend or dissolve the Legislative assembly. Therefore, the dissolution of the state legislative assembly is not necessarily the consequence of the proclamation.
• The President’s rule does not lead to the dissolution of local bodies.

• Personal law subjects like marriage, divorce, inheritance come under the Concurrent List.
• The term, ‘Uniform Civil Code’ is explicitly mentioned in Part 4, Article 44 of the Indian Constitution. Article 44 says, “The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.”

Niger, officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east.

• The title of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) is a status or level of treatment given by one country to another with respect to international trade. This ensures that the country conferring the title must give all sorts of trade benefits to the most-favoured nation.
• Most Favored Nation (MFN) is a non-discriminatory trade policy as it ensures equal trading among all WTO member nations rather than exclusive trading privileges.
• It requires a country to provide any concessions, privileges, or immunities granted to one nation in a trade agreement to all other World Trade Organization member countries.
• India revoked the MFN status given to Pakistan in 2019.

• Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process (HoA-IP) was founded in 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey.
• It provides a platform for sincere and results-oriented regional cooperation by placing Afghanistan at its centre.
• It was established to address the shared challenges and interests of Afghanistan and its neighbours and regional partners.

• Star campaigners are the people nominated by parties to campaign in a given set of constituencies. They are usually prominent and popular faces within the party.
• A recognised (mainstream) party can field a maximum number of 40 star campaigners while unrecognised political parties can field up to 20 campaigners.
• A Star Campaigner, by standard definition, is a candidate chosen by a political party to contest in a given constituency.
• He/she is chosen usually on the basis of popularity but there is no specific definition under Indian law and the Election Commission (EC).

All the statements are correct.

• BIMSTEC was formed in 1997, originally with Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and later included Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.
• BIMSTEC now includes five countries from South Asia and two from ASEAN.
• It includes all the major countries of South Asia, except Maldives, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• For India, it is a natural platform to fulfil its key foreign policy priorities of ‘Neighbourhood First’ and ‘Act East’.

• On April 1, 1936, Orissa (now Odisha) became a separate state to be formed on a linguistic basis, and the date since then is commemorated as Utkal Divas.
• This Day is also known as Vishuva Milan.
• The leaders of the movement demanding a separate state for all the Odia-speaking regions were Madhusudan Das, Gopabandhu Das, Maharaja Sri Ram Chandra Bhanj Deo and others.
•  Andhra Pradesh was the first Indian state  to be created on a linguistic basis post-independence.

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evum Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme is a farmer-oriented scheme involving decentralised solar power production.
• Under the scheme, the farmers have the option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands.
• The scheme was launched by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• The first farm based solar power plant under the scheme has been set up in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Rabha is an indigenous Tibeto-Burman community.
They are found in Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Hamja is a folk dance performed by the tribes.
The Hamja Dance is about paddy cultivation.
Baikho Dera is the main festival of Rabhas.

• India, Nigeria and China are the largest producers of millets in the world, accounting for more than 55% of the global production.
• In the 160th session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Council held in Rome in 2018, India’s proposal to observe an International Year of Millets in 2023 was approved.
• The United Nations has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
• Millets are photo-insensitive & resilient to climate change.
• They are hardy, resilient crops that have a low carbon and water footprint, can withstand high temperatures and grow on poor soils with little or no external inputs.

• Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for conduct of political parties and candidates during elections mainly with respect to speeches, polling day, polling booths, election manifestos, processions and general conduct.
• The MCC comes into force from the date the election schedule is announced until the date that results are out.
• It does not have statutory backing. This means, if someone breaches the MCC, a case cannot be filed under any clause of the code itself.

• Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC)—the macroscopic ground-state accumulation of particles with integer spin (bosons) at low temperature and high density—has been observed in several physical systems, including cold atomic gases and solid-state quasiparticles.
• In condensed matter physics, a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter (also called the fifth state of matter) which is typically formed when a gas of bosons at low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero (-273.15 °C).
• A Bose-Einstein condensate is a group of atoms cooled to within a hair of absolute zero. When they reach that temperature the atoms are hardly moving relative to each other; they have almost no free energy to do so. At that point, the atoms begin to clump together, and enter the same energy states.