UPSC 2023: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Nov 05 - Nov 11

• Land revenue was the chief source of income during the Vijaynagar kingdom period. Land was divided into four categories for purposes of assessment, wet land, dry land, orchards and woods. The rates varied according to the type of the crops, soil, method of irrigation etc.
• Besides land tax, many professional taxes were also imposed. They were on shopkeepers, farm servants, workmen etc. Private owners of workshops paid an industries tax. Commercial taxes consisted of levies, duties and customs on manufactured articles of trade were also levied.

• Absolute right is a right that has no exceptions in its applicability.
• Article 17 of the Indian Constitution abolishes the practice of untouchability. This is an absolute right and it has no exceptions or relaxations against it.
• Primary responsibility for the prevention of atrocities against SC/ST under Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, rests with the State Government.

• Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
• AMU was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875.
• In 1869, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan received the Order of the Star of India from the British government.
• He opposed the Indian National Congress since its formation as he believed that it was established to cater to the needs of the majority community (i.e, Hindus).

• Unorganised workers are those who do not have the benefit of pension, provident fund, gratuity, maternity leave, etc. and work mostly on daily/hourly wages.
• The unorganized workers do not receive sufficient attention from the trade unions.

Marib is a city in Yemen. The Saudi­-led military coalition supporting Yemen’s government has said that it has killed hundreds of Houthi rebels in strikes south of Marib.

• The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
• The headquarters of New Development Bank is in Shanghai.

• A hypercarnivore is an animal whose nutritional requirements are found only in animal meat. Moreover, these organisms might be able to ingest plant matter but they do not have the physiological mechanisms that are required to effectively digest it.
• The polar bear is a hypercarnivore animal.
• Polar Bear (Urus maritimus) is classified as “Vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List.
• Polar bears do not eat penguins as penguins do not make up the ecosystem of the Arctic.
• Yet another reason as to why polar bears would not have preferred to prey on penguins is that birds such as this cannot provide sufficient protein for the bears to survive the frigid Arctic weather.

• The appointment of State Governors by the Centre is a feature borrowed from the Canadian Constitution.
• The 7th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1956 promoted the appointment of the same person as a governor for two or more states.

Read more on Sources of Indian Constitution – Borrowed Features of Indian Constitution.

• Cabinet Committees are extra-constitutional in emergence, which means, they are not mentioned in the Indian Constitution. But, the Rules of Business provide for their formation.
• Cabinet Committees are not mentioned in the Constitution but are still constituted by governments.
• They are established by the PM as per the exigencies of the time and needs of the situation. Hence, their number, nomenclature, and composition vary from time to time.
• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) is composed of the Prime Minister of India and the Minister of Home Affairs.

• Retreating monsoon season commences with the beginning of the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon.
• The retreating southwest monsoon season is marked by clear skies and a rise in temperature.
• The weather in the retreating monsoon is dry in north India but it is associated with rain in the eastern part of the Peninsula.

Extremists questioned the ability of moderates to negotiate with the British Government through their ways and means. They lacked faith in the capacity of the moderates to negotiate with the British Government. Hence there was a disagreement between the moderates and extremists leading to the Surat split of 1907.

• GM Cotton is the only genetically modified crop legally allowed to be cultivated in India.
• GM Rice, GM Brinjal and GM Mustard do not have the legal approval to be cultivated in the country.

• DAP – di-ammonium phosphate is the second most commonly used fertiliser in India after urea.
• DAP (46% P, 18% N) is the preferred source of Phosphorus for farmers while urea is the preferred nitrogenous fertilizer.
• Farmers normally apply DAP fertilizer just before or at the beginning of sowing, as it is high in phosphorus (P) that stimulates root development.

Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) is a multi-lab agency set up by the Government of India for sequencing and analysing the genome data with respect to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Read more on the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium.

• Bhaskaravarman was the last of the Varman dynasty.
• He was perhaps the most illustrious of the kings of the medieval Kamarupa kingdom.
• He was a contemporary and political ally of northern Indian ruler Harshavardhana of Thaneswar.

• The Supreme Court of India is not constrained in the exercise of its powers by laws made by the Parliament.
• Article 142(1) states that “The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or order so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe”.
• Article 142 “provide(s) a unique power to the Supreme Court, to do “complete justice” between the parties, i.e., where at times law or statute may not provide a remedy, the Court can extend itself to put a quietus to a dispute in a manner which would befit the facts of the case.

Buddhist pilgrims consider Kushinagar a sacred site where, they believe, Gautama Buddha delivered his last sermon and attained ‘Mahaparinirvana’ or salvation. It is believed to be the final resting place of Gautama Buddha.

The Black Sea is bordered by Bulgaria, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Romania, and Turkey.

• Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, all resident individuals, including minors, are allowed to freely remit up to USD 2,50,000 per financial year (April – March) for any permissible current or capital account transaction or a combination of both.
• Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) is a measure to facilitate Resident Individuals (including minors) to remit funds outside India.
• There can be multiple remittances under LRS but the cumulative amount of all the transactions should be within the limit prescribed under LRS i.e. USD 250,000. Once a remittance is made for an amount up to USD 2,50,000 during the financial year, a resident individual would not be eligible to make any further remittances under this scheme, even if the proceeds of the investments have been brought back into the country.

• Exposure to excessive heat has wide-ranging impacts for all plants and humans, often amplifying existing conditions and resulting in premature death and disability.
• Rising temperatures shorten the time in which the plants reach maturity.
• Rising temperatures result into smaller yields.
• The WHO European region is the most affected when it comes to deaths due to heat exposure.

• Agricultural soils represent a very large, and growing, global source of nitrous oxide.
• Cattle release ammonia into the environment.
• The poultry industry releases reactive nitrogen compounds into the environment.

• Article 19 offers the right to protest. Although the word protest is not explicitly mentioned in the fundamental rights of the Indian Constitution, it is implicitly derived from the in-depth reading of Article 19.
• The right to protest is protected under Article 19(1)(a), Article 19(1)(b) which gives citizens the right to freedom of expression and the right to meet peacefully without weapons. These two articles constitute the right of protest on the basis that a protester can exercise his right to hold a protest against any issue of national or social interest.
  • The right to freedom of expression means that each person has the right to freely express his or her opinions through a means such as gesture or mouth, etc.
  • The right to peaceful assembly without weapons is to hold public meetings or to close a procession.

• Furlough and parole envisage a short-term temporary release from custody.
• While parole is granted for the prisoner to meet a specific exigency, furlough may be granted after a stipulated number of years have been served without any reason.
• The grant of furlough is to break the monotony of imprisonment and to enable the convict to maintain continuity with family life and integration with society.
• Parole is given to a prisoner for a specific reason, such as a death in the family or a wedding of a blood relative.
• Parole is not a right and it is just a privilege for the prisoner who is deemed to be fit to re-interact with society. Although furlough can be claimed without a reason, the prisoner does not have an absolute legal right to claim furlough. The grant of furlough must be balanced against the public interest and can be refused to certain categories of prisoners.
• Prison is a state subject and all states have their own rules for parole, furlough, remission and premature release based on the good conduct of the prisoners.

• The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) was established by the G-7 Summit that was held in Paris in 1989.
• The objectives of the FATF include setting standards and promoting effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
• FATF Secretariat is located at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris.

• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations organization tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. It is headquartered in New York City.
• UNDP helps to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and build resilience so countries can sustain progress. As the UN’s development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
• The UNDP Executive Board is made up of representatives from 36 countries around the world who serve on a rotating basis.
• The UNDP is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states.
• The UNDP is governed by an administrator, who is the third-highest ranking UN official after the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General.
• The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance is the designated nodal department that approves and signs the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) with UNDP.

• Dewdrops are formed due to the condensation of water vapour in the air.
  • When humid air comes into contact with some cold surface, water vapour present in it condenses on the cold surface in the form of droplets. These tiny drops of water are called dew drops.
• On a cloudy night, the clouds reflect back the heat emanating from the ground. Hence the ground never gets cold enough for the dew to be formed.

• Amur Falcons are known to be one of the world’s longest-distance migratory birds as they travel more than a staggering 22,000 km a year.
• These species of birds come under the category of Least Concern under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
• Nagaland is called the falcon capital of the world.

• Mining of beach sand minerals by private parties is terminated as part of the efforts to curb unlawful mining.
• Two sectors are currently restricted – Beach sand minerals (only Department of Atomic Energy can do mining) and Offshore mining (currently only through PSUs).
• Monazite, Zircon and Garnet are classified as beach sand minerals. Radium does not fall under this category.
• Monazite is the mineral from which thorium is extracted. Thorium is a key ingredient of India’s three-stage nuclear programme that can be turned into nuclear fuel after being combined with a fissile material such as plutonium.

• The procedure for allocation of cadre is a mechanical process and admits no exception except in terms of the rules. It said that consultation in respect of allocation of cadre is not required to be done with the state from which the candidate belongs or with the state to which the candidate is being allocated.
• The Supreme Court has held that successful civil services aspirants have no right to be allocated a cadre of their choice or their home state.
• If a candidate hailing from reserved Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), or Other Backward Class (OBC) category does not take benefit of quota and gets selected in the general category then later he or she cannot take recourse to reservation for getting cadre or place of appointment of choice.

E-Medical Assistance System for Indian Pilgrims Abroad or E-Masiha is an online system to create and maintain the complete health database of pilgrims along with doctors’ prescriptions as well as medicine disbursals to deal with any emergency in Makkah-Madinah.