UPSC 2024: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Oct 14 - Oct 20

• Statement 01 is correct, Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides that State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.
• Statement 02 is correct, Fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 22(1) also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before law and a legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all.
  • Legal aid strives to ensure that the constitutional pledge is fulfilled in its letter and spirit and that equal justice is made available to the poor, downtrodden and weaker sections of society.
• Statement 03 is incorrect, The Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief of the National Legal Services Authority.

• Set up for the first time in the country, the ‘Rythu Bharosa Kendras’ (RBKs) are unique seeds-to-sales, single-window service centres for farmers that have been set up across Andhra Pradesh.
• They are a one-stop solution to all farmers’ needs and grievances.
• RBKs sell pre-tested quality seeds, certified fertilisers and animal feed. Farmers can purchase or hire farm equipment, and even sell their produce at the prevailing MSP in the RBKs.
• Recently, an Ethiopian delegation led by the country’s Agricultural Minister Dr Meles Mekonen Yimer visited Andhra Pradesh to study Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs).

• It is released by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• The Logistics Performance Index is an indicator of the efficiency of logistics services needed to fuel exports and economic growth.
• The index aims to focus on improving logistic performance across states, which is essential for improving the country’s trade and reducing transaction costs.
• The annual survey processes the data received from stakeholders and States/UTs and ranks the logistics ecosystem of each State/UT using a statistical model.
• The first logistic report was released in 2018.
• Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat are among the 15 states and UTs categorised as achievers in the logistics index chart 2022.

• Namdapha National Park is a large protected area established in 1983 in Arunachal Pradesh.
• With more than 1,000 floral and about 1,400 faunal species, it is a biodiversity hotspot in the Eastern Himalayas.
• It lies on the international border between India and Myanmar (Burma) within the Changlang District in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India.
• It is the only park in the world to have the four feline species of big cats namely the Tiger (Panthera tigris), Leopard (Panthera pardus), Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) and Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and a number of lesser cats.
  • However, snow leopards in the national park have never been spotted nor recorded yet and are awaiting confirmation based on a recent survey.
• Hoolock Gibbons, the only ‘ape’ species found in India is found in this National Park.

• Under the old IAEA safeguards, all NPT signatories would specify their nuclear sites and IAEA would carry out inspections in the specified sites.
  • Thus, IAEA, under the old safeguards, could only carry out inspections for unauthorised activities only at designated or specified sites declared by a country. This basically left an option open for states to carry out covert nuclear programmes – as happened in the case of Iraq.
• Thus, in 1993, the IAEA designed Additional Protocols (AP) to tighten the existing safeguarding regime. However, India-specific Additional Protocols (AP) do not give IAEA the right to hinder or interfere with activities which are outside the scope of India’s safeguard agreements, thus recognizing that India reserves a right to a military nuclear program outside the IAEA agreement.

Statement 1 is correct: Till now ISRO has used only PSLV for commercial launches. There have been eight commercial launches using PSLV. However, GSLV Mk III is set to launch 36 satellites and enter the commercial foray.

Statement 2 is correct: India presently has three operational launch vehicles PSLV, GSLV, and GSLV Mk III. The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle of ISRO was partially successful.

Statement 3 is correct: The government opened the space sector for private players in 2020 with the aim to allow private players to offer regular space services and ISRO to focus on scientific missions.

Statement 1 is correct and Statement 2 is incorrect: It is India’s first operational greenfield smart city and international financial services center consisting of a multi-service SEZ. The city is located on the banks of the Sabarmati river. The city includes commercial, financial and residential complexes.

Statement 3 is correct: GIFT city consists of India’s first International Bullion Exchange called India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX).

The Government of India has advanced the target for 20% ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025 from 2030. The twenty percent ethanol-blended petrol is likely to be made available in India in December 2022 or January 2023, as cited by the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Statement 1 is correct: Electoral bonds are valid for 15 days from the date of issue.

Statement 2 is correct: Only the political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and have secured not less than 1% of the votes polled in the last general election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly, are eligible to receive electoral bonds.

Statement 3 is incorrect: The bonds are available for purchase by any citizen of India for a period of ten days each in the months of January, April, July and October as may be specified by the Central Government.

The World Justice Project released its Rule of Law Index 2017-18 report, which measures the extent to which 113 countries have adhered to the rule of law in that period. India’s rank was 62, better than China, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Bangladesh; Denmark occupied the top spot.

• Statement 1 is correct: Responsibilities of Generators have been introduced to segregate waste into three streams, Wet (Biodegradable), Dry (Plastic, Paper, metal, wood, etc.), and domestic hazardous wastes (diapers, napkins, empty containers of cleaning agents, mosquito repellents, etc.) and handover segregated wastes to authorized rag-pickers or waste collectors or local bodies.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: Ministry of Environment is responsible for the overall monitoring of the rules.
• Statement 3 is correct: Generator will have to pay a ‘User Fee’ to the waste collector.
• Statement 4 is correct: The Rules are now applicable beyond Municipal areas and extend to urban agglomerations, census towns, notified industrial townships, areas under the control of Indian Railways, airports, airbases, Port and harbor, defence establishments, special economic zones, State and Central government organizations, places of pilgrims, religious & historical importance.

The Gaur, also known as the Indian Bison, is among the largest species of wild cattle native to the South and Southeast. It falls under the Vulnerable category.
Gaurs are found in evergreen forests or semi-evergreen and deciduous forests.
In certain areas affected by human habitation, gaurs are nocturnal but in other places they are diurnal.

• Statement 1 is correct: Mars is called the Red Planet because iron minerals present in the Martian soil oxidize, or rust, causing the soil and atmosphere to look red.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: Phobos and Deimos are the two satellites that orbit around Mars.

• Statement 1 is incorrect: In order to avail benefits of the PMUY scheme, an applicant must be a woman aged above 18 years. She should also be a citizen of India
• Statement 2 is correct: The beneficiaries will be selected or identified through the published list of SECC-2011.
• Statement 3 is correct: Under the scheme, oil marketing companies provide interest-free loans for refilling and purchasing stoves.

• Statement 1 is correct: An increase in Nominal Effective Exchange Rate reflects the appreciation of the rupee.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: When the Real Effective Exchange Rate improves or increases it results in reducing trade competitiveness.
• Statement 3 is correct: An increasing trend in domestic inflation relative to inflation in other countries causes an increasing divergence between NEER and REER.

• The ‘Hunger Hotspots Outlook’ is a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP).
• Report warns that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 19 countries or situations – called hunger hotspots – during the outlook period from October 2022 to January 2023.
• Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen remain at the highest alert level, as they all have populations facing or projected to face starvation or at risk of deterioration towards catastrophic conditions as they already have critical food insecurity and are facing severe aggravating factors.

Read more on G20

• Statement 01 is correct, According to a recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and EY, FDI in India has seen a consistent rise in the last decade, with FY2021-22 receiving an FDI inflow of USD 84.8 billion despite the impact of the pandemic and geo-political developments on investment sentiment.
• Statement 02 is incorrect, As per the report, the confidence in India’s potential stems from strong consumption trends, digitisation and a growing services sector, along with government’s strong focus on infrastructure and manufacturing.

• G20 Common Framework is the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). It is endorsed by the G20 members together with the Paris Club.
•  It was announced in November 2020 to deal with the issue of unsustainable debts faced by various countries.

Global Hunger Index scores are based on the values of four component indicators:

• Undernourishment
• Child stunting
• Child wasting
• Child mortality

• Extremely high rates of inflation are generally associated with high rates of money growth. It is often the result of financing large deficits by printing money.

• Statement 1 is correct, The governor can summon or prorogue the house at his/her own discretion when the government has lost its majority.
• Statement 2 is not correct, The Governor of a state, unlike the President of India, is conferred with the power to act at his own discretion. There are two categories of discretion for the governor. One is Constitutional Discretion and the other is Situational Discretion.
• Statement 3 is not correct, A Governor cannot dismiss a Minister unless recommended by the Chief Minister.

• With the successful launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), India has joined a league of nations SLBM Capability.
• Other countries with SLBM Capabilities include: The US, Russia, the UK, France, China and North Korea.

• Statement 1 is not correct, Tokenization is the process of exchanging sensitive data for nonsensitive data called “tokens” that can be used in a database or internal system without bringing it into scope.
  • Tokenization is less vulnerable to hacking and is not completely immune.
• Statement 2 is correct, The token generated upon request for a specific merchant is unique to a specific card number and is usable only on that particular site or mobile app. The token is useless outside of that merchant’s ecosystem.
• Statement 3 is not correct, The new mandate is only for the use of credit/debit cards online.
  • For offline merchants, users would continue to swipe the cards on the POS machines as per previously existing guidelines.

• The Balance of Payments (BoP) of a country is a systematic record of all import and export transactions of a country during a given period of time normally a year.
• Hence option a is correct.

• Statement 1 is correct, India was the world’s largest importer of major arms in 2017-21.
• Statement 2 is not correct, Despite a significant decrease, India still accounts for about 11% of total global arms imports.
• Statement 3 is not correct, The United States was the world’s largest arms exporter responsible for about 38.6% of international arms sales between 2017 and 2021.
  • The five largest arms exporters in 2017–21 were the United States, Russia, France, China and Germany.

• Statement 1 is not correct, GAIA is a space observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA) which was launched in 2013.
• Statement 2 is correct, The mission aims to construct by far the largest and most precise three-dimensional map of our galaxy including stars, planets, comets, asteroids and quasars, among others.

• National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) is being set up in Lothal in Gujarat.
• It is a first-of-its-kind complex in India and this centre will showcase India’s rich and diverse maritime heritage.

• Statement 1 is correct, Studies have revealed that the soil contains more carbon than all plants and the atmosphere combined and it is essential to ensure its persistence.
• Statement 2 is correct, Depending on the soil conditions, nitrogen can either stabilise or destabilise the soil carbon pool.

• Statement 1 is correct, Amil were the officers in charge of revenue collection in the administration of the Delhi Sultanate.
• Statement 2 is not correct, The Iqta system was a unique type of land distribution and administrative system introduced during the reign of Iltutmish.
  • The original Iqta system has its origins in Persia and the Middle East.
• Statement 3 is not correct, Mir Bakshi was the head of the military department during the reign of the Mughal Empire.