UPSC 2023: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Oct 22 - Oct 28

• Under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, every offence punishable under this Act shall be cognizable.
• Cognizable offences are those where a police officer can arrest without a warrant.
• Non-cognizable offence, as the name suggests, is the offence in which the police has no authority to apprehend a person for crime on its own, as explicit permission of the court is required.
• The judge has an option to award the Death penalty for certain offences after a previous conviction. It is not mandatory.

• Killing any animal in a manner required by the religion of any community is not an offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
• Prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle, falls under the Gandhian Principles of DPSP as part of Article 48.

• Exercise Milan is a multilateral naval exercise hosted by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command.
• It is a biennial event held in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and features professional exercises and seminars, social events and sporting fixtures between participating nations.
• Milan was first held in 1995.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021 was awarded jointly to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries on receptors for temperature and touch.

Malavikagnimitra is a Sanskrit play by Kalidasa on the love story of the son of the founder of the Sunga dynasty. It is based on some events of the reign of Pushyamitra Shunga.

• Ayushman Bharat scheme was launched in 2018 to address health issues at all levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary.
• It has two components: Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), earlier known as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs).
• The National Health Authority is the agency responsible for implementing the scheme.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana offers eligible families an insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per annum per family. The cover will include pre and post-hospitalization expenses. It will also cover all pre-existing conditions.
• The scheme also covers the treatment cost of oncology with chemotherapy for 50 different types of Cancer. Ayushman Bharat would provide health cover for cancer based on the drug regimen and not on the type of cancer. The scheme now also covers the treatment for Black Fungus.

India is a member of the Quad (India, Australia, U.S. and Japan) but not a member of the AUKUS trilateral security partnership (Australia, U.S. and the U.K.).

• The President can transfer the judges of the High Court, based on the recommendations of the Collegium.
• The decision to transfer the High Court judges is open to judicial review. The Supreme Court in the Vishwanath Gopal Palshikar vs Union Of India case (1999) held that the scope of judicial review in the matter of transfer is very limited and has held that the judicial review can be only on the ground that the transfer was made without the recommendation of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India.
• While consultation with the Governor of a state is mandated for the appointment of the Judge of a High Court, there is no such consultation with regards to the transfer process of the High Court judges. The consultation in such scenarios is limited to that with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court.

• The Thirteenth Amendment is an amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, passed in 1987, which created Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka.  13th Amendment mandates some degree of power devolution to the provincial councils established to govern the island’s nine provinces.
• It is an outcome of the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987, signed by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayawardene, in an attempt to resolve Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict that had aggravated into a full-fledged civil war, between the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which led the struggle for Tamils’ self-determination and sought a separate state.

Senkaku Islands are known as the Diaoyu Islands and is disputed between China and Japan.

The chief characteristics of the Vijayanagara architecture were the constructions of tall Raya Gopurams or gateways, the Kalyana mandapam with carved pillars in the temple premises, the Garbhagriha, and the Amman shrine. Building ‘Kalyana Mandapas’ was a notable feature in the temple construction of this kingdom.

• RTS, S/AS01 (RTS,S) malaria vaccine with the trade name of Mosquirix is the first-ever anti-malarial vaccine recommended by the WHO.
• The vaccine specifically aims to cover children in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The vaccine has been developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and forms an essential part of WHO’s E-2025 initiative.

The 2021 Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to researchers David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their work on how the human body perceives temperature and pressure. In their research, they found out that the body’s receptor for heat only gets activated above 40 °C.

• The WTO’s Appellate Body is its highest court for dispute resolution.
• The Appellate Body, set up in 1995, is a standing committee of seven members that presides over appeals against judgments passed in trade-related disputes brought by WTO members.
• On 10 December 2019, the Appellate Body became dysfunctional after the US’ continuous blockage of the appointment of new Appellate Body members left only one member on the bench.
• It requires three members to hear appeals.

• Article 16(4A) provides that the State can make any provision for reservation in matters of promotion in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes if they are not adequately represented in the services under the State.
• Article 16(4B), added by the 81^st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000, enabled the unfilled SC/ST quota of a particular year to be carried forward to the next year.
• The SC in 2020 ruled that reservation in the matter of promotions in public posts is not a fundamental right.

Sohgaura is not a Harappan Site. Sohgaura copper-plate is a Mauryan record that mentions famine relief efforts. The Sohgaura copper plate inscription is an Indian copper plate inscription written in Prakrit in the Brahmi script. It was discovered in Sohgaura, a village on the banks of the Rapti River, in the Gorakhpur District, Uttar Pradesh.

• SC120-LOX semi-cryogenic tank has been developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
• It intends to increase the payload capacity in the existing Mk-III launch vehicle.
• The newly developed tank would especially play an important role in the upcoming Gaganyaan project.

• For an individual to be eligible for the EWS quota, the family’s income must be under Rs. 8 lakh per annum.
• 103^rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019 led to the introduction of EWS reservation.
• For inclusion under this criteria, the family should not own agricultural land of size 5 acres or more.

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), a central armed police force, secures the Nepal and Bhutan borders.

• Multidimensional Poverty Index is published annually by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and United Nations Development Programme.
• The three dimensions included in the index are Health, Education and Living Standard.
• Usually, over 100 developing countries are evaluated. MPI 2020 presented 107 country-specific details.
• The MPI value is calculated by multiplying the incidence of poverty by the average share of deprivations (H x A).

• Indo-Mongolian Joint Military Exercise is termed ‘Nomadic Elephant’.
• Exercise Maitree is a bilateral exercise between the Indian Army and the Royal Thai Army, started off in 2006. It is an annual event between the troops of the armies of both countries. It is also called Indo-Thailand Joint Exercise.
• The joint military exercise Vajra Prahar between India and the US started off in 2010. ‘Vajra Prahar’ is a Special Forces joint training exercise conducted alternately in India and the US.
• Surya Kiran is a bilateral Joint Military Exercise between India and Nepal.
• Ajeya Warrior is a bilateral military exercise between India and the UK.

• Girardinia diversifolia, also known as the Himalayan nettle or Nilgiri nettle, is found abundantly in open forest land, river sides, and moist habitats in Nepal and in Himalayan parts of India.
• Girardinia Diversifolia is a shade-tolerant, tall, stout and erect herb.
• The stem contains bast fibre of unique quality which is strong, smooth and light.
• It was found to be a sustainable source of textile fibre.

• Talace Pvt. Ltd. has been officially declared as the winning bidder in the process.
• The Tatas will own a 100% stake in Air India, as also 100% in its international low-cost arm Air India Express and 50% in the ground handling joint venture, Air India SATS.
• Of the total AI debt of Rs 61,562 crore, the Tatas will take care of Rs 15,300 crore and will pay an additional Rs 2,700 crore in cash to the government. That leaves Rs 43,562 crore of debt with the government. The Tatas will not own the pending debt of Air India. The assets left with the government, such as buildings, etc., will likely generate Rs 14,718 crore. That will leave the government with a debt of Rs 28,844 crore to pay back.

• The term lateral entry means the appointment of specialists and experts, mainly those from the private sector, in government organizations and ministries.
• Reservations or caste-based quotas do not apply to these recruitments.
• The recruitment under this program does not involve any written test.
• The basic qualification for a Joint Secretary lateral entrant is 15 years of work experience.

• According to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a global deal to ensure big companies pay a minimum tax rate of 15% and make it harder for them to avoid taxation has been agreed upon by 136 countries.
• The global minimum tax is being discussed as the governments want to discourage multinationals from shifting profits – and tax revenues – to low-tax countries regardless of where their sales are made.
• The global minimum tax rate would apply to overseas profits of multinational firms with 750 million euros in sales globally.
• Governments could still set whatever local corporate tax rate they want, but if companies pay lower rates in a particular country, their home governments could top up their taxes to the 15% minimum, eliminating the advantage of shifting profits.

• The RBI periodically purchase Government bonds from the market through Open Market Operations (OMOs).
• The G-SAP is in a way an OMO but there is an upfront commitment by the central bank to the markets that it will purchase bonds worth a specific amount.
• This was launched during the Covid-19 outbreak. It was launched to ensure adequate liquidity and for stabilising financial markets.

Tansen was a composer, musician and vocalist, to whom many compositions have been attributed in northern regions of the Indian subcontinent.
He was also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved musical instruments.
He is among the most influential personalities in the North Indian tradition of Indian classical music, called Hindustani.
Tansen was the title given to him by Raja Vikramjit of Gwalior. Tansen was a court musician in the darbar of Raja Ramachandra of Bandavagarh (Rewa).
Tansen composed Dhrupads on Hindu gods and goddesses. He also composed songs on his patrons.
Tansen invented many Ragas.

• The Chang’e- 5 is China’s lunar mission probe that touched down on a previously unvisited part of a massive lava plain, the Oceanus Procellarum or “Oceans of Storms,” bringing back lunar samples.
• One of the main objectives of Chang’e-5, was to find out how long the moon remained volcanically active. The Oceanus Procellarum region of the Moon is characterised by high concentrations of potassium, thorium, and uranium, elements that generate heat through long-lived radioactive decay.
• Only erstwhile Soviet Union and United States of America had previously brought back the lunar remains. Samples brought back by U.S. and Soviet missions were more than 2.9 billion years old. This is the third instance.
• India has not brought back any lunar remain sample yet.

• Recent study by Lund University, Sweden has found that it was possible for the dragonflies to migrate from India to East Africa and return to India. The globe skimmer dragonfly does not rely on fat stored in its body to fly such long distances. Instead, it takes advantage of favorable winds present during certain periods of the year.
• Jacobin Cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus) is one of the most iconic migrants in the Indian Subcontinent, and their arrival in north India is considered to herald the first monsoon rains. Although resident in South India, central and northern populations of this brood parasite migrate to Africa for the winter.
• Amur Falcons migrate from breeding grounds in eastern Asia to wintering grounds in southern Africa. Along the way, they fly 2,400 miles across the Indian Ocean.

• The Kochrab Ashram was the first ashram in India organized by Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement, and was given to him by his friend, the barrister Jivanlal Desai.
• It was from here that Gandhi led the Dandi march also known as the Salt Satyagraha on 12 March 1930.
• The Congress Working Committee in 1930 held that Gandhiji should decide where to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement at a time and place of his choice.