UPSC 2023: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Sep 24 - Sep 30

Self-explanatory

The Munda Ulgulan was a revolt against British rule led by the Munda leader Birsa Munda.

Image source: https://www.spslandforces.com/

Read more on foreign direct investment in the linked article.

All the statements are correct.

• The Constitution of India uses the word ‘minority’ or its plural form in some Articles viz Article 20 to 30 and 350 A to 350 B, but does not define the word ‘minority’.
• The Constitution recognises religious and linguistic minorities.
• Six religious communities, viz; Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains have been notified in Gazette of India as minority communities by the Union Government all over India.
• National Commission for Minorities consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and five members and all of them shall be from amongst the minority communities. Total of 7 persons to be nominated by the Central Government should be from amongst persons of eminence, ability and integrity.
• Each Member holds office for a period of three years from the date of assumption of office.

• Food fortification or enrichment is the process of adding micronutrients (essential trace elements and vitamins) to food. It can be carried out by food manufacturers, or by governments as a public health policy which aims to reduce the number of people with dietary deficiencies within a population.
• Fortifying rice makes it more nutritious by adding vitamins and minerals in the post – harvest phase; many of which are lost during the milling and polishing process. Rice fortification may be considered as having the highest potential to fill the gap in current staple food fortification programs as it is the staple food of 65 percent of the Indian population and reaches the most vulnerable and poorer section – with the highest uptake in the government safety net programmes .
• Notably, the cooking of fortified rice does not require any special procedure which will help increase its uptake.
• However, rice Fortification process increases the cost of such rice. Hence the government intervention is essential to make it accessible for poorer sections of the society.

• ‘PRABAL DOSTYK is a joint training exercise between the Indian Army and the Kazakhstan Army.
• Khanjar is a military exercise between India and Kyrgyzstan.

• Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation and Central Board of Secondary Education successfully launched the ATL Space Challenge 2021 for all school students across the country.
• This is to ensure that students of classes 6 to 12 are given an open platform where they can innovate and enable themselves to solve digital age space technology problems.
• The challenge has been designed for all the school students, mentors and teachers who not only are associated with schools having Atal Tinkering Laboratories but for all the non-ATL schools as well.

• The Governor appoints the Ministers based and distributes portfolios to them on the advice of the chief minister.
• Sending a report to the President of India for imposing the President’s rule and reserving certain bills passed by the State Legislature for consideration of the President of India are the discretionary powers given to the Governor of a State.

• The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) is one of India’s oldest and largest independent, non-profit, economic and social research institutes. It was not formed by a resolution of the Union Cabinet. It was set up by funding from the Ford Foundation, the Finance Ministry and Tata Sons.
• It engages in economic research.
• NCAER has set up a National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC) to serve as a laboratory for experiments in data collection, interfacing with partners in think tanks, Indian and international universities, and government. NDIC forms an important core of NCAER’s long-standing data collection activities.

• NATGRID or the National Intelligence Grid is a part of the radical revamp of the intelligence and security framework of India.
• NATGRID as an idea was mooted after the 2008 – 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
• Initially, State agencies won’t have direct access to NATGRID. 10 Central agencies will be able to access the information gathered by NATGRID. They are Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Directorate General of Central Excise and Intelligence (DGCEI) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
• However, the state agencies can extract the information by contacting these 10 central agencies that have direct access to NATGRID. 

• National Commission for Women was set up as a statutory body in 1992.
• The Chairperson, Members and Member Secretary nominated by the Central Government are not necessarily women.

Read more on National Commission For Women

Component Schemes under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana are:

1. Mega Food Park
2. Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure
3. Creation/Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities
4. Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters
5. Creation of Backward & Forward linkages
6. Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure
7. Operation Greens

Read more Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana.

• Neem oil can be used as a pesticide to control the proliferation of some species of insects and mites.
• Neem seeds are used in the manufacture of biofuels and hospital detergents.
• Neem oil has applications in the pharmaceutical industry.

• The Siachen Glacier is located in the Eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas, just northeast of Point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends.
• It is the second-longest glacier in the world’s non-polar areas.
• Operation Meghdoot was the codename for the Indian Armed Forces’ operation to seize control of the Siachen Glacier.

• Consumer Price Index (CPI) in India comprises multiple series classified based on different economic groups. There are four series, viz the CPI UNME (Urban Non-Manual Employee), CPI AL (Agricultural Labourer), CPI RL (Rural Labourer) and CPI IW (Industrial Worker). While the CPI UNME series is published by the Central Statistical Organisation, the others are published by the Department of Labour.

• The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has revised the Base Year of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 2010 to 2012 with effect from the month of January 2015.

• SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
• The scheme is a reformative step towards the establishment of clear ownership of property in rural inhabited (Abadi) areas, by mapping of land parcels using drone technology and providing ‘Record of Rights’ to village household owners with the issuance of legal ownership cards (Property cards/Title deeds) to the property owners.

• The Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD) which is one of the main tracks of the U.S.-India Agenda 2030 Partnership, was initiated during the recently concluded official visit of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate to India.
• Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD) would be based on the following three pillars.
  • Climate action: It would consist of joint proposals looking at ways to reduce greenhouse gases emissions in the next decade.
  • Renewable energy: It would set out a roadmap to achieve the 450GW renewable energy target in transportation, buildings and industry.
  • Finance: This would involve collaborating on attracting finance for renewable energy projects. It will focus on delivering climate finances primarily as grants and concessional finance as envisaged under the Paris Agreement.

• Harihara I was the founder of the Vijayanagara Empire.
• He founded a new city on the south bank of a tributary to river Krishna and undertook to rule his new kingdom as the agent of a deity to whom all the land south of the river Krishna was supposed to belong.
• He initially established his control over the valley of Tungabhadra River and gradually he expanded his control to certain regions of Konkan and Malabar Coast.

• Aedes aegypti is known to transmit the dengue virus, yellow fever virus, chikungunya virus, and Zika virus.
• Malaria is transmitted to humans by female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles.
• Lymphatic filariasis, considered globally as a neglected tropical disease (NTD), is a parasitic disease caused by microscopic, thread-like worms. The adult worms only live in the human lymph system. Lymphatic filariasis is spread by infected mosquitoes.
  • A wide range of mosquitoes can transmit the parasite, depending on the geographic area. In Africa, the most common vector is Anopheles and in the Americas, it is Culex quinquefasciatus. Aedes and Mansonia can transmit the infection in the Pacific and in Asia.

• Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) is a self-regulatory organization of NBFC MFIs that aims to work with regulators to promote microfinance to achieve larger financial inclusion goals.
• It is recognized by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• It is the first association in the business of micro-lending to be given the self-regulatory organization (SRO) status by RBI.

• Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was an Indian freedom fighter, journalist, writer, revolutionary, President in the Provisional Government of India, which served as the Indian Government in exile during World War I from Kabul in 1915.
• He is popularly known as “Aryan Peshwa”.
• He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1932.

• The Union government has announced that formal negotiations for a proposed India-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will begin on November 1, 2021.
• India and the U.K. are still exploring signing a few mutual recognition agreements in selective services like nursing and architecture services

• In 1888, Gopal Baba Walangkar began publishing the monthly journal titled Vital-Vidhvansak (Destroyer of Brahmanical or Ceremonial Pollution), which was the first to have the untouchable people as its target audience.

• Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) is implemented by Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana –National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development, as a sub-scheme since 2016.
• With an objective to support the rural poor come out of poverty, supporting them set up enterprises and provide support till the enterprises stabilize, SVEP focusses on providing self-employment opportunities with financial assistance and training in business management and soft skills while creating local community cadres for promotion of enterprises.
• SVEP addresses three major pillars of rural start-ups namely – finances, incubation and skill ecosystems.
• Any rural poor who is willing to be entrepreneurial and self-reliant is eligible to be part of this programme.

• The Geological Survey of India was founded in 1851 by the East India Company. Currently, it functions as an attached office to the Ministry of Mines.
• It is headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal.
• Geological Survey of India has been the sole custodian for all meteorite “falls” or “finds” within Indian Territory.
• Know more about the Geological Survey of India in PIB dated Jan 21, 2020.

Investors can make term deposits of their idle gold under Gold Monetization Scheme (GMS), which provides them safety and interest earnings. With gold deposited in GMS, investors save the storage cost for keeping their precious metal safe, while still benefiting from its capital appreciation. Gold can be deposited in any form — gold bars, coins or jewellery, and the depositor also has the option to either take cash or gold on redemption. Another lucrative benefit comes with interest earned on the gold deposited by investors being exempt from capital gains tax and income tax.
In the case of medium and long-term deposits, investors can earn up to 2.25 per cent per annum.
All Scheduled Commercial Banks excluding RRBs will be eligible to implement the Scheme.
The objective of the Scheme is to mobilise gold held by households and institutions of the country and facilitate its use for productive purposes, and in the long run, to reduce the country’s reliance on the import of gold.

• Peaceful Mission Exercise is being held between the member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Russia in the Orenburg region.
• This is the sixth edition of the military exercise.
• The joint counter-terrorism exercise ‘Peaceful Mission’ is a multilateral exercise, which is conducted biennially as part of military diplomacy between Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.

• Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha was a march started by Indian statesman C. Rajagopalachari, inspired by the Dandi March. C. Rajagopalachari, a close associate of Gandhi, led the march which had close to 150 volunteers.
• It began at Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirappalli) on 13 April 1930 and proceeded for about 150 miles towards the east before reaching Vedaranyam, a small coastal town in the then Tanjore District (Madras Presidency). By collecting salt directly from the sea the marchers broke the salt law.
• The march along with the ones at Dandi and Dharasana drew worldwide attention to the Indian independence movement.