Daily Current Affairs MCQ- February 18, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

A Gold ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that aims to track the domestic physical gold price. They are passive investment instruments that are based on gold prices and invest in gold bullion.

One Gold ETF unit is equal to 1 gram of gold and is backed by physical gold of very high purity. Gold ETFs combine the flexibility of stock investment and the simplicity of gold investments.

Gold ETFs are listed and traded on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd. (BSE) like a stock of any company. Gold ETFs trade on the cash segment of BSE & NSE, like any other company stock, and can be bought and sold continuously at market prices.

Buying Gold ETFs means you are purchasing gold in an electronic form. You can buy and sell gold ETFs just as you would trade in stocks. When you actually redeem Gold ETF, you don’t get physical gold, but receive the cash equivalent. Trading of gold ETFs takes place through a dematerialised account (Demat) and a broker, which makes it an extremely convenient way of electronically investing in gold.

Because of its direct gold pricing, there is a complete transparency on the holdings of a Gold ETF. Further due to its unique structure and creation mechanism, the ETFs have much lower expenses as compared to physical gold investments.

The near side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces towards Earth, opposite to the far side. Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that the Moon orbits the Earth—a situation known as tidal locking.

Atmospheric refraction helps planets, stars twinkle and doesn’t decide which side of them is visible or invisible on earth.

Statement 3 is incorrect.

All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards. However, government servants including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for these awards.

According to Padma awards selection criteria, the award is given for “special services” and not just for “long service”. “It should not be merely excellence in a particular field, but the criteria has to be ‘excellence plus’.

Any citizen of India can nominate a potential recipient. One can even nominate one’s own self. All nominations are to be done online where a form is to be filled along with details of the person or the organisation being nominated. An 800-word essay detailing the work done by the potential awardee is also to be submitted for the nomination to be considered.

The government opens the Padma awards portal for nominations between May 1 and September 15 every year. It also writes to various state governments, governors, Union territories, central ministries and various departments to send nominations.

There is also no rigid criteria or trenchant formula for selection, according to MHA. However, the lifetime achievement of an individual is among the main considerations.

All nominations received for Padma awards are placed before the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The Padma Awards Committee is headed by the Cabinet Secretary and includes Home Secretary, Secretary to the President and four to six eminent persons as members. The recommendations of the committee are submitted to the Prime Minister and the President of India for approval.

Can the Padma Awards be refused?

While explicit consent is not sought from the awardee, before the final list is announced, they receive a call from the MHA. If they do not seek to receive the award, they can refuse at that time and their names will be removed without any noise. However, historically, there have been a few instances of more public refusals.

Changes in sovereign credit ratings significantly affect bond and stock markets.

Donors’ as well as recipients’ credit ratings impact FDI flows. Countries in high rated regions may receive more FDI.

Ratings affect own-country exchange rates as well as have strong regional spill over effect on exchange rates.

Egypt is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula.

Euthanasia refers to the practice of an individual deliberately ending their life, oftentimes to get relief from an incurable condition, or intolerable pain and suffering. Euthanasia, which can be administered only by a physician, can be either ‘active’ or ‘passive’.

Active euthanasia involves an active intervention to end a person’s life with substances or external force, such as administering a lethal injection. Passive euthanasia refers to withdrawing life support or treatment that is essential to keep a terminally ill person alive.

Passive euthanasia was legalised in India by the Supreme Court in 2018, contingent upon the person having a ‘living will’ or a written document that specifies what actions should be taken if the person is unable to make their own medical decisions in the future.

In case a person does not have a living will, members of their family can make a plea before the High Court to seek permission for passive euthanasia.

What the Padma Awards entail

The awards are presented by the President of India, typically at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The awardees do not get any cash reward but a certificate signed by the President apart from a medallion which they can wear at public and government functions. The awards are, however, not a conferment of title and the awardees are expected to not use them as prefix or suffix to their names.

While a Padma awardee can be given a higher award (i.e. a Padma Shri awardee can receive a Padma Bhushan or Vibhushan), this can only happen after five years of the conferment of the previous award.

Two awards, the Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan were first instituted in 1954 as India’s highest civilian honours.

While the Bharat Ratna is treated as an exceptional award with only 45 Bharat Ratnas being handed over till date, the Padma Awards are annually conferred to deserving civilians. Except for interruptions in 1978, 1979 and between 1993 and 1997, every year the names of the recipients are announced on Republic Day eve.

Typically, not more than 120 awards are given in a year, but this does not include posthumous awards or awards given to NRIs and foreigners. While the award is normally not conferred posthumously, the Government can consider posthumous felicitation in exceptional circumstances.

The first ever Padma Vibhushan awardees in 1954 were scientist Satyendra Nath Bose, artist Nandalal Bose, educationist and politician Zakir Hussain, social worker and politician Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher, and diplomat and academic V.K. Krishna Menon. The first ever non-Indian Padma Vibhushan awardee was Bhutanese king Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, who also received the award in 1954.

Co-location is a data centre facility where third parties can lease space for servers and other computer hardware. They provide infrastructure like power supply, bandwidth and cooling for setting up servers and storage of data. Customers usually rent out space by rack, cabinet, cage or room.

The NSE introduced co-location facilities in 2009 and offered traders/brokers the ability to place their servers within NSE’s data centre for a fee. By being in close proximity to the stock exchange servers, traders/brokers would have faster access to the price feed and the execution of trades, due to the low latency connectivity.

Securities Appellate Tribunal is a statutory and autonomous body created as per provisions of section 15K of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act, 1992. Jurisdiction of Securities Appellate Tribunal extends to companies situated across India.