Test: August 2022 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

Why is Kerala witnessing heavy rains?
Kerala is presently under the influence of at least three rainfall triggering weather conditions
There are strong Westerly winds flowing-in from the Arabian Sea, and bringing moisture over Kerala.
Another major cause for an increase in rainfall is the presence of an east-west shear zone located 10 degrees north over the southern peninsula. This vertical zone — that can prevail either in the lower, middle or upper atmospheric levels — allows active winds of high speeds to interact. This zone also allows monsoon winds to remain active, thus causing intense rainfall over the area under its influence.
The IMD further stated that the presence of a north-south trough running between Chhattisgarh and Comorin areas, which is located closer to south Kerala is causing widespread rainfall.
“These three factors are causing heavy spells over Kerala.

• The 700 MHz band, which is best suited for coverage in high-density areas, is ideal for data networks and consumer-led services. 
• The 26 Ghz millimetre band – which is ideal for enterprise level 5G applications including setting up private 5G networks.
• Globally the 5G ecosystem is very well developed in the 700 MHz band as it gives very wide base coverage. It can provide a range of 6-10 kilometres.

• Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) is an online platform available to the citizens 24×7 to lodge their grievances to the public authorities on any subject related to service delivery. It is a single portal connected to all the Ministries/Departments of Government of India and States.
• The status of the grievance filed in CPGRAMS can be tracked with the unique registration ID provided at the time of registration of the complainant. CPGRAMS also provides appeal facility to the citizens if they are not satisfied with the resolution by the Grievance Officer.
• The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) informed the parliamentary panel that in 2016, all Ministries, organisations and departments were requested to regularly examine the grievances column of newspapers to pick up the cases coming under their purview and take expeditious action to redress them in a time bound manner.

Other than Panchayats, Part IX, comprising Articles 243-243ZT of the Constitution, contains provisions relating to municipalities and cooperative societies.

• UNMOGIP emerged from U.N. Security Council Resolution 39 of January 1948 that set up the U.N. Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP).
• The Karachi Agreement of July 1949 firmed up the role of UN-level military observers and permitted supervision of the Cease Fire Line established in Jammu and Kashmir.
• India officially maintains that the UNMOGIP’s role was “overtaken” by the Simla Agreement of 1972 that established the Line of Control or the LoC which with “minor deviations” followed the earlier Cease Fire Line. Pakistan however did not accept the Indian argument and continued to seek cooperation from the UNMOGIP. As a result of this divergent policies, Pakistan continues to lodge complaints with the UNMOGIP against alleged Indian ceasefire violations whereas India has not officially gone to the UNMOGIP since 1972 with complaints against Pakistan.

• The essential characteristic of federalism is the distribution of limited executive, legislative and judicial authority among bodies which are coordinate with and independent of each other.
• India is a union of States. The Supreme Court of India has held that the federalist nature of our country is part and parcel of the basic structure of the Constitution.
• Federalism is a midpoint between unitarism which has a supreme centre, to which the States are subordinate, and confederalism wherein the States are supreme, and are merely coordinated by a weak centre. 
• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar stated in the Constituent Assembly: “The Indian Federation though a dual polity has no dual judiciary at all. The High Courts and the Supreme Court form one single integrated judiciary having jurisdiction and providing remedies in all cases arising under the constitutional law, the civil law or the criminal law.

Chinese authorities announced that it will also conduct live-fire military exercises on the Yellow and Bohai seas, between China and the Korean peninsula.

• The government had last year announced a ₹6 lakh-crore National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors, ranging from power to road and railways in four years till 2025.
• In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance said about ₹97,000 crore worth of public assets were monetised in the last fiscal (2021-22).
• The key transactions include highway toll-operate-transfer (TOT)-based PPP concessions, NHAI’s Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), PowerGrid InvIT, annual accruals from mineral and coal blocks auctioned in FY21-22, private investment in the redevelopment of railway colonies, receipts from six airports leased on PPP mode and private investment from port terminals bid out on PPP mode.
• The sectors identified under the NMP include roads, ports, airports, railways, warehousing, gas & product pipelines, power generation and transmission, mining, telecom, stadium and urban real estate.

• The Act empowers Gram Sabhas to play a key role in approving development plans and controlling all social sectors. This includes the processes and personnel who implement policies, exercising control over minor (non-timber) forest resources, minor water bodies and minor minerals, among other things.
• After the PESA Act was enacted, the Union government circulated model PESA Rules. So far, six states have notified these Rules.

The RBI audits banks every year, and can take action if it notes an increase in bad debts or other suspicious activities in their books. In its press release issued on August 10, the RBI gave the reasons for the cancellation of the bank’s licence:

• The bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. As such, it does not comply with the provisions of Section 11(1) and Section 22 (3) (d) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949;
• The continuance of the bank is prejudicial to the interests of its depositors.
• The continuance of the bank is prejudicial to the interests of its depositors.
• The bank with its present financial position would be unable to pay its present depositors in full;

Public interest would be adversely affected if the bank is allowed to carry on its banking business any further.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, which is used to rank countries into four tiers of human development.

A global consensus against genocide led to the crystallisation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948. India is a state party to the Convention. The Convention defines genocidal acts as those “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. Article III (c) punishes direct and public incitement to commit genocide. Article IV says the perpetrators shall be punished and Article V imposes an obligation on states to impose effective penalties for genocide. Failing to investigate and charge the accused would mean a breach of the obligations under the Convention.

Taiwan conducted its own live-fire drills to better prepare itself against a potential Chinese invasion.

As China upped the ante by announcing more live military exercises, Taiwan also expressed battle-readiness, saying that it was “preparing for war without seeking war”.

Among the most potent tactic come up by Taiwan is an asymmetrical warfare method known as the “porcupine strategy (doctrine),” which aims to make the invasion very difficult and costly for the enemy.

According to US defence official, the strategy has helped Ukraine resist the Russian invasion.

What is “porcupine strategy”?

• This strategy focuses on solidifying a state’s defences to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses rather than taking on its strengths.
• It was first propounded by US Naval War College research professor William S Murray in 2008.
• It is about building defences to ensure that Taiwan “could be attacked and damaged but not defeated, at least without unacceptably high costs and risks”.

• Be it ‘Jai Hind!’ or ‘Vande Mataram!’, most of the popular patriotic slogans raised today are likely to have their origins in the movement for Indian independence.
• The term Vande Mataram refers to a sense of respect expressed to the motherland. In 1870, Bengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote a song which would go on to assume a national stature.
• ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (Long live the revolution) was first used by Maulana Hasrat Mohani in 1921.
• ‘Do or Die’ by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
• While Gandhi gave the clarion call of ‘Quit India’, the slogan was coined by Yusuf Meherally, a socialist and trade unionist who also served as Mayor of Mumbai.

• Members of NATO are committed to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. Collective defence lies at the very heart of NATO, “a unique and enduring principle that binds its members together, committing them to protect each other and setting a spirit of solidarity within the Alliance”.
• The European Recovery Programme, known as the Marshall Plan after President Harry S Truman’s Secretary of State George C Marshall, promoted the idea of shared interests and cooperation between the US and Europe. The USSR declined to participate in the Marshall Plan, and discouraged eastern European states in its sphere of influence from receiving American economic assistance.
• The Vandenburg Resolution was the stepping stone to NATO. 

• Every year, the Indian Coast Guard’s “Operation Olivia”, initiated in the early 1980s, helps protect Olive Ridley turtles as they congregate along the Odisha coast for breeding and nesting from November to December.
• For optimal results, round-the-clock surveillance is conducted from November till May utilising Coast Guard assets such as fast patrol vessels, air cushion vessels, interceptor craft and Dornier aircraft to enforce laws near the rookeries.

• The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency raised grave concern about shelling at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
• The fighting over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant (Europe’s largest nuclear power plant), captured by Russian forces in the opening stage of the war but still run by Ukrainian technicians, has raised the prospect of a wider disaster.

• The PESA Act was enacted in 1996 “to provide for the extension of the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution relating to the Panchayats to the Scheduled Areas”. 
• Under the Act, Scheduled Areas are those referred to in Article 244(1), which says that the provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply to the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. The Fifth Schedule provides for a range of special provisions for these areas.
• The PESA Act was enacted to ensure self-governance through Gram Sabhas (village assemblies) for people living in the Scheduled Areas. It recognises the right of tribal communities, who are residents of the Scheduled Areas, to govern themselves through their own systems of self-government.

• US firm Microsoft has become the first big tech company to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a government-backed project which is aimed at enabling small merchants and mom-and-pop stores in parts of the country to access processes and technologies that are typically deployed by large e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart.
• Open Network for Digital Commerce, abbreviated ONDC, is a private non-profit Section 8 company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of Government of India to develop open e-commerce.
• It is an initiative aimed at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks. ONDC is to be based on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform. It is being developed as a counter to the current duopoly in the Indian e-commerce market which is largely dictated by Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.

• The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) expanded the scope of the Advisory Board for Banking and Financial Frauds (ABBFF), which would now examine bank frauds of Rs 3 crore and above and recommend action. Earlier the ABBFF was only looking into banking and financial frauds of Rs 50 crore and above.
• The ABBFF is functioning as a ‘Safety Valve’ for bankers and it critically and comprehensively examines the gravity of lapses/accountability, if any, on the part of officials/ Whole Time Directors of PSBs/PSFIs, based on the documentary evidence.
• The CVC, in consultation with RBI, thereafter in August 2019 constituted the ABBFF.
• Lenders would refer all large fraud cases worth Rs 3 crore and above to the ABBFF and on receipt of its recommendation or advice, the bank concerned would take further action in such matter.
• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) may also refer any case or matter to the board where it has any issue or difficulty or in technical matters with the PSB and PFI concerned.

Devika river originates in the Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir and flows down towards western Punjab (now in Pakistan) where it merges with the Ravi river.

• An expansionary is a macroeconomic policy that seeks to encourage economic growth or combat inflationary price increases by expanding the money supply, lowering interest rates, increasing government spending or cutting taxes.
• Increasing the tax rate is not an example of expansionary fiscal policy.

The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica. It was declared a MPA after landmark international agreement among 24 countries and European Union in Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

• Convertibility is the quality that allows money or other financial instruments to be converted into other liquid stores of value.
• Convertibility is an important factor in international trade, where instruments valued in different currencies must be exchanged.