Test: Monthly Current Affairs April- 3 - UPSC MCQ

The RBI has set up a committee headed by Sudarshan Sen to undertake a comprehensive review of the working of asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) in the financial sector ecosystem. The committee will recommend suitable measures for enabling them to meet the growing requirements. Asset Reconstruction Company is a company which buys the bad loans (Non-Performing Assets (NPAs)) of banks or any other financial institution, to let them clear their books and resume lending.

It marks a celebration of Kerala’s cultural diversity as Hindus, Christians, and Muslims participate together to enjoy the grandest temple festival held in the state. This colourful festival is celebrated in the month of Medam (April–May). It features processions of richly caparisoned elephants and performance of traditional music from various temples to the Vadakunnatha Temple located at Thrissur in Kerala. 

Statement 1 is correct. Pangolins are the only mammals wholly-covered in scales, used to protect themselves from predators in the wild. These are solitary, primarily nocturnal animals and are easily recognized by their full armor of scales.
Statement 2 is not correct. Indian Pangolin is protected under Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

In News: Every year, 21st April is celebrated as the National Civil Services Day, dedicated to India's civil servants for their contribution and hard work in public administration.
Option C is correct: The Second Round Table Conference was held in 1931. Quit India Movement was launched in 1942 and the Mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) started in February 1946.

Statement 1 is not correct: It was during the 1960s when several issues of national and international importance used to be raised by members of Parliament immediately after Question Hour. On one such occasion, a member raised an issue pertaining to policy announcements made by the ministers outside Parliament when Parliament was in session. This act triggered an idea among other members who called for another provision for discussing important matters in the House. Zero Hour doesn’t find a mention in the Rules of Procedure and hence it’s considered an informal procedure for the members of Parliament to raise matters of serious importance.
Statement 2 is correct: It is the time gap between the end of Question Hour and the beginning of the regular business of the House.

Article 224A of the Constitution allows the Chief Justice of a High Court to appoint a person who has been a judge earlier to sit as a judge of the court with the prior consent of the President. It was inserted by the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963.

Statement 1 is correct: It is the flagship program of Govt. of India for promoting poverty reduction through building strong institutions for the poor, particularly women and enabling these institutions to access a range of financial services and livelihoods.
Statement 2 is not correct It was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) as a centrally sponsored programme in June 2011 as a restructured version of Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY). 
In November 2015, the program was renamed Deendayal Antayodaya Yojana (DAY-NRLM).

‘Blue Nature Alliance’ is a collaboration led by Conservation International, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Global Environment Facility, Minderoo Foundation and the Rob and Melani Walton Foundation. It was launched on April 20, 2021. Aim: To protect 5% of the world ocean in five years. To protect and conserve the large areas of the ocean from damaging fishing practices, pollution, and climate change. Target areas are Antarctica, Seychelles, Canada, Palau, Western Indian Ocean, Fiji, Tristan da Cunha, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology announced a #FOSS4GOV Innovation Challenge to accelerate the adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the Government. Open-source software requires no licensing and need not be bought. Its source code is open for everyone to download, examine, and improve upon if they can, with an acknowledgement to the original software coder or the company.

Leaders’ Summit on Climate was hosted by US President Joe Biden recently. This is seen as a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November 2021 in Glasgow. Both India and the United States have set ambitious 2030 targets for climate action and clean energy. It was announced that the U.S. would cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% by 2030 relative to 2005 levels. The U.S. would double its annual financing commitments to developing countries by 2024, including a tripling of its adaptation finance by 2024. The emissions targets which are part of the Paris Agreement on climate are non-binding.

The Kowloon Peninsula is a part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, southeastern China. It constitutes the Chinese mainland portion of the Hong Kong region and is located north of Hong Kong Island and east of the mouth of the Pearl (Zhu) River Delta.

In News: Every year, the National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated on 24th April.
Statement 1 is not correct: The Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. It was launched on the National Panchayati Raj Day in 2020. Central welfare schemes at the state level fall into two broad categories namely, Centrally Sponsored Schemes (fully funded by the Union) and the Central Sector Schemes (jointly funded by the Centre and states).
Statement 2 is correct: The scheme aims to  provide the ‘record of rights’ to village household owners in rural areas and issuance of Property Cards, also known as Title Deeds.

Harlequin Ichthyosis is a rare genetic skin disorder which is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. A newborn infant is covered with plates of thick skin that crack and split apart. The thick plates can pull at and distort facial features and can restrict breathing and eating. Autosomal Recessive Pattern occurs when an individual inherits an abnormal gene from each parent, who carry one copy of the mutated gene.

In News: Recently, the Prime Minister of India has paid tribute to Lord Mahavira on the occasion of his birth anniversary, Mahavira Jayanti.
Option C is correct. Prakrit was used primarily by Lord Mahavira himself and later by others in Jainism because it was easy for ordinary people to understand as Sanskrit was tougher and not understood by many. Later on Jain scholars produced literature in Sanskrit and Tamil as well.

Scientists at the Human Adaption Institute leading the 1.2 millioneuro (US$1.5 million) “Deep Time” Project.Under the Project, Eight men and seven women lived for 40 days in the dark, damp depths of the Lombrives cave in the Pyrenees southwestern France. There was no sunlight inside, the temperature was 10 degrees Celsius (50 F) and the relative humidity stood at 100 percent. The cave dwellers had no contact with the outside world, no updates on the pandemic nor any communications with friends or family.
The project aimed to test how people respond to losing their sense of time and space.

In simple terms, the current account measures the flow of goods, services, and investments into and out of the country. It represents a country’s foreign transactions and, like the capital account, is a component of a country’s Balance of Payments (BOP). The Current Account Deficit (CAD) is the shortfall between the money flowing in on exports, and the money flowing out on imports. Current Account Deficit and Fiscal Deficit (also known as "budget deficit" is a situation when a nation's expenditure exceeds its revenues) are together known as twin deficits and both often reinforce each other, i.e., a high fiscal deficit leads to higher CAD and vice versa.

Project DANTAK was established on April 24, 1961, as a result of the visionary leadership of His Majesty the Third King and then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. Identifying the utmost importance of connectivity in spurring the socio-economic development and growth of Bhutan, DANTAK was tasked with constructing the pioneering motorable roads in the Kingdom.

In News: Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released the report titled “Zeroing in on Malaria Elimination”, prior to World Malaria Day (25th April).
Option D is correct: The report brings out progress made through the E-2025 Initiative of the WHO, which has identified 25 countries with the potential to eradicate Malaria by 2025. The WHO and its partners will provide specialised support and technical guidance to them to enable them to achieve the target. Countries are expected to participate in elimination forums, conduct surveillance assessments, audit their elimination programmes annually and share malaria case data periodically.

The Government of India has certified 14,491 ha of such an area under Car Nicobar and Nancowry group of islands in UT of A&N Islands. This area becomes the first large contiguous territory to be conferred with organic certification under the ‘Large Area Certification’ (LAC) scheme of the PGS-India (Participatory Guarantee System) certification programme. Under LAC, each village in the area is considered as one cluster/group. All farmers with their farmland and livestock need to adhere to the standard requirements and on being verified get certified in mass without the need to go under conversion period. Certification is renewed on annual basis through verification by a process of peer appraisals as per the process of PGS-India. The LAC is a quick certification programme under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana.

Itolizumab is an existing safe and effective drug used for psoriasis, which is a chronic skin disease involving unregulated growth of skin cells that develop into red patches mostly on knees and elbows, but also on some other parts of the body. It has been approved as a novel biologic therapy for restricted emergency use in the treatments for Covid-19.