Test: April 2023 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

• Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) imposes antidumping duties.
• These duties are imposed following recommendations of the Commerce Ministry’s investigation arm, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).
• The DGTR, conclude that these products have been exported at a price below normal value in Indian markets, which has resulted in dumping.

• The term demographic trap is used by demographers “to describe the combination of high fertility (birth rates) and declining mortality (death rates) in developing countries, resulting in a period of high population growth rate (PGR).”  
• Sub-replacement fertility in demography refers to any fertility rate below the replacement rate that would cause the population of a certain group of people to decrease over time.

Reprography refers to the “reproduction and duplication of documents, written materials, drawings, designs, etc., by any process making use of light rays or photographic means, including offset printing, microfilming, photography, … and the like.”

• India has at least 3,167 tigers, according to estimates from the latest tiger census. While this is ostensibly an increase since the last census of 2018, the numbers are not strictly comparable, as a key calculation to compute the maximum and minimum range of the tiger population is yet to be done.
• There were 2,967 tigers recorded in 2018, and 2,226 in 2014.
• The tiger population has grown the most in the Shivalik hills and Gangetic flood plains, followed by central India, the north eastern hills, the Brahmaputra flood plains, and the Sundarbans. There was a decline in the Western Ghats numbers, though “major populations” were said to be stable.
• Since 1973, when Project Tiger was established, the number of dedicated tiger reserves has grown from nine reserves covering 18,278 square km to 53 reserves spanning 75,796 square km, which is roughly 2.3% of India’s land area.

• The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), an autonomous body under the administrative control of Ministry of External Affairs. It was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
• The School of Foreign Languages (SFL) was established by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 1948 with the purpose of imparting training in different foreign languages to the personnel of Armed Forces and Government departments such as the MEA, the Cabinet Secretariat, Central Police Organizations viz. BSF, CRPF, ITBP, etc.

• The decline in India’s foreign exchange reserves is largely due to the valuation changes arising from an appreciating U.S. dollar.
• Section 40 of the RBI Act, 1934 (“Transactions in foreign exchange”) stipulates that the Central Government orders the “rate” at which the RBI shall buy or sell forex to banks (authorised persons). This “rate”, in turn, will be governed by India’s “obligations to the International Monetary Fund [IMF]”.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index (FFPI) is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities.

• In India, Item-67 of the Union List, Item-12 of the State List, and Item-40 of the Concurrent List of the Constitution deal with the country’s heritage.
• Before Independence, an Antiquities (Export Control) Act had been passed in April 1947 to ensure that “no antiquity could be exported without license.” In 1958, The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act was enacted. Then in 1971, Parliament saw an uproar over the theft of a bronze idol from Chamba and some important sandstone idols from other places.
• This, along with the UNESCO convention, prompted the government to enact The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 (AATA), implemented from April 1, 1976.
• The AATA states, “it shall not be lawful for any person, other than the Central Government or any authority or agency authorised by the Central Government in this behalf, to export any antiquity or art treasure… No person shall, himself or by any other person on his behalf, carry on the business of selling or offering to sell any antiquity except under and in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence.”
• This licence is granted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). After the AATA was implemented, the Centre asked traders in antiquities and art objects to declare their possessions of antiquities.

Anticipatory bail can be granted under Section 438, when “any person has reason to believe that he may be arrested on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence”. It can be granted by the High Court or the Court of Session, under this section, for non-bailable offenses for which one anticipates arrest, even if the actual arrest has not happened or the FIR has not been registered. 
While granting anticipatory bail, the Sessions Court or High Court can impose the conditions laid down in sub-section (2) like,
(i) the person shall make himself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required.
(ii) the person cannot make any inducement, threat, or promise, directly or indirectly, to any person acquainted with the facts of the case to dissuade him from disclosing them to the court or the police.
(iii) the person shall not leave India without the previous permission of the court.
(iv) such other conditions may be imposed under sub-section (3) of section 437 “as if the bail were granted under that section”.

India is a member of four of the five constituents of the World Bank Group viz., International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). India is not a member of ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes). India has been accessing funds from the World Bank (mainly through IBRD and IDA) for various development projects.

• A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is positioned in between the Sun and the Earth for a few minutes. Under certain-alignment, the Moon partially or fully blocks the Sun’s light and instead casts its shadow on Earth. That is why, there can be a partial or a total solar eclipse, depending on how much portion of the Sun’s disc gets hidden by the Moon.
• Use of certified solar filters or eclipse goggles are recommended while viewing the Sun during the eclipse.
• Experts warn against looking at the Sun with naked eyes, or through binoculars or telescopes without filters, as this can prove harmful to one’s vision. The safest way to view the eclipse is by indirect projection method, which can be easily done by projecting the Sun’s disc onto a white paper, either using a telescope or a pin-hole camera.

• Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquitoes within the genus Aedes. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle, and joint pain, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. There are four types of dengue strains, and type II and IV are considered to be more severe and normally require hospitalisation. According to experts, the aedes mosquito breeds in clean stagnant water.
• These mosquitoes are also vectors of chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses.
• Dengue and chikungunya are caused by the bite of Aedes agypti mosquito, which breeds in clear water. The Anopheles mosquito, which causes malaria, can breed in both fresh and muddy water.

• In a move that could potentially change the landscape of legal practice in the country, the Bar Council of India (BCI) has allowed foreign lawyers and law firms to practise in India. Although they cannot appear in court, they can advise clients on foreign law and work on corporate transactions.
• On March 13, the BCI notified in the official gazette the Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022.
• The BCI is a statutory body established under the Advocates Act, 1961, and it regulates legal practice and legal education in India.
• Now, the BCI has reasoned that its move will address concerns about the flow of Foreign Direct Investment in the country and make India a hub of International Commercial Arbitration.

• The International Criminal Court was created two decades ago as a standing body to investigate war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity under a 1998 treaty known as the Rome Statute. 
• The court is based in The Hague, a Dutch city that has long been a center for international law and justice.
• Many democracies joined the International Criminal Court, including close American allies including Britain.
• The United States is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute), which founded the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Raccoon dogs are neither dogs nor raccoons. They belong to the canid family and are closely related to foxes. They are the only canids that hibernate during the winter.
Raccoon dogs are originally from East Asia and are commonly found in parts of China, Korea and Japan, where they are known as tanuki. They are also found in Europe, where they were first brought in by fur traders in the 1920s. Today, raccoon dogs are considered to be a threat to the local ecosystem in Europe and an EU report declared them “one of the most successful alien carnivores in Europe.”

• The armed forces— The Army, the Navy and the Air force— do not recruit adhering to the caste-based formula, but enrolment in the CAPFs is done as per the existing reservation system and cannot exceed the 50% cap fixed by the Supreme Court.
• The Ministry of Defence on June 14, 2022 unveiled the Agnipath scheme, a pan-India merit-based short-term recruitment scheme for soldiers, airmen and sailors. Under the scheme, candidates in the age group of 17.5 to 21 years would be provided an opportunity to serve in the armed forces as Agniveer for a period of 4-years, which includes the training period. After the completion of the four-year tenure, 25% of the recruits would be retained for regular service, based on organisational requirements and existing policies.

• Three dimensional (3D) bioprinting is the utilization of 3D printing–like techniques to combine cells, growth factors, and/or biomaterials to fabricate biomedical parts, often with the aim of imitating natural tissue characteristics. Generally, 3D bioprinting can utilize a layer-by-layer method to deposit materials known as bio-inks to create tissue-like structures that are later used in various medical and tissue engineering fields.
• There are many applications for 3D bioprinting in the medical field. An infant patient with a rare respiratory disease known as tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) was given a tracheal splint that was created with 3D printing. 3D bioprinting can be used to reconstruct tissue from various regions of the body. 

• The SCO has also forged close and crucial relationships with both individual nation states and international organisations. It has been an observer in the United Nations General Assembly since 2005 and in 2010, the UN and SCO Secretariats signed a Joint Declaration on Cooperation. Over the years, the SCO has worked with various UN organisations to address various pressing global issues.
• The recent conference was aimed at improving tourism. At the end of the meeting, a joint action plan for implementing the agreement between the Member States on cooperation in the tourism sector was finalised and approved. It comprises promotion of the SCO tourism brand, promotion of the cultural heritage of member states; sharing of information and digital technologies in tourism; and promotion of mutual cooperation in medical and health tourism. The meeting also adopted the Action Plan for ‘Year of Tourism Development in the SCO Space in 2023’. Notably, Varanasi has been declared as the first tourism and cultural capital of SCO.

• Plants generally take up nitrates and nitrites and convert them into amino acids which are used to make proteins. These proteins and other complex compounds are subsequently consumed by animals.
• Once the animal or the plant dies, other bacteria in the soil convert the various compounds of nitrogen back into nitrates and nitrites. A different type of bacteria converts the nitrates and nitrites into elemental nitrogen.
• Thus, there is a nitrogen-cycle in nature in which nitrogen passes from its elemental form in the atmosphere into simple molecules in the soil and water, which get converted to more complex molecules in living beings and back again to the simple nitrogen molecule in the atmosphere.

• The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) is a law enforcement agency under the Ministry of Finance responsible for fighting tax evasion in India.
• Before the introduction of GST in July 2017, the DGGI operated as Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI).

Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) was established by MHA, in New Delhi to provide a framework and eco-system for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) for dealing with Cybercrime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
I4C is envisaged to act as the nodal point to curb Cybercrime in the country.

• A controlled re-entry like the one attempted by Isro is possible only for satellites in the low-earth orbit – at about 1,000 kms over the surface of the earth. These manoeuvres, however, are not usually attempted because fuel reserves have to be maintained in the satellite after mission life is over.
• And, this is impossible for satellites placed in geo-stationary or geosynchronous orbit – where time taken by the satellite to orbit the earth matches Earth’s rotation – because they are at altitudes of nearly 36,000 kms. For attempting to bring down a satellite from such as orbit, a huge fuel reserve would be needed. This will only make the satellite heavier and costlier at launch.

The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, implemented on April 1, 1976, defined “antiquity” as “any coin, sculpture, painting, epigraph or other work of art or craftsmanship; any article, object or thing detached from a building or cave; any article, object or thing illustrative of science, art, crafts, literature, religion, customs, morals or politics in bygone ages; any article, object or thing of historical interest” that “has been in existence for not less than one hundred years.”

For “manuscript, record or other document which is of scientific, historical, literary or aesthetic value”, this duration is “not less than seventy-five years.”

• Black’s Law Dictionary describes ‘bail’ as procuring “the release of a person from legal custody, by undertaking that he shall appear at the time and place designated and submit himself to the jurisdiction and judgment of the court.”
• Although “bail” has not been expressly defined in Indian statutes, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) differentiates between “bailable” and “non-bailable” offenses. It also defines three kinds of bail that can be granted — regular bail under Sections 437 and 439; interim bail or short-term bail which is given when regular or anticipatory bail application is pending before the court; and anticipatory or pre-arrest bail.
• The provision for “anticipatory bail” was introduced under Section 438 of the CrPC after the 41st Law Commission Report in 1969 recommended the need for a measure that protects against arbitrary violation of one’s personal liberty, such as when politicians detain their opponents in false cases.

Two specific advantages of Indian raw sugar:

• First, it is free of dextran, a bacterial compound formed when sugarcane stays in the sun for too long after harvesting. “Our raw sugar has no dextran, as it is produced from fresh cane crushed within 12-24 hours of harvesting. The cut-to-crush time is 48 hours or more in Brazil.
• Second, Indian mills could supply raws with a very high polarisation of 98.5-99.5%. Polarisation is the percentage of sucrose present in a raw sugar mass. The more the polarisation — it is only 96-98.5% in raws from Brazil, Thailand and Australia — the easier and cheaper it is to refine.