Test: May 2023 Weekly Current Affair - 1 - UPSC MCQ

• The capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), recently approved a framework for Application Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA)-like facility for trading in the secondary market.
• The facility will be optional for investors and stock brokers. To facilitate smooth transition in the market, the framework will be implemented in a phased manner.
• ASBA, which was first introduced by SEBI in 2008, is an application by an investor that contains an authorisation to a Self-Certified Syndicate Bank (SCSB) to block in the bank account the application money for subscribing to an issue.
• An SCSB is a recognised bank capable of providing ASBA services to its customers.
• The application money of an investor applying through ASBA shall be debited from the bank account only if her application is selected for allotment after the basis of allotment has been finalised. In public issues and rights issues, all investors have to mandatorily apply through ASBA.
• At present, ASBA is available for the primary market, wherein the initial public offering (IPO) funds only are blocked on application, and are debited only on allotment.

Article 340 of the Constitution of India provides for the appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions for the improvement of backward classes.
The President may by order appoint a Commission comprising of such persons that he thinks fit to investigate the conditions and background of socially and educationally backward classes that lie within the territory of India.
Article 340 of the Constitution resulted in two Backward Classes commissions:

• Kaka Kalelkar Commission (1953-1955)
• Mandal Commission (1978-80)

• These pots have put this village in Tamil Nadu on the global map. Manamadurai in Sivagangai district is known for pottery making. The Manamadurai pottery recently earned a Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• The Vaigai river enriches the clay used for the Manamadurai pottery. Pot making requires expertise as the bottom has to be perfectly round. The circumference of the pot and the neck should be proportionate so that the pot sits flat on the ground.
• The right proportion of mud, clay and heating makes this product very strong. The main raw materials for making these pots are soil and water.
• A unique type of clay is sourced from water bodies like Nedunkulam, Nathapurakki, Sundaranadappu, Seikalathur to make these pots.

• A split verdict is passed when the Bench cannot decide one way or the other in a case, either by a unanimous decision or by a majority verdict. Split verdicts can only happen when the Bench has an even number of judges. This is why judges usually sit in Benches of odd numbers (three, five, seven, etc.) for important cases, even though two-judge Benches — known as Division Benches — are not uncommon.
• In case of a split verdict, the case is heard by a larger Bench.
• The larger Bench to which a split verdict goes can be a three-judge Bench of the High Court, or an appeal can be preferred before the Supreme Court.

• Parole is a system of releasing a prisoner with suspension of the sentence. The release is conditional, usually subject to behaviour, and requires periodic reporting to the authorities for a set period of time.
• A broadly similar concept is furlough, which is given in case of long-term imprisonment. While furlough is seen as a matter of right, to be granted periodically irrespective of any reason and merely to enable the prisoner to retain family and social ties, parole is not a matter of right and may be denied to a prisoner even when he makes out a sufficient case.
• The Supreme Court in ‘Asfaq vs State of Rajasthan and Others’ in 2017 said the main purpose of parole and furlough — a conditional temporary release, but with a benefit that such a period of release is considered part of the total sentence — is to afford a convict the opportunity to solve their personal and family problems and enable them to maintain their links with society.

“Operation Kaveri”, launched to evacuate Indians stuck inside war-torn Sudan. The operation involved the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy, coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs.

• In 2018, the amended Section 17 of the RBI Act empowered the Reserve Bank to introduce the SDF – an additional tool for absorbing liquidity without any collateral. By removing the binding collateral constraint on the RBI, the SDF strengthens the operating framework of monetary policy. The SDF is also a financial stability tool in addition to its role in liquidity management.
• The main purpose of SDF is to reduce the excess liquidity in the system, and control inflation.
• Both the standing facilities — the MSF (marginal standing facility) and the SDF will be available on all days of the week, throughout the year.

• WIPO is the global forum for intellectual property (IP) services, policy, information and cooperation.
• Our mission is to lead the development of a balanced and effective international IP system that enables innovation and creativity for the benefit of all. Our mandate, governing bodies and procedures are set out in the WIPO Convention, which established WIPO in 1967.
• The predecessor to WIPO was the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property, which had been established in 1893 to administer the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
• WIPO was formally created by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, which entered into force on 26 April 1970. That date is commemorated annually as World Intellectual Property Day, which raises awareness of the importance of IP.

• Global investors are allowed to participate in initial public offering (IPO) of a company owned by the government.
• A Red Herring Prospectus, or offer document, is filed by a company to SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) when it plans to raise money from the public by selling shares of the company to investors. The document is very useful to investors because it provides detailed information about the company’s business operations, financials, promoters and the company’s objective for raising funds by filing an IPOs.

• Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s not the tallest (that title goes to Mauna Kea) but it’s the largest and makes up about half of the island’s land mass. It sits immediately north of Kilauea volcano, which is currently erupting from its summit crater. Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago.
• Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

• Any member of the Parliament can oppose the introduction of a bill by stating that it initiates legislation outside the legislative competence of the Parliament.
• The real opportunity for probing a bill’s constitutionality arises when a parliamentary committee is examining it.
• Government bills do not automatically go to committees for examination. Ministers get an option to refer their bill to a select committee.

The great Indian hornbill is one of the larger members of the hornbill family. It is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is naturally found in Western Ghats.

• Tejaswini Rural Women Empowerment Programme implemented by the UN-affiliated International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Madhya Pradesh.
• Tejaswini programme showed that growing millets meant a nearly 10 times increase in income from ₹1,800 per month in 2013-14 to ₹16,277 in 2020-21, with better food security. Women were key to villages adopting millets, as they were able to demonstrate that millets were easier to grow and led to better outcomes.

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) is one of the “Three Sisters” recognized by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement, along with the Codex Alimentarius Commission for food safety standards and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for animal health standards.

The Defence Cyber Agency (DCyA) is a tri-service command of the Indian Armed Forces. Headquartered in New Delhi, the agency is tasked with handling cyber security threats. The DCyA draws personnel from all three branches of the Armed Forces. The head of the DCyA is an officer of two-star rank, and reports to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) through the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS).

As many as 41.5 crore people exited poverty in India during the 15-year period between 2005-06 and 2019-21, out of which two-thirds exited in the first 10 years, and one-third in the next five years, according to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
The report is produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). 

FATF is an international watchdog monitoring money laundering, terror financing, and other threats to global financial networks. The grey list signals to international financial and banking systems that there are increased risks in transacting with the country in question, impacting the country’s economic growth. To get out of the grey list, a country has to fulfil tasks recommended by the FATF, such as confiscating properties of individuals associated with terrorist groups.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a legally-binding international agreement setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities.
In 1992, India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which called for its signatories to “ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child”.
Presently, the country’s Right to Education Act covers children from 6 to 14 years of age.

• The concept of a biodiversity hotspot was put forward by Norman Myers in 1988.
• The criteria which are necessary for a region to be categorized as a biodiversity hotspot include:
• Species endemism – it must contain at least 1500 species of vascular plants, which is more than 0.5 percent of the world’s total plant population, as endemic species.
• Degree of threat – it must have lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat due to human interventions.
• Biodiversity hotspots in South Asia
  • Eastern Himalaya
  • Indo-Burma and Myanmar
  • Western Ghats and Sri Lanka

• The official language committee is a statutory committee constituted under Section 4 in the Official Language Act, 1963. Its duty is to review the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purposes of the Union and submit a report to the President. The Act makes it obligatory for the President to issue directions “in accordance with the whole or any part of the report” (Section 4(4)). It can thus be seen that the committee’s recommendations are required to be acted upon.
• The Committee is chaired by the Union Home Minister.
• Article 343 of the Constitution declares that Hindi in Devanagari script shall be the official language of the Union.
• Parliament enacted the official languages Act in 1963, providing for the continuance of English indefinitely as official language along with Hindi for the official purposes of the Union and for transaction of business in Parliament.
• The committee is not mandated to recommend the medium of instruction in universities and professional institutions. Further, since Parliament has declared by law that English shall continue along with Hindi, a statutory committee constituted under that very Act has no mandate to recommend the discontinuation of English.
• India has two major groups of languages — the Indo-European language group and the Dravidian language group. Hindi belongs to the former and Tamil (more ancient than Sanskrit) belongs to the latter.

• Ocean acidity or ocean acidification is a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended time. It is caused by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO₂), a greenhouse gas emitted by human activities. The ocean’s average pH is now around 8.1, which is basic (or alkaline). But as the ocean continues to absorb more carbon dioxide, the pH decreases and the ocean becomes more acidic.
• This has contributed to the loss of corals on a global scale as their calcium skeletons are weakened by more acidic water. This also erodes and affects the formation of shells of shellfish.
• It has thus brought changes in relative species dominance, potentially leading to ecosystem shifts in coastal waters.