Test: June 2023 Weekly Current Affair - 3 - UPSC MCQ

Statement 4 is incorrect.

Worldwide, there are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) mandated for issuing advisories and naming of tropical cyclones.

IMD is one of the six RSMCs to provide tropical cyclone and storm surge advisories to 13 member countries under the WMO/Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP) Panel including Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

RSMC, New Delhi is also mandated to name the Tropical Cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean (NIO), including the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Arabian Sea (AS).

So, the tropical cyclones forming over different Ocean basins are named by the concerned RSMCs & TCWCs.

Some rules are to be followed while naming cyclones, such as:

• The proposed name should be neutral to (a) politics and political figures (b) religious believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender
• Name should be chosen in such a way that it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of population over the globe
• It should not be very rude and cruel in nature
• It should be short, easy to pronounce and should not be offensive to any member
• The maximum length of the name will be eight letters

The Fujiwhara Effect is any interaction between tropical storms formed around the same time in the same ocean region with their centres or eyes at a distance of less than 1,400 km, with intensity that could vary between a depression (wind speed under 63 km per hour) and a super typhoon (wind speed over 209 km per hour).

The interaction could lead to changes in the track and intensity of either or both storms systems. In rare cases, the two systems could merge, especially when they are of similar size and intensity, to form a bigger storm.

Statement 3 is incorrect.

Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS) are areas that are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems having rich biodiversity comprising of any one or more of the components such as; species richness, high endemism, presence of rare, endemic and threatened species, keystone species, species of evolutionary significance, wild ancestors of domestic/cultivated species or land races or their varieties, past pre-eminence of biological components represented by fossil beds and having cultural or aesthetic values.

BHS declaration marks the voluntary participation of communities in protection and conservation of biodiversity which helps in expanding the reach of conservation.

Section 37 of the Biological Diversity Act:

• As per this section, the State Governments are empowered to notify in the official gazette, in consultation with ‘local bodies’, areas of biodiversity importance as Biodiversity Heritage Sites.
• Under sub section (2) of Section 37 of the BD Act, the State Government in consultation with the Central Government may frame rules for the management and conservation of BHS.

Statement 3 is incorrect.

Tropical cyclones are those which develop in the regions between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. They are the most devastating storms on Earth. Such cyclones develop when “thunderstorm activity starts building close to the centre of circulation, and the strongest winds and rain are no longer in a band far from the centre”. The core of the storm turns warm, and the cyclone gets most of its energy from the “latent heat” released when water vapour that has evaporated from warm ocean waters condenses into liquid water. Moreover, warm fronts or cold fronts aren’t associated with tropical cyclones.

Tropical cyclones have different names depending on their location and strength. For instance, they are known as hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the North Atlantic Ocean and the eastern and central North Pacific Ocean. In the western North Pacific, they are called typhoons.

• Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), and Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Schemes of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries: Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME), and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY).
• Schemes of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution: allocation of food grains under the National Food Security Act, and Procurement operations at Minimum Support Price.

• Cost to company (CTC) indicates the total amount of expenses a company (organisation) spends on an employee during one year. It is calculated by adding salary to the cost of all additional benefits an employee receives during the service period.
• To put it in simpler terms, CTC is a company’s spending on hiring and sustaining the services of an employee.
• The CTC can include many elements in addition to salary/wages, such as health care, pension and allowances for housing, travel and entertainment.
• Apparently, the cost to the company (CTC) is lower for contract employment when compared to permanent employment.

At present, multiple government agencies, like the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehouse Corporation, Warehouse Development Regulatory Authority, Railways, and the civil supply departments of states are involved in grain management.

• First discovered in Tanzania in the 1950s, the viral disease has since spread to various parts of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America.
• Tropical regions currently see the highest rates of the virus, with Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Thailand most affected. However, climate change is driving disease-carrying mosquitos closer to the poles.
• The Asian tiger mosquito, which transmits the virus, is spreading more and more. This mosquito species is already native to southern Europe, and it is becoming increasingly common in Germany.

Correct Answer: B
Explanation
Transgenic Crops:

• About:
  • Transgenic crops are plants that have been modified through genetic engineering
  • techniques. These crops have had specific genes inserted into their DNA to give them new characteristics or traits that are not naturally found in the species through traditional breeding methods.
• GMO vs Transgenic Organisms:
  • Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) and transgenic organism are two terms that are used interchangeably.
  • However, there is a slight difference between GMO and transgenic organism.
  • Although both have altered genomes, a transgenic organism is a GMO containing a DNA  sequence or a gene from a different species. While a GMO is an animal, plant, or microbe whose DNA has been altered using genetic engineering techniques.
  • Thus, all transgenic organisms are GMOs, but not all GMOs are transgenic. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• Status in India:
  • In India, only Cotton is currently commercially cultivated as a GM crop. Trials are
    underway for other crops like brinjal, tomato, maize, and chickpea using transgenic
    technology. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • The GEAC approved the environmental release of GM mustard hybrid DMH-11, bringing it
    closer to full commercial cultivation.
  • In India, the regulation of all activities related to GMOs and products are regulated by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
  • Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
    However, there is an ongoing legal case in the Supreme Court questioning the permission for transgenic food crops. They seek a stay on GM mustard, citing concerns about farmers using banned herbicides. Previous instances include the GEAC's approval of GM mustard in 2017 with additional tests and the government's indefinite moratorium on GM brinjal in 2010.

Evros River, the natural border between Greece and Bulgaria and Turkey.

The Assam Rifles is nicknamed “Sentinels of the North East” and “Friends of the Hill People”. It is the oldest paramilitary force in India, originally raised in 1835 as Cachar Levy, a militia to protect tea gardens and the fertile plains of Assam against unruly tribes.

Only statement 1 is correct.

Slower growth in OECD economies — especially in the high-tech sector in the United States that could affect the demand for information technology (IT) workers and lead to a diversion of formal remittances toward informal money transfer channels — is likely to impact the flow of remittances this year.

India, which registered a growth of more than 24% to reach a record-high $111 billion in remittances in 2022, is expected to post a growth of just 0.2% in remittance inflows in 2023, according to the World Bank’s latest Migration and Development Brief.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a grouping of 38 high-income democratic countries. A lower demand for migrants in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, a grouping of six Arab nations located around the Arabian Gulf where declining oil prices have dented growth, is another key contributing factor.

Almost 36% of India’s remittances are from the high-skilled and largely high-tech Indian migrants in three high-income destinations — the US, United Kingdom, and Singapore. 

• First discovered in Tanzania in the 1950s, the viral disease has since spread to various parts of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America.
• Tropical regions currently see the highest rates of the virus, with Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Thailand most affected. However, climate change is driving disease-carrying mosquitos closer to the poles.
• The Asian tiger mosquito, which transmits the virus, is spreading more and more. This mosquito species is already native to southern Europe, and it is becoming increasingly common in Germany.

Computer-generated Imagery (CGI)

In basic terms, Computer-generated Imagery, or CGI, refers to the utilisation of computers to create pictures or characters in film and television. It can also be defined as the process of creating and manipulating images that do not exist in the physical environment for being captured on film or video. These images can be either static or dynamic and are utilised in both 2D and 3D movies.

Due to its increased affordability compared to the past, CGI is now extensively used to generate specific elements of a shot or a scene, or even a substantial portion of an entire sequence.

SS Rajamouli’s Eega and the Baahubali series, S Shankar’s Jeans, Enthiran, and 2.0, and Anubhav Sinha’s Ra One are notable examples of Indian movies that extensively employed CGI.

• The month of June, recognised worldwide as the Pride Month, is marked by many events across India to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community. 
• A Pride flag essentially represents the pride associated with LGTQIA+ social movements. For centuries people belonging to the community have had to fight for basic rights in countries across the world. The struggle continues in many countries. Uganda, for instance, recently passed a law criminalising the LGBTQIA+ community.
• In India too, gay sex was decriminalised as recently as 2018. The Pride flag was used by activists, members of the community and allies as a symbol of resistance and acceptance.

Statement 3 is incorrect.

Bound rate is the maximum rate of duty (tariff) that can be imposed by the importing country on an imported commodity. Here, each country commits itself to a ceiling on customs duties (tariff) on a certain number of products.

These rates vary from country to country and commodity to commodity. But no country can raise duties above the bound rate it has committed, and the rate of customs duty actually applied may be lower than the bound rate.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) obligates countries not to impose tariffs beyond bound rates.

Article XXI of GATT which allows countries to deviate from their trade obligations on grounds of national security. Specifically, Article XXI(b)(iii) of GATT allows a country to take any action ‘which it considers’ necessary for the protection of its essential security interests taken in time of war or other ‘emergency in international relations’.

Unlike many other natural hazards, cyclones give adequate warning of their arrival. In the Indian context, it takes them between four and five days to reach the landmass from the north Indian Ocean, both on the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal sides. If a sufficient number of weather instruments are monitoring them, from the oceans as well as from satellites, everything about the cyclones — speed, intensity, trajectory, associated wind speeds — can be predicted accurately.

Longer landfalls have a greater potential to cause destruction. The most dramatic landfall was in the case of the Odisha supercyclone of 1998, the most devastating cyclone to have hit India in recent decades. That process had continued for nearly 30 hours.

Usually, cyclones lose their energy very quickly once they cross over to land.

“In a way, every cyclone is unique. No two cyclones have the same characteristics.

• Quadrilateral Security Dialogue gained strategic heft after the four-country grouping, which has Australia and Japan alongside India and the US, was repurposed in 2017, primarily as a counter to China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean rim, and as a forum for redoubling focus on the Indo-Pacific region.
• The I2U2, a grouping of India, Israel, the US and the United Arab Emirates, is focused on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
• The US is already pursuing the ‘Chip 4’ alliance initiative with three other top semiconductor makers, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.

Statement 1 is incorrect.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team or Cert-In, a wing of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Any and all devices connected to the internet are a part of a large network of computers, servers and other devices spread across the world. To identify each device connected to the internet, service providers globally assign a unique address to each such device called the internet protocol address or IP address. It is this IP address that helps websites, law enforcement agencies and even companies track down individual users and their accurate location.

A virtual private network, when switched on, essentially creates a safe network within the larger global network of the internet and masks the IP address of the user by rerouting the data. Acting as a tunnel, a VPN takes data originating from one server and masks it in a different identity before delivering it to the destination server. In essence, a VPN creates several proxy identities for your data and delivers it safely without disturbing the content of the data.

Only Statement 1 is correct.

The central government exercising its powers under Section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, constituted a judicial inquiry commission.

The government (either state or central) does not have a statutory obligation to publish the report of the commission or act on their recommendations. A commission is not a substitute for a criminal trial before a court of law. 

• In January 2014, an expert committee of the RBI submitted its report on the ways to revise and strengthen the monetary policy framework in India, it chose to target retail inflation.
• Firstly, the committee pointed out that wholesale inflation “does not capture price movements in non-commodity producing sectors like services, which constitute close to two-thirds of economic activity in India”. This corresponds to the point made earlier about how WPI and CPI are different.
• Secondly, it pointed out that wholesale inflation “does not generally reflect price movements in all wholesale markets”. This happens because price quotations for some important commodities such as milk, LPG etc. are taken from retail markets.
• Thirdly, movements in WPI often reflect large external shocks and as such, the wholesale inflation rate is often subject to large revisions.

Only statement 1 is correct.

There is an array of crops — brinjal, tomato, maize, chickpea — in various stages of trials that employ transgenic technology. However, cotton remains the only transgenic crop that is being commercially cultivated in India. After a long hiatus, the GEAC, the apex technical body charged with evaluating proposals for testing genetically modified (GM) seeds, approved the environmental release of Mustard hybrid DMH-11 and its parental lines, during its 147th meeting on 18 October 2022 for seed production and testing. This is one step away from full commercial cultivation.

GEAC is under the Union Environment Ministry.

Statement 3 is incorrect.

The concept of mandatory minimum sentencing refers to “a sentence which must be imposed without leaving any discretion to the court. It means a quantum of punishment which cannot be reduced below the period fixed,” the Apex court held in its 2016 ruling in ‘Mohd Hashim vs State Of UP And Others’.

Essentially, this predetermines the minimum punishment or sentence for certain offenses which are considered to be more serious than others, with a view to ensure justice and not let the perpetrator of such an offense go unpunished.

No matter what the unique, individual circumstances of the offender or the offense might be, the court must mandatorily award this minimum period of sentencing for the offenses which prescribe it.

A concept that comes primarily from the Canadian and American legal systems; in India, such sentences are prescribed for all sexual offenses under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act except the offense of sexual harassment.

Under Section 8 of the POCSO Act, a punishment of 3-5 years has been prescribed for offenses under Section 7 which deals with offenses of sexual assault against children. However, imposing the minimum punishment in such cases is mandatory.

When the legislature has prescribed a minimum sentence without discretion, the same cannot be reduced by the courts. 

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established Champions of the Earth in 2005 as an annual awards programme to recognize outstanding environmental leaders from the public and private sectors, and from civil society. The Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour.

• On June 12, in a move endeavouring to manage the “overall food security and to prevent hoarding and unscrupulous speculation”, the Union Government imposed limits on stock of wheat that can be held by traders, wholesalers, retailers, big chain retailers and processors. The objective here is to stabilise the price of the essential commodity by steadying supply.
• The government has also decided to offload 15 lakh tonnes of wheat from the central pool via the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) to flour mills, private traders, bulk buyers, manufacturers of wheat products through e-auction. The idea is to control retail prices of wheat. The Food Secretary also announced that the government would offload rice under OMSS to moderate its prices.
• The Food Corporation of India is entrusted with the responsibility to ensure food grains are accessible at reasonable prices to the vulnerable sections of society under the Public Distribution System.