MCQ - Current Affairs (June - 2019) - UPSC MCQ

Kolhapuri chappal gets GI boost.
The approval for GI tag was jointly received by Karnataka and Maharashtra recently for making these chappals. There is a perception that these artisans are from Maharashtra alone, but a large number of them are from Karnataka, and have been making these chappals for centuries.
These leather chappals are hand-crafted and tanned using vegetable dyes. The art of making them is passed down one generation to another.
The tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed.

Polavaram Project, is an under construction multi-purpose National project on the Godavari River in the West Godavari District and East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh. The project has been accorded national project status by the Union Government of India. The back water spreads into parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha States. It gives major boost to tourism sector in Godavari Districts as the reservoir covers the famous Papikonda National Park.

NITI Aayog Releases the Second Edition of “Healthy States, Progressive India” Report.
The report has been developed by NITI Aayog, with technical assistance from the World Bank, and in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
The report ranks states and Union territories innovatively on their year-on-year incremental change in health outcomes, as well as, their overall performance. The Round II report focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement over a two year period (2016-17 and 2017-18) in the States and UTs. The report is an annual systematic performance tool to measure the performance of the States and UTs.
Among the Larger States, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh & Maharashtra ranked on top in terms of overall performance, while Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand are the top three ranking States in terms of annual incremental performance.

ASI carries out restoration of Mughal era parts of Red Fort. Flooring of red sandstone and jaali work was done as part of the renovations. Paintings and marble surfaces of Diwanikhas and Zafar Mahal were treated scientifically and Moti Masjid, Sawan and Bhadon pavilions and Hira Mahal were treated with clay.
In the future, cleaning of Rang Mahal, Khaas Mahal and Mumtaz Mahal has been proposed.
The Diwan-i-Khas or Hall of Private Audiences, was a chamber in the Red Fort of Delhi built in 1571 as a location for receptions. It was the location where the Mughal Emperor Akbar received courtiers and state guests. It was also known as the Shah Mahal.

The Speaker of Lok Sabha does not leave the office just after dissolution of the assembly. He continues to be in the office till the newly formed assembly takes its first meeting and elects the new Speaker.
Committees like the Business Advisory Committee, the General Purposes Committee and the Rules Committee work directly under her Chairmanship.
The Speaker decides weather a bill brought to the house is a money bill or not. In the case Speaker decides some bill as a money bill, this decision cannot be challenged.

The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015. It’s an extra-constitutional, non-statutory and advisory body. NITI Aayog is the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs.
At the core of NITI Aayog’s creation are two hubs – Team India Hub and the Knowledge and Innovation Hub. The Team India Hub leads the engagement of states with the Central government, while the Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds NITI’s think-tank capabilities.

The severe cyclone frequency in the north Indian Ocean (i.e., the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) has registered about a three-fold increase during the past decades. As compared to the previous decades, when about one severe cyclone was expected to form every year during the intense cyclonic period — May, October and November — the number has now gone up to about three per year.
The Arabian Sea is comparatively less prone to cyclonic storms than the Bay of Bengal. Almost 50 per cent of the storms do not sustain over its waters since the west-central and north Arabian Sea have a colder sea temperature than other adjacent regions. This cold sea surface temperature is not favourable for the development and sustenance of cyclonic storms.

14th century idol found inside temple tank in Kancheepuram.
Ekambareswarar Temple (Ekambaranathar Temple) is a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Shiva, located in the town of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. It is significant to the Hindu sect of Saivism. The temple also houses Nilathingal Thundam Perumal temple, a Divyadesam, the 108 temples revered in the Vaishnava canon Nalayira Divya Prabhandam.
Architecture type: Dravidian architecture
Creator: Pallava, Chola kings

A cess is levied on the tax payable and not on the taxable income. In a sense, for the taxpayer, it is equivalent to a surcharge on tax.
A cess can be levied on both direct and indirect taxes.
Unlike a tax, a cess is levied to meet a specific purpose; its proceeds cannot be spent on any kind of government expenditure. Recent examples of cess are: infrastructure cess on motor vehicles, clean environment cess, Krishi Kalyan cess (for the improvement of agriculture and welfare of farmers), and education cess. To make the point clear, the proceeds from the education cess cannot be used for cleaning the environment and vice versa.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the ratification of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI).
The Convention will modify India’s treaties in order to curb revenue loss through treaty abuse and base erosion and profit shifting strategies by ensuring that profits are taxed where substantive economic activities generating the profits are carried out and where value is created.
The Multilateral Convention is an outcome of the OECD / G20 Project to tackle Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the “BEPS Project”) i.e., tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in little or no tax being paid.

Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.

India and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and called on the international community to promote cooperation in combatting the menace.
According to the Bishkek Declaration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Heads of State Council, the member states stressed that acts of terrorism and extremism cannot be justified.

The Chhattisgarh government is processing habitat rights for Abujh Marias, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). Since AbujhMarias is a PVTG community, they are entitled to the habitat rights under FRA.
The FRA has a provision that says, “In view of the differential vulnerability of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PTGs) among the forest dwellers, the District Level Committee should play a pro-active role in ensuring that all PTGs receive habitat rights in consultation with the concerned PTGs’ traditional institutions of these groups, after filing claims before the gram sabha”.
Habitat is defined under the act as, “the area comprising the customary habitat and such other habitats in reserved forests and protected forests of primitive tribal groups and pre-agricultural communities and other forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes.”
PVTGs are more vulnerable among the tribal groups. In 1975, the Government of India initiated to identify the most vulnerable tribal groups as a separate category called PVTGs and declared 52 such groups, while in 1993 an additional 23 groups were added to the category, making it a total of 75 PVTGs out of 705 Scheduled Tribes, spread over 18 states and one Union Territory (A&N Islands) in the country (2011 census).
Among the 75 listed PVTG’s the highest number are found in Odisha (13), followed by Andhra Pradesh (12).
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs implements the Scheme of “Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)” exclusively for them.

Cost of production (CoP) is one of the important factors in the determination of MSP of mandated crops. Besides cost, the Commission for ‘Agricultural Costs and Prices’ (CACP), considers other important factors such as demand and supply, price trend in the domestic and international markets, inter-crop price parity, terms of trade between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and the likely impact of MSPs on consumers, in addition to ensuring rational utilization of natural resources like land and water.

Thus, pricing policy is rooted not in ‘cost plus’ approach, though cost is an important determinant of MSP.

Bharat Stage norms are the automotive emission norms which the automotive manufacturers have to comply to sell their vehicles in India. These norms are applicable to all two wheelers, three wheelers, fourwheelers and construction equipment vehicles.
To curb growing menace of air pollution through the vehicles emission, the Government of India has decided to leapfrog from the exiting BS – IV norms to the BS- VI, thereby skipping the BS – V norms, and to implement the BS – VI norms with effect from 1st April 2020. Only those vehicles will be sold and registered in India from 1st April 2020 onwards, which comply to these norms. The norms are stringent and at par with global standards.

5G is the next generation cellular technology that will provide faster and more reliable communication with ultra-low latency. Latency is the amount of time data takes to travel between its source and destination.
With 5G, the peak network data speeds are expected to be in the range of 2-20 Gigabit per second (Gbps). This is in contrast to 4G link speeds in averaging 6-7 Megabit per second (Mbps) in India as compared to 25 Mbps in advanced countries
With 5G technology, consumers will be able to download data heavy content such as 8K movies and games with better graphics in just a few seconds. But once 5G becomes commercial, users will be required to change their current devices in favour of 5G-enabled ones.
5G is expected to form the backbone of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine to machine communications, thereby supporting a much larger range of applications and services, including driverless vehicles, tele-surgery and real time data analytics. The ultra low latency offered by 5G makes the technology desirable for such use cases.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended ‘complete’ ban on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), including e-cigarettes.
As e-cigarettes contain nicotine and not tobacco, they do not fall within the ambit of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA), which mandates stringent health warnings on the packaging and advertisements of tobacco products.

United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) recently appointed Indian-origin Anita Bhatia as Deputy Executive Director of United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships.
UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.
UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide. It works globally to make the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for women and girls and stands behind women’s equal participation in all aspects of life, focusing on four strategic priorities:
1. Women lead, participate in and benefit equallyfrom governance systems
2. Women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy
3. All women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence
4. Women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in building sustainable peace and resilience, and benefit equally from the prevention of natural disasters and conflicts and humanitarian action
UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality, and in all deliberations and agreements linked to the 2030 Agenda. The entity works to position gender equality as fundamental to the Sustainable Development Goals, and a more inclusive world.

Repurchase Options or in short Repo, is a money market instrument, which enables collateralised short term borrowing and lending through sale/purchase operations in debt instruments. This is an instrument used by the Central Bank and banking institutions to manage their daily / short term liquidity.
Legal Definition
A legal definition of ‘repo’ and ‘reverse repo’ was inserted as sub-sections (c) and (d) of section 45 U of Chapter III D of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934, vide The Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Act, 2006 (w.e.f. 9.1.2007). Thus,
“repo” means an instrument for borrowing funds by selling securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities on a mutually agreed future date at an agreed price which includes interest for the funds borrowed;
“reverse repo” means an instrument for lending funds by purchasing securities with an agreement to resell the securities on a mutually agreed future date at an agreed price which includes interest for the funds lent.”
In News: SBI to offer home loan linked to repo rate

All the statements given above are correct.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985. SAARC comprises of eight Member States: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Secretariat of the Association was set up in Kathmandu on 17 January 1987.
Decisions at all levels are to be taken on the basis of unanimity; and bilateral and contentious issues are excluded from the deliberations of the Association.

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board, a quasi-judicial body, was constituted in September 1958. The jurisdiction of the Copyright Board extends to the whole of India. The Board is entrusted with the task of adjudication of disputes pertaining to copyright registration, assignment of copyright, grant of Licenses in respect of works withheld from public, unpublished Indian works, production and publication of translations and works for certain specified purposes. It also hears cases in other miscellaneous matters instituted before it under the Copyright Act, 1957.
The Copyright (Amendment)Act, 2012 which came into force w.e.f. June 21,2015 provides for a full time IPAB Under Section 11 with Chairman and two other members, with its headquarters in Delhi. The new full time IPAB is expected to be reconstituted shortly.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is a national voluntary organisation of Doctors of Modern Scientific System of Medicine in India, which looks after the interest of doctors as well as the wellbeing of the community at large.
It was established in 1928 as the All India Medical Association, renamed “Indian Medical Association” in 1930. It is a society registered under The Societies Act of India.
Establishment and maintenance of uniform standards for undergraduate medical education is one of the function of Medical Council of India.
In News: IMA constitutes fact­finding mission to look into Payal Tadvi’s death

It is established in 1875
In News: Heat wave to continue for a couple of days: IMD

All the statements are correct.
A day after a group of journalists was told that India’s access to preferential trade terms under the U.S.’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) was on its way out, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation ending the trade benefits effective June 5.
“I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India’s designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019,” Mr. Trump’s proclamation read.
The GSP is a programme that seeks to aid developing countries by giving some of their products non­reciprocal, duty­free access to U.S. markets. In 2018, some $ 6.3 billion of Indian merchandise exports to the U.S. were covered by GSP, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In News: Trump ends concessions for Indian exports under GSP