April 16 2024 Current Affairs MCQs

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• Important Milestones:
  • Mahad satyagraha – He led the Mahad Satyagraha in March 1927 against Hindus who were opposing the decision of the Municipal Board to throw open the tank to all communities.
  • Kalaram temple movement – It was organised by Ambedkar in 1930 outside the Kalaram Temple in Nasik, Maharashtra, in order to allow lower caste people or untouchables to enter the temple.
  • Poona pact – In 1932 Dr. Ambedkar signed the Poona pact with Mahatma Gandhi, which abandoned the idea of separate electorates for the depressed classes (Communal Award).

Statement 2 is correct

• Reserve Bank of India was formed on the concept presented by Babasaheb to the Hilton Young Commission.
• He was the chairperson of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, his pivotal role in drafting and shaping the Constitution serves as the foundational law for India.
• He was conferred with the title of “Bodhisattva” by the Buddhist monks at “Jagatik Buddhism Council” in 1954 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
• Organisations founded by him: Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha (1923), Independent Labor Party (1936), Scheduled Castes Federation (1942).
• Journals: Mooknayak (1920), Bahishkrit Bharat (1927), Samatha (1929), Janata (1930).
• Books – Annihilation of Caste, Pakistan or the Partition of India, Problem of the rupee, Buddha or Karl Marx, The Untouchable: Who are They and Why They Have Become Untouchables, Buddha and His Dhamma, The Rise and Fall of Hindu Women, Who were Shudras? Thoughts on Linguistic States, Waiting for a Visa (Autibiography).

Answer: (b) 2 only; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• It is as an outcome of the UN’s International Year for the World’s Indigenous People in 1993, within the first International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People (1995–2004).
• It is an advisory body within the framework of the United Nations System that reports to the UN’s Economic and Social Council.

Statement 2 is incorrect

• Mandate – To deal with indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights.
• It is composed of 16 independent experts, functioning in their personal capacity.
• The experts are appointed for 3-year terms. At the end of their term, they can be re-elected or re-appointed for one additional term.
• The first meeting of the Permanent Forum was held in 2002, with yearly sessions thereafter.

Statement 3 is correct

• The 23rd session of UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York highlights slow progress in protecting indigenous territories, crucial for meeting biodiversity targets.
• 2024 theme – “Enhancing Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination in the context of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: emphasizing the voices of Indigenous youth”.
• Indigenous Territories – It covers 22% of land and home to 80% of remaining biodiversity, these areas are vital but receive less than 1% of climate finance.
• Amazon protection – The “Amazonia for Life: Protect 80% by 2025” initiative urges for rapid action to prevent ecological tipping points in the Amazon.
• Target 3 of this framework proposes that 30 per cent of land and water on the earth is protected by 2030.

Answer: (b) Only two; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• Exercise Dustlik is an annual joint military exercise between the Indian Army and the Uzbekistan Army.
• It is conducted alternately in India and Uzbekistan.
• The first edition of the exercise was held in Uzbekistan in November 2019.
• The last edition was conducted in Pithoragarh in February 2023.
• Dustlik-2024:
  • It is the fifth edition of the joint exercise.
  • The exercise will be conducted at Termez in Uzbekistan.
  • The Indian Armed Forces contingent, comprising 60 personnel, is being represented by 45 personnel from the Indian Army, primarily from a battalion of the JAT Regiment, and 15 personnel from the Indian Air Force.
  • The aim of Exercise DUSTLIK is to foster military cooperation and enhance combined capabilities to execute joint operations in mountainous as well as semi urban terrain.

Answer: (b) Uzbekistan; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• Financial Services Institutions Bureau is a a government body set up under the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance.
• The primary role of FSIB is to identify manpower capabilities and ensure proper selection of talent for senior positions at financial institutions owned by the government.

Statement 2 is correct

• It replaced the Bank Board’s Bureau (BBB), which was declared an incompetent authority.
• The Banks Board Bureau (BBB) has had its genesis in the recommendations of ‘The Committee to Review Governance of Boards of Banks in India, whose chairman was P. J. Nayak in May 2014.
• Apart from recommending personnel for the PSBs, the Bureau had also been assigned with the task of recommending personnel for appointment as directors in government-owned insurance companies.
• Delhi High Court had struck down the BBB’s power to select directors of Public Sector Undertaking, general insurance companies.

Statement 3 is incorrect

• Structure:
  • FSIB would be headed by a chairman, a central government nominee.
  • The board would comprise the Secretaries of the DFS, the chairman of IRDAI, and a deputy governor of the RBI.
  • Additionally, it will have three part-time members who are experts in banking and three more from the insurance sector.

Statement 4 is correct

• Roles and Responsibilities:
  • To recommend persons for appointment as whole-time directors (WTDs) and non-executive chairpersons (NECs) on the Boards of Directors in Public Sector Banks (PSBs), financial institutions (FIs) and Public Sector Insurers (PSIs),
  • To advise the Government on matters relating to appointments, transfers or extension of term of office and termination of the services of the said directors,
  • It would also issue guidelines for selecting general managers and directors of public sector general insurance companies,
  • To advise the Government on the desired management structure at the Board level for PSBs, FIs and PSIs,
  • To advise the Government on a suitable performance appraisal system for WTDs and NECs in PSBs, FIs, and PSIs,
  • To build a databank containing data related to the performance of PSBs, FIs and PSIs,
  • To advise the Government on the formulation and enforcement of a code of conduct and ethics for WTDs in PSBs, FIs and PSIs.

Answer: (b) Only two; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• Forest authorities in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitharama Raju district recently harvested water from an Indian laurel tree (Terminalia elliptica).
• Also known as Asna or Indian laurel, it grows mainly in dry and moist deciduous forests.

  

• Its wood is prized for furniture and musical instruments, while its leaves sustain silkworms for Tussah silk production.
• Medically, the bark treats diarrhea, yielding oxalic acid.
• Additionally, its bark and fruit are sources of pyrogallol and catechol for dye and leather tanning.

Answer: (d) Dry and Moist Deciduous Forests; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• These are surface-to-air missiles designed to counter incoming ballistic missiles.
• They are designed to intercept and destroy any type of ballistic threat during the mid-course or terminal phase of their trajectory.
• However, they are specifically designed to counter Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).

Statement 2 is correct

• The anti-ballistic missiles operate beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.
• The exo-atmospheric interceptors or anti-ballistic missiles are equipped with advanced technology including infrared sensors and radar systems so that they can detect and track incoming ballistic missiles and terminate them.
• These missiles travel at a hypersonic speed advanced and sophisticated guidance missile systems to accurately manoeuvre and intercept targets travelling at very high speeds.
• These missiles are guided by an inertial navigation system that is updated during flight using contour maps stored in the system’s computerized memory.

Statement 3 is incorrect

• The anti-ballistic missiles use a three-stage solid rocket booster to propel itself out of Earth’s atmosphere at near-hypersonic speed.
• After reaching into space, the ABM activates its sophisticated sensors to identify and track the incoming target. They have an inbuilt rocket motor to navigate towards the target with exceptional accuracy

Answer: (b) Only two; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Tax buoyancy explains the relationship between the changes in the government’s tax revenue growth and the changes in Gross domestic product (GDP).
• There is a strong connection between the government’s tax revenue earnings and economic growth.
• As the economy achieves faster growth, the tax revenue of the government also goes up. Tax buoyancy explains this relationship.

Statement 2 is correct

• When a tax is buoyant, its revenue increases without increasing the tax rate.
• It depends upon:
  • the size of the tax base,
  • the friendliness of the tax administration,
  • the rationality and simplicity of tax rates.
• Tax buoyancy will be highest for direct taxes.
• Generally, direct taxes are more sensitive to the GDP growth rate.

Statement 3 is incorrect

• Laffer Curve suggests that tax rates above a certain threshold reduce tax revenue since they incentivize people not to work.
• It suggests there is an optimum tax rate which maximises total tax revenue.

Answer: (b) 1 and 2 only; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are astronomical phenomena that occur when a star passes close enough to a supermassive black hole and is pulled apart by the black hole’s tidal forces, causing the process of disruption.
• Such tidally disrupted stellar debris starts raining down on the black hole and radiation emerges from the innermost region of accreting debris, which is an indicator of the presence of a TDE.

Answer: (d) It is a destruction of a star by a black hole; Difficulty Level: Medium