April 17 2025 Current Affairs MCQs

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• About International Diabetes Federation:
  • Established in 1950, it’s an umbrella organisation of 240+ national diabetes associations in 160 nations.

Statement 2 is correct, but statement 3 is incorrect

• Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium.
• Objective: To promote diabetes care, prevention, and a cure worldwide.
• Key Initiatives: Organises the World Diabetes Congress, observes World Diabetes Day (14 November), and maintains the IDF Diabetes Atlas, which tracks global trends and burden.

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

Explanation

Option (c) is correct

• Telangana becomes 1st state to implement SC sub-categorisation, popularly called reservation within reservation.
• According to the notification, Scheduled Castes in the state will be divided into three categories – Group I, II and III.
• SC categorisation will be implemented in Telangana in employment and education.
• What is SC Sub-Categorisation?
  • Definition: SC Sub-Categorisation refers to the idea of dividing the Scheduled Castes (SCS) into sub-groups to ensure fairer distribution of reservation benefits among all SCS.

Answer: (c) Telangana; Difficulty Level: Easy

Explanation

Both statements 1 and 2 are correct

• About Surat ETS:
  • Initiated in 2019 in Surat, Gujarat, the ETS is the world’s first trading market for particulate matter (PM) emissions by means of the Cap-and-Trade Mechanism (used in Carbon Trading).
  • Aimed at reducing industrial air pollution in Surat (industries contribute ~1/3rd of the city’s PM levels).
• Types of Carbon Trading Mechanisms:
  • Emission Trading (Cap-and-Trade)
    • Carbon is treated as a tradable commodity in a regulated carbon market.
    • Core Principle: Sets an emissions cap based on capacity and past emissions data.
    • Countries or firms with unused emission allowances can sell them to those exceeding limits.
    • Those failing to comply/obtain sufficient emission allowances are fined.
  • Offset Trading (Baseline-and-Credit)
    • Entities earn carbon credits by funding low-emission or carbon-capturing projects.
    • Useful for meeting emission targets where direct reduction is not feasible.
  • Carbon Credit Trading
    • A single carbon credit represents the removal or avoided emission of one ton of CO2 or another greenhouse gas like methane of equivalent volume.
    • These credits can be sold to entities to claim as reductions in their emissions.

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2; Difficulty Level: Easy

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect, but Statement 2 is correct

• World Health Organization has finalized the text of a legally binding Pandemic treaty.
• Aim: Bolstering global cooperation in prevention, preparedness, & response to future pandemic threats.
• Background: In December 2021, WHO Member States established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to develop a global convention or agreement to address health emergencies.
• Adoption: The draft treaty will now be considered at the 78th World Health Assembly in May 2025.
  • If adopted, it will require ratification by individual member countries before coming into force.

Statement 3 is correct

• The draft provides for:
  • One Health Approach: This approach emphasises an integrated “One Health” strategy that connects human, animal, and environmental health.
  • Respect for National Sovereignty: The draft clearly states that WHO will not have the authority to enforce national health measures such as lockdowns, vaccination drives, or border closures. Decision-making will remain under the sovereign control of individual nations.
  • Pathogen Access and Sharing System: This proposal proposes a new pathogen access and benefit-sharing system to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments.
  • Resource Sharing: The agreement promotes technology transfer, knowledge sharing, and capacity-building, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
  • Health Emergency Workforce: Calls for creating and training a multidisciplinary, well-equipped global and national health emergency workforce capable of responding swiftly and effectively to pandemic situations.

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only; Difficulty Level: Easy

Explanation

All statements are correct

• Tata Trusts recently released the India Justice Report (IJR) 2025 in collaboration with a consortium of civil society organizations.
  • It ranks states based on 24 indicators spanning the four pillars of the justice system: police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid.
• Key Findings about Judiciary:
  • Vacancies: India has just 15 judges per million people, far below the Law Commission’s 1987 recommendation of 50 judges per million population.
    • Vacancies in High Courts (HCs) accounted for 33% of the total sanctioned strength. Gujarat has the highest number of vacancies in HC Judges and staff.
  • Expenditure: The national per capita expenditure on the judiciary stands at ₹182. No State in India spent more than 1% of its total annual expenditure on the Judiciary.
  • Under Representation of Women: 38% Share of women judges in district judiciary. There is a higher share of women judges in the district courts than in the HCs and the Supreme Court (6 %).
    • Currently, there is only one woman Chief Justice across the 25 HCs.
  • Under Representation of SCs and STs: The share of Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the district judiciary remains low at 5% and 14%, respectively.
    • Of the 698 High Court judges appointed since 2018, only 37 are from SC and ST categories.

Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3; Difficulty Level: Hard

Explanation

Statement 2 is correct

• Registrar General of India (RGI): The RBD Act empowers the RGI to coordinate and unify the activities of Chief Registrars appointed by State governments.
• According to the 2023 amendment to the RBD Act, the RGI shall maintain a national database; it is obligatory that Chief Registrars and Registrars share the information with the Centre.

Statement 1 is correct but statement 3 is incorrect

• Registration of Birth and Deaths in India:
  • Mandatory Registration: According to the Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969, which was amended in 2023, registration of all births and deaths is mandatory.
  • Private hospitals are supposed to report the events in their jurisdiction to the registrar so that certificates can be issued to the family.
• Civil Registration System (CRS): Under the CRS, controlled by the RGI, government hospitals are responsible for functioning as registrars.
• According to the 2023 Act, all births and deaths in the country are to be digitally registered through the Centre’s portal, the CRS.
• Punishment: As per Section 23(2) of the RBD Act, “negligence by the registrar in registering any birth or death” is punishable with a fine. The amended Act enhanced the fine to up ₹1,000 from ₹50.

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only; Difficulty Level: Easy