QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 7 August 2021

Solution: c)

Missile Technology Control Regime

• It is an informal and voluntary partnership among 35 countries.
• Objective: to prevent the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying greater than 500 kg payload for more than 300 km. The regime was formed in 1987 by the G-7 industrialized countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the United States).
• It is not a legally binding treaty on the members.

What is the purpose of the MTCR?

• The MTCR was initiated by like-minded countries to address the increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons by addressing the most destabilizing delivery system for such weapons.
• In 1992, the MTCR’s original focus on missiles for nuclear weapons delivery was extended to a focus on the proliferation of missiles for the delivery of all types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), i.e., nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Such proliferation has been identified as a threat to international peace and security.

India and the MTCR:

India was inducted into the Missile Technology Control Regime in 2016 as the 35thmember.

China is not a member of this regime but it had verbally pledged to adhere to its original guidelines but not to the subsequent additions.

Solution: a)

India is an observer in the Indian Ocean Commission, an organization that handles maritime governance in the western Indian Ocean.

About IOC:

• It is an intergovernmental organization created in 1982.
• It was institutionalized in 1984 by the Victoria Agreement in Seychelles.
• It is composed of five African Indian Ocean nations: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion (an overseas region of France), and Seychelles.
• It’s principal mission is to strengthen the ties of friendship between the countries and to be a platform of solidarity for the entire population of the African Indian Ocean region.
• The Commission has a Secretariat which is located in Mauritius and headed by a Secretary General.
• The Commission has five observers — China, India, EU, Malta and International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF).

Solution: a)

Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)

• Established in 1899.
• Headquartered at the Hague in Netherlands.
• It has Financial Assistance Fund which aims at helping developing countries meet part of the costs involved in international arbitration or other means of dispute settlement offered by the PCA.
• All decisions, called “awards” are binding on all the parties in the dispute and have to be carried out without delay.

Functions and jurisdiction:

It provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise out of international agreements between member states, international organizations or private parties.

• The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade.

The organization is not a United Nations agency, but the PCA is an official United Nations Observer.

Solution: c)

Specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations.

Specialized agencies may or may not have been originally created by the United Nations, but they are incorporated into the United Nations System by the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

At present the UN has in total 15 specialized agencies that carry out various functions on behalf of the UN.

The specialized agencies are listed below:

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
• International Labour Organization (ILO).
• International Maritime Organization (IMO).
• International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
• United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
• Universal Postal Union (UPU).
• World Bank Group (WBG).
  • The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD),
  • The International Finance Corporation (IFC),
  • The International Development Association (IDA),
• World Health Organization (WHO).
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
• World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Former Specialized Agencies:

• The only UN specialized agency to go out of existence is the International Refugee Organization, which existed from 1946 to 1952.
• In 1952, it was replaced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees which is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly.

Solution: b)

Black carbon (BC) is a component of fine particulate matter. Black carbon consists of pure carbon in several linked forms. It is formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuel, and biomass, and is emitted in both anthropogenic and naturally occurring soot. Black carbon causes human morbidity and premature mortality.

In climatology, black carbon is a climate forcing agent. Black carbon warms the Earth by absorbing sunlight and heating the atmosphere and by reducing albedo when deposited on snow and ice.

In the tropics, black carbon in soils significantly contributes to fertility as it is able to absorb important plant nutrients.