[Mission 2023] Current Affairs Quiz , 5 May 2023

Solution: b)

WIPO is the global forum for intellectual property (IP) services, policy, information and cooperation.

Our mission is to lead the development of a balanced and effective international IP system that enables innovation and creativity for the benefit of all. Our mandate, governing bodies and procedures are set out in the WIPO Convention, which established WIPO in 1967.

The predecessor to WIPO was the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property, which had been established in 1893 to administer the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

WIPO was formally created by the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, which entered into force on 26 April 1970. That date is commemorated annually as World Intellectual Property Day, which raises awareness of the importance of IP.

Solution: c)

The official language committee is a statutory committee constituted under Section 4 in the Official Language Act, 1963. Its duty is to review the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purposes of the Union and submit a report to the President. The Act makes it obligatory for the President to issue directions “in accordance with the whole or any part of the report” (Section 4(4)). It can thus be seen that the committee’s recommendations are required to be acted upon.

The Committee is chaired by the Union Home Minister.

Article 343 of the Constitution declares that Hindi in Devanagari script shall be the official language of the Union.

Parliament enacted the official languages Act in 1963, providing for the continuance of English indefinitely as official language along with Hindi for the official purposes of the Union and for transaction of business in Parliament.

The committee is not mandated to recommend the medium of instruction in universities and professional institutions. Further, since Parliament has declared by law that English shall continue along with Hindi, a statutory committee constituted under that very Act has no mandate to recommend the discontinuation of English.

India has two major groups of languages — the Indo-European language group and the Dravidian language group. Hindi belongs to the former and Tamil (more ancient than Sanskrit) belongs to the latter.

Solution: a)

Global investors are allowed to participate in initial public offering (IPO) of a company owned by the government.

A Red Herring Prospectus, or offer document, is filed by a company to SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) when it plans to raise money from the public by selling shares of the company to investors. The document is very useful to investors because it provides detailed information about the company’s business operations, financials, promoters and the company’s objective for raising funds by filing an IPOs.

Solution: a)

Ocean acidity or ocean acidification is a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended time. It is caused by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO₂), a greenhouse gas emitted by human activities. The ocean’s average pH is now around 8.1, which is basic (or alkaline). But as the ocean continues to absorb more carbon dioxide, the pH decreases and the ocean becomes more acidic.

This has contributed to the loss of corals on a global scale as their calcium skeletons are weakened by more acidic water. This also erodes and affects the formation of shells of shellfish.

It has thus brought changes in relative species dominance, potentially leading to ecosystem shifts in coastal waters.

Solution: d)

Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s not the tallest (that title goes to Mauna Kea) but it’s the largest and makes up about half of the island’s land mass. It sits immediately north of Kilauea volcano, which is currently erupting from its summit crater. Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago.

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.