[Mission 2023] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 5 May 2023

Solution: c)

Article 355 of the Constitution says that it shall be the duty of the Union to ensure that the government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. This Article was meant to provide justification for central intervention in the States.

Under Article 154 of the Constitution, the Governor can exercise his executive powers only on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

Source

Solution: b)

Founded in 1997, the seven-member BIMSTEC, which includes the littoral states of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Thailand is a member too) and the land-locked states of Nepal and Bhutan, has identified 14 pillars for special focus. These are trade and investment, transport and communication, energy, tourism, technology, fisheries, agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter terrorism and transnational crime, environment and disaster management, people-to-people contact, cultural cooperation and climate change.

A Bay of Bengal Maritime Dialogue (BOBMD) organised recently by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and the Pathfinder Foundation brought together government officials, maritime experts, and representatives of prominent think tanks from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia.

Solution: c)

The electoral bond scheme is designed to allow an individual, or any “artificial juridical person”, including body corporates, to purchase bonds issued by the State Bank of India during notified periods of time. These instruments are issued in the form of promissory notes, and in denominations ranging from ₹1,000 to ₹1 crore.

Solution: a)

Changes in the design and form of bank notes and coins are decided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the central government. Any change in design of a currency note has to be approved by the RBI’s Central Board and the central government. Changes in the design of coins are the prerogative of the central government.

Section 22 of The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, gives RBI the “sole right” to issue banknotes in India. Section 25 states that “the design, form, and material of bank notes shall be such as may be approved by the Central Government after consideration of the recommendations made by the [RBI’s] Central Board”.

The RBI’s Department of Currency Management — headed by Deputy Governor  — has the responsibility of administering the core function of currency management. According to the RBI website, the Department addresses policy and operational issues relating to the “designing of banknotes; forecasting demand for notes and coins; ensuring smooth distribution of banknotes and coins throughout the country and retrieval of unfit notes and uncurrent coins from circulation; ensuring the integrity of bank notes”, etc.

Solution: d)

Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) is an agency formed at a village level or a cluster of villages situated adjacent to Reserved Forests (RF) registered with the Territorial Divisional Forest Office.

JFMC is responsible for selecting the plant species to be planted in the forest, suggesting physical and financial targets, conducting awareness programs. The JFMC objectives are to ensure sustainable management of forest resources, to improve forest cover via afforestation, to restore degraded forest land, to promote conservation awareness through environmental education, restore watershed capability in catchment areas and to assure employment opportunities to the tribal communities.