[Mission 2023] Current Affairs Quiz , 6 Jun 2023

Solution: c)

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay completed the first confirmed ascent of Mount Everest.

Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world (in terms of height above sea level).

Rongbuk Monastery is near the base of Everest’s northern side.

Source

Solution: a)

Only statement 2 is correct.

The process of evergreening of loans, a form of zombie lending, is typically a temporary fix for a bank. If an account turns into a non-performing asset (NPA), banks are required to make higher provisions which will impact their profitability. A loan turns into a nonperforming asset, or NPA, if the interest or instalment remains unpaid even after the due date — and remains unpaid for a period of more than 90 days.

So, to avoid classifying a loan as an NPA, banks adopt the evergreening of loans. In the past, many banks had indulged in dressing up bad loans and given additional funds to companies who didn’t have the capacity to repay.

An accommodative monetary policy creates an enabling environment for weak banks to evergreen loans to zombies and keeps them alive. The RBI has been following an accommodative policy since March 2020 when the pandemic struck the country. Most of the evergreening has happened in public sector banks which subsequently led to a jump in NPAs.

Source

Solution: c)

Article 42 of the Constitution, forming part of the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs), provides that the “State shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief.”

In the 2009 case of “Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Admn,” the top court held that reproductive choices are inherent to a woman’s right to privacy, dignity, and bodily integrity, which are covered under Article 21 of the Constitution.

In 2021, the UGC issued a circular, which inserted provisions in the UGC Regulations, 2016, for providing “women students” with maternity or childcare leave once in the entire duration of the MPhil or PhD course for up to 240 days.

Source

Solution: d)

Cultural and educational rights (Articles 29–30)

(a) Protection of language, script and culture of minorities (Article 29).

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

Baliyatra, literally ‘voyage to Bali’, is one of the country’s largest open-air fairs, which is organised every year to commemorate the 2,000-year-old maritime and cultural links between ancient Kalinga (today’s Odisha) and Bali and other South and Southeast Asian regions like Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

The origins of the festival, which begins on Kartik Purnima (full moon night in the month of Kartik) can be traced back more than 1,000 years. The Bay of Bengal region had several ports, and sadhavas (traders) traditionally began their voyage across the sea on this auspicious day, when the winds were favourable for the boats, known as boita, to sail.

According to historians, popular items of trade between Kalinga and Southeast Asia included pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, silk, camphor, gold, and jewellery.