[Mission 2024] Current Affairs Quiz , 19 July 2023

Solution: c)

Gallium is used to make gallium arsenide which forms the core substrate for semiconductors. They are used to manufacture semiconductor wafers utilised in integrated circuits, mobile and satellite communications (in chipsets), and LEDs (in displays). It also used in automotives and lighting, and for sensors in avionic, space and defence systems.

According to the European industry body, Critical Raw Materials Alliance (CRMA), 80% of gallium production takes place in China. 

Source

Solution: a)

Only statement 1 is correct.

• It is a messaging network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of codes. Under SWIFT, each financial organization has a unique code which is used to send and receive payments.
• SWIFT does not facilitate funds transfer:rather, it sends payment orders, which must be settled by correspondent accounts that the institutions have with each other.
• The SWIFT is a secure financial message carrier —in other words, it transports messages from one bank to its intended bank recipient. It acts as the Gmail of global banking services.
• It was founded in 1973 to end reliance on the telex system, an international system used especially in the past for sending written messages.
• It is a member-owned cooperative, based in Brussels.

SWIFT India is a joint venture of top Indian public and private sector banks and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication). The company was created to deliver high quality domestic financial messaging services to the Indian financial community.

Solution: c)

The U.S. recently announced an $800 million security assistance package to Ukraine. The package includes additional ammunition for the U.S.-provided howitzers, Patriot air defence systems and High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and for the first time includes Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM), or commonly referred to as cluster munitions.

Source

Solution: a)

Only statement 1 is correct.

A cluster munition is a weapon that disperses or releases explosive submunitions: small, unguided explosives or bomblets (each weighing less than 20 kg) that are designed to explode prior to, on or after impact, according to the global ‘Convention on Cluster Munitions’ (CCM). Depending on the model, the number of submunitions dispersed or released by a cluster munition can vary from several dozens to over 600. Due to this, the submunitions get dispersed over a large area, remain unexploded for several years and have caused significant civilian casualties as seen in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The CCM was adopted in Dublin by 107 States on May 30, 2008 and came into force as a binding international law on August 1, 2010. The Convention prohibits “all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions. 

To date, a total of 123 states have joined the Convention — 111 states Parties and 12 Signatories, while 74 countries are not party to it, including the major countries that manufacture and use cluster munitions. This includes the U.S., Russia, China, India, Israel, Pakistan and Ukraine and most NATO countries.

Both Russia and Ukraine have used cluster munitions in the ongoing war.

Source 

Solution: a)

Only statement 1 is correct.

There is a trade-off between inflation and unemployment. Typically, when an economy goes through a phase of high inflation, chances are that the unemployment rate will fall. That’s because firms, enticed by higher prices, try to ramp up production by recruiting more people.

High inflation may be robbing people of their purchasing power.

It is also important to understand that monetary policy does not have a direct solution to controlling “cost-push” inflation. It cannot make fuel prices lower by raising interest rates. All it can do is to control demand in the economy.