[MISSION 2024] RTM(Revision through MCQs)- 27 July 2023

Ans: (c )

Explanation: Charter Act Regulations:

• Charter Act of 1813: The Act granted a monopoly of the opium trade to the British East India Company, allowing the Company to control and regulate the opium business in India.
• Charter Act of 1833: The Company continued to maintain its monopoly on the production and sale of opium in India, particularly for export to China.
• Charter Act of 1853: It did not address the opium trade directly. The British East India Company still retained control over opium cultivation and trade in India during this period.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/the-opium-wars/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Enacted for the conservation of biological diversity and fair, equitable sharing of the monetary benefits from the commercial use of biological resources and traditional knowledge.
• The main intent of this legislation is to protect India’s rich biodiversity and associated knowledge against their use by foreign individuals.
• It seeks to check biopiracy, protect biological diversity and local growers through a three-tier structure of central and state boards and local committees.
• The Act provides for setting up of a National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) in local bodies.
• The NBA will enjoy the power of a civil court.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/the-biological-diversity-amendment-bill-2021/

• Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell–like state by being forced to express genes and factors important for maintaining the defining properties of embryonic stem cells.
• Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.
• Stem cells are distinguished from other cell types by two important characteristics:
• First, they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity.
• Second, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/26/the-dna-technology-use-and-application-regulation-bill-2019/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Convention on Biological Diversity is a legally binding treaty , which came as an outcome of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992.
• The CBD Secretariat is based in Montreal, Canada and it operates under the United Nations Environment Programme.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/the-biological-diversity-amendment-bill-2021/

Ans: (c )

Explanation:

• At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders agreed on a comprehensive strategy for “sustainable development” — meeting our needs while ensuring that we leave a healthy and viable world for future generations. One of the key agreements adopted at Rio was the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• The Convention on Biological Diversity is the international legal instrument for “the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources” that has been ratified by 196 nations.
• The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity & the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity read more>> https://www.cbd.int/

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/the-biological-diversity-amendment-bill-2021/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• The Aichi Targets, adopted during the 2010 CBD summit in Nagoya, included goals such as reducing deforestation by at least half during the coming decade and curbing pollution so that it no longer harmed ecosystems.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/the-biological-diversity-amendment-bill-2021/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report 2023 warns against the uncritical adoption of digital technology in educational settings, as there is little robust evidence of its added value in education.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/unesco-endorses-banning-smartphones-from-schools/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Option A points to a democratic system. It does not necessarily mean a Parliamentary Democratic system. For e.g. in USA the Congress is also elected, but it is a Presidential Democracy.
• Option D is correct because “Collective responsibility” of the council of ministers to the Lok Sabha (Article 75) lies at the heart of a Parliamentary democracy.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/no-confidence-motion-2/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Statement 1: Matters of urgent importance can be raised in Adjournment motion.
• Statement 2 and 3: MPs hold the executive accountable by asking questions, and supplementary questions.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/no-confidence-motion-2/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• Israel borders Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories of West Bank and the Gaza Strip; it shares maritime borders with Cyprus.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/07/27/israel/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• A lower SLR gives banks more room to lend, so S1 can’t be the answer.
• MSF rate which is slightly higher than the repo rate is a borrowing window for the banks. A higher MSF discourages borrowing, so S2 is incorrect. RBI won’t take this stance.
• S3 is common knowledge.

Refer: UPSC CSE 2020