[Mission 2024] QUED ( Questions from Editorials ) 30 December 2023

Solution: b)

Statement 3 is incorrect.

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: c)

What is Title 42?

The COVID restrictions, known as Title 42, were first implemented under Republican then-President Donald Trump in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. At the time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the order was needed to stem the spread of the coronavirus in crowded detention settings.

Solution: b)

Statement 1 is incorrect.

April 13 saw celebrations for the Sikh festival of Baisakhi, which marks the onset of Spring and the harvest of winter crops. Simultaneously, the movement for independence from British rule had been steadily gaining ground.

By 4 pm, many gathered for a public meeting against the arrest of Dr Satyapal and Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew for opposing the Rowlatt Act.

Without giving the crowd any warning to disperse, Dyer ordered his troops to fire.

Indian leaders expressed their anger and protested in response to the killings. Notably, Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore gave up his knighthood.

A Committee named Hunter Committee was set up to investigate the Jallianwala bagh incident.

Solution: d)

The Garuda Shakti Exercise is a bilateral joint special force exercise between India and Indonesia. This joint military exercise is being organized as part of the bilateral defence cooperation between Indonesia and India. It has been held since 2012, involving Para Special Force of the Indian Army.

Solution: b)

Statement 1 is incorrect.

Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI):

The report produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

The global MPI constructs a deprivation profile of each household and person through 10 indicators spanning health, education and standard of living. All indicators are equally weighted within each dimension. The global MPI identifies people as multidimensionally poor if their deprivation score is 1/3 or higher.

The MPI is calculated by multiplying the incidence of poverty and the average intensity of poverty. The MPI ranges from 0 to 1, and higher values imply higher poverty.