UPSC Current Affairs Quiz : 10 February 2024

Solution: b)

Statement 2 is incorrect.

Khaps are mainly gotra – clans tracing their paternal lineage to a common ancestor – and region-based social outfits. They derive their name either from the number of villages/clusters of villages or the gotras they represent.

khaps used to have three kinds of functions – settle familial/village disputes, maintain/protect the tenets of the faith, and protect the area from outside invasion. Today, the last function is largely irrelevant. The major function of khaps today is to settle disputes and ensure that social and religious custom is enforced in their area.

With regards to leadership and succession, a defining feature of khaps is that they do not have a set organisation. While earlier, succession as a khap president/leader was hereditary, now, that is not necessarily the case. To preside over a meeting of a particular khap or a group of khaps, the chairman of the same is nominated unanimously and on the spot. As largely there are no defined rules to elect president of a khap, in many cases more than one person claims to be head of a particular khap – causing fights and disputes.

There are nearly 300 main khaps in north India – in the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

Solution: a)

Only Statement 1 is correct.

Lothal was one of the southernmost sites of the Indus Valley civilization, located in the Bhāl region of what is now the state of Gujarat. The port city is believed to have been built in 2,200 BC.

Lothal was nominated in April 2014 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its application is pending on the tentative list of UNESCO. As per the nomination dossier submitted to UNESCO, “The excavated site of Lothal is the only port-town of the Indus Valley Civilisation. A metropolis with an upper and a lower town had in on its northern side a basin with vertical wall, inlet and outlet channels which has been identified as a tidal dockyard.

Solution: b)

Statement 1 is incorrect.

Agriculture subsidies can be direct or indirect farm subsidies taking account the instruments used in providing them.

Direct Farm subsidies involve giving cash to the farmers. India provides direct subsidies in a limited form which include giving food subsidy or MSP-based procurement, etc. These are the kinds of subsidies in which direct cash incentives are paid to the farmers in order to make their products more competitive in the global markets.

Indirect farm subsidies: These are the farm subsidies which are provided in the form of cheaper credit facilities, farm loan waivers, reduction in irrigation and electricity bills, fertilizers, seeds and pesticides subsidy as well as the investments in agricultural research, environmental assistance, farmer training, etc.

Solution: b)

Operation Bluestar was an Indian Army operation carried out in June 1984 in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, to flush out militants.

Solution: a)

Only statement 1 is correct.

What is the Global Slavery Index?

The index presents a global picture of modern slavery. It is constructed by Walk Free, a human rights organisation and is based on data provided by the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, which, in turn, is produced by International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free, and International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations also resolve to end modern slavery. Target 8.7 of the SDGs states: “Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.”