DAY – 24 ( INSTA REVISION TEST – 24)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2021 – INSIGHTSIAS

Solution: B

Anticipatory bail

Context: A constitution bench of the Supreme Court has ruled that an anticipatory bail cannot be limited to a fixed time period and can continue till the end of the trial.

Background:

• The judgment came in a reference made by a three-judge bench in the case of Sushila Aggarwal v. State of NCT of Delhi regarding the scope of Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which provides for grant of anticipatory bail.

Observations made by the Court:

• If there are any special circumstances necessitating a limit on the tenure of anticipatory bail, it is open for the court to do so. Nothing in Section 438 CrPC compels or obliges courts to impose conditions limiting relief in terms of time.
• When Parliament has not thought it appropriate to curtail the rights of the citizens, it would be not appropriate for the SC to curtail powers granted to courts with regard to anticipatory bail.
• Anticipatory bail application could be moved by a person even before filing of FIR.
• The court, while granting anticipatory bail, should examine seriousness and gravity of the offence to impose any condition on the petitioner, if necessary.

What is Anticipatory Bail?

• The provision of anticipatory bail under Section 438 was introduced when CrPC was amended in 1973.
• Section 438 is a procedural provision concerned with personal liberty of each individual, who is entitled to the benefit of the presumption of innocence.
• As opposed to ordinary bail, which is granted to a person who is under arrest, in anticipatory bail, a person is directed to be released on bail even before arrest made.

Who can apply?

• 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, lays down the law on anticipatory bail.
• Sub-section (1) of the provision reads: “When any person has reason to believe that he may be arrested on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence, he may apply to the High Court or the Court of Session for a direction under this section; and that Court may, if it thinks fit, direct that in the event of such arrest, he shall be released on bail.”
• The provision empowers only the Sessions Court and High Court to grant anticipatory bail.

Significance:

• The reason for enactment of Section 438 in the Code was parliamentary acceptance of the crucial underpinning of personal liberty in a free and democratic country.
• Parliament wished to foster respect for personal liberty and accord primacy to a fundamental tenet of criminal jurisprudence that everyone is presumed to be innocent till he or she is found guilty.
• Life and liberty are the cherished attributes of every individual. The urge for freedom is natural to each human being.
• In the 1980 Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia vs State of Punjab case, a five-judge Supreme Court bench led by then Chief Justice Y V Chandrachud ruled that S. 438 (1) is to be interpreted in the light of Article 21 of the Constitution (protection of life and personal liberty).

Solution: A

Koothiyattam (Koodiyattam) is India’s oldest continuing form of theatre that has survived since 10th century A.D. in Kerala. It completely adheres to the rules laid down in Natya Shastra and is the traditional privilege of the Chakyar and Nambiar castes of Kerala.

The play is performed in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Malayalam, with Mizhavu and Edakka providing the background music. All the characters begin the play with Nirvahana, a recollection of the past events of the story. After this, the story unfolds in a leisurely fashion with commentaries on social, philosophical, and political behaviour.

Margi Madhu Chakyar is a leading exponent of this art form.

Solution: B

Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary

• Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary or Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected Wildlife sanctuary in the Eastern Ghats and is located in the state of Karnataka in India.
• It is named after the presiding deity “Lord Male Mahadeshwara” of the famed Male Mahadeshwara Hills Temple located within the sanctuary.
• The sanctuary lies in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka.
• It is spread over 906.18 sq km – is contiguous to BRT Tiger Reserve, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary will be declared as a tiger reserve soon.
• It consists mainly of dry deciduous type degrading to scrub forest in the fringe areas, and are interspersed with patches of moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, evergreen and shola forests occurring at varying altitudes.

Solution: C

E-waste recycling has doubled in the country in 2018-19

The government has reported that the recycling rate of 10% in 2017-18 has risen to 20% in 2018-19

India ranks fifth among E-waste producing countries, after the US, China, Japan and Germany.

The government has implemented the E-waste (Management) Rules (2016) which enforces the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Under EPR, producers have been made responsible to collect a certain percentage of E-waste generated from their goods once they have reached their “end-of-life”]

E-Waste (Electronic-Waste): It is the term used to describe old, end-of-life or discarded electronic appliances. It includes computers, mobiles, consumer electronics etc.

Solution: C

ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) programme

It is a joint endeavour between ESA and the Russian space agency (Roscosmos).

The primary goal of the ExoMars programme is to address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.

The ExoMars programme comprises two missions: the first – the Trace Gas Orbiter – launched in 2016 while the second, comprising a rover and surface platform, is planned for 2022. Together they will address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.

THE LAUNCH

ExoMars 2016: 14 March 2016 (arrived 19 October 2016)

ExoMars 2022: August – October (landing April or July 2023)

Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan

Launcher: Proton

Solution: A

Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR):

• Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications has initiated a Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) for mobile service providers.
• The National Telecom Policy of 2012 calls for the establishment of a National Mobile Property Registry to address the issue of security, theft, and other concerns including reprogramming of mobile handsets.
• The government has launched a web portal, ‘Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)’, to facilitate blocking and tracing of stolen/lost mobile phones in Delhi.
• The web portal was first launched in Mumbai.
• Services provided: The launch of the project in Delhi will facilitate – request for blocking of stolen or lost mobile phone by customers; blocking of such mobile phones across mobile networks; sharing of traceability data with the Police; and unblocking of recovered/ found stolen or lost mobile phones.
• It will be a central depository or database of all mobile phones connected to networks across India.

It is being launched to curtail the rampant cloning and theft of mobile phones across the country.

Solution: B

It is the world’s largest secure seed bank located in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The aim of the vault is to preserve a vast variety of crop seeds in the case of a doomsday event, calamity, climate change or national emergency.

It is owned and administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food on behalf of the Kingdom of Norway

https://www.croptrust.org/our-work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/faq-about-the-vault/

Extra Info:

India has also established its own seed storage facility at Chang La in Ladakh, It was built jointly by the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) in 2010 under the aegis of DRDO.

Solution: D

What is Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Birds are excellent indicators of ecosystem health. The IBA programme of Birdlife International aims to identify, monitor and protect a global network of IBAs for conservation of the world’s birds and associated biodiversity. The IBAs serve as conservation areas for protection of birds at the global, regional or sub-regional level. According to Birdlife International, designation of IBAs is based on standardized criteria, namely

(i) hold significant numbers of one or more globally threatened bird species,

(ii) be one of a set of sites that together hold a suite of restricted-range species or biome-restricted species and

(iii) have exceptionally large numbers of migratory or congregatory birds.

The IBAs contain a range of habitats, such as wetlands, mudflats, microhabitats in biodiversity hotspots, grasslands and scrublands, making them excellent indicators of biodiversity richness (India’s 5th National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2014). The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS; http://www.bnhs.org) and Birdlife International have identified 467 IBAs in India (Islam and Rahmani, 2004). Forty percent of these IBAs fall outside the PA network and thus form an important tool for landscape-level conservation planning. BNHS has also prepared a list of 96 new/potential sites which can be designated as IBAs in the future.

Solution: C

The Regional Anti–Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

Solution: D

Government e-Marketplace is an online market place for procurement of common use goods and services by government ministries, departments and CPSEs.

It was setup in 2016. The platform offers online, end to end solution for procurement of commonly used goods and services for all central government departments and state governments, public sector units and affiliated bodies.

It aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement of goods and services and eliminate corruption.

Solution: C

The Food Corporation of India is an organization created and run by the Government of India. It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India. Its top official is designated as Chairman. It was set up in 1965 with its Initial headquarters at Chennai. Later this was moved to New Delhi. It also has regional centers in the capitals of the states. Important regions of the state also serve as district centers.

Objectives:

• Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the poor farmers
• Distribution of foodgrains throughout the country for Public Distribution System (PDS)
• Maintaining a satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure National Food Security
• Regulate market price to provide food grains to consumers at a reliable price.
• It has primary duty to undertake purchase, store, and move/transport, distribute and sell food grains and other foodstuffs.

Solution: C

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put in place a Central Fraud Registry. It has informed that 13,083, 16,468 and 13,653 cases of ATM/Debit Card and Internet Banking frauds, where the amount involved is Rs. 1 lakh and above, were reported by commercial banks during financial years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively. As per RBI’s instructions, banks are required to report cases of fraud to law enforcement agencies. No centralised information is maintained regarding the outcome of investigations by law enforcement agencies.

Solution: A

Universal Postal Union (UPU):

• A specialized agency of United Nations that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to worldwide postal system.
• Established in 1874 and is second oldest international organization worldwide after International Telecommunication Union (ITU) which was established in 1865.
• Headquartered in Berne, Switzerland.
• Has 192 member countries.
• It is primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players among member countries.
• UPU has four units: the Congress, the Council of Administration, the International Bureau, and the Postal Operations Council.
• Regulates40 lakh postal outlets worldwide.
• India joined the UPU on July 1, 1876 and Pakistan on November 10, 1947.

Solution: B

World Trade Organization

• It was established on 1 January 1995 and its official languages are English, French and Spanish.
• It is an inter-governmental organization for governments to negotiate global trade agreements and progressively liberalizing trade.
• It operates system of trade rules that apply to all its members.
• It is also a place for Member governments to settle their trade disputes.
• Ministerial Conference is WTO’s top level decision making body. It meets once in two years.
• Its headquarters are located in Geneva, Switzerland.
• All decisions are made by consensus. All major decisions are made by the membership as a whole, either by ministers (who usually meet at least once every two years) or by their ambassadors or delegates (who meet regularly in Geneva).
• There are no WTO definitions of “developed” and “developing” countries. Members announce for themselves whether they are “developed” or “developing” countries.

The WTO maintains regular dialogue with non-governmental organizations, parliamentarians, other international organizations, the media and the general public on various aspects of the WTO.

Solution: D

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, formerly known as the Millennium Dam and sometimes referred to as Hidase Dam, is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia that has been under construction since 2011. It is in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 15 km east of the border with Sudan.