 Welcome to the Target 2020 Brilliant Series with reference to the month of April 2020. So far, we have discussed more than 450 topics corresponding to 9 months from July 2019 to March 2020. In this video, we will be seeing a set of 55 topics that represent the important current affairs for April 2020. These topics have been sourced from important current affairs sources like the Hindu newspaper, press information bureau, live mint, etc. And the content for these topics have been sourced from authentic and reliable sources. We advise the viewers to watch the entire length of the video and to use the resource for your preparation. If you find the resource useful, click on the like button, share it among your friends and those who are in need of such resources. Now, let us take the first question. This question is with reference to Gulf Cooperation Council. The question reads, Consider the following statements with reference to Gulf Cooperation Council. They have given three statements. Which of the statements given above is correct? First statement, All the littoral countries of Persian Gulf are members of GCC. The headquarters of GCC is located in a country which is not its member. Qatar terminated its membership with GCC with effect from 1st January 2019. Gulf Cooperation Council is a political and economic alliance of six Middle Eastern countries. These are Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman. It was established in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia in May 1981. The purpose is to achieve unity among its members based on common objectives and their similar political and cultural identities, which are rooted in Arab and Islamic cultures. Every year they meet to discuss cooperation and regional affairs. The presidency of the council rotates annually. One of the important things about GCC is that two littoral countries of Persian Gulf are not members in this council. These are Iran and Iraq. In 2016, Brilim, a simple question, asked with reference to this information about GCC. They asked who is not a member of GCC among the given options. The correct answer is Iran. Though Iran is a littoral state of Persian Gulf, it is not a member of Gulf Cooperation Council. Our diplomatic circles, they say that the strategic purpose behind GCC is to limit the influence of Iran over the Persian Gulf region and the council is mainly led by Saudi Arabia in its capital, Riyadh. In the sidelines of this discussion, let us also see in brief about organization of petroleum exporting countries. See this OPEC was founded in Baghdad in Iraq by five countries that signed an agreement in September 1960. Of these five founding countries, four are littoral countries in Persian Gulf and one country is from the continent of South America. The five countries are Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. These five are the founding members of OPEC. In addition to these countries, there are eight more members at present in this OPEC. Actually, some countries were earlier part of this organization but now they are no more a member. These are countries such as Qatar, Ecuador and Indonesia. If you see Indonesia withdraw its membership from OPEC in November 2016, Qatar withdrew its membership with effect from 1st January 2019 and recently, Ecuador withdraw its membership with effect from 1st January 2020. This organization of petroleum exporting countries aims to manage oil supply in an effort to set the oil price in the world market in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries. The membership in OPEC is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and that shares the ideals of the organization. Coming to the question, statement one is incorrect because though Iran and Iraq are littoral countries of Persian Gulf, meaning though they share border with Persian Gulf, they are not members of GCC. And statement two is incorrect because headquarters of GCC is located in Riyadh of Saudi Arabia where Saudi Arabia is a member of GCC. This statement is correct in the context of OPEC where its headquarters and secretariat is located in Vienna of Austria and as we know, Austria is not a member of OPEC. Actually, OPEC initially had its headquarters in Geneva of Switzerland. The first five years of its existence, then it was moved to Vienna and Austria on September 1, 1965. So, the second statement is also incorrect. Now, the third statement states Qatar terminated its membership with GCC with effect from 1st January, 2019. This statement is incorrect because Qatar is still a member of GCC and Qatar only left OPEC with effect from 1st January, 2019. So, the correct answer for this question is option D, none of the statements are correct. This question is with reference to comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. The question reads with reference to comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty often seen in news which among the following statements is RR correct. It has come into force already. It bans all nuclear explosions on earth, whether for military or for peaceful purposes. India is neither a signatory nor yet ratified the treaty. In 2015 prelims, there was a question with reference to nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Here, they asked to select the nuclear weapon states as recognized by this treaty. It is obvious that the correct answer will not include India, Israel and Pakistan. Therefore, the correct answer is option A. See, all the permanent members of United Nations Security Council are considered as nuclear weapon states by this nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Coming to comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. See, it bans nuclear explosions by everyone anywhere on earth. It could be in the atmosphere or it could be in underwater or underground. In other words, it bans all nuclear explosions on earth, whether for military purposes or even for peaceful purposes. This is envisioned in article 1 of the treaty which states that each state party undertakes not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion and to prohibit and prevent any such nuclear explosion at any place under its jurisdiction or control. In a sense, if you see the title of this treaty, it is actually misleading. It should have been a nuclear explosion ban treaty as it is not comprehensive and also because it is ineffective. While the treaty asks the countries not to carry out explosions, it could not prevent nuclear tests that are carried out that could be carried out without explosions. Say for example, by using simulation technology. Actually, this is one of the reasons why India is not yet a signatory to this treaty. However, this treaty is important as it is believed that it will make very difficult for countries to develop nuclear bombs for the first time and it will make very difficult for countries that already have them to make more powerful bombs. It also prevents huge damages that are caused by radioactivity from nuclear explosion tests. These damages are actually to humans, animals and plants and to the natural ecosystem. If you see in the last 50 years preceding the year 1996, Earth has faced more than 2,000 nuclear tests and since 1996, three countries have carried out nuclear tests. India and Pakistan in the year 1998 and North Korea around six times in five years since 1996. This comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty was adopted by UN General Assembly on 10th September 1996. It was open for signature in the same month that year. Since then, the treaty has reached near universality. So far 184 countries have signed the treaty. But one important fact about this treaty is that it has not yet entered into force. This is because in accordance with article 14 of this treaty it will come into force only after 180 days, after the date of deposit of instruments of ratification of 44 states that are listed in annex 2 of the treaty. In other words, it will enter into force only after the ratification of 44 states that are listed in annex 2 of the treaty. Actually, these are the states that are supposedly having nuclear facilities at the time when the treaty was negotiated and adopted and as of now of these 44 annex 2 states 36 have ratified the treaty. 8 annex 2 states have not yet ratified the treaty and of these 8 states, 3 states have not yet signed the treaty as well. Now the 3 states that have not yet signed the treaty are India, Pakistan and North Korea. In addition to these 3 countries, 5 countries have not ratified the treaty. These are China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and United States of America. So if the treaty comes into force, which may never happen at all, anyhow if it comes into force then an organization called as comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty organization will be established. But as of now, since the treaty has not yet come into force there is a preparatory commission for comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty organization. This preparatory commission was established by state signatories to this treaty in November 1996. It is headquartered at Vienna in Austria. If the treaty comes into force, the operations of the preparatory commission will come into halt and in its place the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty organization will start functioning. Now with reference to preparatory commission, its main task is to make all preparations to ensure that the treaty comes into force as soon as possible. Now coming to the question, first statement is incorrect because it has not yet entered into force. That means you can eliminate options A and option B and in this question both statements 2 and 3 are correct. Therefore the correct answer is option C, 2 and 3 only. This question is with reference to Asian Development Bank. The question is with reference to Asian Development Bank consider the following statements. India is the largest shareholder in this bank. Asian Development Bank has more than 100 members. The membership is limited only to the countries of Asia-Pacific. Which of the statements are incorrect? We have framed this question in a similar manner how UPSC asked with reference to Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Prelims 2019. See ADB was in news in April as it approved a loan of 1.5 billion dollars to India to support India's response to COVID-19. Now with reference to Asian Development Bank see it was conceived in the early 1960s as the financial institution that would be Asian in character. The purpose of this bank is to promote economic growth and economic cooperation in Asia and the Far East which was one of the poorest regions in the world. At present the terminology used for the region is Asia and the Pacific. 1963 a ministerial conference on Asian Economic Cooperation was held. In fact that was the first ministerial conference on Asian Economic Cooperation. This was held by or conducted by United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. In this conference the resolution was passed which played a very important role in setting up the Asian Development Bank. Therefore the bank was opened in December 1966 with its headquarters in Manila in the capital of Philippines. At that time there were 31 members but if you see now it has 68 members 49 members are from the region of Asia and the Pacific remain from the rest of the world. The 19 members are called as non-regional members which include United States, Canada, UK and some countries in Europe as well. Now coming to what is the highest policy making body in this bank. It is the Board of Governors. It consists of one representative from each member nation. India is represented by our finance minister. Now this Board of Governors it elects 12 members to form Board of Directors. Coming to Board of Directors they are special as they perform their duties full time at the headquarters of this bank. They are responsible for the direction of general operations of the bank. They take decision related to policies of the bank. Decisions on loans, guarantees, investment. They approve borrowings by the bank. They approve the budgets of the bank. Now if you see the shareholders of this bank the largest shareholder that position is shared by two countries Japan and United States each having 15.6% of total shares and this is followed by China which is followed by India and then by Australia. So now let's come to the question. First statement says India is the largest shareholder in this bank. We just saw this statement is wrong and ADB has more than 100 members. This statement is also wrong. The membership is limited only to the countries of Asia Pacific. Now this is not the case. It has two set of members regional members, non-regional members and therefore all the three statements are incorrect. So the correct answer is option B 1, 2 and 3. A serious question the United Nations 6 plus 2 plus 1 group often seen in news is related to Afghanistan peace process ISIS in Syria, North Korea's nuclear enrichment, Iran's nuclear weapons. The correct answer for this question is option A, Afghan peace process. C on April 16, 2020 United Nations secretariat convened a discussion with some member states on regional efforts to support peace in Afghanistan. This meet was conducted virtually a group of nine countries including Afghanistan participated in this meeting. Even press release states that this format brought together Afghanistan and its six neighboring countries plus Russia and United States in recognition of the importance of the region to Afghanistan stability and sustainable development. The major cause of worry about this discussion among the Indian diplomatic circles was that despite India being a country sharing border with Afghanistan, India was not invited by the UN secretariat. UN has taken a view in inviting only the current bordering countries of Afghanistan as India's border region with Afghanistan at present is under illegal occupation of Pakistan. From the diplomatic circles it was observed as if the UN secretariat is legitimizing the claim of Pakistan. The six neighboring countries as mentioned by the United Nations are China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The number two here refers to United States and Russia and one refers to Afghanistan itself. So UN did not invite India to be a party to this discussion and despite our bilateral ties with US and Afghanistan both these countries did not bat for India's inclusion. The reason which is understood is that India was not invited because India neither acknowledged Taliban as a legitimate stakeholder nor actively supported the peace meetings of US and Russia with Taliban. As a result India lost its leverage in the Afghan peace process even though we have spent and invested millions of dollars in Afghanistan's development process and India was kept out of this six plus two plus one grouping but we could not clearly say that India's approach is wrong or failure. Only time will say whose approach is to prove the best. This is because as of now though Taliban is included in talks with US or Russia still now it has not become a pure political force as one in some days some terrorist attacks do happen somewhere in Afghanistan for which Taliban is alleged. And this is not the first time India was left out from Afghan peace process. In 2001 Indian team was led by a special envoy Satinder Lamba. The team arrived at Born of Germany where the famous born agreement was negotiated. However no reservations had been made for them at the official venue as reports say. Born agreement refers to the agreement on provisional arrangements in Afghanistan, painting the re-establishment of permanent government institutions after the Taliban regime. But at the born agreement Ambassador Lamba played a crucial role and was widely credited for ensuring Hamid Khursal as the chairman of interim arrangement. This interim arrangement replaced the Taliban regime. Similarly in January 2010 India was invited to attend the London conference on Afghanistan but it was not included in a crucial meeting that decided on opening talks with the Taliban. It was after this London conference India significantly increased its efforts with Afghanistan in 2011 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan and Afghanistan President Hamid Khursal signed a historic strategic partnership agreement and it is reported that this strategic partnership agreement was Afghanistan's first such agreement with any country. We all know that India supports Afghan-owned, Afghan-led peace process and India as of now has not accepted Taliban as a legitimate stakeholder in this process. Too much reliance on Afghan civilian government and failing to see Taliban as a stakeholder were considered the reasons for India being left out of 6 plus 2 plus 1 grouping. Correct answer is option A. This question is about international council on monuments and sites. The question reads consider the following statements regarding the international council on monuments and sites. Two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct. It works to promote the conservation, protection, use and enhancement of historical monuments building complexes and sites. It is an intergovernmental organization and a specialized agency of the United Nations. See the international council on monuments and sites is a global non-governmental organization that works for conservation and protection of cultural heritage sites or cultural heritage places. Therefore it is not an intergovernmental organization. It is a network of experts which include architects, historians, archaeologists, art historians, geographers, engineers, town planners and anthropologists. It was created in the year 1965. It was the outcome of Venice Charter adapted in the year 1964. This Venice Charter is also known as International Charter for the conservation and restoration of monuments and sites. As the name indicates, it provides an international framework for conservation and restoration of historical monuments and sites. Now the mission of this non-governmental organization is to promote, as we saw, conservation protection, enhancement of monuments, building complexes and sites. It works for the conservation protection of cultural heritage places. It is the only global non-governmental organization that is dedicated to promote the application of theory, methodology and scientific techniques into conservation of architectural and archaeological heritage. Now the important thing is that this non-governmental organization is closely connected with World Heritage Convention. Now this World Heritage Convention is also called as the convention concerning the protection of the world, cultural and natural heritage. ICOMOS assisted UNESCO in writing the text of the convention where it was appointed advisory body to the World Heritage Committee. Its role is to support the implementation of cultural side of the convention. So as a part of this role it reviews the nominations of cultural world heritage and ensures conservation status of cultural properties. See the World Heritage Convention was adopted in 1972 by the UNESCO. It was adopted to ensure proper identification, protection, conservation and preservation of irreplaceable world heritage. Around 193 countries or state parties to this World Heritage Convention, India has ratified this convention in 1977 and it is also a state party. Now the World Heritage Convention, it complements the conservation programs related to heritages at the national level and it ensures the establishment of World Heritage Committee and World Heritage Fund. Here the Heritage Committee it will identify the natural, cultural and mixed properties of exceptional outstanding universal value so as to list those sites on the World Heritage list of UNESCO. See these sites are identified based on the nominations submitted by the state parties to the convention. In this regard, International Council on Monuments and Sites is the professional and scientific advisor to the World Heritage Committee on all aspects of cultural heritage. It participates in the implementation of the convention along with agencies such as IUCN. See IKOMOS is one of the three formal advisory bodies to the World Heritage Committee. So when a heritage site or when a site is nominated, that particular property is independently evaluated by two advisory bodies mandated by the World Heritage Convention. Nominated cultural sites are evaluated by IKOMOS and the natural sites are evaluated by IUCN. The third advisory body is International Centre for Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property. What is this International Centre for Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property? It is a non-governmental organization that provides expert advice to World Heritage Committee on the conservation of cultural sites as well as on training activities. So now coming to the question the first statement is correct. It is the mission of IKOMOS. The second statement is incorrect as it is not an inter-governmental organization and it is not a specialized agency of United Nations. It is rather a global non-governmental organization. So the correct answer for this question is option A one only. We have given you a list of 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations here for your reference. Now consider this question according to World Bank Group in 2019 which of the following countries is the world's top remittance recipient country? China India, Mexico, Philippines. See recently World Bank released a report titled as Covid-19 crisis through a migration lens. This report was jointly prepared by World Bank along with global knowledge partnership on migration and development. Nomad. See Nomad is a global knowledge hub and it has policy expertise on migration and development. It is supported by a multi-donor trust fund established by the World Bank. Coming to the chief contributors of this multi-donor trust fund we could find European Commission, German Agency for International Cooperation which is an arm of German Government then Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation which is an arm of Swiss Government. Now coming to the report it estimated that global remittances are projected to decline sharply by about 20% in this year 2020. The projected fall is said to be the sharpest decline in the recent history. This is because of the economic crisis induced by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and shutdown. Migrant workers in various countries have lost their wages and also their employment because of the crisis in the host country. When we say remittances, we mean the money or goods that migrants send from their host or foreign country to the families and friends in origin or home countries. Remittances flows in the year 2020 to low income and middle income countries are projected to fall by around 20%. Now in 2019 if you take the top 5 remittance recipient countries the first position is for India where it has received around 83 billion US dollars. This is followed by China, Mexico, Philippines and Egypt and as per World Bank India remained the top remittance recipient country in 2018 also. See remittances are important as they are vital source of income for developing countries. Remittances help their families to afford food to healthcare and basic needs studies show that remittances alleviate poverty in lower and middle income countries, they improve nutritional outcomes, they are associated with higher spending on education and they also play a crucial role in reducing child labour in disadvantaged households. And a fall in remittances affects the ability of families to spend on these areas as more of their finances will now be directed to solve the problems related to food shortages and immediate livelihood needs. And with reference to remittances we should note that an increase in net remittances it improves a country's balance of payment position. Now coming to the question here the correct answer is option B India. India is the world's top remittance recipient country not only in 2019 but also in 2018 This question is with reference to special drawing right. Consider the following statements regarding the special drawing right. 3 statements are there which of the statements given above are correct. SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement countries that have balance of payment problems. The value of the SDR is calculated from a weighted basket of currencies that include US dollar, euro, Japanese yen, Chinese renminbi and pound sterling. This is the highest weightage among the basket of 5 currencies. Recently IMF proposed a liquidity drive as a result of COVID-19 crisis. It proposed general allocation of new special drawing rights to all countries to relieve from COVID-19 driven financial impacts or pressures. But India along with US opposed this proposal of IMF. India stated that efficacy of such SDR issue is uncertain and countries may use the funds for irrelevant or extraneous purposes. Now coming to SDR our special drawing right. See it was created as a supplementary international reserve asset so as to help the countries that have BOP problems, balance of payment problems. In 1960s and 1970s, US dollar was the most sought currency in international trade and since the dollars are limited in quantity many countries struggled to get sufficient US dollars to pay for their imports. Now this resulted in BOP crisis in many countries. It is in this scenario in 1969 IMF created special drawing right as a reserve asset and also as an exchange system. So when a country does not have enough foreign currencies to pay for the imports they can either use special drawing right or borrow from IMF in terms of special drawing right. I know that SDR is neither a currency nor a claim on the IMF rather it is a potential claim on freely usable currencies of members of IMF and special drawing rights can be exchanged for these currencies. This SDR is based on a basket of international currencies that consists of five currencies US dollar, Japanese yen, euro, pound sterling and Chinese renminbi or Chinese yuan. See Chinese renminbi was added as the fifth currency in SDR 2016 with the effect from October 2016. Now the value of SDR is not directly determined by supply and demand in the market rather it is set every day by the IMF on the basis of market exchange rates between the currencies that are included in the SDR basket. Now the weights of currencies in the SDR basket is given here. We can observe that US dollar has the highest weight and this is followed by euro, Chinese yuan or renminbi then Japanese yen and pound sterling. Now coming to the question first statement is correct it is an international reserve asset created by IMF to supplement countries that have balance of payment problems. The second statement is also correct now coming to the third statement it states euro has the highest weightage among the basket of five currencies which is incorrect it is US dollar so our main purpose here is to eliminate options that have number three. By this we can arrive at the correct answer option A one and two only. This question is with reference to Jalianwala Bagh Masaka the question reads consider the following statements regarding the Jalianwala Bagh Masaka three statements have been given which of the statements given above are correct. Mohandas Karamchand Kandhi gave up the Kaisari Hind medal in protest against the Masaka all the members of the Hunter Committee were British the House of Commons voted in favour of dire actions see Jalianwala Bagh Masaka was in news in April as it was remembered in the month of April see 1919 on 9th April two nationalist leaders were arrested by British officials for addressing protest meetings the leaders were Saifuddin Kichlou and Satyapal this caused resentment among Indian protesters they came out in thousands on the next day to show their solidarity and at that time a Brigadier General Reginald Dyer was given the responsibility to impose martial law and to restore order 13th April 1919 was called as Baisaki Day in other words seek new year festival on this day a large crowd of people gathered in Jalianwala Bagh to celebrate the festival of Baisaki and on the same day this place it hosted pilgrims who had gathered to peacefully protest the draconian roulette act most of the people have come from neighboring villages and they were unaware of prohibitory orders see Jalianwala Bagh is in the state of Punjab what happened was Dyer ordered to fire upon the unarmed gathering of men women and children in Jalianwala Bagh without giving prior warning to disperse this means Dyer exceeded his authority the firing continued for 10 minutes and it stopped only when the omniscient had reached the point of exhaustion about 1650 rounds were fired people had little chances to escape as the place was then a small garden enclosed on three sides by high walls and buildings and it had only one exit as per official numbers more than 370 Indians were killed by the British but the death toll is believed to be far higher more than 1000 people killed and many thousands injured the entire nation was stunned by the brutality caused on Indians above Reginald Dyer there was a lieutenant general in Punjab his name was Michael O. Dyer it was understood that Dyer was Michael O. Dyer's man in the military Reginald Dyer followed Michael's orders closely and the theory has been repeatedly floated that Michael approved the order to open fire on innocent masses and therefore it is Michael who was the chief architect of this massacre in March 1940 Michael was shot dead by Uddhamsingh whose another name was Ram Mohamad Singh Azad Michael was killed outside of Westminster venue it is said that Uddhamsingh was a witness of Jaleenwala Bakh massacre and he himself had been shot during the massacre and wounded and this led to a life of activism that resulted in him fatally killing the man who alongside with Reginald Dyer was held responsible for the massacre. Uddhamsingh was later hanged for taking his revenge now coming to 1919 after this Jaleenwala Bakh massacre Rabindranath Thagu renounced his knighthood as a protest against the massacre and Mahatma Gandhi gave up the middle of Kaizari Hind 1920 as a mark of protest. He was awarded the medal earlier by the British for his humanitarian work in North Africa. In fact Jaleenwala Bakh massacre is stated as a turning point in India's modern history as it left a permanent scar on Indo-British relations and it was the prelude to Gandhi's full commitment to the cause of Indian nationalism and independence from Britain. An inquiry committee was formed by Government of India in October 1990 to investigate this Jaleenwala Bakh massacre. This committee is called as Hunter Committee was led by William Hunter. The committee had three Indians and four British members including Hunter. The report unanimously condemned regional dais actions but it did not impose any penal or disciplinary actions. Therefore it was also considered as an eyewash. Now coming to British Parliament, here the House of Commons condemned the massacre including Winston Churchill but the House of Lords in British Parliament they passed a motion and they voted in favour of regional dais. So that was the divergence within the British Parliament. Now coming to the question, first statement is correct as Gandhi gave up the middle in protest against the massacre. Second statement is incorrect because three members were Indian, four members were British. Third statement is incorrect as it is the House of Lords that voted in favour of dais actions. So only the first statement is correct. Therefore the correct answer is option A, one one leave. Now this question is with reference to List 2 in the 7th Schedule of Constitution of India. The question reads which of the following matters are included in List 2 in the 7th Schedule of Constitution of India, criminal law, police, public health, water, local government. These are some of the subjects taken from the recent events in the country where matters related to these subjects have become conscientious between the centre and the states. Earlier in 2013 this question was asked where they gave a correct statement mentioning the economic and social planning is kept in the concurrent list in the Constitution of India. So we may expect questions based on 7th Schedule. See one of the characteristic features of federal form of government is division of powers among the national and sub-national units. Here with reference to India when we say sub-national units refers to states. When we come to Indian Constitution it deals with division of powers in the 7th Schedule. Now subject matters which are of national importance are mentioned in the Union List which is the List 1 in this schedule and the matters that need state level planning say for example agriculture, public order. These are included in state list which is List 2 in this schedule and those matters that need uniformity in the country as well as which also have to be flexible for regional needs. These are listed under Concurrent List which is List 3 in this schedule. So Concurrent List starts with alphabet C. C stands for 3 so you can keep a trick for remembering that C is 3 Concurrent List is List 3 in the 7th Schedule. For this question except criminal law all the remaining 4 are in the state list or in list 2. Some of these matters you could arrive at a logical conclusion based on understanding of administration. Now with respect to criminal law while there should be some uniformity in matters related to criminal justice there should also be some flexibility for states so as to legislate on local offenses. Therefore it could not be in the state list so you can conclude that criminal law is not present in list 2 or in state list. Now coming to polis see each state has its own polis force so from this you can conclude it is in state list. These are some logical points for us to keep remember this fact. Then coming to public health it is also in state list and water is also in state list. Water supplies, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments water storage and water power these are in state list but interstate rivers and interstate river valleys they come under union list. And local self-government it is also in state list and we know that it took many years for the union government to bring constitutional backing for local self-government this is because states were not ready to share their powers with local governments. Earlier when Mr. Rajiv was the prime minister bills were tabled to give constitutional backing for local self-governments but states did not accept them and they expressed their opposition through their members in the council of states for Rajeshabad. Some of the provisions in those bills were later diluted during the prime minister ship of Mr. Narasimha as a result it brought consensus among the states well this is a development with respect to constitutional backing being given to local self-governments know that local self-government was kept in the state list not by an amendment rather it was present in the original unamended constitution itself. We have tabulated and given some other important subject matters for your reference. So here the correct answer is option C 2 3 4 and 5 as police public health water and local government or subject matters in list 2 or state list in the 7th schedule of constitution of India. This question is with reference to swamitva scheme a question reads swamitva scheme sometimes seen in news is to facilitate better financial management of panchayati raj institutions to simplify work based accounting for panchayati raj to map rural inhabited lands using drones and latest survey methods to facilitate better financial management of MG narega activities. This question is framed based on initiatives launched on panchayati raj day 2020 celebrated on 24th April. See on 24th April 1993 the 73rd constitution amendment act 1992 came into force and the first national panchayati raj Divas or day was celebrated in the year 2010 and since then government of India observes or commemorates on 24th April of every year as national panchayati raj day and in this year the prime minister launched a unified e-gram swaraj portal and a mobile application and a scheme called as swamitva scheme coming to this swamitva scheme this term it stands for survey of villages and mapping with improvised technology in village areas. So this scheme helps to map rural inhibited lands using drones and latest survey methods. First and foremost it aims to bring financial stability to the citizens in rural India. This is because this scheme is going to enable them to use their property as a financial asset so as to take loans and other financial benefits. Then the scheme will ensure stream lined planning as it aims to create accurate land records for rural planning. It aims for better revenue collection as it aims to determine property tax and aims to provide clarity over property rights in rural areas. Using the survey of villages and mapping it seeks to settle disputes related to property through the title deeds that are allotted through the scheme. As of now the scheme is launched in pilot mode in six states. So coming to the question the correct answer is option C to map rural inhibited lands using drones and latest survey methods. Now option B to simplify work based accounting for panchayati raj. It corresponds to egram Swaraj portal. This was also launched recently on panchayati raj divas. Here Swaraj stands for simplified work based accounting application for panchayati raj. It's a use of friendly web based portal. It provides records of work from planning to the implementation in every village panchayat under the gram panchayati development plan. Therefore it aims to bring in better transparency in the decentralized planning in terms of progress reporting and also in work based accounting. In addition this portal also monitors and records all the work through gram Swaraj portal. Thereby this portal helps to prepare and execute gram panchayati development plans. It also ensures real time monitoring and accountability of gram panchayats. Option A to facilitate better financial management of panchayati raj institutions. It relates to Priya Soft. It stands for panchayati raj institutions accounting software. It keeps tracks of all the money inflow and outflow of panchayati raj institutions. Inflow we can say receipts and outflow is expenditure. This application it facilitates better financial management of panchayati raj institutions by bringing transparency and accountability in maintenance of accounts. Through this it leads to better credibility and strengthening of panchayati raj institutions. See it is a centralized accounting software intended for use by all the three levels of panchayati raj institutions district panchayat, block panchayat and village panchayat. We should not confuse between eGram Swaraj with Priya Soft. eGram Swaraj is about planning, progress reporting and work based accounting. Whereas Priya Soft application is about financial management of panchayati raj institutions. So the correct answer for this question, Swamitva scheme is option C. This question is with reference to MNREG scheme. It reads consider the following statements with reference to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program. Three statements are given which of the statements given above are incorrect. It is a central sector scheme. The Ministry of Rural Development is monitoring the entire implementation of the scheme in association with state governments. eShaksham is GIS supported course on Integrated Natural Resource Management Planning under MNREG scheme. See the scheme has been in use for several times for several reasons. In April a public interest litigation was filed in the Supreme Court that demanded the government to pay full wages to all active job card holders under this program. The wages are to be paid during the nationwide lockdown because of Covid-19 pandemic. We know that the mandate of this program is to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in one financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. And as given in the question it is the Ministry of Rural Development that monitors the entire implementation in association with state governments. See within 15 days of implementing the application for work under the scheme wage employment will be provided. If not provided within 15 days then there is right to get unemployment allowance under the scheme. So the demand based scheme involving unskilled rural laborers are to contribute in the creation of productive and durable assets. Then the scheme seeks to strengthen the livelihood resource base of the poor, it ensures social inclusion and strengthens Panchayati Raj institutions. See it is not a central sector scheme, it is a centrally sponsored scheme. To be specific it comes under the core of the core schemes category of centrally sponsored schemes. In relation to this program Ministry of Rural Development has collaborated with the German Agency for International Cooperation or GAEZ to conduct a massive open online course. This course is primarily for building the capacities of technical functionaries of this program at the national level. The course is on GAEZ based planning process. This particular program is called as ISACSAM Now coming to German Agency for International Cooperation. See it is an international enterprise owned by German government. This agency is operating in many fields across more than 130 countries. As a federal enterprise they support the German government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. This agency offers demand driven services, tailor made and effective services for sustainable development. In fact ISACSAM is implemented by this agency in partnership with Ministry of Rural Development. Now coming to major advantages of this course or this GAEZ based planning. One is that it makes easy spatial planning at the level of Gram Sabha or Gram Panchayat. Then it helps to correlate spatial information and non-spatial information. Then it helps to determine the areas where works under this program need to be implemented on priority. So these are some of the benefits of this course and the effect on technical functionaries of the program. Now coming to the question here only the first statement is incorrect. Therefore the correct answer is option A1 only. Now this question is with reference to MITE program. The question reads, MITE program sometimes seen in news is related to scientific assessment of climate change implications on ecosystem, monitoring the illegal killing of elephants, awareness creation on social media to protect personal data and privacy, raising awareness among students of what it's like to live with disability. The correct answer for this question is option B, monitoring the illegal killing of elephants. See this MITE program was established by sites by a resolution which was adopted at its 10th conference of parties in the year 1997. This program is an international collaboration. It is a site based system that is designed to monitor trends in illegal killing of elephants. It measures the levels, trends and causes of deaths of elephants and through this it establishes an information base to support informed decision making related to conservation of elephants in Asia and Africa. Now if you see currently there are more than 80 sites participating in this program in Asia and Africa and if you compare countries with their number of sites in this program, India has the maximum number of sites in MIC. The participating sites from India has been given here for your reference. You can observe that there are 10 sites from India in this MIC program. And this program is entirely dependent on donor support where it is reported that the European Union has been the most important donor for this program. So the correct answer is option B. Next question. This question is a map based question with reference to disputed islands in the world. Which of the following disputed islands are located in the South China Sea? Chagos Islands, Spratly Islands, Senkaku Islands, Paracel Islands, Natuna Islands. Select the correct answer using the codes given below. Here the Spratly Islands, Paracel and Natuna Islands are in South China Sea. And these islands are disputed between China on one side and the neighboring countries on the other hand. And Natuna Islands was recently news as reports said that China went aggressive against the fishing boards from Indonesia near Natuna islands. So as you see in this map see the Spratly, Paracel and Natuna they are in South China Sea. Here the entire area comprising the red dotted line is the claim of China. It is called as China's 9-dash line. Whereas the blue dotted lines correspond to respect to exclusive economic zones of countries in South China Sea. We know that China is aggressively claiming the islands as well as exclusive economic zones of other countries in South China Sea also. And some reasons being more than 30% of world trade passes through South China Sea. And it is also said that these islands and the areas in South China Sea they have a lot of untapped oil resources and natural gas resources. And as a result many countries are entering South China Sea or contesting the islands. The exclusive economic zone is defined according to United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The convention defines territorial waters exclusive economic zone for each coastal state. Now coming to the other options see Senkaku Islands. It is in East China Sea. It is a contested territory between China, Taiwan and Japan. Now coming to Chagos Islands these islands are Chagos Archipelago is in Indian Ocean. As this topic was in news presently it is a British Indian Ocean territory. See it is contested or disputed between United Kingdom and Mauritius. Now before the independence of Mauritius Britain separated this part of islands from Mauritius and leased it to the United States. And as of now United States holds a military base in Diogo Garcia of Chagos Archipelago. In the recent years particularly last year in 2019 International Court of Justice has reaffirmed the Mauritius claim over the Chagos Islands and a similar stand has also been reportedly taken by United Nations General Assembly. Many of the nations in the African continent also support Mauritius in this issue. So to select the correct answer that option should not contain 1 and 3. Therefore the correct answer is option C 2, 4 and 5 only. See this question consider the following which of the pairs given above are correctly matched black death transmission from rodents to infected fleas Justinian plague contact with infected bats, Spanish flu person-to-person through airborne respiratory secretions. So if you come to Justinian plague it was caused by bacterium called as Arsenia pestis it affects the lymphatic nodes. It is transmitted from rodents which include rats as well to humans and also it got transmitted through the bites of infected fleas. Here fleas refer to small wingless jumping insects that feed on the blood of mammals and birds. Sometimes it transmits diseases through its bite. And according to some sources Justinian plague it originated in Egypt and reached the Europe in 541 AD. It is called as Justinian plague as it occurred and claimed lives of millions of people during the rule or reign of Emperor Justinian I. This plague finally disappeared only in 750 AD. It has killed more than 25 million people or around 2.5 crore people across Mediterranean that has weakened the Byzantine Empire because of Femines. Now let's come to Black Death. See it originated in Asia, reached the Europe mainly on trading ships in the 14th century to be specific 1347 AD. It was also caused by the same bacteria Ersinia pestis and got transmitted from rodents to humans through the infected fleas. It killed around one-fifth of world's population at that time as it killed around 7.5 crore human beings. Now coming to Spanish Flu it is also known as Influencer Flu of 1918 as it was caused by H1N1 Influencer virus. This virus affects the respiratory system. The Flu is highly contagious when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks, respiratory droplets are generated and transmitted into the air that can be inhaled by anyone nearby and could become infected. Now the origin of Spanish Flu is a matter of debate and the disease spread worldwide during 1918-1919 and it is reported that it has hit Europe the hardest. It has infected around 500 million people, around 50 crore people and has killed up to 4 crore people or 40 million. Now it is called as Spanish Flu because it is the Spanish media which was mainly reporting the cases and Spain remained neutral in the World War I. The media of other countries like Germany, France, UK and United States they did not report the cases because of censorship during the First World War. So the name Spanish Flu does not have the meaning that the Flu originated in Spain. According to the question, a Black Death and Spanish Flu are correctly matched. Therefore the correct answer is option B, 1 and 3 only. This question is with reference to Sunrise Mission. The question reads, consider the following statements regarding the Sunrise Mission Sun Radio Inferometer Space Experiment. Three statements are given they are asking which of the statements given above are correct. It is an array of 6 solar powered Cube Sats operating as one very large telescope. It aims to study how sun generates and releases the solar particle storms into planetary space which may help protect spacecraft and astronauts in the future missions. The mission is led by the Indian Space Research Organization. Firstly, this mission is a new mission of NASA not ISRO. The mission aims to study the causes or what drives the giant solar particle storms. Solar particle storms are the giant surges of solar particles that erupt off the Sun. Understanding how Sun generates and releases these particle storms into planetary space can help in protecting spacecrafts and astronauts in the future missions. These information will also improve our understanding of how our solar system works as well. Also this mission is to help protect astronauts travelling to the moon and also to Mars in the future by getting better information on how the Earth's radiation affects the environment of the space. Now in this mission there is an array of 6 solar powered Cube Sats operating as one very large radio telescope. The mission is to be launched after July 1 of 2023. See Cube Sats are a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. They are built in standard dimensions of 10 centimeter into 10 centimeter into 10 centimeter. This standard dimension is called as one unit or one U. It is because of this dimension they are called as Cube Sats and satellites in this dimension typically weigh less than 1.33 kilogram per unit. Now as we said the mission design relies on 6 solar powered Cube Sats. They simultaneously observe radio images of low frequency emission from solar activity and share them through NASA's Deep Space Network. So what do we mean by Deep Space Network of NASA? See it is an international array of giant radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and also few spacecrafts that orbit the Earth. It is reported as the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunication system in the world. Now the constellation of Cube Sats would be placed above Earth's atmosphere and the distance between each Cube Sats in the constellation will be 6 miles. Together these 6 Cube Sats will create 3 dimensional maps to pinpoint where giant particle bursts originate on the Sun and how they evolve as they expand outward into the space or outward into the space environment. This will help in determining what initiates and accelerates these giant jets of radiations. They will also work together to map the pattern of magnetic field lines reaching from the Sun out into interplanetary space. So these are some of the information with reference to this Sunrise mission or Sun Radio Informator Space Experiment. Now coming to the question first and second statements are correct. Therefore the correct answer is option B 1 and 2 only. Now let's move on to next question. Now see this question. Consider the following statements. Three statements are given. Which of the statements given above are correct. First statement strategic crude oil storage facilities 2. Large petroleum fields and sedimentary basins along the coastal zones from where crude oil is being extracted. Statement 2. India is a full fledged member of international energy agency. Statement 3. Each IEA member country has an obligation to hold emergency oil stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net oil imports. See when we say strategic crude oil storage facility it refers to crude oil inventories or crude oil stockpiles held by the government as well as private industry. So as to safeguard the economy and to help maintain national security during an energy crisis. Or in other words whenever there is oil supply disruptions. So the first statement is incorrect. Now these reserves are storage facilities wherein news as international crude oil prices fill during lockdown. And India has decided to take advantage of the low oil prices and also to fill three strategic petroleum reserves which are created to meet the emergency in times of exigencies of oil supply disruptions. In this context let us discuss about Indian strategic petroleum reserves limited. See to secure energy security central government set up strategic crude oil storages at three locations. One is at Visakhapatnam then Mangalore then Padur. The capacity in these locations is 5 million metric tons of crude oil. These are storages also called as strategic storages that are in addition to existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products that are with the oil companies. And these strategic petroleum reserves they would serve as a cushion during supply disruptions. These reserves are operational and they can support 9.5 days of net imports. Now if you see the mandate of international energy agency each member country of this agency has an obligation. That is they should have the capacity to hold emergency oil stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net oil imports. This is because in the event of a severe oil supply disruption the members of international energy agency can decide to release these emergency oil stocks to the market as part of a collective action. In this context we have to note that India is not a member in this agency but India is a association country in this agency along with China, Brazil and South Africa and few other countries. Now let's come to the strategic crude oil storage facilities in India. The construction of these facilities is being managed by Indian strategic petroleum reserves limited. Now this ISPRL it is a special purpose vehicle which is a completely owned subsidiary of oil industry development board which comes under ministry of petroleum and natural gas. Now apart from the three crude oil storage facilities we have discussed, additional strategic reserve facilities are coming up at Padur in Karnataka and Chandikhol in Odisha, then in Bikaner in Rajasthan and in Rajkot in Kucharat. If completed these would hold enough oil to meet around 30 days of domestic requirements. Now know that crude oil storage facilities are constructed in underground rock caverns and they are located on eastern west coast of India. Crude oil from these caverns can be supplied to Indian refineries either through pipelines or through a combination of pipelines and coastal movement. Underground rock caverns at around 1000 feet or more below the surface, they are considered as safest means of storing hydrocarbons. This is because there is practically less chances of developing cracks and as a result there is no leakage or very less leakage. In addition to this the temperature difference between top and bottom of each cavern facilitates circulation of oil which is important to maintain quality of oil. So to get the oil from a cavern water has to be pumped to its bottom. Since oil floats on water, oil will simply rise to the surface. From here oil can be transferred quickly to the pipelines. Now coming to this question first statement is incorrect, second statement is incorrect, India is not a full-fledged member rather just an association country in international energy agency. Correct answer for this question is option D, 3 only. This question is with reference to Madhuban Gajar. Madhuban Gajar often seen in the news is a variety of silk from the state of Bihar, a tribal folk bands prevalent in the state of Kujarat, a bio fortified carrot variety with high iron content, a style of painting which has been traditionally done by the women of Mithila region of Bihar. See Gajar stands for carrot. Madhuban Gajar is a bio fortified carrot variety. It is developed by Sri Vallabhai Vasrambhai who is a farmer scientist from Junagat district of Kujarat. It was found that in the month of April it was reported that the variety has been beneficial for more than 150 local farmers in the area. Therefore it was in news. See it is a highly nutritious carrot variety that was developed through the selection method with high beta carotene content and high iron content. Beta carotene is a carotenoid that is an important source of Vitamin A for human beings and this variety is used for various value-added products like carrot chips, carrot juices and also carrot pickle and for his contribution and for his public service, Vallabhai Vasrambhai was comfort Padmasri in the year 2019. Now here if you see option D it corresponds to Madhubani paintings of Bihar. See these paintings are traditionally done by women of villages in the Madhubani district of Bihar. Though traditionally it was done by women at present even men are also involved to meet the commercial needs. This Madhubani paintings it is also called as Mithila paintings because this painting is followed in Mithila region in Bihar. When we say Mithila region we refer to northern and northeastern part of the state of Bihar. Now this art form it also extends to adjoining parts of Bihar region in Nepal as well. These paintings they have a common theme and they usually depict or portray nature and mythology. These paintings are popular and famous because of their tribal motifs or tribal decorations and designs and also for the use of bright earthy colors. In the themes and designs one can see that Hindu deities like Lord Krishna, Lord Rama, Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati were widely depicted and one could also see the depiction of sun, moon, tulasi plant, coat scenes, wedding scenes, social gatherings and happenings etc. Traditionally these were painted on the walls using mineral pigments prepared by the artist. Mineral pigments are prepared using natural sources. They use rice paste, vegetable colors with cow dung and mud. For commercial purposes now the work is also being done on paper, cloth, canvas etc. Now know that since the art is specifically known with reference to a particular geographical area that is around Madhubani this painting has been given geographical indication status at present it is valid up to the year 2025. The picture here it represents how the Mithila art is they transform the local railway station with their traditional Madhubani painting art. Now the question is with reference to Madhuban Gajar or Madhuvan Gajar therefore the correct answer to this question is option C a 45 karat variety with high iron content. This question is with reference to Patal Gadhi movement. Two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct. The movement was started by Guru Ram Singh in Punjab it advocated boycott of British merchandise and services and stood firmly against the inhuman practice of Sadhi. See the Patal Gadhi movement it gained popularity in several villages of Kunti district in Jharkhand in late 2016. This movement is related to pre-independence movement which was led by Birsa the district Kunti it also happens to be the birthplace of Adivasi leader Birsa Munda. Here in the map you can observe the extremely located districts in four directions like how Garhwad district is the western most district in Jharkhand and also you know that Jharkhand borders with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal Odisha and Chaptersgarh Now coming to Patal Gadhi movement it is a protest where stone slabs or patals will be embedded or carved by the tribal population message will be written and these stones or stone slabs will be kept on the outskirts of a village area. These carvings on patals they demarcate or denote their jurisdiction and it is a mark to prohibit the entry of any institution connected to the state. It means state government and government and institutions are not welcome into these villages if they are to carry out with reference to any violation of their rights which the villages consider sacred. So Patal Gadhi literally means carving a stone it is an ancient tradition in the tribal communities of Jharkhand Adivasis they usually erect engraved stones to mark the birth or death of a person. But this practice it took a new meaning when activists working for tribal communities initiated practice of erecting stones outside villages after this Pesa Act came into existence. Pesa stands for Panchayat extension of Scheduled Areas Act 1996. This act it empowered grand sabbaths to safeguard and to preserve their traditions, community spaces and culture. That gave them the right to mandatory consultation with reference to land acquisition processes. Two civil servants were also known for involving in this process one former IAS officer B.D. Sharma and another an IPS officer Bandi Oravan both of them along with tribal rights defenders they got stones engraved with the provisions of the Panchayat extension of Scheduled Areas Act of 1996 to spread awareness among the tribal population about their rights. In 2016 many such stones were placed in the border of their villages and the stones symbolized self-rule by the local grand panchayat and it also sent a signal that village as sovereign territory and it indicated prohibiting the entry of outsiders into the village. Here you are seeing this image. This is with reference to constitutional provisions. The title reads Bharat Ka Samvidan which means the Constitution of India. Now why this movement gained prominence in the year 2016. In May 2016 the then state government of Jharkhand it introduced two ordinances one called the Chotanakpur Tenancy Act 1908 amendment ordinance then Santal Pargana Tenancy Act 1949 amendment ordinance. These two ordinances brought provisions to enable commercial use of tribal land and made the land resource as easily transferable one. See here the Chotanakpur Tenancy Act was enacted in the year 1908 it was enacted as a response to the struggle against exploitation and discrimination imposed by the British against tribal population. Here the struggle was led by Birsa Munda. These struggles happened in 1899-1980 and we know that Birsa was captured in February 1900 and he died in jail in June 1900. His death anniversary was remembered on June 9 as well. Now coming to the other principle law called as Santal Pargana Tenancy Act. It was enacted in 1949. Together both these legislations they granted special protection and land rights to the tribal communities and they prohibited transfer of tribal land to non-tribals and they prohibited commercial use of land without the permission of concerned grams above. However the recent ordinances it empowered the government to procure agricultural land from tribal communities for non-agricultural purposes. Therefore the Patalgadi practice regained their prominence after the ordinances were brought in. The tribal people erected new stones as a mark of protest. They named it as Battle for Jal Jangle Zameen as a battle for water, jungles and land. Later the ordinances were replaced and they were passed as legislation by state assembly. However because of objections from various parties and with reference to social movements, protest, democratic actions etc. the governor asked the government to reconsider the decision and then later the government withdraw the bills. However during the process there were clashes between the state establishment, the state government, state government's forces and the local tribal population and these clashes continued for a period of time and in some stages it turned violent. This led to allegations of the movement that it has been radicalized and is fueled by extremism. Many persons were booked under sedition. Certain reports say that around 10,000 people from tribal communities were booked under sedition. Their cases were later withdrawn when the new government was formed recently in December 2019. So this is all about Patalgadi movement which is also called as Patalgadi movement. Here the two given statements, they pertain to Kuka movement which was spearheaded by Guru Ram Singh in Punjab. Press Information Bureau reports that this movement to free the country was started a month before the great mutiny of 1857. Here both the statements are incorrect with reference to Patalgadi movement. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option D, neither one nor two. This question is with reference to two mobile applications. Consider the following statements. The Sahyoga app was developed by the National Agency of India. The app facilitates citizens of India to voluntarily support and contribute in preparing, updating and enriching the national database on points of interest in the country. The Arogya Setu app helps identify users who have come in contact with each other and also to trace the paths traversed by COVID-19 infected users. Which of the statements given above are incorrect? See, in April 2020 central government launched Arogya Setu application as a digital contact tracing tool and also to disseminate information regarding COVID-19. This application it uses GPS and Bluetooth features of a smartphone, so as to track contact and location trails. The app was developed by National Informatics Center under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. This application it first collects the personal information of a registered user. These include name, phone number, age, gender, profession, countries visited in the last 30 days. Then the application detects other devices that have Arogya Setu application when they come within Bluetooth proximity. When this happens, both the phones securely exchange a digital signature of the interaction. Here details like time of interaction or the duration of interaction, proximity of interaction that is how close the persons were during the interaction. Then the location of interaction were collected. These data will also be stored in the devices as well. If a user of this application contracts the COVID-19 disease, then the application calculates the risks of other users who have interacted with this person in last 14 days. The risk will be calculated based on the interaction information. The required action will be displayed on the home screen of the user. The home screen has four classifications signifying increased risk of infection in four color codes green, yellow, orange and red. Green classification signifies that an individual is safe or at low risk. Yellow classification signifies moderate risk of infection and orange signifies high risk. Red classification signifies that the person has been tested COVID-19 positive. The updated risks of infection will be analyzed by the central government to give appropriate medical interventions. Now let's come to the Sahyoga application mentioned in the question. See it's a mobile application developed by Survey of India which is called as the National Mapping Agency of India. It generally collects geo information and other details of a particular point of interest or a geographical location. Its users could be a government employee or any citizen of India. The users can voluntarily support and contribute in preparing, updating and enriching the national database of the country. The points of interest data collected using this application will be used for creating various applications for usage of everyone and the collected information would facilitate building Indian dataset with the help of or with the Sahyoga of people of India. Now with reference to COVID-19, this app collects geo tagged information about India's critical infrastructure at this time. The collected information include latitudinal and longitudinal parameters with reference to disposal sites of biomedical ways, containment areas, testing laboratories, quarantine camps and available hospitals for COVID-19 treatment. These data are fed into this application by ASHA and Anganwadi workers and this application is expected to strengthen public health delivery system and to help the public health agencies to take decisions and to frame protocols in the fight against COVID-19. See the survey of India comes under Department of Science and Technology of Government of India. Now in this question both the statements are correct and the question asks for incorrect statements therefore the correct answer is option D neither one nor two. This question is with reference to Satyam program. The question reads consider the following statements regarding the science and technology of yoga and meditation program. Two statements are given, it is aimed to foster scientific research on the effects of yoga and meditation on physical and mental health and on cognitive functioning in healthy people as well as in patients with cancer. The program is conceptualized under the cognitive science research initiative of Ministry of Ayush which of the statements given above are correct. See recently in April the Department of Science and Technology invited proposals to study appropriate intervention of yoga and meditation in fighting COVID-19 and similar kinds of viruses. The proposals have been invited under the Satyam program of Department of Science and Technology. See in 2015 the department conceptualized Satyam under an initiative called cognitive science research initiative. When we say cognitive science it deals with study of human mind and brain focusing on how mind represents and manipulates knowledge and how mental representations and processes are realized in the brain. Know that this cognitive science research initiative it facilitates a platform to scientific community to work for better solution of challenges related to cognitive disorders and social issues. Now the aim of this Satyam program is to encourage scientific research or to support scientific research on the effects of yoga and meditation on physical and mental health and also on cognitive functioning in healthy people as well as in patients with disorders. Satyam seeks to promote cutting edge research which will seek to identify various issues and challenges related to human well being and to address them and to find solutions for them. So Satyam will harness science and technology like solutions and these solutions are to cope up with stress and strain that are associated with fast changing social circumstances economic, environmental and professional circumstances. See the program is to encourage research in two major thematic areas. First investigations on the effect of yoga and meditation on physical and mental health then second investigations on the effect of yoga and meditation on the body, brain and mind. Now let's come to the present proposal under this proposal team of scientists, medical professionals, experienced practitioners of yoga and meditation with proven track record they are encouraged to submit concept notes. The concept note should cover aims and objectives of the proposed work existing literature methodology, expected outcome budget requirement and also detailed by data of principal investigators etc. These projects shall address any of the three areas or themes. One is to improve immunity then that shall address in improving respiratory system and bringing interventions to overcome respiratory disorders and the final theme focuses on stress anxiety and depression related issues because of isolation, uncertainty disruptions in normal life etc. Now coming to the question first statement is correct, second statement is incorrect as cognitive science research initiative comes under department of science and technology ministry of science and technology therefore the correct answer is option A one only. This question is with reference to state of the world's nursing report 2020. The question reads which of the following organizations have recently developed and published the state of the world's nursing report 2020. International council of nurses, nursing now campaign, world health organization all the above. See this report was developed by WHO in partnership with international council of nurses and the global campaign called nursing now. Here international council of nurses it is a federation of more than 130 national association of nurses and it represents more than 2 crore nurses worldwide coming to the campaign called nursing now it is a 3 year global campaign of Burdett trust for nursing in collaboration with international council of nurses and WHO and with respect to nursing know that the international nurses day is celebrated around the world every year on May 12 and this is to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of modern nursing Miss Florence Nightingale. The day assumes significance because of the tireless efforts of nurses during the Covid crisis. The correct answer for this question is option D all the above. Now let's see some findings of this report. This provides a global picture of the nursing workforce. It supports evidence based planning to effectively use the contributions of this workforce to improve health and well being for all people in the world. The report observed that nursing is the largest occupational group in the health sector accounting for around 59% of the persons employed in health professions and this report states that at present in the world we do not have a global nursing workforce commensurable with the universal health coverage and STG targets. So to achieve universal health coverage and STG targets we require addition of more nurses into this workforce. Now there is one main criticism related to the field of nursing that is a nursing remains as a highly gendered profession with associated biases in the workplace. See though 90% of nursing workforce are women. Only few leadership positions are held by women. Are the posts being held by men. With reference to India if you come the report states that there are only 10 to 19 nursing personnel for every 10,000 population in the year 2018. This is far less if you compare the scenario in European countries where there is presence of more than 100 nursing personnel per 10,000 population. So India has to improve a lot in this area. Now coming to the question the correct answer for this is option D, Aldaabow. This question is with reference to a new government initiative called Kavach. The question reads consider the following statements regarding the Kavach. Its mandate is to extend timely support to potential startups by way of the requisite financial assistance targeting innovations addressing COVID-19 challenges. It is an initiative by National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board which of the statements given above are correct. See Kavach, it stands for Center for Augmenting War with COVID-19 Health Crisis. It is an initiative by National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board which comes under Department of Science and Technology. Around 56 crore money was sanctioned for this Kavach to lead to Scout to evaluate and support the innovations and startups that address COVID-19 challenges. So first it is a government step to fight COVID-19 challenges by supporting innovations and startups. Now let's see who's the implementing agency for this initiative. See it is a technology business incubator at IIT Bombay. This incubator is called Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, shortly called SIGN. This incubator will be supported by Department of Science and Technology in this initiative. So what is the mandate of this Kavach? See its mandate is to extend timely support to potential startups by providing them the required financial assistance and funds and these funds will target innovations that can be deployed in the market within next 6 months. The support will help startups which are at different stages for fast-tracking commercialization processes with respect to these innovations. A selected startup may receive financial support from 50 lakhs up to 2 crores. Kavach is to identify up to 50 innovations and startups and to fund them. If you see the priority area it includes ventilators, respirator aids, protective gears even it includes novel solutions for sanitizers, disinfectants, diagnostics, therapeutics informatics and any effective interventions to control COVID-19. It will also provide access to pan India networks to test, to carry out trials and also to give access for market deployment of the innovative products and solutions. And this is to help address various challenges faced by the country due to the COVID-19 crisis. Now coming to the question, both these statements are correct. Therefore the correct answer is option C both one and two. This question is with reference to Vandan Samajik Dury Jagrukthabhyam. The question reads with reference to Vandan Samajik Dury Jagrukthabhyam. Consider the following statements. Two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct. It aims at inspiring, guiding and encouraging tribal girls across India to become village level digital young leaders for their communities. It is an initiative of Trifrid under ministry of tribal affairs in collaboration with UNICEF and WHO. We know that COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a serious blow to the livelihoods of poor marginalized communities including tribal artisans and gatherers. In fact the months of March, April and May were reportedly the peak season for harvesting and gathering of forest producers in many regions. Meanwhile Trifrid has been taking certain proactive measures which aimed at providing extra support to the tribal population. Not that Trifrid stands for tribal cooperative marketing development federation of India. It came into existence in the year 1987. It is the national level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of ministry of tribal affairs where the ultimate objective of Trifrid is the socio-economic development of tribal population in our country. This is to be achieved through marketing development of tribal products. Recently Trifrid has taken several steps and these steps generally could be congregated into three areas. One is publicity and awareness generation then personal protective healthcare then non-timber forest products procurement. Now in connection with publicity and awareness generation related to COVID-19, one such measure is what we call as the Vandan Samajituri Jagrutabhyam. The meaning in Gujarati is Vandan social distancing awareness movement. So it's a social distancing awareness program or we can also say individual distancing as well. Now it is aimed at educating tribal population who are engaged in gathering non-tribal forest producers in the forest areas. These populations are to be educated about COVID-19. They will be taught key preventive behavior like individual distancing, social distancing, home quarantine, hygiene tips, you know through a training program and also by using digital means say for example webinars Facebook live streams etc. This will be done through the support of self-help groups under the Pradhan Mandri Vandan Yochanan. For this initiative the Triford has teamed up with UNICEF and also WHO for launching a digital campaign to spread awareness about the importance of social distancing. UNICEF is providing necessary information education and communication materials in this regard. When we say IEC materials these are examples like posters, leaflets, routers, booklets, awareness through radio, awareness through video format and TV advertisements etc. Apart from this the government has taken some other initiatives as well to protect the livelihoods of tribal population. Recently Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed persons belonging to schedule tribes and other forest dwellers to collect harvest and process non-timber minor forest producers during the lockdown. And even Ministry of Tribal Affairs has asked UNICEF to focus on revamping MSPs for minor forest producers to enhance the livelihood of tribal communities. If you go through this question the first statement that is it aims at inspiring guiding and encouraging tribal girls to become village-level digital young leaders. This is not the objective of this Sabia rather it is the objective of Goal Initiative launched by Facebook in collaboration with the UNION Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Goal stands for going online as leaders. However the second statement is correct. Therefore the correct answer for this question is option B 2 only. See this question the left hand side projects have been given, the right hand side purposes were given. They are asking which of the pairs given above are correctly matched. Project ISAC to enhance students critical skills amidst lockdown by IIT Gandhinagar. Project Prana development of indigenous ventilator prototype supported by Indian Institute of Science. See here project ISAC as given in the question is launched by IIT Gandhinagar. The objective is to engage its students in creative projects to enhance their critical skills when they are confined in their residences because of COVID imposed lockdown. The idea has been constructed so as to motivate and engage them during this abrupt and elongated break. The project is inspired by Sir ISAC Newton faced a similar situation when he was sent home by Trinity College Cambridge because of the great plague of London in the year 1665 AD. At that time Newton was 22 year old college student and it is said that some of his profound discoveries were developed during that lockdown. Some of them are like early calculus, his theories of optics and gravity etc. Now coming to project Prana it is an effort by a group of engineers who are primarily associated with Indian Institute of Science to develop a voluntary prototype ventilator design. In the month of May the news was that the Indian Institute of Science team successfully completed prototyping of Prana ventilator. Now Prana in Sanskrit is to breathe and Prana in Canada's life. The desired output of this project is to bring a working prototype of a ventilator for COVID-19 patients. The design and specifications of the working prototype will be given to as many manufacturers as possible free of cost. Therefore this is a purely voluntary effort to help the nation in time of this crisis and there is no commercial intent in this project Prana. This project aims to use components to build a mechanical ventilator whose production can be rapidly increased. This project was supported by funds committed by Indian Institute of Science Bangaluru and it is this institute that has also provided access to its laboratories and facilities. For coming to the question both the pads are correctly matched therefore the correct answer is option C both one and two. This question is with reference to national road transport network. The question reads consider the following statements regarding the national road transport network. Two statements are given. It is an initiative of department of posts. It is a road network to ensure movement of essential items within the country to deliver parcels carrying essential items anywhere in the country. Which of the statements given above are correct? We know that the lockdown has disrupted the entire supply chain management in the country. Airlines, railways, state road transport stopped playing and this affected the supply of essential items. So to solve this issue with reference to supply of essential items department of posts conceived a network called national road transport network. It is a road network that covers 22 long routes of over 500 kilometers. These routes are interspersed with interstate schedule and intra state schedule touching more than 75 cities across the country. Through this network the postal department is able to deliver parcels carrying essential items anywhere in the country. During this time India Post has been using cargo flights, parcel trains and its own fleet of red-mail motor vans and road transport networks to ensure timely delivery of essential items. Several state postal units, for example, Gujarat, UP, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, they have entered into tie-ups with Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, Director General of Health Services, online pharmaceutical companies and suppliers of COVID-19 test kits. When we say essential items here we refer to medicines, COVID-19 testing kits, masks, sanitizer, personal protective equipment etc. In addition to this department of post has also been delivering cash at doorsteps with reference to beneficial programs especially for old-aged persons persons with disabilities, pensioners etc. Coming to this question, here both the statements are correct. Therefore the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2. This question is with reference to Moon Agreement. The question reads consider the following statements regarding the Moon Agreement. Two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct. It mandates that the Moon shall be used by all state parties exclusively for peaceful purposes. India along with all the permanent members of United Nations Security Council have already ratified the agreement so as to carry out exploration and use of the Moon to benefit and in the interest of all countries. Which of the statements given above are correct? See this topic was in news in April 2020 because the US President signed an executive order on 6th April 2020. This order is called as the executive order on encouraging international support for the recovery and use of space resources. In that order the US President reaffirmed the right of United States to use space resources for commercial purposes. President said that there is uncertainty because of differences between Moon Agreement and the Outer Space Treaty. This is in the context of the right to recover and to use space resources. When we say Moon Agreement, it is the agreement governing the activities of states on the Moon and other celestial bodies. Outer Space Treaty is the treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and the use of outer space including the Moon and other celestial bodies. Coming to Moon Agreement, it was adopted by UN General Assembly in the year 1979 after the coming into force of 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Outer Space Treaty came into force in October 1967. Now with respect to Outer Space Treaty, know that India has already ratified this treaty. Now coming to Moon Agreement it came into force in July 1984. The Moon Agreement provides that the Moon shall be introduced by all state parties exclusively for peaceful purposes. The very first article of the agreement states that the provisions of this agreement relating to the Moon shall also apply to other celestial bodies within the Solar System other than the Earth. This will be the case if there are no specific legal framework with reference to other celestial bodies and here the reference to the Moon includes orbits around the Moon, other trajectories towards the Moon or around the Moon. Now in article 7 of the Moon Agreement it is mentioned that in the exploration and use of Moon, the state parties shall take measures to prevent disruption of existing balance of Moon's environment. Now this prevents introducing adverse changes in Moon's environment. Say for example, the Moon's environment shall not be contaminated by introducing extra environmental matter or otherwise. And according to the agreement, United Nations should be informed about the location and purpose of any station that is established on the bodies covered by Moon Agreement. The agreement mentions that state parties may establish manned stations and unmanned stations on the Moon. Now one of the important provisions of this agreement is that it states that the Moon and its natural resources are common heritage of mankind and the Moon is not subject to national appropriation by any claim of sovereignty, by means of use or by means of occupation or by any other means for that matter. It mentions that the exploration and the use of the Moon shall be the province of all mankind and such exploration and use shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interest of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic development or scientific development. So this means if a country has ratified the Moon agreement, whatever achieved in the Moon has to be shared among the countries and this provision is seen as a restrictive provision when we come to commercial explorations. Then the agreement calls for an international regime which should be established to govern the exploitation of resources covered under the Moon agreement when such exploitation is to become feasible. Now coming to the status of the Moon agreement, if you see so far only 18 countries have ratified the Moon agreement. Now the status of the treaty with reference to permanent five countries of UN Security Council and India has been given here for your reference. India has signed the Moon agreement in the year 1982 but it has not ratified the agreement yet. Now in this question, first statement is correct. Now coming to second statement which states India along with all the permanent members of UN Security Council have already ratified the agreement. Now this statement is incorrect. India also has not yet ratified the agreement. None of the permanent five countries of UN Security Council also ratified it. In fact, only one of the P5 countries which is France has just become a signatory. Other countries are not even a signatory to this Moon agreement. So therefore, the correct answer for this question is option A, one only. See this question. Recently in June 2020, the Government of India published a notification monitoring the criteria for classification of MSMEs. In the light of the notification, consider the following statements. Three statements are given. They are asking which of the statements are correct. A medium enterprise is the one for which the investment in plant and machinery or equipment does not exceed 10 crore rupees and turnover does not exceed 50 crore rupees. The criteria for classification includes turnover along with investment in plant and machinery or equipment. The inclusion of turnover as a criterion follows the recommendation by the UK SINHA Committee on MSMEs which of the following statements are correct. With respect to micro small and medium enterprises, in India we have around 6.3 crore MSMEs. This sector contributes 45% of manufacturing output, contributes more than 40% of exports and contributes around 28% of GDP and gives employment to around 11 crore people. Earlier in January 2019, RISO Bank of India constituted an expert committee on MSMEs. This committee was constituted under the chairmanship of former chairman of SEMI Sri UK SINHA. The terms of reference of this committee is highlighted here for your reference. You can see that the committee was tasked to review the current institutional framework to support MSME sector then to examine the factors affecting timely and adequate availability of finance to the MSME sector and also about reviewing existing MSME focus policies and its impact on the sector. Now this committee submitted its report to RBO in June 2019. One of the recommendations in fact, the very first recommendation is about the definition of MSMEs. Now if you see the existing criteria of definition of MSMEs, this is based on MSME Development Act of 2006. According to section 7 of this law, the enterprises engaged in manufacture or production of goods is classified based on investment in plant and machinery. For the enterprises that are engaged in providing or rendering of services, the classification is based on investment in equipment. So the criteria is investment. You can observe that micro enterprises are those enterprises wherein if they are engaging in manufacture or production of goods, the investment does not exceed 25 lakh rupees that can be called as or classified as micro enterprises. In case of services, the investment in equipment should not exceed 10 lakh rupees. Similarly, we have values for small enterprises and medium enterprises. The value of investment differs for manufacturing of goods and also for rendering of services. So this is the existing criteria. Now the recommendation of UK SINHA Committee is to bring a turnover based definition or classification of MSMEs. Actually, even the government was also in the same opinion. This was proposed in the MSME Development Amendment Bill of 2018. This law has not been passed by the parliament. And coming to UK SINHA Committee, the committee also recommended for the turnover based definition or classification of MSMEs. Such a definition based on turnover, if adopted, would be considered as progressive and also suitable. The reason why we are saying suitable is because of the introduction of GST. Under this new tax regime, turnover details of enterprises are captured by GST network and turnover declared by GST registered MSME units can be easily verified through this GST network. Therefore turnover based definition would be transparent, progressive and easier to implement also. In addition to this, the committee also asked the parliament to consider delegating the power of classifying MSMEs to the executive, that is not to the legislative body, the parliament but to the executive. This is to cater to the needs to adjust the definition criteria, time to time, in the context of changing economic scenario. Every time we need not go to the parliament, rather the changes can be made or announced by the executive itself. So these are the recommendations of UK SINHA Committee with respect to definition of MSME. So in relation to this, an amendment was expected in the principle law that is in the 2006 Act. Recently in the first phase of Atman Irbar Bharat, government announced that definitions will be revised by including turnover and necessary amendments in the laws will be made. However, on 1st of June 2020, government has published a notification in the cassette. This notification is about the criteria for classification of micro, small and medium enterprises. Here for classification two parameters are taken. One is the investment in plant and machinery or equipment, then the other is turnover. And this notification comes into effect from 1st of July 2020. Now in the existing definition or in the present definition based on the law of 2006, we could see that for the same category, the limits of investment are different for manufacturing and those enterprises providing services. But if you see as per the revised classification of MSMEs visible in the June 1 notification, there will be no difference between manufacturing and service sectors in terms of the limits in investment and in turnover. You can see that to call an enterprises micro enterprise, investment has to be less than 1 crore. Turnover has to be less than 5 crore. To classify an agency as small enterprises, the investment has to be less than 10 crores. Turnover has to be less than 50 crores. So these are the recent developments with reference to the classification of MSMEs. See you can easily remember these numbers in the revised classification if you can keep the investment amount in memory. Because if you see the limits for turnover, it is just the maximum limit of investment multiplied by 5. For example, micro enterprises turnover is 5 crore. 5 into 1, 5 crore. For small enterprises, turnover is less than 50 maximum limit. This is nothing but 10 into 5, 50. Like this you can remember this. Now come to the question. Here to arrive at the correct answer, if you know that the third statement is correct, you can directly arrive at the correct answer option B, 2 and 3 only. The first statement is incorrect because in the classification that is to be effective from 1st July 2020, the investment is not exceeding 50 crores and turnover is not exceeding 250 crores for a medium enterprise. Therefore, first statement becomes incorrect. Second and third statements are correct. Correct answer option B, 2 and 3 only. This question is with reference to MP Ladd's scheme. This topic was in news in April as the central government has announced suspension of release of funds under the scheme for 2 years in the context of fund requirements to tackle with financial impact of Covid-19. The question reads which of the following statements regarding the MP Ladd's scheme is incorrect. It is fully funded by the Government of India. The scheme comes under the Ministry of Statistics and Programming implementation. Under normal circumstances, the elected members of Rajesh Saba can select any one or more districts from any state in the country. For development work under the scheme, fielding more than 50% of annual entailment of funds. Then the last option, the annual entailment of Rs. 5 crore shall be released by Government of India directly to the district authority of the nodal district of Member of Parliament concerned. In this context, let us see few information with reference to this MP Ladd's scheme. See, it stands for Member of Parliament Local Area Development scheme. The objective is to enable the members of Parliament to recommend development works with emphasis on creation of durable community assets. Such assets could be created in the areas of roads, electricity, drinking water, health, education etc. Initially, this scheme was under the control of Ministry of Rural Development. However, in October 1994, it was transferred to Ministry of Statistics and Programming implementation. So at present, it is the Ministry of Statistics and Programming implementation which is responsible for policy formulation, release of funds and prescribing monitoring mechanism for the implementation of the scheme. Now, it is a plan scheme that is fully funded by Government of India. Here, annual fund entailment for one Member of Parliament is Rs. 5 crore. That is for one year, 5 crore will be given for the development work. Now, coming to members of Lokshaba, they can recommend works within the State of Election. However, with reference to members of Parliament related to elected members of Lokshaba and Rajashabha, this norm can be waived in two instances. One is in the event of calamity of severe nature in any part of the country. At this scenario, a Member of Parliament can recommend works to the tune of maximum of Rs. 1 crore for the affected district. The second instance is the Government of India. The Government of India can recommend works to the affected district. The second instance is that to promote national unity, harmony and fraternity among the people at the grassroots level, a Member of Parliament can recommend eligible works up to a maximum of Rs. 25 lakhs in a financial year. So, these are the two instances when the funds from the scheme for a Member of Parliament can be spent outside the local area. That is, a place outside the State or Union country or a place outside the constituency within the State or both. Now, coming to the nominated members of both Rajashabha and Lokshabha, they can recommend works anywhere in the country. Now, coming to the nature of the funds released or even the funds that are to be released by the centre, funds and the scheme are non-lapsable. And the annual entitlement of Rs. 5 crore shall be released by Government of India directly to the district authority of the nodal district of Member of Parliament concern. Say, for example, if a constituency is present or has jurisdiction in two districts. In that case, if the Member of Parliament wants to carry out work in district A, then that district authority becomes the nodal authority. So, under the scheme, each Member of Parliament has the choice to recommend or to suggest to the district collector for works to the tune of Rs. 5 crore per annum to be taken in his or her jurisdiction of local area under the scheme. These members, therefore, they have a recommendationary role and district authorities are responsible for the implementation or execution of the developmental work. And there are two special features. One is that Member of Parliament are to recommend works costing at least 5% of annual entitlement for areas inhibited by people belonging to schedule costs and 7.5% for areas which are inhibited by persons belonging to the schedule tribes. In other words, out of the amount of 5 crore annual entitlement for the areas inhibited by persons belonging to schedule costs around Rs. 75 lakhs have to be fielded and for areas inhibited by persons belonging to schedule tribes Rs. 37.5 lakhs has to be inscribed. But in case there is insufficient tribal population in the area of Lokshava member, this earmarked amount for the creation of community assets in tribal areas that can be sprint outside their constituency, however in their state of election. In that case, the amount earmarked, say that Rs. 37.5 lakhs can be utilized in inhibited areas of persons belonging to schedule tribes. This provision is also vice versa. That is, if the state does not have inhibited areas of persons belonging to schedule costs, then that amount earmarked can be spent on inhibited areas of persons belonging to schedule tribes. Now coming to the question, here the incorrect statement is statement 3. So under normal circumstances, elected members of Rajasheba can select any one district or one or more district from their state of election only, not from any state in the country. So correct answer is option C. Now let's move on to next question. This question is with reference to a fact sheet published by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The question reads, in the context of trends in world military expenditure 2019, published by Cyprii, consider the following statements. First statement, the top three countries in terms of high military spending in 2019 were United States of America, China and India. 15 countries account for 81% of the global military expenditure in the year 2019. Choose the correct statements using the quotes given below. See in the month of April 2020, Cyprii released a fact sheet titled as Trends in Global Military expenditure 2019. Now Cyprii is an independent international institute that is carrying out research with reference to conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. It was established in the year 1966. It provides data, analysis and recommendations based on open sources. Now let's see in brief about some important findings presented in the fact sheet. One is that in the year 2019 global military expenditure was the highest since the year 1988. The expenditure stood at just about 1900 billion US dollars in the year 2019. And the total military expenditure accounted for 2.2% of global GDP in 2019. And the United States remains as the largest spender for military. It spends around 732 billion US dollars. This amount is more than 2.5 times the amount spent for military by China. Now coming to the top five military spenders in 2019, these are United States, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia. These five countries together have accounted for 62% of global military spending. The fact sheet highlights that for the first time India has become the third largest military spender in the world. This is mainly attributed to the reason with reference to Saudi Arabia that it has reduced its military spending to the tune of around 16% compared to the year 2018. Coming to the total amount that is spent by USA in 2019, this amount is just above the combined amount that is spent by next 10 countries, that is from China to the 11th country which is the Brazil. And in the top five countries, military spending has seen a growth if compared with the previous year. In the top five countries except Saudi Arabia, all the four countries have seen a growth if compared with the previous year in military spending. For example the growth in military spending in India was 6.8%. The fact sheet reports that the military spending was reduced in the years from 2011 to 2012. This was because of global financial crisis. However it increased steadily from the year 2015. Now coming to India, India has spent 2.4% of GDP in the year 2019 for military. It has spent just above 70 billion US dollars and this amount if we compare with China, China spends almost more than 3.5 times the amount spent by India for military spending. And coming to South Asia, here India is the highest military spending country. Now the fact sheet observes that India's military expenditure has risen significantly over the last few decades. If you take 30 year period from 1990 to 2019, the growth was 259%. And if you compare from 2010 to 2019, growth was 37%. However the burden fell from 2.7% of GDP in 2010 to 2.4% of GDP in 2019. The major drivers for increased military spending of India's tensions with China than rivalry with Pakistan. We should note that 15 countries in the world account for 81% of global military expenditure in 2019. The share of world military expenditure of the 15 countries with highest spending in 2019 has been given here for your reference. Now coming to the question. Here both the statements are correct. Therefore the correct answer is option C, both 1 and 2. See this question with reference to earth biogenome project. Question reads, which of the following best describes the earth biogenome project often seen in the news. An initiative of CSIR to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India. A UN led initiative to sequence bacterial and archaeal genomes across the globe. An international project which aims to sequence, catalogue and characterize the genomes of all of earth's eukaryotic biodiversity. Over a period of 10 years a genome sequencing initiative which may help us understand the adaptations of species living in the constant darkness of caves or subterranean surfaces. See we are aware of human genome project which was an international project. This project aimed at complete mapping and understanding of all the genes of human beings. Project started its operations in the year 1988 and almost concluded by 2003. Now the earth biogenome project is a similar international project it aims to sequence, catalogue and characterize the genomes of all of earth's eukaryotic biodiversity for a period of 10 years. See when we say eukaryotic organisms these are organisms including plants and animals that have a distinct clear nucleus. There is another similar initiative called as earth microbiome project. Now this project it aims to sequence bacterial and archaeal genomes across the globe with the support of more than 500 scientists. As we saw already eukaryotes or organisms including plants and animals having distinct nucleus but it does not include organisms such as bacteria and archaea and on earth we can find an estimated 10-15 million eukaryotic species and this earth biogenome project is expected to give a new knowledge on organization, evolution, functions and interactions among millions of organisms in the planet. The project will give lot of information about broad range of major issues facing the humanity. Say for example impact of climate change on biodiversity, conservation of endangered species and ecosystems preservation and enhancement of ecosystem services. Now in this context let us see also about Indian initiative on earth biogenome sequencing. It is a nationwide project aiming to decode the genetic information of all known species of plants and animals in the country. According to some sources Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute is to play a key role in this initiative. Now this Indian initiative on earth biogenome sequencing is part of the earth biogenome project. In the initial phase the whole genome sequencing of 1000 species of plants and animals will be undertaken. Now this initiative is to set up a digital repository of genome sequences to provide critical infrastructure for better understanding of ecosystems and biodiversity conservation. It will also help in the development of agricultural products, bio materials and also biological fuels as well. Meanwhile it will also help us to develop new treatments for infectious and inherited or genetic diseases as well. The decoded genetic information is also to be a useful tool to prevent biopiracy. Here when we say biopiracy it is referring to unlawful commercial exploitation of biological materials say for example medicinal plants and extracts. These biological materials though they are native to a particular country biopiracy refers to taking these resources for commercial exploitation without providing fair financial compensation to the people of the country or the government of that particular country. Now coming to the question, the correct answer is option C. It is an international project aims to sequence catalog and characterize the genomes of all of earth's eukaryotic biodiversity over a period of 10 years. Come to this question consider the following statements with respect to the Indian constitution. Two statements are there, which of the statements given above are correct. Statement 1, the validity of any proceedings in parliament shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure. The constitution of India provides power to the Supreme Court to pause any order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any matter pending before it. In the month of March April, there were news articles with reference to a member of Manipur State Legislative Assembly who won the election on the ticket of Congress party but later defected into or switched sides to the BJP party. In this context, some applications were made to disqualify him before the speaker of Manipur State Legislative Assembly. The matter was brought before the Supreme Court and in relation to that petition, Supreme Court invoked article 142 of Indian constitution and ordered that the particular member will cease to be a cabinet minister and banned the member from entering the State Legislative Assembly with immediate effect. It was reported in the Supreme Court that the speaker of Manipur Legislative Assembly for more than three years has not decided on the application or on the petition to disqualify the particular member. In this relation, we should note that the 10th Schedule of Indian Constitution which is also called as Anti-Defection Law does not provide a deadline for the speaker to decide the questions on disqualifying a member for defection. In this context, let us see in brief about this article 142 see this article empowers Supreme Court to pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it. Generally, this is exercised by the Supreme Court where at times the law or the statute may not provide a remedy. For example, the speaker in this case has not decided the matter of defection by the particular member as there is a loophole in the 10th Schedule that there is no deadline for the speaker to decide on such issues. Therefore, as the Manipur Speaker had not exercised the duty pending before him under the 10th Schedule, the Supreme Court invoked article 142 to deliver complete justice. That any decree or orders so passed under this article shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India. Now in this regard, we should note that Parliament and State Legislatures, they are immune from judicial review only on the ground of procedural irregularity in the houses. This is provided under article 122 and 212 of the Constitution 122 with respect to Parliament 212 with respect to State Legislative Assemblies. However, there is no blanket ban or judicial review on the final decision taken by the speaker of both Lokshaba and State Legislative Assemblies. That is, the decision of speaker on anti-defection can be judicially reviewed. Only the procedure followed in the houses cannot be judicially reviewed. So coming to the question here, both the statements are correct. Therefore, the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2. This question is with reference to Disaster Management Act 2005. Three statements are given. They are asking which of the statements are correct. First statement, the President shall be the chairperson of the National Disaster Management Authority when invoked, the act will have an overriding effect over any other law in the country. The subject of Disaster Management is mentioned in the concurrent list of 7 Schedule of Indian Constitution. See, the Disaster Management Act of 2005, it provides for the creation or constitution of National Disaster Management Authority State Disaster Management Authorities and also District Disaster Management Authorities. National Disaster Management Authority will be headed by the Prime Minister. State Disaster Management Authorities will be headed by respective Chief Ministers and coming to District Disaster Management Authorities, generally they are headed by Collector or District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner. Now coming to Union Territories with Legislative Assemblies. With reference to Delhi, it is chaired by Lieutenant Governor, not by the Chief Minister. Coming to Puducherry Disaster Management Authority, it is the apex body that is mandated to lay down the policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management so as to ensure timely and effective response to Disasters. And coming to the definition of Disaster Management as per this law, it refers to continuous and integrated process of planning, organizing, coordinating and implementing measures that are necessary for prevention, mitigation of disaster, capacity building, preparation of disaster management. Capacity building, preparedness, prompt response to disaster, assessing the severity or magnitude of the disaster, then evacuation, rehabilitation and reconstruction. These are also part of Disaster Management. And according to Section 35 of the Act, the Central Government shall take all measures necessary or expedient for the purpose of Disaster Management. Some of the actions taken by Central Government include Coordination of Actions among different departments of Central and State Governments, then ensuring appropriate allocation of funds for Disaster Management, then ensuring that ministries or departments of Government of India take necessary measures for preparedness to respond to the Disaster. It also deals with deployment of armed forces or any other civilian personnel in connection with Disaster Management. In Section 62 of the law, it relates to power of the Central Government to issue directions. It states that irrespective of anything contained in any other law for the time being enforced, the Central Government has the power to issue any directions to any authority anywhere in India, even to the State Governments to facilitate or to assist in the Disaster Management. And such authority that receives the direction shall be bound to comply with such direction given by the Central Government. Now, coming to whether there is a specific entry called as Disaster Management in the Seventh Schedule of Indian Constitution, which talks about division of powers. Note that there is no such entry in any list of Seventh Schedule of Indian Constitution. And as per Section 71 of the law, other than Supreme Court and High Court, no court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of anything done by appropriate authorities in pursuance of actions based on Disaster Management Act of 2005. Section 72 states that this law will have overriding effect over any other law time being enforced in the country. Now, coming to the question, first statement is incorrect because it is the Prime Minister who shall be the chat person. So, obviously you can eliminate options A and options D because they say statement one is correct. Now, second statement is correct when invoked act will have an overriding effect over any other law for time being forced in the country. Coming to third statement, it is incorrect because there is no specific entry on Disaster Management in any of the lists under Seventh Schedule of Indian Constitution. So, correct answer is option B, 2 only. In this question they are asking us to arrange the events associated with freedom struggle in chronological order. They are given Gandhi Irwin Pact, Pune Pact, Communal Award, August Offer, Nehru Report, then Cabinet Mission. On the birth anniversary of Ambedkar, that is on April 14, an editorial titled Ambedkar and the Pune Pact was published in the Hindu newspaper. Therefore, it has come in the current affairs of April. First, let us see in brief about Nehru Report. See, in 1925, the then Secretary of State for India, Birkenhead challenged Indians to produce a constitution that would be acceptable to all. This challenge was accepted by Indian National Congress. It convened an all-party meeting on 28th February 1928. A committee was constituted for this purpose and this committee was headed by Motilal Nehru. This committee is to draw up a blueprint for the future constitution of India. The committee prepared a draft constitution and this report of draft constitution is called as Nehru Committee Report or simply Nehru Report. The report was finalized by August 1928 from the side of leader of Muslim League. This report was considered as detrimental to the interests of Muslims and therefore Muhammad Ali Jinnah came up with list of 14 points as demand of the Muslim League. This is because the Nehru Report rejected the principle of separate communal electorates. According to this, seats are not to be reserved in places where Muslims had numerical majority. In addition to this, the Nehru Report defined Dominion status as a form of government decided by India. But despite this, the report was not accepted by the British. Now let us come to Gandhi Irwin The seat was signed on March 8, 1931. This pact was signed by Gandhi on behalf of Congress and by Irwin on behalf of the British government. According to this pact, the government would withdraw all ordinances issued to curb the Congress. Then the government would withdraw all prosecutions related to offenses that did not involve violence. Then government would release all prisoners undergoing sentences of imprisonment for their activities in the civil disobedience movement. Well, these are concessions from the government, from the side of Congress it accepted that it would discontinue the civil disobedience movement and that it would participate in the second round table conference. Now let us come to communal award. Seat was announced by the British Prime Minister Ramse McDonald on 16th August 1932. Under this award separate electorates were announced for the depressed classes. Here the electorate refers to the fact that in the allotted seats or in the allotted constituencies members of depressed classes would be elected only by the people of or the population of depressed classes. This award was seen as an attempt to divide and rule as British tried to divide depressed classes from Hindus and they also sought through this to prevent the growth of common national consciousness. Gandhi opposed this award as it would ensure that the untouchables will remain untouchables in perpetuity. He did not oppose reservation for depressed classes but he opposed the fact that they would be elected only by the depressed classes. So he stressed that in the reserved seats they would be elected by the general electorate under universal adult franchise. Gandhi went on to fast and to death and this led to conclusion of Pune pact and agreement between Ambedkar and Gandhi this pact enhanced the reservations for depressed classes say from 71 to 147 seats in provincial legislatures more importantly this Pune pact it abandoned the idea of separate electorates for depressed classes. Now let's come to August offer. See in September 1939 the second world war broke out. The congress opposed the involvement of Indians in the war but in order to secure the cooperation of Indians in war on August 8, 1940 the British government came up with August offer. This offer proposed that after the war a representative body of Indians would be set up to frame the new constitution and only a dominion status would be given to India and not complete freedom. But know that this August offer was rejected by the congress as it stated that only a dominion status would be given to India. Now let's come to cabinet mission. See this announcement was made on 15th March 1946 by the then prime minister of England at Lee. This announcement conceded or agreed to the right to self determination and the framing of a constitution. Therefore consequently three members of British cabinet were sent to India. The members are Pethic Lawrence Stafford Cripps and Alexander. The mission is known as cabinet mission. They proposed formation of union of India that comprises both British India and princely states and the union would remain in charge of only foreign affairs, defence and communications leaving the residuary subjects or powers to the provinces. It also proposed for an interim government until a new government was elected on the basis of new constitution that is yet to be framed by the Indian Constituent Assembly. So of those given events Gandhi Irwin packed March 1931 Poona packed September 1932 communal award August 1932 August Stafford August 1940 Nehru Report 1928 cabinet mission March 1946. So the correct answer for this question is option B 513246 This question is with reference to Home Rule League. Three statements are given which of the statements given above are correct. The two leagues one established by Tilak and other by Annie Besant avoided friction by demarcating their area of activity. The leagues demanded complete independence from the British by which the new nation is not to remain within British Empire. The arrest of the leaders associated with the league led to the end of the Home Rule Movement. See Indian Home Rule Leagues they were organised on the lines of Irish Home Rule Leagues. When we say this that on the lines of Irish Home Rule Leagues this refer to the fact that they demanded autonomy in governing the nation within the British Empire. That is they sought self government but within the British system. Annie Besant and Tilak they were the pioneers of Home Rule League in our country. Tilak formed the Home Rule League in April 1916 at Bombay Provincial Conference held at Belgaum. Whereas Annie Besant started the Home Rule League in Madras in September 1916. Tilak's league was restricted to Maharashtra Karnataka, Central Provinces and Beirar and in Maharashtra it excluded Bombay City. If you come to the league launched by Annie Besant it covered the rest of India including the Bombay City in Maharashtra. So we can say that the two leagues avoided friction by demarcating their area of activity. Coming to Annie Besant she created tremendous enthusiasm among the people by her speeches and writings. New India and Commonwealth these two are her papers through which she wrote about Indian nationalism and Home Rule. Note that a Home Rule League for India was also started in United States of America as well in the same year 1916. This was by Lala Lechpadurai. The aim of Home Rule League in our country was self-government for India within the British Empire. They did not demand total independence. Instead they demanded self-government within the British Empire. And this aim of self-government was to be achieved by promoting political education and discussion. This can be done through public meetings, organizing libraries, reading rooms that contain books on national politics, then by holding conferences, organizing classes for students on politics, etc. The two leagues cooperated with each other and they also cooperated with Congress and the Muslim League in putting their demand for Home Rule while Tilak's movement concentrated on Maharashtra, Annie Besant's movement covered the rest of the country. The Home Rule brought a new life in the national movement. There was revival of Swadeshi. Women joined in large numbers. But the British Government it did not like the growing popularity of the Home Rule movement in India. Government of Madras in particular, it banned students from participating political meetings. Then in June 1970, Government arrested Besant and her associates B.P. Waldia and George Arendelay. The arrest of the leaders and the restrictive actions of Government actually invigorated the political minds and the movement grew even more. After the arrest in particular to show solidarity with the Home Rule League, many leaders including Madan Mohan Malaviya, Surendranath Banaji, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, they enlisted themselves as members of Home Rule League. And after the arrest of Annie Besant, Sir S. Subramanya renounced his knighthood as well. So in the meantime on August 2019-17, Montagu, the new Secretary of State he made a historic declaration in the Parliament of England. He announced the British Government's policy towards future political reforms in India. He promised gradual development of self-governing institutions in India with the view to the progressive realization of responsible Government of India which shall be an integral part of British Empire. Now this declaration of promise of reforms and the release of Annie Besant in September 1917, they pacified the Moderates. Meanwhile, Tilak also decided to go to England and he was away in many critical months when his role was much needed. In the absence of Tilak, Annie Besant also could not give a firm lead to the movement and gradually the movement dissolved. However the political awakening and national consciousness kindled by Home Rule movements in India it brought many individuals to play a committed role for the new kind of political actions under the leadership of Gandhi. These are some of the information with reference to Home Rule lead. So here coming to the question only the first statement is correct. Therefore the correct answer is option A-1 only. This question is with reference to Sangmu Dam. The question reads which of the following countries built the Sangmu Dam and operates it Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Bangladesh. See this dam was in news because a new study highlighted impact of dams of China on the Mekong River. It also raised new questions whether the storage structures constructed on the side of China on other rivers that originate in China will have such impact on the countries located in the downstream. Now with respect to Mekong China built its first dam on the Upper Mekong in the 1990s and currently it runs 11 dams along the river. It even has more plans to build more dams so as to generate hydropower. And these dams holding back large amount of water in the upstream of Mekong has led to severe drought in the southeast Asian countries that are located downstream. Such a drought was also felt last year as well. In this context let us see few information about Mekong River. See it originates in China. It runs through six countries and the length of the river is more than 4000 km. In China it is called as Langkang River. Then it flows through Myanmar Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and finally traverses Vietnam and reaches the South China Sea. The river is very important for these southeast Asian countries and supports livelihood of around 20 crore people. They depend on this river for farming and fishing. Some of the dams built by China have accelerated the alteration of rivers natural flow. This has resulted in lowest river water level in the downstream part or in the lower Mekong. While this is one side dam management by China is also causing erratic and devastating changes in water levels downstream. This is particularly with reference to rapid rises in water level because of unexpected water releases from the dams as they cause flooding and devastate communities and their living space downstream. Now let us come to the dams on Brahmabutra river. In 2015 China operationalized its first hydropower project on this river at Zangmo. Three more dams are being developed. These are called as Dagu, Zeshu and Jiacha. Now with respect to Brahmabutra it flows parallel to Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan enters into Arnachalpadesh through the great bend of Yarlang. This river it originates in Chema-Yangdong glacier of Kailash ranges of Himalayas near the Mansuravar lake in Tibet. There the river is known as Yarlang Zangmo which means the purifier. It enters India as we saw in Arnachalpadesh then it is called as Siyang or Dihang. It is joined by river Dibang and the Lohit river and many other tributaries to form river Brahmabutra in the state of Assam. Brahmabutra receives numerous tributaries in its journey through the Assam valley. Its major left bank tributaries are Buri, Dihing and Dansheri south whereas important right bank tributaries are Subhansheri, Kameng, Manas, Sankos etc. It enters into Bangladesh near Dubri and it flows southward. In Bangladesh river Tista joins it on the right bank. From this place the river is known as river Jamuna. Every year during the rainy season the river overflows its banks causing widespread devastation because of floods in the state of Assam and also in Bangladesh. And unlike other North Indian rivers river Brahmabutra is marked by huge deposits of sediment or silt on its riverbed. This is posing a challenge as it causes the level of riverbed to increase or rise. And one of the reasons of the heavy sediment load or silt charge is relatively because of north bank tributaries of the river which are known for boulder, pebble and coarse sandy bits. This is particularly visible in the state of Assam. So these are some of the important information. Now coming to the question the correct answer is option China. This question is with reference to Dhehing Padkai Wildlife Sanctuary. The question reads Dhehing Padkai Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Meghalaya. See this topic was a news with reference to National Board of Wildlife recommending a proposal to carry out coal mining activities in parts of Dhehing Padkai Elephant Reserve. Now the wildlife sanctuary is part of this elephant reserve. See this wildlife is also known as Jaipur Rainforest. The sanctuary is located in the districts of Dibrugarh and Timsukia of Assam. Now if you see the map of Assam, Timsukia you can find it as the northern most and also as the eastern most district in Assam. Now coming to Dhehing Padkai Wildlife Sanctuary it is a deciduous rainforest interspersed or scattered with semi-evergreen and lush green flora. It is one of the pristine rainforests in Assam. It consists of three areas Jaipur, Upper Dhehing and Dirokh. Dhehing refers to name of the river that flows through this forest and the sanctuary is located at the foot of a hill called as Padkai. That is the reason for the name Dhehing Padkai. Now coming to National Board of Wildlife see it is a statutory body constituted under Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Similarly there is also State Board of Wildlife. Now the Constitution of National Board of Wildlife was introduced in this legislation by an amendment called Wildlife Protection Amendment Act of 2003. Now this National Board it comes under Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change. The chairperson of this Board is the Prime Minister the Vice Chairperson being the Minister in charge of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Now this Board is responsible for the promotion of conservation and development of wildlife and forest. Now we have given here the functions of the Board for your reference. Now coming to the question here the correct answer is option C, Assam. See this question persons belonging to which of the following tribal communities are ethnic people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts known to have migrated to India going to religious persecution. Chutma Rohinya Hachong select a correct answer using the codes given below. Here the correct answer for this question is option C, one and three only. See Chutmas and Hajongs they are ethnic people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Most of the Chittagong Hill Tracts are in Bangladesh. Part of Chittagong Hill Tracts is in state of Thrupura of India. Here Chutmas they are predominantly Buddhists while persons belonging to Hajong tribe they are Hindus and persons from these communities who have been living in India since independence or Indian citizens. In India persons from these tribes they are also found in other north-eastern states West Bengal and outside India they are found in Bangladesh and Myanmar. See many people belonging to Chutma and Hajong tribes they fled from erstwhile east Pakistan 1964-65. It is reported that at that time they faced twin problems there. One is that they lost their land for the development of Kaptaidam on Karnapuli river. This Karnapuli river is an important river in Chittagong. While this is one issue the next issue is that they also faced religious persecution as they were non-Muslims and they do not speak Bengali. Linguistically, Chutma language is mixed with some words of Indo-Aryan language, Tibetan Chinese and mainly Arakhan language. Now because of persecution they sought asylum in India. Therefore government of India has set up relief camps in the state of Arunachal Padesh and majority of them even continue to live in Arunachal Padesh and according to 2011 census just above 47,000 persons from Chutma community live in Arunachal Padesh alone. This question is with reference to South Asia Seasonal Climate Outlook Forum. The question is which of the following are the member countries of South Asia Seasonal Climate Outlook Forum? Afghanistan Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Maldives India. See this forum was in news in April 2020 because the 16th session of the forum met through video conferencing in April. The forum said that the south-west Mansoom for this year is most likely to be normal. In this context it is important for us to know about this forum. See this forum it is a grouping of meteorologists and hydrologists of member countries of this forum. Here we have to know who are the members. See it includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. So there are a total of 9 member countries. You can remember the member countries by remembering Sark countries 8 plus 1 that is Myanmar. See this forum has been conducted by the South Asian nations since the year 2010 with the support of World Meteorological Organization. It prepares seasonal climate information on a regional scale and this provides a consistent basis for preparing national level outlooks. Last year in September the forum's 15th session was held in Thiruvannathapuram and this was organized jointly by IMD, UK Metrophes, RIMES and World Meteorological Organization. In this juncture let's see few information about RIMES. See RIMES stands for Regional Integrated Multihazard Early Warning System for Asia and Africa. It is an international and inter-governmental institution for the generation and application of early warning information. It was established in 2009. The efforts of countries in Africa and Asia, particularly in the aftermath of 2004 tsunami, these efforts has led to the establishment of this system. This institution provides a regional early warning system for the generation and communication of early warning information. Then it helps to generate capacity building for preparedness and response to trans-boundary hazards. It was established in 2009. It operates from its regional early warning center which is located at the campus of Asian Institute of Technology that is located in Thailand. We have given you the member states and the 19 collaborating countries of RIMES here for your reference. See India is also a member of RIMES. Now coming to this question, here the correct answer is Option D as all these countries are members of South Asia Seasonal Climate Outlook Forum. Let's move on to next question. This question is with reference to South Asia Economic Focus Report 2020. The question reads as per the South Asia Economic Focus Report 2020, the regional growth in South Asia will fall to a range between 1.8 and 2.8% in 2020. It is released by, see this report was released by the World Bank. The report mainly focuses on the economic impact of COVID-19 on South Asia. The report states that at least half of the countries in South Asia will fall into deep depression and the entire region might experience its worst economic performance in 40 years. Now let's see some of the important observations. In 2020, the regional growth is to fall to a range between 1.8% and 2.8%. Earlier the projection was 6.3% for 2020 and among the regional countries hardest hit will be Maldives where GDP is expected to decline by around 8.5% to 13%. The report says because of prevalent inequality in South Asia the poor people are more likely to become infected with the coronavirus as it is difficult for them to implement social distancing. Here inequality for example is with the reality in their lives to cope up with available congested dwelling places or residences. They will also have less access to healthcare or even soap or sanitizers and they are more likely to lose their job and are also more vulnerable to spikes in food prices as well. This will reinforce inequality further in South Asia. Now let's come to India specific findings. As per the report COVID-19 outbreak came at a time when India's economy was already slowing because of persistent financial sector weaknesses. So to contain the spread of the virus the government imposed a lockdown with restrictions on mobility of goods and the people and this has disrupted as we know the domestic supply and demand. This along with weak external demand is to result into a sharp deceleration in financial year 2021 that is 2020-2021. The report states that the services sector will be particularly impacted. We know that India has witnessed a slowdown in last few years. The green sector of a rebound were actually observable at the end of 2019 but that have been overtaken by the negative impacts of the global crisis. As per the report India's GDP is expected to grow between 1.5% and 2.8% in this financial year. The report also states that growth is expected to rebound to 5% in financial year 2022 and this is to happen with the dissipation or reduction of impact of COVID-19. Here the correct answer is option A World Bank. This question is based on Yukti Web Portal. The question reads which of the following is correct regarding the recently launched Yukti Web Portal. It is the core banking solution of RISO Bank of India. It provides single window access to information on properties up for E-Option by the public sector banks and national online education platform hosting 1900 courses covering both school and higher education. A unique portal to monitor and record the efforts and initiatives of Ministry of Human Resource Development which have been taken in the wake of COVID-19. See Yukti stands for young India combating COVID with knowledge, technology and innovation. This portal was in news in April as it was launched by Ministry of Human Resource Development in April 2020. It is a unique portal and also dashboard that helps to monitor and to record various efforts and initiatives of Ministry of Human Resource Development which have been taken in the wake of COVID-19 crisis. Here the primary aim is to keep the academy community healthy both physically and mentally and also to enable a continuous high quality learning environment for the learners. So this portal Yukti Portal is to help HRD Ministry to achieve these ambitions. The portal also covers various initiatives and efforts of institutions involved in academics and research as well with reference to COVID. Then it covers social initiatives by institutions and also the measures taken by them for the betterment of total well-being of students. It allows institutions to share their strategies with reference to challenges posed by COVID-19 and even they can share what they are going to do with reference to the future as well. Therefore a significant feature of this portal is a two-way communication where there will be communication from Ministry and also from the side of institutions to the government as well. For the students, the portal will help in critical issues with reference to student promotion policies on progressing from one level to the next level then the portal is to assist in terms of placement related challenges and also on generally as we saw already physical and mental well-being. In this context let us also see few other important digital initiatives of Ministry of Human Resource Development. There is a portal called as DIXA, it is a web portal it provides e-books and other resources though mainly for teachers. It also provides engaging learning material relevant to the prescribed school curriculum for also students and parents. Generally this platform, DIXA platform is called as platform for school education. It offers e-books for classes 1 to 12. This portal is an initiative of NCRT The efforts are collective with reference to this portal, the various resources it gives etc. It involves the efforts of NCRT, CBSE and even state governments as well. The resources in this portal are available in multiple languages. Another platform is E-Path Shala. This platform provides e-books through multiple technology platforms through mobiles, tablets and also on web through laptops and desktops as well. These e-books and resources under this E-Path Shala platform can be accessed by four stakeholders who are students, teachers, educators and parents. The next important online platform is SWIM. It is a national online education platform. It gives around 1900 courses that covers both school education and higher education. When higher education it gives certain courses not only for UG program but also for postgraduate programs. For school it covers courses for students studying classes 9 to 12. More information about SWIM has been given here for your reference. One speciality in SWIM is that the credits that are earned from learning a particular course in this platform can be transferred to the academic record of the students. There is also one another major initiative called as SWIM PRABA. It is a group of 32 direct to home channels. These channels specifically provide telecasting of high quality educational programs on 24 x 7 basis using the GSAT 15 satellite. These channels cover both school education and higher education. Here the option A corresponds to Ecubare then option B corresponds to EB Craya portal and option C corresponds to SWIM portal. So the correct answer for this question is option D, Yukti Web Portal is a unique portal to monitor and record the efforts and initiatives of MHRD which have been taken in the wake of COVID-19. This question is with reference to TIFAC. The question reads, consider the following statements regarding the technology, information, forecasting and assessment council. Two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct. It is mandated to assess the state of art of technology and set directions for future technological development in India in important socioeconomic sectors. It is an executive arm of the Niti Ayog. See, it was set up in the year 1988 under Department of Science and Technology. It was set up as an autonomous organization under this department. It was formed as per the recommendation of a committee called Technology Policy Implementation Committee. The purpose is to forecast in the domain of technology, then to assess the trajectories or growth related to technology, then also to support innovation by networked actions in select sectors of national importance. It will assess the state of the art technology and set directions for future technological development in India in important socioeconomic sectors. It has carried out technology forecast exercises. Then it has facilitated technology development. It has also prepared technology linked business opportunity reports and implemented mission mode programs. It continues to strive for technology development by engaging innovations in technology. This does through sustained and concerted programs which are in close association with industry and the academia. From the years 1993 to 2001 Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was the chairperson of this council. Under his leadership, the council came up with a document called as Technology Vision 2020 and the exercise proposed under the document was aimed at demonstrating technology interventions in several sectors including agriculture, agro food processing, healthcare etc. For example, the vision document envisaged that the demand for food grains would be in the range of 324 to 343 million tons by the year 2020. So to achieve this target, the vision focused on increasing the productivity, increasing the diversification of crops, promotion of organic farming, then also about integrated nutrient management and integrated pest management. They also focused on dissemination of improved agricultural technologies to farmers, then also to enhance farmers income through crop diversification and various other measures. And when it comes to agro food processing, the vision document focused on technology interventions to improve genetic quality of dairy livestock, processing, productivity, quality, value addition etc. Recently in 2016 in the 103rd Indian Science Congress in Mysuru in the state of Karnataka, the prime minister released another document called Technology Vision 2035. This vision document prepared by TYFAC, it identifies the challenges up to 2035 and their technological solutions. Along with this, it has also provided 12 technology road maps in these areas of national priorities and importance. Here, the first statement is correct. Second statement is incorrect as it is not an executive of Niti Ayo. Rather, it is an autonomous organization under department of science and technology. Since only the first statement is correct, the correct answer is option A1 only. This question is with reference to cold wetlands. Question reads consider the following statements regarding the cold wetlands. Three statements are given, which of the statements given above are correct. They are located in Tamil Nadu near Indus Sri Lanka border. The wetlands are a part of Central Asian flyway. The cold wetlands as a part of Vembanad cold wetland ecosystem is a Ramsar site. See, these are wetlands that are in two districts in the state of Kerala. They are spread over 13,000 hectares in Trishur and Malapuram districts of Kerala. They are mainly in Trishur. We can see the wetlands lie between Chalakudi river in Trishur district and Bharadapura river in Malapuram district. The specialty of this wetland is that it is listed under Ramsar convention along with Vembanad wetlands. In addition, it is also designated as important bird and biodiversity area, important coastal and marine biodiversity area and also as key biodiversity area. Then it is located or situated in the Central Asian flyway of migratory birds. With reference to fish species the area has important habitats for some freshwater fish species that are endemic to the southern western Ghats. Now coming to the name cold, it refers to a peculiar cultivation practice usually carried out from October or December till the month of May. The word cold in Malayalam it refers to a field that gives a bumper crop as long as floods do not damage it. The main activity in an around cold wetland is paddy cultivation. See, paddy cultivation in this region it started in the 18th century by reclaiming Trishur Kyle lands or the land near the backwaters and they erected temporary earthen bunds so as to facilitate cultivation and to prevent salt incursion. In addition to paddy we can also find coconut and aricanut plantations, some gardens and few other cultivated plants. The areas here are generally low-lying areas and the region is naturally subject to salt water, ingression or intrusion as a result of closeness to the coast and the major portion of the land is flat and it remains submerged for about 6 months in the year. During the month soon the entire region gets submerged under water. At this time cultivation is done by draining the water and by erecting bunds. The water which is pumped out or drained out from the field is stored in a network of canals in the area with respect to salt water intrusion they have fixed regulators at certain strategic points to prevent the intrusion of salt water. Coming to some of the threats faced by these wetlands, we can say mining and quarrying of sand, clay mining, granite quarry and also unsustainable fishing and unsustainable harvesting of aquatic resources. Coming to the question, first statement is incorrect as they are located in Kerala. So you can directly arrive at the correct answer. Option B 2 and 3 only by eliminating options A, C and D as these options A statement 1 is correct. This question is about nutrient based subsidy policy of the government of India. Two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct. The policy was introduced in 2010 to promote growth of indigenous fertilizers industry and to ensure balanced use of fertilizers. The policy is implemented by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare Ministry of Agriculture. See this topic was in news in April as Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval to fix nutrient based subsidy rates for phosphatic and potassium fertilizers for the year 2020-2021. Now it is this policy that governs the subsidy on phosphatic and potassium fertilizers and under this policy subsidy is given for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulfur fertilizers and this scheme was introduced in the year 2010. Prior to that, government was following concession scheme with effect from 1st April 2008 and under this concession scheme the prices of phosphatic and potassium fertilizers were fixed by the government. See the prices are fixed by the government and the difference between the delivered price of fertilizers by the manufacturers and the statutory MRP was being paid as concession to the fertilizer companies and during the implementation of this concession scheme certain drawbacks like high subsidy implication to the government marginal response on agriculture productivity with reference to additional fertilizer usage and almost stagnation of indigenous fertilizer industry were observed and therefore to overcome these shortages of concession scheme and with the main objectives being to reduce the subsidy burden of the government to improve agriculture productivity to ensure balanced use of fertilizers and to promote growth of indigenous fertilizer industry this subsidy scheme called as nutrient based subsidy scheme was brought to be effective with effect from 1st April 2010 now this is a modified form from a concession scheme as concession scheme was called as a controlled regime where government fixes the price and this is a market driven scheme that is the nutrient based subsidy is a market driven scheme in this scheme market forces determine the MRP of PNK fertilizers whereas the subsidy rates are made or ensured not to be changed for a period of one year and this scheme is called as nutrient based subsidy scheme because subsidy is provided on each grade of PNK fertilizers based on their nutrient content and this subsidy will be released to fertilizer companies as per the rates predetermined by the cabinet committee on economic affairs so that these companies can make available the fertilizers to farmers at a cheaper price therefore we can say that nutrient based subsidy is passed down to the farmers through the fertilizer industry this policy is implemented by department of fertilizers of ministry of chemicals and fertilizers in April 2020 cabinet committee on economic affairs approved also the inclusion of complex fertilizer called as ammonium phosphate under this NBS scheme and the expected expenditure for the year 2020-2021 is around rupees 22,000 crore for the release of subsidy also note that subsidy for urea is not covered under this nutrient based subsidy scheme it is carried out separately however there is a proposal to bring it also under this particular scheme for this question first statement is correct the second statement is incorrect as it is implemented by department of fertilizers of ministry of chemicals and fertilizers correct answer option A one only this question is with reference to the code on wages 2019 the question reads which of the following laws are to be repealed by the code on wages 2019 payment of wages act 1936 industrial employment standing orders act 1946 minimum wages act 1948 equal remuneration act 1976 select the correct answer using the codes given below now we know that the second national commission of labor recommended simplification amalgamation and rationalization of 44 central labor laws in this direction government has brought in four important legislations of these three codes are in various stages of enactment whereas the code on wages 2019 has received the ascent of the president and will come into force on such date appointed by the central government in the official visit in this context as seen brief about the code on wages 2019 it was notified in the month of August 2019 this act subsumes and repeals four legislations these are payment of wages act 1936 minimum wages act 1948 payment of bonus act 1965 and equal remuneration act 1976 because of multiple legislations prior to this code on wages there were as many as 12 definitions for the term wages and this has led to numerous litigations in this relation this code provides for a floor wage and minimum wage when we say floor wage this is to be fixed by the central government taking into account the minimum living standards of the worker and different floor wage may be fixed for different geographical areas and coming to wages fixed by state governments these are called as minimum rates of wages and these at any cost shall not be less than the floor wage fixed by the central government then the code also provides for timely payment of wages the employer shall pay wages to the employees say if they are engaged on daily basis at the end of the shift wages have to be paid if they are engaged on weekly basis on the last working day wages shall be paid that is they have to be paid before the weekly holiday and if they are working on fortnightly basis they have to be paid before the end of second day after the end of fortnight coming to section 3 sub section 1 it explicitly prohibits discrimination among employees on the ground of gender there shall be no discrimination in an establishment among employees in respect of same work or work of similar nature on the ground of gender it is the concept of equal pay for same or similar work irrespective of gender now coming to the question here the correct answer is option C 1, 3 and 4 only as these are the legislations that are to be repealed by the codon wages in 2019 this question is with reference to fiscal deficit the question reads which of the following correctly defines fiscal deficit difference between total expenditure and total receipts difference between total expenditure and capital receipts difference between total expenditure and total receipts except borrowings and other liabilities difference between revenue expenditure and revenue receipts so we know that when the expenditure is more than what is received during deficit government borrow money from the market these borrowings and liabilities together are called as fiscal deficit can be defined as difference between total expenditure and total receipts except borrowing and other liabilities government sources define the fiscal deficit as when the government's non borrowed receipt fall short of entire expenditure it has to borrow money from the public to meet the shortfall this excess of total expenditure over total non borrowed receipts is called as fiscal deficit in this equation total expenditure minus total receipts except borrowing and liabilities if you deduct borrowings and liabilities from total receipts what you get is called as non borrowed receipts therefore it is defined as when government's non borrowed receipts fall short of entire expenditure the correct answer is option C you can assume that if the government spends 100 rupees in a year but it has only rupees 18 then government borrows 20 rupees from the market this borrowing is called as fiscal deficit that is fiscal deficit is equal to 100 minus 80 which is equal to 20 so fiscal deficit refers to government borrowings required to cover the expenditures of the government prior to early 2000s both union government and state governments particularly during election years they give lot of freebies, loan waivers etc and this has put a huge cost on the extra curve so to handle this government borrowed money from the market meanwhile when government borrowed money from the market the money available for private entities got reduced this scenario is called as crowding out scenario so to overcome this problem government enacted a law called as fiscal responsibility and budgetary management act 2003 this act aimed to correct fiscal imbalances like high fiscal deficit, revenue deficit etc that mandated the central government to take appropriate measures to limit the fiscal deficit as of now the act states that central government has to limit the fiscal deficit up to 3% of GDP by 31st March 2021 in the similar lines states were also asked to keep the fiscal deficit at 3% of state GDP this is as per the fiscal responsibility and budget management acts at the level of states and based on the suggestions given by finance commission now the topic fiscal deficit was in news as the economy is under slowdown followed by lockdown, shutdown and there were also low receipts tax receipts and otherwise so state governments have been demanding that their 3% fiscal deficit target be relaxed to 4% or even 5% so as to deal with the financial impact of the lockdown and the pandemic so here the correct answer is option C now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to periodic labour force survey 2017-18 of national statistical office the question reads as per the periodic labour force survey 2017-18 national statistical office consider the following statements 2 statements are given which of the statements given above are incorrect it classifies employed workers into 3 categories of self-employed workers regular wage employees and casual labourers there is a significant decrease of workers in the share of regular wage or salaried category when compared to NSO employment unemployment survey of 2011-12 this question is framed based on the previous year question displayed here which was asked in trillions 2018 see information and statistics related to labour and employment are necessary for making appropriate labour laws and policies in India we can see agencies such as ministry of labour and employment it's affiliates like labour bureau director general of employment then national statistical office under ministry of statistics and program implementation these are some agencies that are involved in collection of statistics related to labour and employment and as you know the central statistical organization and national sample survey organization were merged into national statistical office the statistical wing of ministry of statistics and program implementation and coming to periodic labour force survey it is one of the ways in which NSO provides data and statistics on labour and employment in this periodic labour force survey NSO classifies workers on the basis of employment status into 3 categories one is self-employed workers then regular wage or salaried employees then casual labourers here when we say self-employed category it includes those who work for themselves and those who do not sell their labour power to anyone else in return for wage the persons who operate in their own form or in their own non-form enterprises or those persons who are engaged independently in a profession or trade either on their own account or with partners they are deemed to be self-employed in household enterprises here own account workers include those who operate their enterprises on their own account or with one or a few partners and it also includes those who run their enterprises without hiring any labour during the particular reference period or the very essential feature of self-employed category is that they have autonomy that is they decide how to work where to work or when to produce they have economic independence with respect to the choice of market scale of operation and finance for carrying out their operation the remuneration of self-employed individuals it consists of non-separable combination of two parts one is the reward for their labour second is the profit for their enterprise now coming to second category which is the regular wage or regular salary employees these are persons who worked in others form or others non-form enterprises and they would have received salary or wages on a regular basis in return however this does not include those individuals who are working on the basis of daily work contract or periodic renewal of work contract and this category of regular wage or salary employees it includes not only persons who get timely wage but also persons receiving peace wage or salary and it includes paid apprentices both full-time and part-time in short we can say that this category of employees are those who receive pre-determined wages or salary on regular basis now the third category is casual workers these are persons who receive wages according to the terms of daily work contract or periodic work contract for casually engaging in others form or non-form enterprises it includes persons who are hired for very short time period on daily or monthly basis out of these three categories regular wage or salary employees are better in qualitative terms as they receive pre-determined wages or salary with or without other benefits like social security or job security so here you can see the distribution of the categories of workers in India in 2011-12 and 2017-18 some of the key findings of periodic labour for survey 2017-18 has been highlighted here for your reference now come to the question here statement one which deals with classification is correct statement two is incorrect because if you see these representations which provide distribution of employed categories of workers in India share of workers in regular wage or salary category have increased by 5 percentage but statement states that there is a significant decrease therefore second statement is incorrect question asked for incorrect statement correct answer option B2 only is incorrect this question is with reference to state election commission recently antra pradesh government brought an ordinance that had provisions to remove the present state election commissioner and therefore the topic was in April however in the last week of May antra pradesh high court reinstated the state election commissioner was removed by the ordinance and it called that some provisions like removal procedure on state election commissioner mentioned in the ordinance were unconstitutional we know that 73rd constitutional amendment act has given constitutional backing for panchayats article 243 capital K inserted by this 73rd constitutional amendment act it vested the superintendents of all elections to the panchayats with the state election commission and this commission is headed by a state election commissioner and the state election commissioner is appointed by the governor and this article 243 K it mentions that the removal process of the state election commissioner is same as that of removal process of high court judge it states that the state election commissioner shall not be removed from his or her office except in like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of a high court now this provision it guarantees security of tenure to the judge of a high court and as given in 243 capital K it gives security of tenure to the state election commissioner now know that a judge of a high court can be removed by an order of the president and the order of the president has to be passed after an address by each house of parliament that is supported by a majority of total membership of house and also by a majority of not less than two-thirds of members in the house present in voting the address to remove a high court judge has to be presented to the president in the same session and the grounds of removal are proved misbehavior and incapacity now this procedure is specified in article 217 read with article 124 of Indian constitution and article 243 K it also states that conditions of service of state election commissioner shall not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment now the first statement the 74th constitutional amendment act 1992 vested super indents of panchayat elections with state election commission this statement is incorrect because it is 73rd constitutional amendment act now the second statement state election commissioner can be removed by state legislative assembly with the motion passed by special majority now this statement is also incorrect therefore the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2 as the question asked for incorrect statements now this question is with reference to shale gas see when we say shale gas it refers to natural gas that is trapped within shale formations shales refer to fine grained sedimentary rocks that can be rich resources of petroleum and natural gas they act both as the source and also as the reservoir for unconventional hydrocarbons traditionally coal mine methane shale gas and tight gas these are categorized as unconventional sources of gas and according to nithya yogh's report on shale gas china leads in technically recoverable shale gas in the world and this is followed by argentina algeria and then comes united states in the list india stands at 11th position in the world with around 96 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas resource and in this context we should know some basins say sedimentary basins which are prospective for shale oil and gas particularly in recovering them these are cambe basins gondwana basins krishnagodavari basins kaveri basins indoganzatic basins assam and assam arakhan basins so these are some of the important prospective sedimentary basins for the recovery of shale gas in india so coming to this question 3 statements have been given we are asked to select the correct statements shale gas refers to natural gas that is trapped within shale formations this statement is correct so eliminate option d second statement it is an unconventional source of natural gas this statement is also correct so you can eliminate option b see the third statement india has the largest recoverable shale gas resources in the world this statement is incorrect therefore the correct answer for this question is option c 1 and 2 only reference to operation sanjeevni operation sanjeevni recently seen in news is related to india and which other country marutius maldiv's thailand srilanka see this topic was in news in april as indian air force carried out this operation where it airlifted around 6.2 tons of critical medical supplies to malay the capital of maldiv's the correct answer is option b maldiv's maldiv's faced shortage of essential medical supplies as a result of covid 19 lockdown and therefore based on the request of maldiv's government indian air force has airlifted the medicines and essentials to its capital and the aircraft india used was c 130 j also in march 2020 india sent an army medical team to maldiv's so as to set up a viral testing lab there india also gifted 5.5 tons of essential medicines to maldiv's so the correct answer is maldiv's we urge the viewers to have a look on various previous prilam series videos as we have covered multiple military exercises between india and other countries we also covered various operations from the indian side this question is with reference to effective exchange rates the question reads with reference to effective exchange rates consider the following statements two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct neer refers to the weighted average of bilateral nominal exchange rates of the home currency against a basket of foreign currencies both neer and rear are used as indicators of external competitiveness of domestic currency in this context let us see what do you mean by exchange rate what do you mean by bilateral nominal exchange rate then nominal effective exchange rate and real effective exchange rate see exchange rate refers to price of one currency in terms of other currency it is the amount of domestic currency that is required to buy one unit of foreign currency this exchange rate is what we call bilateral nominal exchange rate they are bilateral because they are exchange rates for one currency against another currency they are nominal because they quote the exchange rate in terms of money for example this much rupees for one dollar or this much rupees for one pound now come to real exchange rate it refers to ratio of foreign prices to domestic prices measured in the same currency it is often taken as a measure of country's international competitiveness it is the product of nominal exchange rate that is with the ratio of foreign prices to domestic prices in this calculation if the real exchange rate rises more than one this means that goods abroad have become expensive than the goods at home then there are two important exchange rate the real exchange rate nominal effective exchange rate real effective exchange rate both are used as indicators of external competitiveness when we say nominal effective exchange rate it is the weighted average of bilateral nominal exchange rates of home currency against a basket of foreign currencies it is also defined as a multilateral rate which represents price of a representative basket of foreign currencies foreign currency weighted by its importance to the domestic country in international trade so this nominal effective exchange rate is like a price index that is used to show the prices of many goods in general as a single point reference now coming to real effective exchange rate see it is calculated as weighted average of real exchange rates of all its trade partners here the weights refer to the shares of respective countries in the foreign trade it is interpreted as the quantity of domestic goods required to purchase one unit of a given basket of foreign goods we can either say it is calculated as weighted average of real exchange rates of all its trade partners or we can say it is defined as weighted average of nominal exchange rates adjusted for relative price differential between the domestic and foreign countries and when nominal effective exchange rate is adjusted to compensate for the inflation rate of the home country relative to the inflation rate of its trading partner then the resulting figure is called as real effective exchange rate now coming to the question in this question both the statements are correct therefore the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2 see this question recently the border roads organization has constructed Hangpan Dada bridge in Arunachal Padesh it is constructed over river Lohit river coming river Siyang river Subansiri see this topic was in news in April as the bridge was inaugurated by the chief minister of Arunachal Padesh on 20th April 2020 see the bridge is a 430 feet long bridge it was constructed over Subansiri river by the border roads organization coming to Subansiri river it originates in Tibet then enters India through Arunachal Padesh and then joins river Brahmabutra in the state of Assam now this Hangpan Dada bridge it is also called as Dapo Rijo bridge as it is in the small scenic town of Dapo Rijo in Arunachal Padesh the bridge has been named after Marthir Hangpan Dada who laid his life fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and he was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra now let us discuss the significance of this bridge see this bridge is the strategic line of communication in Arunachal Padesh all supplies, rations constructional material and medicines pass over this bridge it has a capacity of 40 tons therefore it allows heavier vehicles to pass capturing to the future infrastructure development requirements in this region the bridge is also important from strategic and military point of view so as we know Arunachal Padesh shares 1026 kilometers of border with China along the line of actual control so the bridge is expected to serve the Indian army and its requirements in case of an emergency as well see there is also a river bridge called as Siserri river bridge this is also in Arunachal Padesh only but it is located in lower Dibang valley district of Arunachal Padesh this bridge was inaugurated last year in November it was constructed under project Brahman of border routes organization then there is also Dola Sadia bridge which is also called as Bupen Hazarika Setu, Setu means bridge it connects Assam and Arunachal Padesh the bridge is built across river Lohit which is a major tributary of river Premaputra this bridge was inaugurated in 2017 now let's see in brief about border routes organization see border routes organization is engaged in road construction to provide connectivity to difficult and inaccessible regions in the border areas of the country it also contributes to the socio-economic development of border states BRO started its operations in the year 1960 and since the year 2015 it is functioning under the ministry of defence it has also constructed roads in friendly foreign countries say for example Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan etc therefore this organization is also an institution of strategic importance for India so coming to the question the correct answer is option D river Subansiri now see this question for which of the following diseases vaccination is administered under mission Indra Dhanush diphtheria, pertussis, childhood tuberculosis, measles, tetanus recently there were news reports with reference to a vaccine which is primarily used against tuberculosis the vaccine called BCG vaccine standing for Basil Kalmat Gairan reports stated that countries that have deployed this vaccine in their immunization programs have seen fewer deaths from Covid-19 and with reference to this India has introduced BCG vaccine on a limited scale for tuberculosis as early as 1948 and government continued using this vaccine through expanded program of immunization which was later expanded to universal immunization program in this context let us see in brief about India's immunization program see immunization program in India was introduced in 1978 as expanded program of immunization by the ministry of health and family welfare this program was modified as universal immunization program in the year 1985 the program aimed to implement immunization in phased manner to cover all districts in the country by the year 1989-19 however it was in operation for many years yet it was able to fully immunize only 65% of children in the first year of their life therefore to strengthen and re-energize the program and to achieve full immunization coverage for all children and pregnant women at much faster rate at much rapid pace the government launched mission Indra Dhanush in December 2014 this mission Indra Dhanush it immunizes all children against 7 vaccine preventable diseases these are diphtheria pertussis satanus childhood tuberculosis polio hepatitis B and measles now in addition to this vaccines for Japanese encephalities and hemophilus influenza type B are also being provided in some selected states now the ultimate goal of this mission is to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to 2 years of age and pregnant women now to further intensify this immunization program in 2017 government launched intensified mission Indra Dhanush now this program aimed to reach each and every child up to 2 years of age and those pregnant women these categories of beneficiaries they are earlier left uncovered under the routine immunization program or the universal immunization program so here the focus of the drive was to improve immunization coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunization to more than 90% by December 2018 then again to further boost the routine immunization coverage in the country government introduced intensified mission Indra Dhanush 2.2 this was launched to ensure reaching the unreached with all available vaccines and to accelerate the coverage of children and pregnant women in identified districts and blocks from the period of December 2019 to March 2020 now you should note that though this program intensified mission Indra Dhanush or mission Indra Dhanush falls within the ambit of ministry of health and family welfare several ministries have come together to make this mission successful this include ministry of women and child development ministry of housing and urban affairs ministry of youth affairs and sports and even few other ministries the converging role of these ministries is to ensure that the benefits of vaccines reach the last mile that is to reach even those places considered remote areas the timeline of the immunization programs have been given here for your reference now coming to this question see all the given five diseases therefore the correct answer is option D 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 this question is with reference to E. Rakosh portal the question reads consider the following statements regarding the E. Rakosh portal two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct it is a centralized blood bank management system which aims to standardize and streamline the standard operating procedures guidelines and workflow of blood banks across the nation it is an initiative of the ministry of health and family welfare see E. Rakosh was recently news as the union health minister urged for its use as a single point for maintaining records of donors he also urged to use the platform to get real time information on the status of current stocks of each blood group see E. Rakosh is the centralized blood bank management system it helps to standardize and streamline the SOPs, guidelines and workflow of blood banks across nation thereby it is a comprehensive IT solution in this regard it was inaugurated in the year 2016 by ministry of health and family welfare it aims to ensure safe and adequate blood supply it aims to prevent wastage of blood it aims to promote networking of blood banks and to maintain a donor repository now let's see the major components of E. Rakosh for management of blood donation life cycle see it has a biometric donor management system this is to identify track and block donors based on their health donation history etc it includes features like blood grouping antibody screening component preparation etc as per defined processes and rules then it also has a centralized blood inventory management system so as to keep track of blood stock across numerous blood banks then another component is biomedical waste management system for disposal of discarded blood and other waste generated during the process then it also provides for generation of registries of rare blood group donors and regular repeat donors E. Rakosh it enforces drug and cosmetic act national blood policy standards and guidelines thereby it ensures proper collection donation and effective management and monitoring the quality of the donated blood there is a mobile version of this platform as well with citizen interface that is available on google play store, ios store and windows store this provides access to information about availability of nearest blood bank status of a particular blood group in these blood banks and also automation of blood bank services now coming to the question here both the statements are correct therefore the correct answer is option C both consider this question three statements are given they are asking to select the correct statements from the code given below first statement repo rate is the policy rate of interest at which RISO Bank of India lends short term money to banks this statement is correct you can eliminate option C now coming to second statement the monetary policy committee is a statutory body this statement is also correct as it is established by section 45 is it B of the RBA act of 1934 now coming to the third statement the monetary policy committee shall determine the policy rate required to achieve the inflation target and the decision of the committee shall not be binding on the bank see the first part of the statement is correct whereas the last part that the decision of the committee shall not be binding on the bank is incorrect because the decision of the committee is binding on the bank in this context it is important for us to know who are all members of this committee see monetary policy committee consists of six members the governor of RBA is the chairperson of this committee then deputy governor in RBA who is in charge of monetary policy becomes an ex official member an officer of RBA nominated by the central board also becomes an ex official member in addition to these three members from the RBA there are three more members who are appointed by the central government so totally monetary policy committee consists of six members with this information if you take the previous question in statement two it states it is a 12 member body which is incorrect we can easily eliminate options B and options D because they say statement two is correct so now we have only one even if we don't know about the first statement if you see the third statement it's functions under the chairmanship of union finance minister which is incorrect so the correct answer becomes option A now in addition to this you should also note that reserve bank shall organize at least four meetings of monetary policy committee in one year the quorum for the meeting shall be four members at least one of whom shall be the governor in the absence of governor the deputy governor must be present for the quorum requirement and every member of monetary policy committee shall have one vote and all questions that come up before any meeting of this committee shall be decided by a majority of votes by the members present and voting and in the event of equality of votes the governor shall have a second vote which is also called as a casting vote then we should know that the proceeding of monetary policy committee shall be confidential so for our question here the first statement and second statements are correct third statement is incorrect therefore the correct answer is option B one and two only this question is with reference to global terrorism index 2019 the question reads consider the following statements with reference to global terrorism index 2019 two statements are given select the correct statements from the code given below this index is released by the stock home international peace research institute in terms of impact of terrorism India was placed at the seventh position among the world countries this topic was in news in April as Nitya Yoke has raised various questions on the quality of this index how this index is computed what where the methodologies adopted etc in this context let us see about this index see the seventh edition of global terrorism index was released in November last year it was released not by stock home international peace research institute but it was released by an Australia based institute which is based in Sydney called as institute of economics and peace this institute is an independent non-profit think tank the data on global terrorism index was reportedly prepared using the data from global terrorism database and also from other sources here when we say global terrorism database we are referring to the database that is collated by national consortium for the study of terrorism and responses to terrorism shortly called a start at the University of Maryland and United States of America the report provides a comprehensive summary of key global trends and patterns in terrorism over last years covering the period from 1970 to the end of 2018 it gives special emphasis on trends from the year 2014 which corresponds to the start of the fall or decline of ISIL or coming to some important findings see India was moved to the seventh position from the previous years eighth position in the annual global terrorism index countries that are more impacted because of terrorism more impacted than India or Afghanistan, Iraq Nigeria, Syria Pakistan and Somalia now this means that India is worse than countries like democratic republic of Congo South Sudan, Sudan, Palestine and Lebanon so it appears that as per this global terrorism index these countries like Sudan, South Sudan, Palestine they are safer in terms of impact of terrorism this positioning of India at the global level by this index actually infuriated the members at the Niti Ayog who have questioned the methodology and even inquiring about the donors of this institute to know is there any some wrong motive behind and it is reported that the cabinet secretariat has tasked Niti Ayog to track 32 global indices to see how they could help in promoting reforms and growth in India in this regard Niti Ayog was analyzing the manner in which India was placed in the seventh position the positioning in global indices for a country matters a lot as they affect the flow of investments and opportunities to these countries this is because international level decisions related to investment and opportunities are taken also based on the information given in these indices about specific countries in addition the global terrorism index course are also used in several other indices computation as well for example they are directly used in global peace index which is released by the same institute institute of economics and peace they are also used in global slavery report which is published by the walk free foundation and the GTI scores are indirectly used in computing country scores with reference to two reports released by world economic forum called as travel and tourism competitiveness report global competitiveness report and they are also used in the compilation of safe cities index which is done by economist intelligence unit the key findings of this report have been given here for your reference now coming to the question first statement is incorrect as it is not released by Cypri rather released by institute of economics and peace Cypri was popular mainly because of it maintaining the military expenditure database it also maintains arms transfer database arms industry database as well coming to the second statement in terms of impact of tourism India was placed at the 7th position among the world countries this statement is correct therefore the correct answer for this question is option B 2 only with this we come to the end of April 2020 episode of target 2020 prelim series if you like the video if you have enjoyed the content click the like button share the video and do subscribe to Shankaray's academy youtube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation