10 PM Daily Current Affairs Quiz | March 4 2021

Statement 1 is correct. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) provides administrative support in international arbitrations involving various combinations of states, state entities, international organizations and private parties.

Statement 2 is correct. The PCA is an intergovernmental organization with 122 contracting parties. India became a member of the PCA in 1950.

Statement 3 is incorrect. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations.

The PCA was established by the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, concluded at The Hague in 1899 during the first Hague Peace Conference.

India and Norway recently agreed to conduct marine spatial planning in Lakshadweep and Puducherry. This is a part of the Indo-Norway Integrated Ocean Initiative under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries in 2019. Lakshadweep and Puducherry have been identified as pilot sites for the project.

The two countries have decided to extend support for sustainable ocean resources utilisation to advance economic and social development in coastal areas. The initiative known as Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) will be implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) through National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) for India.

Notably, the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have expressed interest in supporting MoES in conducting MSP, a societal-beneficial initiative for India’s coastal regions.

Statement 1 is incorrect. On 20 December 2013, at its 68th session, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed 3 March – the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973 – as UN World Wildlife Day to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants.

The UNGA resolution also designated the CITES Secretariat as the facilitator for the global observance of this special day for wildlife on the UN calendar.

Statement 2 is correct. World Wildlife Day was celebrated in 2021 under the theme “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”, as a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally.

The Freedom in the World report of Freedom House is composed of numerical ratings and supporting descriptive texts for 195 countries and 15 territories.

For each country and territory, Freedom in the World analyzes the electoral process, political pluralism and participation, the functioning of the government, freedom of expression and of belief, associational and organizational rights, the rule of law, and personal autonomy and individual rights.

India’s score in the 2021 report is 67/100 with Political Rights 34/40 and Civil Liberties 33/60.

Justice Verma Committee was constituted in 2012 to look into possible amendments in criminal laws to provide quicker trials and enhanced punishments for sexual assaults of extreme nature.

— The panel did not recommend the death penalty for rapists. It suggests that the punishment for rape should be rigorous imprisonment for seven years to life. It recommends that punishment for causing death or a “persistent vegetative state” should be RI for a term not be less than 20 years, but may be for life also, which shall mean the rest of the person’s life.

— As a primary recommendation, all marriages in India should mandatorily be registered in the presence of a magistrate. The magistrate will ensure that the marriage has been solemnised without any demand for dowry having been made and that it has taken place with the full and free consent of both partners.

— A separate Bill of Rights for women that entitles a woman a life of dignity and security and will ensure that a woman shall have the right to have complete sexual autonomy including with respect to her relationships.

The Union Government recently published the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 in which Digital Media Ethics Code Relating to Digital Media and OTT Platforms are to Be Administered by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Statement 1 is incorrect. A three-level grievance redressal mechanism has been established under the rules with different levels of self-regulation.

Level-I: Self-regulation by the publishers;

Level-II: Self-regulation by the self-regulating bodies of the publishers;

Level-III: Oversight mechanism.

Statement 2 is correct. The OTT platforms, called as the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age based categories- U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).

Both statements are correct.

Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme is an Export Promotion Scheme envisaged to act as a catalyst to promote India’s exports on a sustained basis.

Activities eligible for financial assistance under the Scheme: Marketing Projects Abroad, Capacity Building, Support for Statutory Compliances, Studies, Project Development, Developing Foreign Trade Facilitation Web Portal and to support Cottage and handicrafts units.

Eligible Agencies: Departments of Central Government and Organisation of Central/State Governments including Indian Missions abroad; Export Promotion Councils; Commodity Boards; Individual Exporters (only for statutory compliance etc.); National Level Institutions etc.

The Van Dhan Yojana or Van Dhan Scheme, a component of the The ‘Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) through Minimum Support Price (MSP) & Development of Value Chain for MFP’ was launched to address the formidable problems that the Tribals face such as possession of land/house with no rights; restrictions in the collection of minor forest produce; exploitation by middlemen; displacement from national parks and wild sanctuaries, lack of development in forest villages etc.

Implemented by TRIFED as the nodal agency at the national level, the Van Dhan startups is a well thought master plan for the socio-economic development of the tribal population of the country.

The idea is to set-up tribal community-owned Van Dhan Vikas Kendras (VDVKs) in predominantly forested tribal districts.

A Kendra shall constitute of 15 tribal SHGs, each comprising of up to 20 tribal NTFP gatherers or artisans i.e. about 300 beneficiaries per Van Dhan Kendra.

Statement 1 and 2 are correct. COCAXIN (BBV152) contains a whole virion inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, which is produced in Vero cells. It is stable at 2 to 8°C (refrigerated) and is shipped in a ready-to-use liquid formulation that permits distribution using existing vaccine supply chain channels.

COVAXIN has been developed on the WHO prequalified verocell platform, which is globally recognized with a well-established track record of safety. COVAXIN’s ability to neutralize UK variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 has also recently been established.

Statement 3 is incorrect. COVAXIN have not been given WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL). So far Pfizer and AstraZeneca have received the WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL).

Statement 1 is correct. The Wood’s Despatch recommended for the first time, the creation of Department of Education in Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Punjab and the North Western Provinces.

Statement 2 is incorrect. – The Wood’s Despatch gave importance to teaching of English, but at the same time, it also stressed on the teaching of Indian languages. The Despatch realised that any acquaintance of European knowledge could be communicated to the common people and that could be conveyed to them only through learning their own mother tongue.

Vernacular languages was to be promoted at primary level and English was made the medium of instruction for higher studies.

Statement 3 is correct. The Wood’s Despatch stated, “The importance of female education in India cannot be over rated; and we have observed with pleasure the evidence which is now afforded of an increased desire on the part of many of the natives of India to give a good education to their daughters.”