10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: January 2, 2021

Statement 1 is incorrect. There is no provision under the constitution mandating the circumstances to be made public. Article 123(1) states that —
If at any time, except when both Houses of Parliament are in session, the President is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action, he may promulgate such Ordinances as the circumstances appear to him to require.
Statement 2 is correct. Article 123(2)(b) states that an Ordinance promulgated under this article shall have the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament, but every such Ordinance may be withdrawn at any time by the President.
Statement 3 is correct. Article 123(3) states that –
If and so far as an Ordinance under this article makes any provision which Parliament would not under this Constitution be competent to enact, it shall be void.

Statement 1 is correct. Article 85(1) states that the President shall from time to time summon each House of Parliament to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The Constitution does not specify when or for how many days Parliament should meet.

Option 1 is incorrect. Under the Drug and Cosmetics Act, the regulation of manufacture, sale and distribution of Drugs is primarily the concern of the State authorities while the Central Authorities are responsible for approval of New Drugs, Clinical Trials in the country, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs, coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organisations and providing expert advice with a view of bring about the uniformity in the enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
Option 2 is correct. Drug Controller General of India is responsible for approval of licenses of specified categories of Drugs such as blood and blood products, I. V. Fluids, Vaccine and Sera.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India has been implementing Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Urban (PMAY-U) Mission to provide all weather pucca houses to eligible urban households/ beneficiaries by the year 2022.
Within the ambit of the overarching PMAY (U) Mission, a Technology Sub Mission (TSM) was set up to facilitate the adoption of innovative, sustainable, eco-friendly and disaster-resilient technologies and building materials for low cost, speedier and quality construction of houses.
In this regard, MoHUA launched ‘Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC- India)’ has been launched’ to identify emerging, disaster-resilient, environment friendly, cost effective and speedy construction technologies.
Statement 1 is correct. The challenge has three components viz. i) Conduct of biennial Expo-cum-Conference named Construction Technology India ii) Identifying Proven Demonstrable Technologies from across the globe to construct Light House projects iii) Promoting Potential Future Technologies (domestic) through Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerator – India (ASHA India). (Statement 2 is incorrect)

Prime Minister recently laid the foundation of six Light House Projects (LHPs) as part of Global Housing Technology Challenge – India (GHTC -India) initiative, in six States at Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
As part of ‘Construction Technology Year 2019-20’, besides LHPs, a Certificate Course on Innovative Construction Technologies namely NAVARITIH (New, Affordable, Validated, Research Innovation Technologies for Indian Housing) was also launched. The objectives of this course are to familiarise the professionals with the latest materials and technologies being used worldwide for housing.

The Arctic Council consists of the eight Arctic States: Canada; Denmark; Finland; Iceland; Norway; Russia; Sweden; United States.
The Arctic states have territories within the Arctic and thus carry the role as stewards of the region. Their national jurisdictions and international law govern the lands surrounding the Arctic Ocean and its waters.

# International law identifies four global commons, namely the High Seas, the Atmosphere, the Antarctica and the Outer Space. Arctic is mostly governed by Arctic Council states.

Statement 1 is incorrect. More than 50 United Nations Member States have never been Members of the Security Council.
A State which is a Member of the United Nations but not of the Security Council may participate, without a vote, in its discussions when the Council considers that country’s interests are affected.
Statement 2 is incorrect. India has entered the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for the eighth time in 2021-22.
India was also elected for the 2011-12 of UNSC membership.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Reserve Bank of India has constructed a composite Digital Payments Index (DPI) comprising of 5 broad parameters: (i) Payment Enablers (weight 25%), (ii) Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors (10%), (iii) Payment Infrastructure – Supply-side factors (15%), (iv) Payment Performance (45%) and (v) Consumer Centricity (5%).
Statement 2 is correct. The RBI-DPI aims to measure the deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different time periods.
Statement 3 is correct. The RBI-DPI has been constructed with March 2018 as the base period, i.e. DPI score for March 2018 is set at 100. The DPI for March 2019 and March 2020 work out to 153.47 and 207.84 respectively, indicating appreciable growth. Going forward, RBI-DPI shall be published on RBI’s website on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of 4 months.

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has been established on April 27, 2020 under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
Statement 1 is correct. The IFSCA is a unified authority for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in India. At present, the GIFT IFSC is the maiden international financial services centre in India.
Statement 2 is correct. The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has become an Associate Member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
The IOSCO is the international organization that brings together the world’s securities regulators, covering more than 95% of the world’s securities markets, and is the global standard setter for the securities sector.

Explanation: Statement 1 is correct. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of December 2020 is Rs 1,15,174 crore. The GST revenues during December 2020 have been the highest since the introduction of GST and it is the first time that it has crossed ₹ 1.15 lakh crore.
The highest GST collection till now was ₹ 1,13,866 crore in the month of April 2019. The revenues of April normally tend to be high since they pertain to the returns of March, which marks the end of financial year.
Statement 2 is incorrect. This is the third month in a row in the current financial year after the economy has been showing signs or recovery post pandemic that the GST revenues have been more than ₹ 1 lakh crore.