Daily Quiz: UPSC Prelims Marathon (Polity & International Relations) – September 16, 2020

Partnerships for Affordable Healthcare Access and Longevity (PAHAL) is USAID flagship innovative financing platform to promote health financing models and provide catalytic support to social enterprises (IBMs) for improving access to affordable and quality healthcare solutions for the urban poor communities, with a with a focus on Tuberculosis, Maternal and Child Health and WASH.

• PAHAL has built a platform that provides unparalleled access to social enterprises for reducing cost and improving access to quality healthcare services.
• US announced that it will provide an additional $3 million to India, through its aid agency USAID, for mitigating the spread of Covid-19.
• In coordination with the Indian government, USAID is providing these funds to the Partnerships for Affordable Healthcare Access and Longevity (PAHAL) project.

The freedoms of the air (9 rights) are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country’s airlines the privilege to enter and land in another country’s airspace.

• The Freedom of air was formulated in the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944, known as the Chicago Convention.
• The fifth freedom of air includes the right to fly between two foreign countries on a flight originating or ending in one’s own country.
• The sixth freedom of air includes the right to fly from a foreign country to another while stopping in one’s own country for non-technical reasons.

A Loya Jirga, or “grand council”, is a mass national gathering that brings together representatives from the various ethnic, religious, and tribal communities in Afghanistan.

• The gathering involves participation of Afghan tribal elders, religious figures, and political leaders.
• The Loya Jirga is a centuries-old institution that has been convened at times of national crisis or to settle national issues.
• Historically, it has been used to approve a new constitution, declare war, choose a new king, or to make sweeping social or political reforms.
• It is considered the “highest expression” of the Afghan people, but it is not an official decision-making body.

According to the MFN principle of the WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), each of the WTO member countries should “treat all the other members equally as ‘most-favoured’ trading partners.”

• If a special favour such as a lower customs duty rate is grant to someone by a nation, then it has to do the same for all other WTO members.
• Thus, in effect it means non-discrimination.
• Recently, India withdrew the Most Favored Nation (MFN) status from Pakistan.

US President has signed ARIA act to counter the threat from China and to reinvigorate US leadership in the Indo-Pacific region.

• It aims to establish a multifaceted U.S. strategy to increase U.S. security, economic interests, and values in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The new law mandates actions countering China’s illegal construction and militarization of artificial features in the South China Sea and coercive economic practices.
• ARIA recognizes the vital role of the strategic partnership between the U.S. and India in promoting peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region and it calls for strengthening diplomatic, economic, and security ties between both the countries.
• It allocates a budget of $1.5 billion over a five year period to enhance cooperation with America’s strategic regional allies in the region.

Nordic countries include Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and the Faroe Islands (an archipelago of islands as an autonomous country within the kingdom of Denmark).

India and Bhutan have signed a concession agreement on the 600 MW Kholongchhu Hydroelectric Project (KHEL) for work to start on it.

• The hydroelectric project will be the first-ever Joint Venture project to be implemented in Bhutan under an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) signed in 2014.
• The joint venture partners of the project are India’s Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) and Druk Green Power Corporation Limited (DGPC).

HICDPs constitute an important dimension of the dynamic development partnership between India and the Maldives.

• Under HICDP, India and Maldives have committed to execute projects under a total grant of USD 5.5 million.
• These projects are driven by the needs of communities on the islands.
• They will be implemented by City and Local Councils.
• It will enhance the capacities of locally-elected representatives and support the decentralization efforts of the Government of Maldives.
• Recently, India and Maldives signed a contract for setting up Neighborhood Fish Processing Plants at two of the islands in the neighboring country.

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is the central recruiting agency in India. It is an independent constitutional body in the sense that it has been directly created by the Constitution.

• Articles 315 to 323 in Part XIV of the Constitution contain elaborate provisions regarding the composition, appointment and removal of members along with the independence, powers and functions of the UPSC.
• The UPSC consists of a chairman and other members appointed by the president of India.
• The Constitution, without specifying the strength of the Commission has left the matter to the discretion of the president, who determines its composition.
• Usually, the Commission consists of nine to eleven members including the chairman.
• Further, no qualifications are prescribed for the Commission’s membership except that one-half of the members of the Commission should be such persons who have held office for at least ten years either under the Government of India or under the government of a state.
• The Constitution also authorizes the president to determine the conditions of service of the chairman and other members of the Commission.

Article 263 contemplates the establishment of an Inter-State Council to effect coordination between the states and between Centre and states.

• Thus, the President can establish such a council if at any time it appears to him that the public interest would be served by its establishment.
• He can define the nature of duties to be performed by such a council and its organisation and procedure.