ANSWER: C

• For the first time, since wide availability of satellite images, Scientists observed breakup of Conger Ice Shelf in eastern Antarctica.
• It is happening due to rising temperatures with both North and South Pole seeing warmer than average temperature despite opposite seasons.
• Also, a new research highlighted that Antarctica is approaching a climate tipping point by 2060– when Antarctic ice could begin melting at a runaway rate.
• Climate tipping points are points where any small change could push the earth system into abrupt or irreversible change.
• Globally, we have 9 climate tipping points-
• Amazon rainforest-Frequent droughts
• Arctic sea ice-Reduction in area
• Atlantic circulation-in slowdown since 1950s
• Boreal forest Fires and pests
• Coral reefs-Large-scale die-offs
• Greenland ice sheet-Ice loss accelerating
• Permafrost -thawing
• West Antarctic ice sheet-Ice loss accelerating
• Wilkes Basin, East Antarctica-Ice loss accelerating

About Antarctica

• 5^th largest continent, Antarctica holds 90% of the Earth’s total ice volume and 70% of its fresh water.
• Critical to global ecosystem sustainability, it absorbs as much as 62% of global heat and 40% of all carbon dioxide produced by human activities.
• Also, it is a rich source of minerals (oil and gas), marine life (finfish, krill, squid) and genomic resources of indigenous biodiversity.
• Melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is enough to increase sea level by more than 60 m.

ANSWER: C

• Recently, Rajya Sabha passed the Constitutional (SC/ST) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to omit Bhogta community of Jharkhand from SC list and include them in ST list along with other communities.
• Under Article 341 and 342 of the Constitution, the first specification of SCs/STs in relation to a particular State/ UT was notified by the President, after consultation with the Governor of the State concerned.
• These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament.

ANSWER: A

• Supreme Court upheld the Madras High Court judgement striking down the 10.5 per cent reservation provided to Vanniyars.
• Vanniyars is Most Backward Community (MBC) in Tamil Nadu.
• Tamil Nadu Assembly had in February 2021 passed the bill providing internal reservation for Vanniyars in government jobs and admission to educational institutions.

ANSWER: A

• India and Sri Lanka have signed a MoU for the Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) to set up a state of the art MRCC in Colombo.
• MRCCs are part of an international network under the UN’s International Maritime Organisation to monitor the sea lanes with the objective of swift response to emergencies, such as vessels in distress, rescue and evacuation of people, and prevention of and containing environmental disasters such as oil spills etc.
• Each country is responsible for its own Search and Rescue Region.
• MRCC is co-ordinated by the Navy or Coast Guard in each country.
• In India, the Coast Guard is the co-ordinating agency.

ANSWER: C

• Hosting 2022 Football World Cup, organisers in Qatar are condemned for its treatment of migrant workers.
• Many Middle East Countries, including Qatar, follow Kafala System– a sponsorship system which defines the relationship between migrant workers and their local sponsor or Kafeel.
• Under it, local sponsors get almost total control over migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.
• g. sponsor permission is required to leave or change jobs, enter or exit the host country etc.
• Primarily used to meet cheap labour demand, it is used by them for widespread human rights abuses and exploitation of workers.

ANSWER: C

• A National Conclave on “Production of Bees Wax” was organized by National Dairy Development Board in collaboration with National Bee Board (NBB), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

About National Bee Board

• Formed as a registered Society under Societies Registration Act in 2000 and promoted by the Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC).
• Reconstituted in 2006.
• Objective:
• Overall development of Beekeeping by promoting Scientific Beekeeping,
• Increase the Honey production for increasing the income of the Beekeepers/ Farmers.

Beeswax

• Bees wax is a food grade wax with a white color when it is freshly prepared. Later the color changes into yellow because of the presence of propolis and pollen colorants.
• Characteristics:
• Inert with high plasticity, insoluble in water and resistant to many acids, but soluble in most organic solvents.
• Beeswax has uses as a vehicle for drugs, as an emulsion and foundation for cosmetics, in chromatography, used as a fragrance in soaps and perfumes etc.

ANSWER: B

• India and France are conducting the 20th edition of the Bilateral Naval Exercise “VARUNA – 2022” in the Arabian Sea from March 30, 2022, to April 03, 2022.
• Bilateral naval exer cises between India’s and France’s navies began in 1993. In 2001, the exercise was given the name “Varuna,” and it has since become an essential part of the two countries’ strategic bilateral cooperation.
• The 19th edition of the Indian and French Navy bilateral exercise ‘VARUNA-2021’ was conducted from 25-27 April 2021 in the Arabian Sea.
• Various units from both navies participated in the exercise, including ships, submarines, maritime patrol aircraft, fighter aircraft, and helicopters.
• These units will work to improve and enhance their maritime operational skills, develop interoperability to conduct maritime security operations, and demonstrate their commitment to the region’s peace, security, and stability as an integrated force.
• The VARUNA series of exercises provides both the navies’ opportunities to learn from each other’s best practices. The exercise sets the stage for operational level understanding between the two navies, highlighting both nations’ shared commitment to the global maritime commons’ security, safety, and freedom.

ANSWER: A

• On 31st March 2022, the Chief Justice of India (01), NV Ramana virtually launched the ‘Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records’ (FASTER) programme.
• It is a digital platform to communicate interim orders, stay orders, bail orders etc., of the Supreme Court to authorities concerned through a secured electronic communication channel.
• It allows court orders to be transmitted in a quick and secure electronic format.
• Objective-To eliminate the situation in which inmates’ release is delayed even after the Supreme Court grants them bail.

About ‘Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records’ (FASTER) programme: 

• The FASTER program was created in response to a news report published in July 2021, regarding prisoner release delays.
• lt is developed on war footing by the Registry in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
• All nodal officers have been connected through a specific Judicial Communication Network (JCN) by creating a secured pathway.
• Every proceeding will have digital signatures of authorized Nodal Officers of the Supreme Court as well as institutional digital signatures.
• Such directives would be received by all parties affected on time, allowing them to take the necessary actions.

ANSWER: A

• On 31 March 2022, The H aryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal launched the portal of ‘Mukhya Mantri Bagwani Bima Yojana’ with an initial corpus of Rs 10 crore for the scheme. Under which the farmers will be compensated for the damage caused to their crops due to adverse weather and natural calamities.
• The scheme compensates a sum of Rs 30,000 per acre for vegetable and Spices and Rs 40,000 per acre for fruits, which will be compensated to the farmers upon claim via four categories such as 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent and 100 percent based on the survey.
• The farmers contribution will be only 2.5 percent of the insured amount i.e.Rs 750 per acre for vegetable and Spices and Rs 1000 per acre for fruits.
• The Scheme covers 21 crops – 14 vegetables (tomato, onion, potato, cauliflower, peas, carrot, okra, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, brinjal, green chilli, capsicum, cabbage, radish), 2 spices (turmeric, garlic) and 5 fruits (mango, kinnow, berry, guava, lychee).
• The scheme will be optional for all those farmers who will get registered under ‘Merl Fasal Mem Byora’ (a web portal through which the problems of the farmers of the state will be resolved).
• Monitoring of the scheme, review and resolution of disputes will be done through the state-level and district-level committees constituted under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.