ANSWER: A

• It seeks to merge three Municipal corporations of Delhi i.e., South, North, and East.
• It amends The Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, and reverses the 2011 amendment to the Act for trifurcation of MCD into North, South, and East MCD.

Key provisions

• The number of seats in MCD is to be capped at 250.
• The Centre will appoint a Special officer until the first meeting of the unified MCD takes place.
• Replacement of the word “government” with “Central government”.
• Mandatory E-governance system for citizens by the new corporation.
  • Under Article 239AA the Parliament is empowered to legislate on any matter, including subjects on which the Assembly can make laws.

ANSWER: D

• The United Nations General Assembly has designated 5 April to be observed as an International Day of Conscience every year.
• The resolution was adopted on 31 July 2019 by the UN General Assembly.
• The year 2022 marks the third edition of the celebrations.
• This day serves to remind people to self-reflect, follow their conscience, and do the right things.
• This Day is observed every year on the 5^th of April and the first International Conscience Day was observed in 2020.

ANSWER: A

• SC was hearing a petition challenging various provisions of the NGT Act, 2010 including:
  • Power vested in the Centre to establish specific benches of tribunals and
  • SC as the only appellate forum against the order of the NGT
• The SC emphasised that the principle of access to justice coupled with the idea of protecting the environment should guide the Centre in considering more zonal benches.
  • At present the NGT has a presence in five zones- North, Central, East, South and West.
  • The Principal Bench is situated in the North Zone, headquartered in Delhi.
• Benefits of zonal benches
  • It will lighten the burden of the existing benches.
  • More people will be induced to take up the causes of protecting the environment.
  • This will bring environmental justice to the doorstep of the citizens.

About National Green Tribunal

• NGT is a statutory and quasi-judicial body established under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection.
• It is not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 or Indian Evidence Act, 1872 but is guided by principles of natural justice.
• Jurisdiction of NGT: civil cases under the seven laws related to the environment
  • The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
  • The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977
  • The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
  • The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
  • The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
  • The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991
  • The Biological Diversity Act 2002

ANSWER: C

• Germany has shut down Russia-linked ‘Hydra Market’– considered as world’s biggest and oldest DarkNet marketplace of illegal items and services.

About Dark Net

• Also known as Dark Web, it is that part of Internet which cannot be accessed through traditional search engines like Google nor is it accessible by normal browsers like Chrome or Safari.
• It generally uses non-standard communication protocols which make it inaccessible to internet service providers (ISPs) or government authorities.
• Content on Dark Net is encrypted and requires specific browser such as TOR (The Onion router) browser to access those pages.
• Dark Net itself is only a part of Deep Web that is a broader concept, which includes sites that are protected by passwords.
  • Part of Internet that is readily available to general public and searchable on standard search engines is called as Surface Web.
• It is used by Journalists and citizens working in oppressive regimes (to communicate without any government censorship), researchers and students to do research on sensitive topics, law enforcement agencies etc.
• Concerns over its use: Anonymity, Haven for illicit activity, Privacy and ethical seeking concerns, drug dealing, communication by terrorists etc.

ANSWER: B 

• Aleksandar Vucic re-elected as the President of Serbia for the second term by winning the presidential election 2022 in Serbia.
• He belong to the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).He defeated his Opposition presidential candidate Zdravko Ponos, a retired army general, while his United for Victory alliance obtained 13.1%.
• Aleksandar Vucic was born on 5 March 1970 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia.
• He is a politician by profession, serving as the president of Serbia since 2017 and as the president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) since 2012.
• He served as the Prime Minister of Serbia in two terms, from 2014 to 2016 and from 2016 until 2017, as well as the deputy prime minister from 2012 until 2014.

ANSWER: C

• Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has unveiled La’eeb as the official mascot for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 during the draw for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which took place in Doha,the capital of Qatar.
• La’eeb – a super skilled player (in Arabic), is playful, adventurous and curious.
• According to FIFA and the Tournament organising body ,The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) ,the mascot represents donning the flowing Qatari National dress and trying to stop the football in air.
• According to the Supreme Committee (SC), La’eeb comes from a parallel world where tournament mascots live.
• It is a world where ideas and creativity form the basis of characters that live in the minds of everyone.
• Also La’eeb encourages everyone to believe in themselves as ‘Now is All’.

ANSWER: B

• Recently Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the “School Chalo Abhiyan” with a view to ensure 100 percent enrolment in Primary and Upper Primary schools from Jaichandpur Katghara upper primary school in Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh (UP).
• The ‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ is being started in the Shravasti district because of its lowest literacy rate with an average of 46.74 percent.
• Other Districts with low literacy rates in UP are Bahraich , Balrampur , Badaun and Rampur .

About School Chalo Abhiyan

• The scheme aims at transforming primary education and holistic development of primary schools.
• A target has been set to connect two crore children with the drive.
• Under the scheme all Teachers, Principles, Officials and also People’s representatives should themselves take every child who is deprived of school education to school, register them, and provide them with facilities like free uniform, books, bag, shoes, sweaters etc,.
• Also the Government schools must achieve all the goals of ‘Operation Kayakalp’ which aims at giving schools a facelift.

About Operation Kayakalp

• Operation Kayakalp aims to improve the basic education of the state run schools under various initiatives.
• All Governmental buildings like primary schools/Junior High schools, Anganwadi centre, Auxiliary nurse midwife Centre etc. should be properly maintained and used after repair.
• Under the scheme Village secretariat/Pachayat Bhawans etc may be used as Library/Service Centers/Knowledge Centers/Kaushal Vikas Kendras.

ANSWER: C

• The Chief Minister (CM) of Tamil Nadu (TN), M K Stalin launched ‘Kaaval Uthavi app having 60 features that will provide police assistance to the people particularly women during any emergency situation.

About ‘Kaaval Uthavi app

• The app features a facility to dial 112/100/101 to make direct calls with the police control room. The Dial 100 facility has been integrated with the app.
• It will allow people to virtually reach the city police control room in a few seconds by clicking an ’emergency button’ of the app.
• The user’s live location will be shared with the control room by pressing the emergency red button.
• The user details will also be identified and the nearest police station/patrol vehicle will be alerted to provide the required assistance to the user.
• The mobile compliant feature can be used to register real-time mobile based complaints with the control room along with a short video or image by selecting the required complaint type.
• Other features- police station locator with direction and dial feature and control room directory, lost document report, vehicle verification, FIR and CSR status etc. will be provided.

ANSWER: A

• Kangra tea is likely to be awarded the Geographical Indication Tag (GI tag) for the European Union.
• Tea Cultivation and Development was transferred from the Industries Department to the Agriculture Department in April, 1999. Since then, various steps have been taken to improve tea cultivation in the state, particularly in Kangra.
• Kangra Tea was accorded the GI tag in India in 2005.
• The development and cultivation of Kangra Tea is being promoted and looked after by four departments, namely Tea Board of India Regional office Palampur, cooperative & agriculture departments of the state, CSIR, IHBT Palampur and Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Agriculture University, Palampur.

ANSWER:  A

• Hamirpur district has bagged the first spot in the country for the successful implementation of welfare and infrastructure development schemes under the Adarsh Gram Yojana.
• Significantly, 17 villages of the district were identified to be covered under the scheme and the district administration executed the task in collaboration with representatives of gram panchayats.
• It scored 38 points out of 40 to grab the top rank.
• These villages were provided road connectivity and pavers were fixed in streets. The component also included the installation of streetlights.