Daily Current Affairs Quiz: June 09, 2023

ANSWER: C

ANSWER: A

ANSWER: D

ANSWER: A

• Exercise Air Defender 23, the largest air deployment exercise in NATO history, will be held in

ABOUT EXERCISE

• The Air Defender 23 exercise will see 10,000 participants and 250 aircraft from 25 nations respond to a simulated attack on a NATO member country.
• The exercise will be held across Germany, with some of the training taking place at Ramstein Air Base, which is one of NATO’s largest air bases.
• The exercise is being held in response to the increased threat posed by Russia following its invasion of The exercise is designed to demonstrate NATO’s readiness to respond to any threat to its airspace.
• A total of 25 nations are actively participating in Air Defender 23. These include Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO)

• It is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April, 1949, by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
• There are currently 31-member
• Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• Joining the original signatories were Greece and Turkey (1952), West Germany (1955, from 1990 as Germany), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017), North Macedonia (2020), and Finland (2023).
• Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium

ANSWER: C

• The Union Cabinet has approved a third revival package for state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) with an outlay of Rs 89,047.82 crore for allotment of 4G and 5G spectrum through equity infusion. The approval sets the stage for the struggling telco to launch 4G, and, eventually, 5G services.
• In 2019, the government approved the first revival package for BSNL with an outlay of Rs 69,000 crore, followed by a second package worth Rs 64 lakh crore in 2022.
• Due to these two packages, BSNL has started earning operating profits since FY 2021-22. Total debt of BSNL has reduced from Rs 32,944 Crore to Rs 22,289 Crore.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• The authorized capital of BSNL was increased from Rs 1,50,000 crore to Rs. 2,10,000 crore.
• It provided financial support for capex (Capital Expenditure), viability gap funding for rural landlines, financial support for de-stressing the balance sheet and settlement of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues and merger of BBNL with BSNL.
• With the third revival package, BSNL will emerge as a stable telecom service provider focused on providing connectivity to remotest parts of India.
• The Cabinet has made provisions to allot airwaves to BSNL in the 700 MHz band, making it the only other telco apart from Reliance Jio to have spectrum in the coveted frequency range. The 700 MHz band is best suited for coverage in high-density areas, and is ideal for data networks and consumer-led services.
• The government also merged Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) with BSNL. With this merger, BSNL got an additional 5.67 lakh kms of optical fibre laid across 85 lakh village panchayats through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

ANSWER: D

• Nathasha Edirisooriya, a Sri Lankan standup comic, was arrested under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act from the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo.

ABOUT THE ACT

• The ICCPR is a multilateral treaty that deals with human rights.
• The Act was adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 1966 and came into force in 1976.
• The Covenant respects civil and political rights of individuals, including right to life, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, electoral rights, and rights to due process and a fair trial.
• The ICCPR is part of the International Bill of Human Rights, along with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
• The UN Human Rights Committee reviews regular reports by state parties on how human rights are being implemented.
• Currently, the covenant has 173 parties and 6 more signatories without ratification.
• India ratified this treaty in 1979.

SECTION 3 OF THE ICCPR ACT

• A section that has been used time and time again to restrict freedom of expression.
• The section prohibits the propagation of war or advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.
• Offences under this section are cognizable as well as non-bailable.
• The section is based on Article 20 of the ICCPR.

ICCPR IN SRI LANKA

• Sri Lanka ratified the ICCPR in 1980, aiming to give domestic effect to the rights recognized by the covenant.
• The ICCPR Act was enacted in 2007, aligning Sri Lankan law with the provisions of the ICCPR.
• However, the Act has faced scrutiny due to its formulation, which differs significantly from the original ICCPR provisions.

ANSWER: C

• India and the U.S. pledged to streamline their export control regimes for critical technologies at the inaugural India-U.S. Strategic Trade Dialogue (IUSSTD).

ABOUT INDIA-U.S. STRATEGIC TRADE DIALOGUE (IUSSTD)

• It represents a key institutional innovation to unlock the potential of high-tech trade between the two countries envisaged as a part of the initiative on critical and emerging technologies (ICET).
• IUSSTD focused on ways in which both governments can facilitate the development and trade of technologies in critical domains such as semiconductors, space, telecom, quantum, AI, defence, bio-tech and others.
• Both sides reviewed the relevant bilateral export control regulations with the objective of building and diversifying resilient supply chains for these strategic technologies.

ANSWER: C

• The CCEA chaired by PM Narendra Modi has approved the continuation of the central sector plan ‘Exploration of Coal and Lignite scheme’ with an estimated expenditure of Rs 2,980 crore with extension of time period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 co-terminus with the 15th Finance Commission cycle.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• The exploration for coal and lignite under the scheme is conducted in two broad stages:
• Promotional (Regional) Exploration and
• Detailed Exploration in non-Coal India Limited blocks.
• An outlay of Rs 1,650 crore will be provided for promotional (Regional) exploration and Rs 1,330 crore for detailed drilling in non-CIL (Coal India Limited) areas.
• Approximately 1,300 sq km area will be covered under Regional exploration, and about 650 sq km area will be covered under detailed exploration, it added.
• Purpose: The exploration for Coal and Lignite is required to prove and estimate the availability of coal resources in India, which would help further in preparing detailed project reports to start coal mining.

ABOUT COAL SECTOR IN INDIA:

• India has the fifth largest coal reserves, is second in coal production (after China) and is among the largest importer of coal (mainly from Indonesia, South Africa and Australia).
• Coal accounts for almost 50% share in the total installed electricity generation capacity in India.
• The top 5 States in terms of total coal reserves in India are Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

ANSWER: D

• Damodar Kashyap, a 74-year-old tribal farmer in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district, has transformed 400 acres of land in his village into a flourishing forest through a community-based approach to conservation.
• As the village sarpanch, he implemented strict rules and fines for forest destruction and deployed villagers to patrol and guard the forest. Kashyap also utilized local beliefs and practices to emphasize the sacredness of the forest.
• He has received recognition for his conservation work, including the Paul K Feyerabend Foundation Award in 2014 and a chapter in the Class 9 social sciences textbook of the Chhattisgarh Board.

ANSWER: D

• World Accreditation Day is an annual global observance held on June 9. It aims at recognizing and promoting the role of accreditation across various sectors.
• This day aims to raise awareness about the value and benefits of accreditation in ensuring competence, reliability, and credibility in industries such as healthcare, laboratories, certification bodies, and conformity assessment services.
• The theme for 2023 is “Accreditation: Supporting the Future of Global Trade.”
• The central focus is to highlight how accreditation actively contributes to the achievement of several vital United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).