ANSWER: C

KEY POINTS:

• The RBI came out with its ‘Payments Vision 2025’document which talks about ring-fencing of domestic payment systems, including the need to mandate domestic processing of payment transactions, in view of the emerging geopolitical risks.
• The core theme of the vision documents is ‘E Payments for Everyone, Everywhere, Everytime’ (4Es), with an overall objective to provide every user with safe, secure, fast, convenient, accessible, and affordable e-payment options.
• The Reserve Bank’s ‘Payments Vision 2025’ document, which seeks a threefold jump in the number of digital payments, is progressive and aims to establish India as a powerhouse of payments globally, opined industry players.
• One of the most important forward-looking initiatives is the global outreach of UPI, RTGS, NEFT and RuPay cards with internationalisation, where bilateral treaties with nations especially covering the USD, GBP and Euro will hugely benefit Indian residents and their counterparties overseas with online realisation at lesser costs.

ANSWER: B

KEY POINTS:

• India has the second-highest burden of genetic blood disorder after Nigeria.
• Tribal populations are the worst hit with this disease in India.
• Children Before reaching the age of two, 20% of tribal children with sickle cell disease die, and 30% of children die before reaching adulthood.
• As per doctors, there may be 18 million Sickle Cell Traits (SCT) and 1.4 million SCD patients among the tribal population.
• According to officials, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is also working on a road map for the management, control and eradication of Sickle Cell disease.
• The action plan will be implemented in coordination with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, State Governments, Organizations working on SCD and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO).
• The disease have a higher prevalence in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan which is referred to as the sickle cell belt.
• This condition is most common in tribal communities in India but is gradually finding its way throughout because of migration into the cities.
• The Tribal Ministry would support the initiative of Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) on research on CRISPER -technology involving gene-editing after consultation with the Department of Science and Technology, ICMR, and Union Health Ministry.
• Social stigma and ignorance around the Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) continue to remain a public health challenge in India.

ANSWER: A

KEY POINTS:

• The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) decided its health insurance scheme ESI will be implemented throughout the country by the end of 2022.
• Presently, the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme is fully implemented in 443 districts and partially implemented in 153 districts.
• A total of 148 districts are not covered under the ESI Scheme.
• The ESIC, under the chairmanship of Minister of Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav, has taken significant decisions to augment the medical care and service delivery mechanism across the country.
• It has been decided that the ESI Scheme will be implemented in the entire country by the end of 2022.

ANSWER: A

KEY POINTS:

• PM inaugurated the Rs 920 crore Pragati Maidan integrated transit corridor project, which includes a 1.4 km tunnel and five underpasses on Mathura Road.
• The new corridor will provide hassle-free and smooth access to the new world-class exhibition and convention centre being developed at Pragati Maidan, thereby facilitating easy participation of exhibitors and visitors in the programmes being held at Pragati Maidan.
• The tunnel will provide relief to thousands of people coming from east Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad (and commuting to central Delhi).
• This integrated corridor will help people save time and it will also save fuel. In the presentation it was said that 55 lakh litres of fuel will be saved.

ANSWER: C

KEY POINTS:

• WTO members concluded the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva, securing multilaterally negotiated outcomes on a series of key trade initiatives.
• The “Geneva Package” confirms the historical importance of the multilateral trading system and underlines the important role of the WTO in addressing the world’s most pressing issues, especially at a time when global solutions are critical.

The package adopted by members includes:

• A package on WTO response to emergencies, comprising:
  • Ministerial Declaration on the Emergency Response to Food Insecurity.
  • Ministerial Decision on World Food Programme (WFP) Food Purchases Exemptions from Export Prohibitions or Restrictions.
  • Ministerial Declaration on the WTO Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Preparedness for Future Pandemics.
  • Ministerial Decision on the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
• A Decision on the E-commerce Moratorium and Work Programme.
• An Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.
• In addition, ministers adopted two decisions – on the Work Programme on Small Economies and on the TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints— and a Sanitary and Phytosanitary Declaration for the Twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference.

ANSWER: D

KEY POINTS:

• The Government gave its nod for the auction of spectrum that can be used to offer 5G services.
• A total of 72 Ghz of spectrum with a validity period of 20 years will be put on sale during the auction.
• The auction will be held for spectrum in various Low(600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), Mid (3300 MHz) and High (26 GHz) frequency bands.
• It is expected that the Mid and High band spectrum will be utilised by telecom service providers (TSPs) to roll¬out 5G services wherein speeds would be 10 times higher than the current 4G services.
• According to Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the 5G deployment is likely to start from August –September this year, and service should commence in about 20¬- 25 cities by the year ¬end.
• The two issues that the industry has highlighted with regards to the upcoming auctions are high reserve prices for the spectrum and direct allotment of spectrum to enterprises for setting up captive private networks.

ANSWER: C

KEY POINTS:

• The day was recognised on 21 December 2016after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the resolution and declared 18 June as Sustainable Gastronomy
• Every year, UNGA, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) work together to ensure that the day is celebrated properly around the world.
• The objective of this day is to recognise the practices associated with sustainable food consumption, especially with the art of collecting and preparing the food we eat.
• Gastronomy is sometimes called the art of food. It can also refer to a style of cooking from a particular region.
• In other words, gastronomy often refers to local food and cuisine. Sustainability is the idea that something (e.g., agriculture, fishing or even preparation of food) is done in a way that is not wasteful of our natural resources and can be continued into the future without being detrimental to our environment or health.
• Sustainable gastronomy, therefore, means cuisine that takes into account where the ingredients are from, how the food is grown and how it gets to our markets and eventually to our plates.

ANSWER: C

KEY POINTS:

• PM flagged off the First-ever torch relay for the Chess Olympiad ahead of the 44th edition of the event, which is to be held in Mahabalipuram.
• The international chess body, FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), for the very first time has instituted the torch relay, which is part of the Olympic tradition but was never done in the Chess Olympiad.
• The torch will be taken to 75 cities in a span of 40 days before arriving in Mahabalipuram near Chennai.
• At every location, chess grandmasters of the state will receive the torch.
• Leh, Srinagar, Jaipur, Surat, Mumbai, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata, Gangtok, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thrissur, Port Blair and Kanyakumari are among the 75 cities.
• In 1956, India participated for first time in Chess Olympiad.

ANSWER: C

KEY POINTS:

• The Himachal Pradesh government has won first prize in the finance and revenue categories nationally in the SKOCH State of Governance Report 2021.
• According to CM, State was chosen for the award because of several initiatives taken by the state government by implementing the HP-VAT- IT Project in the state and introducing around 31 online services, reductions and rationalization of business-related compliance burden on taxpayers and other stakeholders.
• Despite covid restrictions, the department has collected around Rs 8,500 crores during the financial year 2021-22 against the collections of around Rs 7,000 crores during the last financial year which is more than 20 percent.
• This substantial increase in revenue is due to proactive measures taken up by the department, providing ICT based hardware and software to the field authorities, imparting regular knowledge, training to the field officers and stakeholders for better compliance in a time bound and transparent manner.
• The department also won the SKOCH award for the implementation of the Excise e-governance project leaving behind other states.

ANSWER: C

KEY POINTS:

• CM inaugurated a park near Oakover, his official residence, in Shimla. The park, which has been constructed at a cost of Rs 2.40 crore under the AMRUT Mission, has facilities such as open gym, playground, ramp for specially-abled and waterfall.
• The park also boosts of a storage tank with a capacity of 1.14 lakh litre to irrigate the plants. Two crore Rupees would be spent on the development of the park in second phase under the Smart City Mission.
• The park has more than 30 species of plants and pine trees in order to conserve the flora.
• Roads are being widened and more parking lots are being constructed to facilitate the resident and the tourists
• The park was an important step toward the beautification of the city.