Current Affairs & General Knowledge Test - 17

The World Bank has announced a $93 billion package of the International Development Association (IDA) to help the poor countries tackle Covid crisis and boost economic growth.

The latest package includes $23.5 billion of contributions from 48 high- and middle-income countries, raised in the capital markets, repayments, and the World Bank’s own contributions.

Chhota Nagpur Plateau represents the north-eastern projection of the Indian Peninsula. 

It covers Jharkhand, the northern part of Chhatisgarh, and the Purulia district of West Bengal. This plateau is composed mainly of Gondwana rocks. The Damodar valley has vast coal reserves, and the Hazaribagh region is one of the main sources of mica in the world.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the tokenisation rules till June 30, 2022. The deadline for wiping off card data on merchant sites and applying tokenisation has been extended by another six months.

This step has been taken by the Central Bank as merchants and payment companies expressed their inability to meet the earlier deadline of December 31, 2021. Card on file tokenisation (CoFT) is used to register card data with a merchant site.

The Indian bureaucracy consists of the All-India services, State services, employees of the local governments, and technical and managerial staff running public sector undertakings. So, statement 1 is correct. Makers of our Constitution were aware of the importance of the non-partisan and professional bureaucracy.

An IAS or IPS officer is assigned to a particular State, where he or she works under the supervision of the State government. So, statement 2 is correct. However, the IAS or IPS officers are appointed by the central government, they can go back into the service of the central government and most importantly, only the central government can take disciplinary action against them. This means that the key administrative officers of the States are under the supervision and control of the central government.

Mining is placed to primary Sector of economy.

It includes the extraction of raw materials. It includes agricultural and allied activities.

Examples of the primary sector include Farming, Fishing, Coal Mining, Oil extraction, Diamond mining, etc.

Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) under the Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

India will release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserves from ISPRL. The company maintains strategic crude oil storage at three locations namely, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur totaling 5 million metric tons.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale was a member of the Imperial Legislative Council.

• He was popularly famous as a great champion of compulsory primary education for the first time in India.
• Therefore, GK. Gokhale again introduced a Private Bill in the Council on 16th March 1911 in the form of an unofficial member's bill.

Kot Diji forms a part of the Harappan Civilization. It is nearest to Mohenjo-Daro.

Dated 3500 B.C - Early Harappan Period. It is an ancient flood channel located on the bank of the Indus River, consists of a stone rubble wall and surrounds a citadel.

Mohenjo-Daro lies on the bank of the Indus river in the Larkana district of Sindh Province of Pakistan. It was discovered by Mr. R D Banerji in 1922 and it was designated as UNESCO's World heritage site in 1980.

Mohenjo-Daro does mean 'Mound of the dead'. The modern name for the site has been interpreted as "Mound of the Dead Men" in Sindh interpreted as "Mound of the Dead Men" in Sindhi.

Sanju Samson made history by becoming the first Indian cricketer to achieve the impressive milestone of scoring centuries in consecutive T20I innings.

To maintain the federal equilibrium by protecting the interests of the states against the undue interference of the Centre. So, statement 1 is correct.

It enables a second and reflective expression of representative opinion.  It acts as a deliberative body holding high-quality debates on important issues. So, statement 2 is correct.

It helps to initiate proposals for public policy. So, statement 3 is correct. 

Both the Houses check one another avoiding parliamentary tyranny. It can ensure that the majoritarian of the Lower House does not undermine rule of law, Indian Constitution and public institutions. It acts as a knowledge domain due to the presence of experts. It represents the interests of the States and promotes Federalism. It can be the voice of sanity, of the excluded, and of citizen rights.