Current Affairs Quiz 27 December 2023

Solution: d)
Justification: Statement 1: In India, the minerals are classified as minor minerals and major minerals. Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette declares minerals to be a minor or major mineral. The majorminor classification has nothing to do with the quantum /availability of these minerals, though it is correlated with the relative value of these minerals. Further, this classification is based more on their end use, rather than level of production, level of mechanization, export and import etc. (e.g. Sand can be a major mineral or a minor mineral depending on where it is used; same is the case for limestone.) Major minerals are those specified in the first schedule appended in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act 1957) and the common major minerals are Lignite, Coal, Uranium, iron ore, gold etc. It may be noted that there is no official definition for “major minerals” in the MMDR Act. Hence, whatever is not declared as a “minor mineral” may be treated as the major mineral. Major minerals are exploited by the Centre, and minor by the State.

Answer:

b) Study the gravitational pull of Earth on Apophis

Ans;- a) Only 1

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, MGNREGA, is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work’. This act was passed in September 2005.
• It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
• It covers all districts of India except the ones with 100% urban population.
• MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by gram panchayats (GPs). The involvement of contractors is banned.
• Apart from providing economic security and creating rural assets, NREGA can help in protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, among others.

How MGNREGA came to be?
• In 1991, the P.V Narashima Rao government proposed a pilot scheme for generating employment in rural areas with the following goals:
○ Employment Generation for agricultural labour during the lean season.
○ Infrastructure Development
○ Enhanced Food Security
• This scheme was called the Employment Assurance Scheme which later evolved into the MGNREGA after the merger with the Food for Work Programme in the early 2000s.

Features of MGNREGA
• It gives a significant amount of control to the Gram Panchayats for managing public works, strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• Gram Sabhas are free to accept or reject recommendations from Intermediate and District Panchayats.
• It incorporates accountability in its operational guidelines and ensures compliance and transparency at all levels.

Objectives of MGNREGA
• Provide 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to rural unskilled labour
• Increase economic security
• Decrease migration of labour from rural to urban areas.

Ans;- b) Only 2

• The 1st statement is incorrect.

About Guru Gobind Singh Ji

• He is tenth Sikh Gurus, his birth anniversary is commemorated based on the Nanakshahi calendar.
• He became the Sikh guru at the age of nine, following the demise of his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru.
• He fought against the Mughals in the battle of Muktsar in 1705.
• He also founded the principles of Khalsa or the Five ‘K’s.
The Five K’s 
Kesh (uncut hair),
Kanga (wooden comb),
Kara (iron or steel bracelet),
Kirpan (dagger)
Kachera (short breeches).
• These were the five articles of faith that a Khalsa must always adorn.

Answer : c
• India has recently welcomed the US support for relaxation in the norms of the agreement on TRIPS to ensure quick and affordable access to COVID vaccines and medicines for developing countries.
• In October last year, in view of COVID-19 pandemic, India and South Africa had proposed in WTO for temporary waiver from certain provisions of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.
• As a result of proactive outreach by India and other like-minded countries, the proposal has received the support of more than 120 countries.

TRIPS Agreement
• The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
• It sets down minimum standards for the regulation by national governments of many forms of intellectual property (IP) as applied to nationals of other WTO member nations.
• TRIPS was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) between 1989 and 1990 and is administered by the WTO.
• The TRIPS agreement introduced intellectual property law into the multilateral trading system for the first time and remains the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property to date.

TRIPS requires WTO members to
• Provide copyright rights, covering authors and other copyright holders, as well as holders of related rights, namely performers, sound recording producers and broadcasting organizations; geographical indications;
• Industrial designs;
• Integrated circuit layout-designs;
• Patents;
• New plant varieties;
• Trademarks;
• Trade names and undisclosed or confidential information.
• TRIPS also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.
• All the WTO agreements (except for a couple of “plurilateral” agreements) apply to all WTO members.
• The members each accepted all the agreements as a single package with a single signature — making it, in the jargon, a “single undertaking”.
• The TRIPS Agreement is part of that package. Therefore it applies to all WTO members.
• Article 31 allows compulsory licensing and government use of a patent without the authorization of its owner.
• But this can only be done under a number of conditions aimed at protecting the legitimate interests of the right holder.