Current Affairs Quiz 30 March 2023     

What is the One China Policy?
• The “One China” policy refers to the idea that China is one country, consisting of mainland China and Taiwan.
• It dates back to the origins of the country in 1949 when the Mao Zedong-led Communist Party won the Chinese civil war and the nationalist Kuomintang fled to Taiwan and set up the government of the Republic of China.
• Both sides claimed to be the legitimate government of China, and for many years Taiwan was recognized as such by much of the international community.
• China asserts that Taiwan is a province of China and therefore part of “One China,” while Taiwan maintains its own government and claims to be an independent country.

Tuberculosis
• TB is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In humans, TB most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB), but it can also affect other organs (extra-pulmonary TB).
• TB is spread from person to person through the air. Its common symptoms are cough with sputum and blood at times, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats.
• Most people who develop the disease are adults.
o In 2021, men accounted for 56.5% of the TB burden, adult women (32.5%) and children (11%).
o Many new cases of TB are attributable to five risk factors:
 Undernutrition
 HIV infection
 Alcohol use disorders
 Smoking
 Diabetes.
• TB is preventable and curable and around 85% of people who develop the disease can be successfully treated with a 4/6-month drug regimen.
o Treatment has also the added benefit of curtailing onward transmission of infection. While TB is detected in every part of the world, 30 countries carry the highest burden.
• World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is observed on 24th March to spread awareness about the disastrous health, social, and economic consequences of TB and to take efforts to end the TB epidemic globally.
• India accounts for more than a quarter of the total TB cases across the world.

Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS) ?
o Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) is a social security scheme to provide employees in the organised sector with pension after the age of 58
o However, for a person to be eligible for the pension benefits, they must have at least ten years of service (it doesn’t have to be continuous).
o The pension contribution under EPS is not shared equally by employees and employers, unlike the EPF contribution.
o The employer and employee contribute 12% of the employee’s basic salary and DA towards the EPF scheme. The 12% contribution made by the employer is split into two ways:
 EPF Contribution: 3.67%
 EPS Contribution: 8.33%
o Apart from the above-mentioned contributions, the Government of India contributes 1.16% as well.
o Employees are not eligible to contribute to the scheme.

In News
• For the first time, scientists have reported evidence of the piezoelectric effect in liquids.
About
• The effect was found in pure 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide – both ionic liquids (i.e. liquids made of ions instead of molecules) at room temperature.
• The reason the piezoelectric effect has only been expected in solids thus far is that the body being squeezed needs to have an organised structure, like the pyramids of quartz. Liquids don’t have such structure; instead, they take the shape of their container.
• The new finding challenges the theory that describes this effect as well as opens the door to previously unanticipated applications in electronic and mechanical systems.
The key difference between piezoelectric pyroelectric and ferroelectric is that the piezoelectric effect is the generation of a surface charge in response to the application of external stress to a material but, the pyroelectric effect is the change in the spontaneous polarization of a material in response to a change in temperature. Whereas, the ferroelectric effect is a change in the surface charge in response to the change in the spontaneous polarization.

Provisions safeguarding the rights of SCs and Sts in India
• The Indian Government has enacted laws to remove negative discrimination and has also brought in many reforms to improve the quality of life for the weaker sections of society. Few among them are:
o Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights
o Abolition of ‘untouchability’ in 1950
o Provision of reservations in places like educational institutions, for employment opportunities etc.
o Establishing social welfare departments and national commissions for the welfare of scheduled castes and tribes.
• Right to Equality
o Articles 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the Constitution of India highlight the Right to Equality in detail.
o It refers to equality in the eyes of law, discarding any unfairness on grounds of caste, race, religion, place of birth sex.
o It also includes equality of prospects in matters of employment, abolition of untouchability and abolition of titles