Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The Reserve Bank of India gives temporary loan facilities to the centre and state governments as a banker to government. This temporary loan facility is called Ways and Means Advances (WMA).
• The scheme for the Central Government was introduced on April 1, 1997, after putting an end to the four-decade old system of adhoc (temporary) Treasury Bills to finance the Central Government deficit.
• The WMA scheme is designed to meet temporary mismatches in the receipts and payments of the government.
• The government can avail of immediate cash from the RBI, if required.
• But it has to return the amount within 90 days.
• If the WMA exceeds 90 days, it would be treated as an overdraft.
• The interest rate on overdrafts would be 2 percent more than the repo rate.
• Further, the RBI provides an overdraft facility when the WMA limit is breached. The overdraft is not allowed beyond 10 consecutive working days.

Types of WMA

There are two types of Ways and Means Advances — normal and special.

• Special WMA or Special Drawing Facility is provided against the collateral of the government securities held by the state. After the state has exhausted the limit of SDF, it gets normal WMA. The interest rate for SDF is one percentage point less than the repo rate.
• The number of loans under normal WMA is based on a three-year average of actual revenue and capital expenditure of the state.

Explanation :

• The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction , usually referred to as the Biological Weapons Convention is the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the development, production and stockpiling of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction, was opened for signature on 10 April 1972.
• It entered into force on 26 March 1975.
• Members: It currently has 183 states-parties, including Palestine, and four signatories (Egypt, Haiti, Somalia, Syria, and Tanzania). Ten states have neither signed nor ratified the BWC (Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Israel, Kiribati, Micronesia, Namibia, South Sudan and Tuvalu).

Terms of the Treaty

The BWC:

• forbids States Parties from developing, producing, stockpiling, or otherwise acquiring biological agents or toxins that have no justification for peaceful or defensive purposes;
• forbids States Parties from developing, producing, stockpiling, or otherwise acquiring equipment to deliver biological agents or toxins for hostile purposes;
• obligates States Parties to destroy or divert to peaceful purposes their existing stocks of prohibited items;
• forbids States Parties from transferring prohibited items to anyone or otherwise helping in the manufacture or acquisition of biological weapons;
• protects the rights of States Parties to exchange equipment, materials, and scientific and technological information for peaceful purposes in order to avoid hampering their economic and technological development;
• commits States Parties to cooperate in solving any problems through consultation and in carrying out any investigation initiated by the UN Security Council; and
• commits States Parties to provide assistance to others that have been attacked using biological weapons.

However, it does not ban the use of biological and toxin weapons but reaffirms the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which prohibits such use. It also does not ban biodefense programs.

It also allows states-parties to lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council if they believe other member states are violating the convention.

Explanation :

• On 27^th March, 2020, the government has notified anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine under Schedule-H1, restricting its sale based on prescription and making it mandatory for chemists to maintain records for such sale.
• The sale of the drug from now on should be in accordance with the conditions for sale of drugs as specified in Schedule H1 to the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
• This would mean that any preparation containing the said drug will have a warning label of ‘only prescription sale’ and against self-medication.
• The move is aimed at stopping misuse of the drug which has now been allowed by the government for prophylactuse in high risk contacts of Covid-19 patients and healthcare workers treating such patients.

Schedule H1 Drugs

• The Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, are the set of rules under The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, which has provisions for classification of drugs into different schedules and also guidelines for storage, sale, display.
• Schedule H1 has been introduced through Gazette notification GSR 588 (E) dated 30-08-2013 to check the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, anti-TB and some other drugs in the country.
• The schedule contains certain 3rd and 4th generation antibiotics, certain habit forming drugs and anti-TB drugs.

Explanation :

• Exercise Red Flag is a two-week advanced aerial combat training exercise held several times a year by the United States Air Force.
• It aims to offer realistic air-combat training for military pilots and other flight crew members from the United States and allied countries.
• First held in 1975, the Red Flag exercises bring together air crews from the United States Air Force (USAF), United States Navy (USN), United States Marine Corps (USMC), United States Army (USA) and numerous NATO and other allied nations' air forces.
• Only countries considered friendly towards the United States take part in Red Flag exercises.

Explanation :

• The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM Act), 2003, establishes financial discipline to reduce fiscal deficit
• The FRBM Bill was introduced by the then finance minister, Yashwant Sinha, in 2000. The Bill, approved by the Union Cabinet in 2003, became effective from July 5, 2004.
• It aims to introduce transparency in India's fiscal management systems.
• The Act’s long-term objective is for India to achieve fiscal stability and to give the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) flexibility to deal with inflation in India.

Key features

The FRBM Act made it mandatory for the government to place the following along with the Union Budget documents in Parliament annually:

• Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement
• Macroeconomic Framework Statement
• Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement

Escape Clause

• Escape clause generally refers to a contract provision that specifies the conditions under which a party can be freed from an obligation.
• The escape clause under the FRBM Act details a set of events in which the Central government can deviate from fiscal deficit targets.
• It provide flexibility to governments to overshoot fiscal deficit targets in times of need, enabling them to respond to economic shocks.
• To ensure escape clauses are not misused, they are generally allowed only in exceptional circumstances, and with a check on the quantum of deviation.
• The term was used by FRBM Review Committee headed by NK Singh, in 2016.

Explanation :

• Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established in 1948 with public contributions to assist displaced persons from Pakistan.
• The fund is recognized as a Trust under the Income Tax Act and the same is managed by Prime Minister or multiple delegates for national causes.
• PMNRF accepts voluntary contributions from Individuals, Organizations, Trusts, Companies and Institutions etc.
• The resources of the fund are utilized to render immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc.
• In addition it assists partially to defray the expenses for medical treatment like heart surgery, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment of needy people and acid attack etc.

Explanation :

• Indian Army launched “Operation Namaste” to contain the spread of Corona Virus in the country.
• Under the operation, the army will help the Government of India fight against the deadly disease.
• Under the operation, Indian Army has established 8 quarantine so far. Also, Command wise help line numbers have been established.

Mo Jiban (My Life)

• It is a new programme launched by Odisha Government, under which people of the State have to take a resolute vow to stay home and not to go outside during the lockdown period to remain safe from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Explanation :

• The Kuril Islands is a volcanic archipelago in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast that stretches approximately 1,300 km northeast from Hokkaido, Japan to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean.
• These form part of the ring of tectonic instability encircling the Pacific Ocean referred to as the Ring of Fire.
• The Islands are currently under Russian administration. However, they are also claimed by Japan.
• Four islands - which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories - are the subject of a 60-year-old dispute between the two nations.
• These four islands - Kunashir (known in Japanese as Kunashiri), Iturup (Etorofu), Shikotan and the rocky Habomai islets.

Explanation :

• Reunion is an overseas department and region of the French Republic and an island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and 175 km southwest of Mauritius.
• Administratively, it is one of the overseas departments of France.
• Like the other four overseas departments, it is also one of the 18 regions of France, with the modified status of overseas region, and an integral part of the republic with the same status as Metropolitan France.
• The official language is French. In addition, the majority of the region's population speaks Reunion Creole.
• The Island is home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes, the Piton de la Fournaise, which is also a World Heritage site.

Explanation :

• Reunion is an overseas department and region of the French Republic and an island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar and 175 km southwest of Mauritius.
• Administratively, it is one of the overseas departments of France.
• Like the other four overseas departments, it is also one of the 18 regions of France, with the modified status of overseas region, and an integral part of the republic with the same status as Metropolitan France.
• The official language is French. In addition, the majority of the region's population speaks Reunion Creole.
• The Island is home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes, the Piton de la Fournaise, which is also a World Heritage site.