Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.
• The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in the United States of America.
• The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council.
• It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French.
• The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.

Explanation :

• Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is a complication of delivery and the most common cause of maternal death, accounting for about 35% of all maternal deaths worldwide.
• PPH is commonly defined as a blood loss of 500 ml or more within 24 hours after birth, while severe PPH is defined as a blood loss of 1000 ml or more within the same time frame according to World Health Organisation (WHO).
• It is a major cause of morbidity and mortality with in the first 24 hours following delivery and this is regarded as primary PPH: whereas any excessive bleeding from the birth canal occurring between 24 hours and 12 weeks postnatally (after delivery) is termed as secondary PPH.

Causes

• Uterine atony
• Genital trauma
• Coagulation problem

Treatment

• The treatment of patients with PPH has 2 major components: (1) resuscitation and management of obstetric hemorrhage and, possibly, hypovolemic shock and (2) identification and management of the underlying causes of the hemorrhage.

Explanation :

• The Rare Earth Elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium.
• 15 REE are- lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu).
• The principal economic sources of rare earths are the minerals bastnasite, monazite, and loparite and the lateritic ion-adsorption clays.
• Although these elements are referred to as rare they are not particularly rare in the earth’s crust. Cesium is the 25th most abundant crustal element and lutetium, the scarcest REE, is about the 60th most abundant.

REEs are categorized as being either light or heavy:

• Light REEs (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium and scandium) are produced in global abundance and are in surplus supply
• Heavy REEs (terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium and yttrium) are produced mainly in China and are in limited supply.

Uses

• Their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties make them essential to such products as smartphones, electric cars, camera lenses, X-ray scanners, wind turbines, and computer hard drives.
• REE are essential raw materials for a wide range of applications, including metallurgy (metal refining and metal alloying), catalysts in the automotive and the petro-chemical industry, colouring of glass/ceramics, phosphors (LEDs, compact fluorescent lamps, flat panel displays), lasers, rechargeable solid state batteries (Ni-MH), fibre optics and others.
• Additionally, REE are vital elements in emerging technologies such as solid state fuel cells, superconductors, magnetic cooling, hydrogen storage and high performance permanent magnets.

Explanation :

• A fuel cell is a device that generates electricity by converting chemical energy into electrical energy. Every fuel cell has two electrodes called, respectively, the anode and cathode. The reactions that produce electricity take place at the electrodes.
• Hydrogen is the basic fuel, but fuel cells also require oxygen. One great appeal of fuel cells is that they generate electricity with very little pollution–much of the hydrogen and oxygen used in generating electricity ultimately combines to form harmless by product- water.
• The most common type of fuel cell for vehicle applications is the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. In a PEM fuel cell, an electrolyte membrane is sandwiched between a positive electrode (cathode) and a negative electrode (anode).

Examples

• Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells
• Direct methanol fuel cells
• Alkaline fuel cells
• Molten carbonate fuel cells
• Solid oxide fuel cells

Advantages

• Low-to-Zero Emissions
• High Efficiency
• Reliability
• Fuel Flexibility
• Energy Security
• Durability
• Scalability
• Quiet Operation

Explanation :

• The Sattriya dance form was introduced in the 15th century A.D by the great Vaishnava saint and reformer of Assam, Mahapurusha Sankaradeva as a powerful medium for propagation of the Vaishnava faith.
• Sattriya dance tradition is governed by strictly laid down principles in respect of hasta mudras, footworks, aharyas, music etc.
• This tradition, has two distinctly separate streams - the Bhaona-related repertoire starting from the Gayan-Bhayanar Nach to the Kharmanar Nach, secondly the dance numbers which are independent, such as Chali, Rajagharia Chali, Jhumura, Nadu Bhangi etc.
• One-act plays of Sattriya are called Ankiya Nat, which combine the aesthetic and the religious through a ballad, dance and drama. The plays are usually performed in the dance community halls (namghar) of monastery temples (sattras). The themes played relate to Krishna and Radha, sometimes other Vishnu avatars such as Rama and Sita.
• The dance is accompanied by musical compositions called borgeets, which are based on classical ragas.
• The instruments that accompany a traditional performance are khols (drums), taals (cymbals) and the flute.
• On 15 November 2000, the Sangeet Natak Akademi finally gave Sattriya Nritya its due recognition as one of the classical dance forms of India.

Explanation :

• NavIC, previously known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is an indigenous regional navigation satellite system being developed by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
• It consists of a constellation of seven satellites, three of which are in a geostationary orbit and four in a geosynchronous orbit.
• It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. An Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 degree South to 50 degree North, Longitude 30 degree East to 130 degree East.
• It will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users.
• In April 2016, with the last launch of the constellation's satellite, IRNSS was renamed Navigation Indian Constellation (NAVIC) by Indian government.

Applications

• Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation
• Disaster Management
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management
• Integration with mobile phones
• Precise Timing
• Mapping and Geodetic data capture
• Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers

Explanation :

• The National Ganga Council, also known as the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection, and Management of River Ganga was set up in 2016, replacing the National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA).
• The Council, formed under the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA),1986, is chaired by Prime Minister.
• The jurisdiction of the National Ganga Council shall extend to the States comprising River Ganga Basin, namely, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Rajasthan,Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Haryana, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi and such other States, having major tributaries of the River Ganga.
• The Council is overall responsible for the superintendence, direction, development and control of River Ganga and the entire River Basin (including financial and administrative matters) for the protection, prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in River Ganga and its rejuvenation to its natural and pristine condition and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water in the River Ganga and for matters connected therewith.

Explanation :

• Samagra Shiksha is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12, prepared with the broader goal of improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.
• The vision of the Scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for Education.
• It subsumes the three schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• The major objectives of the Scheme are provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students; Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education; Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education; Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions; Promoting Vocationalisation of education; Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and Strengthening and up-gradation of SCERTs/State Institutes of Education and DIET as a nodal agencies for teacher training.

Significance

• The Scheme will help improve the transition rates across the various levels of school education and aid in promoting universal access to children to complete school education.

Explanation :

• The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) is a body constituted under the provisions of Section 132 of the Companies Act, 2013. The constitution of this authority is effective from 1st October 2018.
• The Companies Act requires the NFRA to have a chairperson who will be appointed by the Central Government and a maximum of 15 members.
• It can probe listed companies and those unlisted public companies having paid-up capital of no less than Rs. 500 crore or annual turnover of no less than Rs 1,000 crore.

Functions and Duties

• To recommend accounting and auditing policies and standards to be adopted by companies for approval by the Central Government
• To monitor and enforce compliance with accounting standards and auditing standards
• To oversee the quality of service of the professions associated with ensuring compliance with such standards and suggest measures for improvement in the quality of service
• To perform such other functions and duties as may be necessary or incidental to the aforesaid functions and duties.

Explanation :

• Extra Neutral alcohol (ENA) is a colourless food-grade alcohol without any impurities.It has neutral smell and taste, and typically contains 96% alcohol by volume (ABV).
• It is derived from different sources — sugarcane molasses and grains and is used in the production of alcoholic beverages such as whisky, vodka, gin, cane, liqueurs, and alcoholic fruit beverages.
• In India, almost 90% of ENA is used for potable alcohol, which accounts for an annual production capacity of nearly 2.7 Billion Litres.

Applications

• Essential ingredient in the manufacturing of several cosmetics and personal care products such as perfume, toiletries
• In the production of paints and ink for the printing industry
• In pharmaceutical products in products such as antiseptics, drug, syrups, medicated sprays, etc.