Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• Mahavir Swami was born to King Siddhartha of Kundagrama and Queen Trishala, a Lichchhavi princess in the year 540 BC in the Vajji kingdom, identical with modern day Vaishali in Bihar.
• He belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty.
• Also known as Vardhamana, he was the 24th tirthankara of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of 23rd tirthankara Parshvanatha.
• Mahavira practiced intense meditation and severe austerities for 12 years, after which he is believed to have attained Kevala Jnana (omniscience).
• He taught that observance of the vows of ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (chastity), and aparigraha (non-attachment) are necessary for spiritual liberation.
• He taught the principles of Anekantavada (many-sided reality): syadvada and nayavada.
• Mahavira's teachings were compiled by Indrabhuti Gautama (his chief disciple) as the Jain Agamas.

Explanation :

• Community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India.
• Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities and community areas if part of the lands is privately owned.
• These protected area categories were first introduced in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002 − the amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
• These categories were added because of reduced protection in and around existing or proposed protected areas due to private ownership of land, and land use.
• These categories roughly correspond to IUCN Category V (conservation reserves) and VI (community reserves) protected areas.
• Keshopur Chamb, Gurdaspur (Punjab) is India's first community reserve.

Explanation :

• Amidst the global coronavirus crisis, India, on 2^nd April, 2020, launched an 18-hour operation called 'Operation Sanjeevani' to deliver 6.2 tonnes of essential medicines and hospital consumables to Maldives.
• The Indian Air Force lifted medicines from airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Madurai and delivered to the Maldives.
• Medicines including influenza vaccines, anti-viral drugs such as Lopinavir and Ritonavir (these two medicines are being used in other countries to treat COVID-19 ) have gone to the Maldives.
• Consumables including catheters, nebulisers, urine bags and infant feeding tubes and other medications for cardiac conditions, kidney ailments, hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, allergies and cancer treatment, anticonvulsants have been delivered too.

Explanation :

• The Malabar large-spotted civet (Viverra civettina), also known as the Malabar civet, is a viverrid endemic to the Western Ghats of India.
• It has a dark mark on the cheek, large transverse dark marks on the back and sides, and two obliquely transverse dark lines on the neck.
• These dark marks are more pronounced than in the large Indian civet.

Distribution

• In the 19th century, the Malabar civet occurred throughout the Malabar coast from the latitude of Honnavar to Kanyakumari.
• It inhabited the forests and richly wooded lowland, and was occasionally found on elevated forest tracts.
• It was considered abundant in Travancore.

Threats

• Until a few decades ago, local merchants in Kerala reared Malabar civets to obtain civetone, an extract from the scent gland, which was used in medicine, and as an aromatic.

Conservation Status

• IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered.
• Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972: Schedule I
• CITES: Appendix III

Explanation :

• On 1^st April, 2020, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has set up price monitoring and resource unit (PMRU) in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
• The unit shall help the NPPA and the State Drug Controller in ensuring availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices.
• With this J&K has become the 12th State/UT where the PMRU has been set up.
• PMRUs have already been set up by the drug price regulator NPPA in 11 states such as Kerala, Odisha, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Mizoram.
• It is to be noted that the Kerala has become the first State to set up a price monitoring and research unit (PMRU) in February, 2019.

Price Monitoring & Resource Unit

• It is a registered society, which function under the direct control and supervision of State Drug Controller of respective states.
• The unit is being funded by NPPA for its recurring and non-recurring expenses.

Functions

• Help NPPA and State Drug Controller in ensuring availability and accessibility of medicines at affordable prices.
• Organise seminars, training programs and other information, education and communication (IEC) activities in the areas of availability and affordability of medicines for all.
• Collect samples of medicines, collect and analyse data and make reports with respect to availability and over-pricing of medicines for taking action under the provisions of Drug Price Control Order (DPCO).

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)

• Formed in August 1997, it is a government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs in India.
• NPPA fixes ceiling price of essential medicines that are listed in Schedule I of DPCO, 2013.

Explanation :

• The countercyclical capital buffer is intended to protect the banking sector against losses that could be caused by cyclical systemic risks increasing in the economy.
• It aims to ensure that banking sector capital requirements take account of the macro-financial environment in which banks operate.
• It require banks to hold capital at times when credit is growing rapidly so that the buffer can be reduced if the financial cycle turns down or the economic and financial environment becomes substantially worse.
• Banks can use the capital buffers they have built up during the growth phase of the financial cycle to cover losses that may arise during periods of stress and to continue supplying credit to the real economy.
• The rule was first introduced in Basel III as an extension of another buffer (called the capital conservation buffer).

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.