Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The size and the composition of the IMFC mirrors that of the Executive Board. The IMFC has 24 members who are central bank governors, ministers, or others of comparable rank and who are usually drawn from the governors of the Fund’s 189 member countries.
• Each member country and each group of member countries that elects an Executive Director appoints a member of the IMFC.
• The IMFC usually meets twice a year, at the Bank-Fund Annual and Spring Meetings.
• For each meeting, the Managing Director prepares a draft agenda that is discussed by the Executive Board, approved by the IMFC Chair, and formally adopted by the IMFC at the meeting.
• At the end of the meetings, the Committee issues a communiqué summarizing its views.
• These communiqués provide guidance for the IMF’s work program during the half year leading up to the next Spring or Annual Meetings.

Function

• The IMFC advises and reports to the IMF Board of Governors on the supervision and management of the international monetary and financial system, including on responses to unfolding events that may disrupt the system.
• It also considers proposals by the Executive Board to amend the Articles of Agreement and advises on any other matters that may be referred to it by the Board of Governors.
• Although the IMFC has no formal decision-making powers, in practice, it has become a key instrument for providing strategic direction to the work and policies of the Fund.

Explanation :

• Thrissur Pooram (Thrissur Puram) is an annual Hindu festival held in Kerala, India.
• It is held at the Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur every year on the Pooram (day - the day when the moon rises with the Pooram star in the Malayalam Calendar month of Medam.
• It is the largest and most famous of all poorams.
• Thrissur Pooram was the brainchild of Raja Rama Varma, famously known as Sakthan Thampuran, the Maharaja of Cochin (1790–1805).
• The festival sports an enthralling line-up of vibrantly decked up elephants and is marked by the kudamattom ceremony.
• Another high point is the ilanjithara melam, a highly bewitching performance of traditional instruments which lifts the thousands gathered to a state of euphoria and bliss.
• Around 250 odd artistes participate in this traditional orchestra led by chenda artistes and the spirit is mirrored by the thousands of spectators who wave their hands in accordance to the rhythm generated by the chenda, kurumkuzhal, kombu and elathalam (traditional instruments of Kerala).
• The finale is marked by a grand fireworks show.

Explanation :

• Measles, also known as morbilli, rubeola, red measles, and English measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus.
• Measles morbillivirus, formerly called measles virus (MeV), is a single-stranded, negative-sense, enveloped, non-segmented RNA virus of the genus Morbillivirus within the family Paramyxoviridae.
• Humans are the natural hosts of the virus; no animal reservoirs are known to exist.
• Measles is an airborne disease which spreads easily through the coughs and sneezes of infected people.
• It may also be spread through direct contact with mouth or nasal secretions.

Symptoms

• The first sign of measles is usually a high fever, which begins about 10 to 12 days after exposure to the virus, and lasts 4 to 7 days.
• A runny nose, a cough, red and watery eyes, and small white spots inside the cheeks can develop in the initial stage.
• Koplik's spots seen inside the mouth are diagnostic for measles, but are temporary and therefore rarely seen.
• These are small white spots that are commonly seen on the inside of the cheeks opposite the molars.

Explanation :

• The Survey of India is India's central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying.
• Set up in 1767 to help consolidate the territories of the British East India Company, it is one of the oldest Engineering Departments of the Government of India.
• Its members are from Survey of India Service cadre of Civil Services of India and Army Officers from the Indian Army Corps of Engineers. It is headed by the Surveyor General of India.
• The Survey of India, headquartered at Dehra Dun, has 18 Geo Spatial divisions ranging from the prediction of tides to aerial survey.
• It has 23 Geo-spatial Data Centers spread across India, each catering to the respective administrative area.

Responsibility

• It dedicates itself to the advancement of theory, practice, collection and applications of geospatial data, and promotes an active exchange of information, ideas, and technological innovations amongst the data producers and users who will get access to such data of highest possible resolution at an affordable cost in the near real-time environment.

Explanation :

• Established in February 2015 during the Ebola outbreak and modified in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CCRT grants complement donor financing and the IMF concessional lending through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT).
• The trust allows the IMF to join international debt relief efforts when poor countries are hit by the most catastrophic of natural disasters and to assist poor countries battling public health disasters—such as epidemics or global pandemics of infectious disease.

Eligibility

• Assistance through the CCRT is currently available to low-income countries eligible for concessional borrowing through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT).
• Countries which have either a per capita income below the International Development Association’s (IDA) operational cutoff (currently US$1,175).
• Small states with a population below 1.5 million and a per capita income below twice the IDA cutoff (currently US$2,350).

Structure

The CCRT has two windows:

• Catastrophe Containment window, to provide assistance in containing a public health disaster
• Post-Catastrophe Relief window, to provide exceptional assistance in the wake of a catastrophic natural disaster.

Explanation :

• Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the protist Trypanosoma cruzi.
• It is spread mostly by insects known as Triatominae, or "kissing bugs".
• In the early stage, symptoms may include fever, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, or swelling at the site of the bite.

Mainly because of the increased population mobility in the last decades, most infected people live in urban settings (urbanization) and the disease has been increasingly detected in the United States of America, Canada, and many European and some African, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific countries.

Explanation :

• Central Administrative Tribunal was established under Article 323A of the Constitution (inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976).
• It was established in 1985 under Section 29 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.

Composition

• It is a multi-member body consisting of Chairman and members.
• The Tribunal is headed by the Chairman and 65 Members, 33 from Judicial (including Chairman) and 33 from the Administrative stream.
• The Chairman is normally a retired Chief Justice of a High Court.

Working

• CAT is not bound by the procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but is guided by the principles of natural justice.
• A tribunal has the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Jurisdiction

It exercises original jurisdiction over all service matters concerned with:

• Members of the all-India services
• Persons appointed to any civil service of the Union or civil post under the Union
• Civilians appointed to any defence services or posts related to defence
• Employees of PSUs or public sector organisations notified by the government

Functions

• It adjudicates disputes and complaints with respect to Recruitment and Conditions of Service of the persons appointed to the Public Services and Posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or any State or of any other Local Authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.

Explanation :

• The word Bihu is taken from the Sanskrit word Bishu meaning “to ask blessings and prosperity from the Gods" during harvesting season.
• Bihu festivals occur according to the farming schedule.
• It is the “National Festival of Assam”.

Types

Basically, Bihu is a set of three important Assamese festivals in the Indian state of Assam-

• Rongali or Bohag Bihu ( April): It marks a new year at the beginning of seeding time.
• Bhogali or Magh Bihu ( January): It marks the end of the harvesting period.
• Kongali or Kati Bihu (October): It marks the completion of sowing and transplanting of paddies.

Celebration

• The Bohaag Bihu lasts for several days during which the youngsters in a village can be dancing in groups dressed joyfully, or they can be seen dancing around the girls in a circle. Such gatherings are called Mukoli Bihus.

Bihu Dance

• The Bihu dance is a folk dance from the Assam state performed on the Bihu festival. Dance is performed by young men and women. People wear traditional attires like Dhoti, Gamocha and Chadar, Mekhala.
• Bihu Dance has become the identity of the northeastern state. The ethnic groups Deoris, Sonowal Kacharis, Moran, Borahis, etc consider Bihu an integral part of their culture.

Instruments used in Bihu Dnace

• Dhol (Drum)
• Taal
• Pepa (An instrument made of buffalo horn)
• Toka
• Baanhi (Flute)
• Xutuli
• Gogona

Explanation :

• The Dhauladhar range (The White Range) is part of a lesser Himalayan chain of mountains.
• It rises from the Indian plains to the north of Kangra and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and ends near Badrinath,Uttarakhand.
• These ranges are the extension of Pir Panjal into Himachal Pradesh. They are cut across by the river Ravi.
• The highest peak in the range is the Hanuman Tibba, approached from Beas Kund/Manali, about 5982m high.
• Although mostly composed of granite, the flanks of the range exhibit frequent formations of slate limestone and sandstone
• The hill stations of Shimla and Pir Panjal are located in these ranges.
• There are glacial lakes in the Dhauladhars. Prominent among them is the Lam Dal which is the biggest with a circumference of about 2.5 km.
• One of the major passes across this range is the Indrahar Pass, which forms the border between Kangra and Chamba districts.

Explanation :

• Also called the basic reproduction number, it indicates the average number of people who will contract the virus from a person who has already been infected, in a population that does not have immunity for the said disease.
• R0 is the division of the number of new infections by the number of existing infections, or the average number of new infections over an infectious period (R0= new infections/existing infections).
• To illustrate with an example, if the number of people diagnosed with a disease increases from four to eight in two days, it is likely to increase to 16 two days later, or in four days from the start. This makes the R0 two.

R0 Values

Three possibilities exist for the potential spread or decline of a disease, depending on its R0 value:

• If R0 is less than 1, each existing infection causes less than one new infection. In this case, the disease will decline and eventually die out.
• If R0 equals 1, each existing infection causes one new infection. The disease will stay alive and stable, but there won’t be an outbreak or an epidemic.
• If R0 is more than 1, each existing infection causes more than one new infection. The disease will spread between people, and there may be an outbreak or epidemic.
• The higher the R0, the more contagious the infection.