Weekly Current Affairs Quizzes : 26/09/2022 to 01/10/2022

EXPLANATION:

• CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility):
• It aims to achieve sustainability by minimizing its negative environmental impacts of an organisation and act in conformity with societal expectations. 
• Though they are difficult to quantify but these are definitely beyond financial measures.
• CSR applies to all companies - listed, unlisted, public, private, one-person subject to limitation:
• Net worth of 5 hundred crore or more
• Turnover of 1 thousand crore or more
• Net Profit of 5 crore or more
• Issues:
• CSR amendment law, 2021 provides a substantial financial penalty for non-compliance that turn around about 90% for relatively small, unlisted companies.
• Companies have added CSR to the responsibilities of their HR or administration or communications head, rather than hiring professional leads, experienced in the social sector.
• Not every company is aware of all the facets of the CSR rules they are complying with.
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in NGOs:
• Any social activity often receives big donations, especially from corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes in India.
• That fund is mostly spent by these NGOs on
  • Working on particular outcomes like books, online resources, teacher training, curriculum design, etc.
  • Administrative and support expenses like rent, electricity, technology and human resource costs.
• Issue of CSR as advertisement/diversion:
• CSR programs are undertaken by companies such as British American Tobacco (BAT), the petroleum giant BP (well known for its high-profile advertisement campaigns on environmental aspects of its operations). These are aimed to distract the public from ethical questions posed by their core operations. 
• Some corporations start CSR programs for the commercial benefit by raising their reputation with the public or with government and saving money on advertisement.

EXPLANATION:

• Current system of International Trade:
• Currently, the majority of trade is conducted in US dollars. An exporter receives payment in dollars, which he translates into Indian rupees before using them in India. 
• INR based payment system:
• It makes use of Vostro/Nostro account. A foreign bank will open a Vostro account in Indian bank. It will deposit some INR in that account. An importer in Russia will give rubbles to their bank and that bank will approve the transfer of rupees from their vostro account to the Indian exporter. 
• About Vostro and Nostro Account: 
• A vostro account is an account a bank holds on behalf of another bank.
• A nostro account refers to an account that a bank holds in a foreign currency in another bank.
• Clarification:
• Bank A will use the term Nostro account to refer to "their" account (Our Money) opened in Bank B. Bank B, where bank A’s money is deposited, will use the term Vostro account to refer to "your money that is on deposit at our bank".

EXPLANATION:

• Section 66A:
• Section 66A provides punishment for sending “grossly offensive” messages or messages with “menacing character” through a computer or any other communication device like a mobile phone or a tablet.
• A conviction can fetch a maximum of three years in jail and a fine.
• Shreya Singhal v. Union of India:
• The Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in its entirety, and ruled that it was violative of Article 19(1)(a).
• The vagueness about what is “offensive”. The word has a very wide connotation and is open to distinctive, varied interpretations.
• Recent Event: The Supreme Court expressed “serious concern” over states continuing to register FIRs for offences under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act despite the court holding it unconstitutional in 2015.

EXPLANATION:

• Scientists in China have successfully cloned a wild Arctic Wolf for the first time. A Beijing-based gene firm has succeeded in cloning the Arctic Wolf to prevent the endangered species from going extinct. The Arctic Wolf is also known as white wolf or polar wolf. It is native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Islands. It is a subspecies of the gray wolf. This medium-sized wolf is smaller than the Alaskan timber wolf. Since the 1930s, there has been a significant decline in the size of the Arctic wolf’s skull because of the wolf-dog hybridization.
• Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The newly cloned wolf was named Maya, which means good health.The donor cell of the wolf came from a skin sample of a wild female Arctic Wolf. Its oocyte was obtained from a dog. The cloning process involved the construction of 137 new embryos from enucleated (process of removing nucleus from the cell) oocytes and somatic cells. 85 embryos were transferred to the uteri of seven beagles. The beagle was chosen as the surrogate mother since this dog breed is found to share genetic ancestry with ancient wolves. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Cloning is the process of producing living organisms, including cells, tissues etc., with identical genetic materials either through natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. Artificially, the first animal to be cloned was a sheep named Dolly. It was created in 1996 by a Scottish scientist using an udder cell from an adult sheep. Recently, in July 2022, Japanese scientists have succeeded in producing cloned mice using freeze-dried skin cells. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

EXPLANATION:

• The Union Ministry of Power is currently calling for the Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism – a radical shift from the current decentralized, voluntary pool-based electricity market. The MBED mechanism envisages a centralized scheduling for dispatching the entire yearly consumption of electricity of around 1,400 billion units. It proposes a centralized scheduling of power dispatches both at the inter-state and intra-state levels. This will interfere in the autonomy of states in managing their electricity sector, including their own generating stations. It will make distribution companies, mainly owned by the state governments, completely dependent on the centralized mechanism. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• This mechanism will remove the states’ freedom to decide their own electricity requirements and prevent them from effectively managing seasonal and local demand trends. The Central Government is advocating for the new model to deepen the power market in line with the ‘One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One Price’ formula and to minimize the cost of generating electricity across India. According to experts, the new mechanism goes against the Indian Constitutional provisions, the current legal framework and market structure. It will also create complications in the overall grid management. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Power currently belongs to the Concurrent List of the Indian Constitution, with the electricity grid divided into state-wise autonomous control areas managed by the State Load Dispatch Centers (SLDCs), which comes under the supervision of the Regional Load Dispatch Centers (RLDCs) and the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC). Each control area is in charge of balancing the demands with generation resources in real time. The MBED seeks to change this by replacing it with a central market operator to dispatch inter-state and intra-state generation plants. It will minimize the options currently available under the voluntary market design, as it makes day-ahead contracts redundant. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

EXPLANATION:

• The Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) is expected to complete the construction of India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline by the end of 2022. Once completed, the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline would help provide a stable supply of diesel in all 16 northern districts under Rangpur and Rajshahi in Bangladesh. It will ensure fast-paced delivery of fuel at a minimum cost. Currently, imported diesels are supplied to these regions via wagons and trawlers from the Chattogram and Mongla ports. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Project (IBFPP) aims to connect Siliguri in West Bengal, India with Parbatipur in Bangladesh’s Dinajpur district. The total outlay of this project is Rs.346 crore. The capacity of this under-construction 130 km pipeline will be 1 million metric per year. The pipeline’s construction commenced after the formal inauguration in March 2020. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The project is jointly implemented by the Numaligarh Refinery Limited of India and Meghna Petroleum Limited of Bangladesh. Initially, Bangladesh would buy some 2.5 lakh tonnes of diesel. It would then be increased up to 4 to 5 lakh tonnes in the following years. Under the contract, Bangladesh will import diesel for 15 years from the day when supply commences. The Numaligarh Refinery Limited is a government of India enterprise based in Assam. It is a group company of Oil India Limited. During the FY 2021-22, it achieved the    highest ever sales turnover of Rs.23,546 crore, which is 26.95 per cent higher than the previous year. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

EXPLANATION:

• Prime Minister Modi recently launched the National Logistics Policy (NLP). The National Logistics Policy aims to promote smooth movement of goods across India and boost competitiveness of the Indian goods in the domestic and international markets. It aims to bring down the logistics cost, which in turn would improve efficiency of various sectors of the economy, boosting value addition and economic growth. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The policy was announced for the first time in the Union Budget 2020. Its focus areas are Integration of Digital System (IDS), Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP), Ease of Logistics (ELOG) and System Improvement Group (SIG). The IDS will integrate 30 different systems of seven different departments, such as customs, aviation, road transport, railways, international trade and commerce ministries. The ULIP aims to ensure continuous monitoring of cargo movement. The ELOG would seek to simplify procedures and achieve ease of doing business. The SIG would monitor all projects related to logistics on a regular basis and ensure the removal of hurdles faced in the sector. An empowered group of secretaries (EGoS) has been constituted under the PM Gati Shakti to monitor and review the implementation of the NLP. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• India’s logistics sector provides jobs for more than 22 million people. The sector is complicated, as it is regulated by more than 20 government agencies, 40 partner government agencies, 37 export promotion councils, 500 certifications etc. India’s current logistics cost as a proportion of the GDP is some 13-14 per cent. The Indian Government is planning to decrease it to single digit. The sector’s present market size is 160 billion USD. Its improvement can ensure a 10 per cent decrease in indirect logistics cost and increase the growth of exports by 5 to 8 per cent. Hence, statement 3 is  not correct.

EXPLANATION:

• KRITAGYA 3.0 was launched by ICAR to promote “speed breeding” for crop improvement. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research along with its National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) and Crop Science Division is organizing a hackathon KRITAGYA 3.0 aimed at promoting speed breeding for the improvement of crops. This initiative would give opportunities for students, faculties, entrepreneurs, innovators and others to demonstrate innovative approaches and technological solutions for crop improvement. Besides achieving desired solutions in the crop sector, it would also encourage wider adoption of technology-enabled solutions in the agriculture sector. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The KRITAGYA stands for KRI for Krishi, which means agriculture; TA for Taknik, meaning technology; and GYA for Gyan, meaning knowledge. In this hackathon, students can collaborate with local startup-ups, students from technology institutions and can win a maximum of Rs.5 lakhs. It will provide an opportunity to learn, innovate and solve problems faced in the crop sector and boost employability and entrepreneurship in the country. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• It was launched in line with the National Education Policy, 2020. The earlier hackathons focused on innovation in farm mechanization and animal science. These events witnessed the participation of more than 3,000 individuals and winners received a cash prize of Rs.9 lakhs. They extended support for the winners to expand their concept propositions, their scalability and future plan to collaborate with Agribusiness Incubators, MSMEs and other investors through support of ICAR. The Indian Council for Agricultural Research launched the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) in November 2017 with the assistance from the World Bank. Its main objective is to assist participating agricultural universities and ICAR in providing high quality education to students. It was set up with a total outlay of 165 million USD for five years from 2017-18. The cost of this project is equally shared between the World Bank and the Indian Government. It is implemented by the Education Division of the ICAR. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

EXPLANATION:

• CERT-In has given advisory on SOVA virus is  a novel mobile banking “Trojan” virus that is currently targeting Indian customers. It can add false overlays to a range of apps and mimic over 200 banking and payment applications to con the android users. The latest version can hide itself within fake android applications that show up with the logo of a few famous apps like Chrome, Amazon, NFT platform etc., to deceive users into installing them. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The Sova virus is capable of stealthily encrypting an android phone for ransom. This malware is distributed through smishing (phishing via SMS) attacks like most Android banking Trojans.
• After the installation of the fake android application, it sends the list of all applications installed on the device to the command and control server (C2) of the threat actor so as to obtain targeted applications. Then, the C2 sends back to the malware the list of addresses for each targeted application and stores this information inside an XML file. These targeted applications are then managed through the communication between the malware and the C2. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team or CERT-In is a nodal agency of the Indian Government involved in addressing cyber security threats like hacking and phishing. It comes under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

EXPLANATION:

• CSR:
• It aims to achieve sustainability by minimizing its negative environmental impacts of an organisation and act in conformity with societal expectations. 
• Though they are difficult to quantify but these are definitely beyond financial measures.
• CSR applies to all companies - listed, unlisted, public, private, one-person subject to limitation: Hence statement 1 is correct

• Net worth of 5 hundred crore or more Hence statement 2 is correct
• Turnover of 1 thousand crore or more Hence statement 3 is correct
• Net Profit of 5 crore or more. Hence statement 4 is correct
• Issue of CSR as advertisement/diversion:
• CSR programs are undertaken by companies such as British American Tobacco (BAT), the petroleum giant BP (well known for its high-profile advertisement campaigns on environmental aspects of its operations). These are aimed to distract the public from ethical questions posed by their core operations. 
• Some corporations start CSR programs for the commercial benefit by raising their reputation with the public or with government and saving money on advertisement.
• Recent Issue - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in NGOs:
• Any social activity often receives big donations, especially from corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes in India.
• That fund is mostly spent by these NGOs on
  • Working on particular outcomes like books, online resources, teacher training, curriculum design, etc.
  • Administrative and support expenses like rent, electricity, technology and human resource costs.
• Issues:
• CSR amendment law, 2021 provides a substantial financial penalty for non-compliance that turn around about 90% for relatively small, unlisted companies.
• Companies have added CSR to the responsibilities of their HR or administration or communications head, rather than hiring professional leads, experienced in the social sector.
• Not every company is aware of all the facets of the CSR rules they are complying with.

EXPLANATION:

• Vostro and Nostro Account: 
• Bank A will use the term Nostro account to refer to "their" account (Our Money) opened in Bank B. Bank B, where bank A’s money is deposited, will use the term Vostro account to refer to "your money that is on deposit at our bank". Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Current system:
• Currently, the majority of trade is conducted in US dollars. An exporter receives payment in dollars, which he translates into Indian rupees before using them in India. 
• Use in International Trade - INR based payment system:
• It makes use of Vostro/Nostro account. A foreign bank will open a Vostro account in Indian bank. It will deposit some INR in that account. An importer in Russia will give rubbles to their bank and that bank will approve the transfer of rupees from their vostro account to the Indian exporter. 

EXPLANATION:

• Section 66A:
• Section 66A provides punishment for sending “grossly offensive” messages or messages with “menacing character” through a computer or any other communication device like a mobile phone or a tablet. Hence statement 1 and 2 are correct.
• A conviction can fetch a maximum of three years in jail and a fine. Hence statement 3 is correct.
• Shreya Singhal v. Union of India:
• The Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in its entirety, and ruled that it was violative of Article 19(1)(a). Hence statement 4 is correct.
• The vagueness about what is “offensive”. The word has a very wide connotation and is open to distinctive, varied interpretations.
• Recent News: The Supreme Court expressed “serious concern” over states continuing to register FIRs for offences under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act despite the court holding it unconstitutional in 2015