UPSC Quiz – 2021 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 7th JULY 2021

Solution (a)

Project BOLD (Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought) is recently launched from the tribal village NichlaMandwa in Udaipur, Rajasthan by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Under the project 5000 saplings of special bamboo species – BambusaTulda and BambusaPolymorpha specially brought from Assam – have been planted over 25 bigha (16 acres approx) of vacant arid Gram Panchayat land. KVIC has thus created a world record of planting the highest number of bamboo saplings on a single day at one location.

The project seeks to create bamboo-based green patches in arid and semi-arid land zones.

It is aligned with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s call for reducing land degradation and preventing desertification in the country.

The initiative has been launched as part of KVIC’s “Khadi Bamboo Festival” to celebrate 75 years of independence “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”.

KVIC will replicate the Project at Village Dholera in Ahmedabad district in Gujarat and Leh-Ladakh region.

KVIC chose bamboo because they are known for conserving water and reducing evaporation of water from the land surface, which is an important feature in arid and drought-prone regions.

Article Link: KVIC’s Unique Project BOLD to Boost Tribals’ Income and Bamboo-based Economy in Rajasthan

Solution (b)

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a human rights treaty of the Council of Europe against violence against women and domestic violence which was opened for signature on 11 May 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Aim of the convention is:

• to prevent and prosecute all forms of violence against women
• to promote gender equality and
• to ensure protection and rehabilitation of women who are victims of violence.

India is not a party of this convention.

Turkey was the first country to ratify the Istanbul convention and incorporated it into its domestic law. Turkey was followed by 34 other countries: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Recently, Turkey became the first and only country to withdraw from the convention, after denouncing it on 20 March 2021.

Article Link: Why Erdogan has pulled out of Istanbul Convention on violence against women

Solution (d)

A Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC), or a blank-cheque company, is an entity specifically set up with the objective of acquiring a firm in a particular sector. 

The aim of this SPAC is to raise money in an initial public offering (IPO), and at this point in time, it does not have any operations or revenues. 

Once the money is raised from the public, it is kept in an escrow account, which can be accessed while making the acquisition. If the acquisition is not made within two years of the IPO, the SPAC is delisted and the money is returned to the investors.

Certain market participants believe that, through an SPAC transaction, a private company can become a publicly-traded company.

While India has not taken an official regulatory stand on allowing the listing of SPACs here, the Security and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) has reportedly formed a group of experts to study the feasibility of bringing SPACs under the regulatory ambit. However, the Indian regulatory framework does not allow the creation of these blank cheque companies as yet.

Article Link: Indian SPACs to raise $1 bn, SII to double vax production

Solution (c)

Harit Dhara is an anti-methanogenic feed supplement developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

It can cut down cattle methane emissions by 17-20% and can also result in higher milk production.

Harit Dhara acts by decreasing the population of protozoa microbes in the rumen, responsible for hydrogen production and making it available to the archaea for reduction of CO2 to methane.

Tropical plants containing tannins – bitter and astringent chemical compounds – are known to suppress or remove protozoa from the rumen.

Article Link: A farmer-friendly solution to cut cattle methane emissions

Solution (b)

The Indus system comprises the main Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The basin is mainly shared by India and Pakistan with a small share for China and Afghanistan.

The Treaty gives control over the waters of the three “eastern rivers” — the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej exclusively to India.

Control over the waters of the three “western rivers” — the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum went to Pakistan.

The treaty allows India to use the western river waters for limited irrigation use and unlimited non-consumptive use for such applications as power generation, navigation, floating of property, fish culture, etc.

Article Link: India to divert excess waters under Indus treaty to irrigate own land