UPSC Quiz – 2021 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 5th October 2021

 Solution (c)

Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is the use of the law to advance human rights and equality, or raise issues of broad public concern.

In India, the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is a product of the judicial activism role of the Supreme Court. It was introduced in the early 1980s. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer and Justice P.N. Bhagwati were the pioneers of the concept of PIL.

It can be filed only in the Supreme Court or the High Court.

PIL is brought before the Court not for the purpose of enforcing the right of one individual against another as happens in the case of ordinary litigation, but it is intended to promote and vindicate public interest.

In PIL, the role held by the Court is more assertive than in traditional actions; it is creative rather than passive and it assumes a more positive attitude in determining acts.

Though in PIL court enjoys a degree of flexibility unknown to the trial of traditional private law litigations, whatever the procedure adopted by the court it must be procedure known to judicial tenets and characteristics of a judicial proceeding.

Article Link: SC pulls up petitioner for filing PIL without adequate research

Solution (b)

Ethanol has been made since ancient times by the fermentation of sugars. All the beverage ethanol, and more than half of industrial ethanol, is still made by this process. Simple sugars are the raw materials. Internationally, sugarcane, sweet sorghum and sugar beet are used for the production of ethanol as sugar containing feedstock. Maize, wheat and other cereals contain starch that can relatively easily be converted to sugar. 

In India, ethanol is primarily produced using sugarcane molasses. 

This is an example of first generation biofuels that uses biomass containing large amounts of sugar or materials that can be converted to sugar such as starch, for the generation of ethanol.

The use of ethanol as a fuel for internal combustion engines, either alone or in combination with other fuels, has been given much attention mostly because of its possible environmental and long-term economical advantages over fossil fuel.

The government of India has advanced the target for 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025 from 2030. E20 will be rolled out from April 2023.

The central government has also released an expert committee report on the Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India by 2025.

The roadmap proposes a gradual rollout of ethanol-blended fuel to achieve E10 fuel supply by April 2022 and phased rollout of E20 from April 2023 to April 2025.

Article Link: Ethanol production absorbed 2 MT of sugar

Solution (b)

Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA):

• Foreign funding of persons in India is regulated under FCRA Act and is implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The Act ensures that the recipients of foreign contributions adhere to the stated purpose for which such contribution has been obtained.
• Under the Act, organisations are required to register/renew themselves every five years.
• The Act bars public servants from receiving foreign contributions.
• The Act prohibits the transfer of foreign contribution to any other person not registered to accept foreign contributions.
• The Act makes Aadhaar number mandatory for all office bearers, directors or key functionaries of a person receiving foreign contribution, as an identification document.
• Foreign contribution must be received only in an account designated by the bank as FCRA account in such branches of the State Bank of India, New Delhi.

Article Link: Deadline for NGOs to renew FCRA registration extended

Solution (d)

The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula.

The sea is contained within the two overlapping Antarctic territorial claims of Argentine Antarctica, the British Antarctic Territory, and also resides partially within the Antarctic Chilean Territory.

Article Link: India backs move to designate East Antarctica, Weddell Sea as Marine Protected Areas

Solution (c)

The least developed countries (LDCs) are a list of developing countries that, according to the United Nations, exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world.

LDC criteria are reviewed every three years by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Countries may “graduate” out of the LDC classification when indicators exceed these criteria in two consecutive triennial reviews.

Since the LDC category was initiated, six countries have graduated to developing country status. The first country to graduate from LDC status was Botswana in 1994. The second country was Cape Verde in 2007. Maldives graduated to developing country status on 1 January 2011, Samoa graduated in 2014, Equatorial Guinea in 2017, and Vanuatu in December 2020.

Article Link: Least developed countries need help to overcome COVID-19-induced economic setback: UNCTAD