UPSC Quiz – 2024 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 16th April 2024

·       The primary role of FSIB is to identify manpower capabilities and ensure proper selection of talent for senior positions at financial institutions owned by the government.

·       The Banks Board Bureau (BBB) has its genesis in the recommendations of ‘The Committee to Review Governance of Boards of Banks in India, May 2014 (Chairman – P. J. Nayak)’.

·       Apart from recommending personnel for the PSBs, the Bureau had also been assigned with the task of recommending personnel for appointment as directors in government-owned insurance companies.

·       Delhi High Court had struck down the BBB’s power to select directors of Public Sector Undertaking, general insurance companies

·       FSIB would be headed by a chairman, a central government nominee.

·       The board would comprise the Secretaries of the DFS, the chairman of IRDAI, and a deputy governor of the RBI.

·       Additionally, it will have three part-time members who are experts in banking and three more from the insurance sector.

·       To advise the Government on matters relating to appointments, transfers or extension of term of office and termination of the services of the said directors;

·       It would also issue guidelines for selecting general managers and directors of public sector general insurance companies.

·       To advise the Government on the desired management structure at the Board level for PSBs, FIs and PSIs;

·       To advise the Government on a suitable performance appraisal system for WTDs and NECs in PSBs, FIs, and PSIs;

·       To build a databank containing data related to the performance of PSBs, FIs and PSIs;

·       To advise the Government on the formulation and enforcement of a code of conduct and ethics for WTDs in PSBs, FIs, and PSIs

·       They are designed to intercept and destroy any type of ballistic threat during the mid-course or terminal phase of their trajectory.

·       However, they are specifically designed to counter Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).

·       The exo-atmospheric interceptors or anti-ballistic missiles are equipped with advanced technology including infrared sensors and radar systems so that they can detect and track incoming ballistic missiles and terminate them.

·       These missiles travel at a hypersonic speed advanced and sophisticated guidance missile systems to accurately manoeuvre and intercept targets travelling at very high speeds.

·       These missiles are guided by an inertial navigation system that is updated during flight using contour maps stored in the system’s computerized memory.

·       It is basically a form of hidden inflation.

·       Instead of increasing the price of a product, producers reduce the size of the product while maintaining the same price.

·       The absolute price of the product doesn’t go up, but the price per unit of weight or volume has increased.

·       Reasons: The reasons for shrinkflation are rising production costs and market competition.

·       Example – If there is a shortage of a certain product, such as crude oil, the price of the product may increase.

·       This is also known as mild inflation or moderate inflation. This type of inflation occurs when the price level persistently rises over a period of time at a mild rate. When the rate of inflation is less than 10 per cent annually, or it is a single digit inflation rate, it is considered to be a moderate inflation.

·       It is free and simple to use, enabling anyone to create custom maps, analyze forest trends, subscribe to alerts, or download data for their local area or the entire world.

·       It refers to tree cover when talking about forest extent, loss, and gain. Tree cover is a convenient metric for monitoring forest change because it is easily measurable from space using freely available, medium-resolution satellite imagery.

Highlights of the GFW’s annual forest loss data:

·       The loss of primary forests–those untouched by people and sometimes known as old-growth forests – in the tropics declined 9% last year compared to 2022.

·       The world last year lost about 37,000 square kilometers (14,000 square miles) of tropical primary forest, an area nearly as big as Switzerland.

·       Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bolivia topped the ranking of tropical countries with the most primary forest losses.

·       Deforestation globally rose by 3.2% in 2023.

·       India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000, equivalent to a six percent decrease in tree cover during this period.

·       The country lost 4,14,000 hectares of humid primary forest (4.1 percent) from 2002 to 2023, making up 18 per cent of its total tree cover loss in the same period.

·       Between 2001 and 2022, forests in India emitted 51 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year and removed 141 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. This represents a net carbon sink of 89.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year.

·       An average of 51.0 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year was released into the atmosphere as a result of tree cover loss in India.

·       The data showed that 95 percent of the tree cover loss in India from 2013 to 2023 occurred within natural forests.

·       The GFW data showed that five states accounted for 60 percent of all tree cover losses between 2001 and 2023.

·       Assam had the maximum tree cover loss at 324,000 hectares, compared to an average of 66,600 hectares. Mizoram lost 312,000 hectares of tree cover, Arunachal Pradesh 262,000 hectares, Nagaland 259,000 hectares, and Manipur 240,000 hectares.

·       The report indicates primary signs of fragmentation in trade flows.

·       Findings – An evident recovery in the demand for tradable goods is already observable in 2024.

·       The trade scenario appears more positive on the services side, with a 9% increase in commercial services exports to $7.54 trillion, partially counterbalancing the decline in goods trade.

·       Global GDP growth at market exchange rates will hover around 2.6% in 2024 and 2.7% in 2025, marking a slight deceleration from 3.1% in 2022 to 2.7% in 2023.

·       With geopolitical tensions affecting trade patterns marginally, the report says the global trade in non-fuel intermediate goods, which provides a useful gauge of the status of global value chains, was down 6%.

·       High energy prices and persistent inflation have adversely impacted the demand for manufactured goods, leading to a 1.2% drop in the volume of world merchandise trade for 2023.

·       This decline is more pronounced in value terms, with merchandise exports decreasing by 5% to $24.01 trillion.

·       India – India’s goods exports stood at $451 billion in FY23 and %394.99 billion in FY24 so far (April-February).

·       The country’s share in global goods exports and imports stood at 1.8% and 2.8% in 2023, respectively.