UPSC Quiz – 2024 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 27th May 2024

·       The main aim of the regional group was the promotion of economic cooperation between countries bordering the Bay of Bengal.

·       Mechanism – BIMSTEC is a five-tiered organization.

·       Summit – Comprising the Heads of State or Government of the Member States.

·       Ministerial Meeting – Comprising the Ministers dealing with foreign relations of the Member States.

·       Sectoral Ministerial Meetings – Comprising the Ministers of line ministries responsible for carrying out the activities of the respective sectors.

·       Senior Officials’ Meeting – Consisting of the Foreign Secretaries/ Secretaries/ appropriate Senior officials nominated by the BIMSTEC Member States.

·       BIMSTEC Permanent Working Committee (BPWC) -Comprising senior officials of the respective National Focal Points.

·       The Myanmar joined in 1997 and the group was renamed BIMST-EC.

·       With the admission of Nepal and Bhutan in July 2004, the grouping was renamed during the First Summit in Bangkok on 31 July 2004 as BIMSTEC.

·       Member states – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.

·       The charter recently came into force and BIMSTEC can now admit new members and observers, and enter into diplomatic dialogues with other countries/groupings.

·       Ordinary

·       Official

·       Diplomatic

·       Ordinary passports – It is a deep blue-coloured passport that is issued for personal travel for adults with a validity of 10 years for adults and five years for minors or till they attain the age of 18.

·       The ordinary passports are issued through a network of passport offices across the country.

·       Official passports – With white jackets are issued to designated Government officials and other individuals specifically authorised by the Centre to work abroad on official assignments.

·       Diplomatic passport or Type ‘D’ passport – Is for designated members authorised by the Centre to represent the country.

·       These include senior government officials, Members of Parliament and their spouses.

·       Diplomatic passport holders travelling abroad for official purposes typically do not pay visa fees.

·       They have immunity from arrest under international law and expedited immigration.

·       Diplomatic passport holders do not need a visa note from the MEA when travelling to any of the 34 countries with which India has mutual visa waiver agreements for diplomatic passports.

·       Members of Parliaments and their spouses are entitled to diplomatic passports along with ordinary passports.

·       The diplomatic passports can be used for private visits like tourism or to visit friends and relatives, they are not meant to be used when travelling abroad for private business, as per the provisions.

·       For private visits abroad, MPs must inform parliament secretariat 3 weeks in advance and get political clearance from MEA.

·       Revocation of diplomatic passport – The passport authority can impound or revoke a passport for the following reasons:

·       If the holder has provided wrong information,

·       It he has been convicted in a criminal case,

·       There are pending criminal proceedings in an Indian court and

·       If it is in the overall national interest.

·       It consists of members from both Houses as well as from the ruling and opposition parties and is chaired by a member of the Lok Sabha (appointed by Speaker of the Lok Sabha).

·       Some of the cases in which JPC were formed include:

·       Bofors scandal (1987)

·       Harshad Mehta Stock market scam (1992)

·       Ketan Parekh share market scam (2001)

·       National Register of Citizens (NRC, 2016)

·       Personal Data Protection Bill (2019)

·       The committee is dissolved after completing its term or task.

·       The JPC has the authority to gather evidence from experts, public bodies, associations, individuals, or interested parties either on its own initiative or in response to their requests.

·       However, suggestions by the Select Committees and JPCs — which have a majority of MPs and heads from the ruling party — are accepted more frequently.

·       Processing – It can process and respond to a wide variety of inputs including voice, images, and even input from their surroundings.

·       Working

·       Perceive their environment via sensors

·       Process the information using algorithms or AI models

·       Take subsequent actions.

·       Applications – Currently, they are used in fields such as gaming, robotics, virtual assistants, autonomous vehicles, etc.

·       When it comes to adapting to new situations, they are versatile & capable of handling a wide range of situations.

·       The recently launched GPT-4O by OpenAI and Project Astra by Google were powered by AI agents.

·       Both GPT-4O and Project Astra are capable of processing the real world through audio and visual inputs and provide intelligent responses and assistance. They can have instant real-time conversations with a user.

·       It seems to have derived its name from the shape of a nearby hillock, which appears to be like a snake hood.

·       In Sanskrit – Phani means snake and Giri means hillock.

·       Location – It lies on the left bank of the Bikkeru rivulet, a tributary of the river Musi in Telangana.

·       Discovery – It was 1st discovered & protected during the period of Nizam, was excavated in 1940s by Sri Khaja Mahamad Ahmad.

·       It was not a lone site in this zone as there are several Buddhist sites nearby.

·       Coins – A globular pot was unearthed that was filled with lead coins, 3730 in number & the average weight of each coin is 2.3g.

·       Other findings – Beads of stone and glass, shell bangle fragments, stucco motifs, broken limestone sculptures, a toy cart wheel, iron nails, and pottery were also found during excavations.

·       Earlier excavations at Phanigiri had a Mahastupa, apsidal Chaitya Grihas, Viharas, a 24 pillared mandapa and Brahmi label inscriptions.

·       Observation – The coins have an elephant symbol on the obverse and ujjain symbol on the reverse, concluded that these coins belong to the Ikshvaku period.