Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• Sodium hypochlorite is a chemical compound with the formula NaOCl or NaClO, comprising a sodium cation (Na+) and a hypochlorite anion (OCl−or ClO−).
• It may also be viewed as the sodium salt of hypochlorous acid.
• The anhydrous compound is unstable and may decompose explosively.
• Sodium Hypochlorite is a chlorine compound often used as a disinfectant or a bleaching agent.
• Household bleach is, in general, a solution containing 3–8% sodium hypochlorite, by weight, and 0.01–0.05% sodium hydroxide; the sodium hydroxide is used to slow the decomposition of sodium hypochlorite into sodium chloride and sodium chlorate.

Explanation :

• The Reserve Bank of India gives temporary loan facilities to the centre and state governments as a banker to government. This temporary loan facility is called Ways and Means Advances (WMA).
• The scheme for the Central Government was introduced on April 1, 1997, after putting an end to the four-decade old system of adhoc (temporary) Treasury Bills to finance the Central Government deficit.
• The WMA scheme is designed to meet temporary mismatches in the receipts and payments of the government.
• The government can avail of immediate cash from the RBI, if required.
• But it has to return the amount within 90 days.
• If the WMA exceeds 90 days, it would be treated as an overdraft.
• The interest rate on overdrafts would be 2 percent more than the repo rate.
• Further, the RBI provides an overdraft facility when the WMA limit is breached. The overdraft is not allowed beyond 10 consecutive working days.

Types of WMA

There are two types of Ways and Means Advances — normal and special.

• Special WMA or Special Drawing Facility is provided against the collateral of the government securities held by the state. After the state has exhausted the limit of SDF, it gets normal WMA. The interest rate for SDF is one percentage point less than the repo rate.
• The number of loans under normal WMA is based on a three-year average of actual revenue and capital expenditure of the state.

Explanation :

• The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction , usually referred to as the Biological Weapons Convention is the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the development, production and stockpiling of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction, was opened for signature on 10 April 1972.
• It entered into force on 26 March 1975.
• Members: It currently has 183 states-parties, including Palestine, and four signatories (Egypt, Haiti, Somalia, Syria, and Tanzania). Ten states have neither signed nor ratified the BWC (Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Israel, Kiribati, Micronesia, Namibia, South Sudan and Tuvalu).

Terms of the Treaty

The BWC:

• forbids States Parties from developing, producing, stockpiling, or otherwise acquiring biological agents or toxins that have no justification for peaceful or defensive purposes;
• forbids States Parties from developing, producing, stockpiling, or otherwise acquiring equipment to deliver biological agents or toxins for hostile purposes;
• obligates States Parties to destroy or divert to peaceful purposes their existing stocks of prohibited items;
• forbids States Parties from transferring prohibited items to anyone or otherwise helping in the manufacture or acquisition of biological weapons;
• protects the rights of States Parties to exchange equipment, materials, and scientific and technological information for peaceful purposes in order to avoid hampering their economic and technological development;
• commits States Parties to cooperate in solving any problems through consultation and in carrying out any investigation initiated by the UN Security Council; and
• commits States Parties to provide assistance to others that have been attacked using biological weapons.

However, it does not ban the use of biological and toxin weapons but reaffirms the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which prohibits such use. It also does not ban biodefense programs.

It also allows states-parties to lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council if they believe other member states are violating the convention.

Explanation :

• On 27^th March, 2020, the government has notified anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine under Schedule-H1, restricting its sale based on prescription and making it mandatory for chemists to maintain records for such sale.
• The sale of the drug from now on should be in accordance with the conditions for sale of drugs as specified in Schedule H1 to the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
• This would mean that any preparation containing the said drug will have a warning label of ‘only prescription sale’ and against self-medication.
• The move is aimed at stopping misuse of the drug which has now been allowed by the government for prophylactuse in high risk contacts of Covid-19 patients and healthcare workers treating such patients.

Schedule H1 Drugs

• The Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, are the set of rules under The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, which has provisions for classification of drugs into different schedules and also guidelines for storage, sale, display.
• Schedule H1 has been introduced through Gazette notification GSR 588 (E) dated 30-08-2013 to check the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, anti-TB and some other drugs in the country.
• The schedule contains certain 3rd and 4th generation antibiotics, certain habit forming drugs and anti-TB drugs.