Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• Appropriation Bill is a money bill that allows the government to withdraw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its expenses during the course of a financial year.
• As per article 114 of the Constitution, the government can withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund only after receiving approval from Parliament.
• To put it simply, the Finance Bill contains provisions on financing the expenditure of the government, and Appropriation Bill specifies the quantum and purpose for withdrawing money.

Procedure

• The government introduces the Appropriation Bill in the lower house of Parliament after discussions on Budget proposals and Voting on Demand for Grants.
• The Appropriation Bill is first passed by the Lok Sabha and then sent to the Rajya Sabha.
• The Rajya Sabha has the power to recommend any amendments in this Bill.
• However, it is the prerogative of the Lok Sabha to either accept or reject the recommendations made by the upper house of Parliament.

Explanation :

• The Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) Scheme was introduced by amending the Citizenship Act, 1955 in August 2005.
• The Scheme was launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention 2006 at Hyderabad.
• On 09 January 2015, the Government of India discontinued the PIO card and merged it with OCI card.
• The Government of India, on application, may register any person as an Overseas Citizen of India, if the person:
  • was a citizen of India on 26 January 1950 or at any time thereafter; or
  • belonged to a territory that became part of India after 15 August 1947; or
  • was eligible to become a citizen of India on 26 January 1950; or
  • is a child or a grandchild or a great-grandchild of such a citizen; or
  • is a minor child of such persons mentioned above; or
  • is a minor child and whose both parents are citizens of India or one of the parents is a citizen of India; or
  • is a spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder registered under section 7A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the application
• No person, who or either of whose parents or grandparents or great grandparents is or had been a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh, is eligible for registration as an Overseas Citizen of India.

Restrictions

• Do not have right to vote.
• Do not have right to any public service/government jobs
• Cannot hold offices of – Prime Minister, President, Vice -President, Judge of Supreme Court and High Court, member of Parliament or Member of state legislative assembly or council.
• Cannot own agricultural property.

Explanation :

• Boko Haram is an ISIS-aligned jihadist group based in northeastern Nigeria.
• It is also active in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
• It was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, Nigeria, by a Salafist cleric named Mohammed Yusuf and seeks to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, in Nigeria.
• The group's name has always been Jamā'atu Ahli is-Sunnah lid-Da'wati wal-Jihad, meaning "Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawa and Jihad".
• It is also known as Wilayat Garb Ifrqiya, meaning "West African Province", since March 2015 after becoming part of the Islamic State.

Explanation :

• The Sundarbans National Park is a national park, tiger reserve, and biosphere reserve in West Bengal, India.
• It is part of the Sundarbans on the Ganges Delta, and adjacent to the Sundarban Reserve Forest in Bangladesh.
• The present Sundarban National Park was declared as the core area of Sundarban Tiger Reserve in 1973 and a wildlife sanctuary in 1977.
• On 4 May 1984 it was declared a national park.
• It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 1987, and it has been designated as a Ramsar site since 2019.
• It is considered as a World Network of Biosphere Reserve (Man and Biosphere Reserve) from 1989.
• Sundarban has achieved its name from the Sundari tree.
• The endangered species that lives within the Sundarbans are royal Bengal tiger, saltwater crocodile, olive ridley turtle, hawksbill turtle and mangrove horseshoe crab.
• It is also home to a large number of “rare and globally threatened species, such as the critically endangered northern river terrapin (Batagur baska), the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), and the vulnerable fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus).
• Two of the world’s four horseshoe crab species and eight of India’s 12 species of kingfisher are also found here.

Explanation :

• The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), formerly known as the Millennium Dam and sometimes referred to as Hidase Dam is an under construction gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Guba Woreda, Benishangul Gumuz Region of Ethiopia.
• The dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed, as well as the seventh largest in the world.
• The dam is the centerpiece of Ethiopia’s bid to become Africa’s biggest power exporter, with a projected capacity of more than 6,000 megawatts.

Blue Nile

• The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia.
• With the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile. The Blue Nile supplies about 80% of the water in the Nile during the rainy season.

Explanation :

• Oliver Gingold, who worked at Dow Jones, coined the phrase ‘Blue Chip’ in 1923.
• Blue chip stocks are shares of very large and well-recognised companies with a long history of sound financial performance.
• These stocks are known to have capabilities to endure tough market conditions and give high returns in good market conditions.
• These stocks generally cost high, as they have good reputation and are often market leaders in their respective industries.
• Investors turn to blue-chip stocks because they have dependable financials and often pay dividends.

Explanation :

• The red panda (Ailurusfulgens) is the only living member of the genus Ailurus and the family Ailuridae. It is also called the lesser panda, the red bear-cat, and the red cat-bear.
• It is arboreal and feeds mainly on bamboo, but also eats eggs, birds, and insects. It is a solitary animal, mainly active from dusk to dawn, and is largely sedentary during the day.
• It is endemic to the temperate forests of the Himalayas, and ranges from the foothills of western Nepal to China in the east.
• In India, it is found in Sikkim, western Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling district of West Bengal and parts of Meghalaya.
• It is also the state animal of Sikkim.
• Listed as Endangered in the IUCN red list of Threatened Species and under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the red panda has the highest legal protection at par with other threatened species.

Explanation :

• Recently, NITI Aayog released a report on the performance of States in the implementation of Poshan Abhiyan.
• Andhra Pradesh ranked 1st in country for the overall implementation of Poshan Abhiyan.
• As part of the programme the State has trained all Angan Wadi Workers on modules created based on lifecycle approach, i.e. first 1000 days of life, with the support of incremental learning Approach (ILA).
• On the other hand,Tamil Nadutops the list of the states in terms of the number of participants in the programme.

Explanation :

• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India.
• It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
• It is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003.
• CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.
• It is also mandated to frame regulations on adoption-related matters from time to time as per Section 68 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Explanation :

• The Punjab and Haryana High Court has declared Sukhna Lake(Chandigarh) as a living entity.
• The court invoked its parenspatriae jurisdiction to declare the lake as a ‘legal entity’ for its survival, preservation and conservation having a distinct persona with corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person.

About Sukhna Lake

• It is a rain-fed lake, located within Chandigarh and its catchment area falls both in Punjab and Haryana.
• The lake was constructed in 1958 and is spread over 3 sq km.
• An area of 2 km to 2.75 km around the lake has been declared as an eco-sensitive zone by the Chandigarh Administration.
• All activities in this area fall under provisions of the Environment Protection Act.