Daily Current Affairs for UPSC – 13 May 2023

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC 2023

Q) Which one of the following statements is correct about the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR)?

1. It is used by international banks to lend for long-term loans.
2. The rate is calculated and published fortnightly.
3. Its value is based on five international currencies
4. LIBOR is currently not used by Indian banking system.

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC – 12 May April 2023

Explanation:

• Option (1) and (2) are incorrect: The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is a benchmark interest rate used by major international banks in the international interbank market to lend to one another for short-term loans. The rate is calculated and published every day by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), U.K. Intercontinental Exchange polls major worldwide banks every day to see how much they would charge for short-term loans.
• Option (3) is correct: It is based on five currencies: The US dollar, Euro, British Pound, Japanese Yen, and Swiss Franc, and it has seven possible maturity periods. Each business day, 35 separate LIBOR rates are calculated and presented due to the combination of 5 currencies and 7 maturities. The three-month US dollar rate, often known as the current LIBOR rate, is the most commonly cited rate.
• Option (4) is incorrect: Traditionally, the interest rates for most Indian corporates availing of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and foreign currency lending are benchmarked to the three-month or six-month Libor rate. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised banks and other RBI-regulated entities to ensure complete transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) from July 1.

Q) Consider the following statements about Model Prisons Act, 2023:

1. The act proposes separate accommodations for transgender prisoners.
2. Video conferencing with the courts is another feature of the model Act.
3. The model law was drafted by the Bureau of Police Research and Development.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Explanation:

• Statements 1 and 3 are correct: The Ministry of Home Affairs has finalized a comprehensive Model Prisons Act, 2023 aimed at holistic reform of prisons and prison management in line with modern-day needs and with a firm focus on correctional ideology. The model law was drafted by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, as per directions of the home ministry. It provides for punishment of prisoners and jail staff for use of prohibited items like mobile phones etc. in jails. It also proposes separate accommodation for women prisoners and transgender prisoners in the interest of their safety and well-being.
• Statement 2 is correct: A grievance redressal system for prisoners, a prison development board and an attitudinal change towards prisoners is proposed. The model Act also provides for video conferencing with the courts and scientific and technological interventions in prisons as part of reforming prison management. It also has a provision for establishment of high-security jails for high-risk prisoners as well as open and semi-open jails for low-risk ones.

Q) With reference to Mitochondrial Donation Treatment (MDT), consider the following statements:

1. Under MDT, embryos are created using nuclear genetic material and mitochondria.
2. The embryo is prepared by using the DNA of three people.
3. Recently, the first baby was born with this treatment in Britain.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Explanation:

• Statements 1 and 2 are correct: Mitochondrial Donation Treatment (MDT) involves taking the nucleus from one of the mother’s eggs, containing her DNA, and implanting it into a donor egg that had its nucleus removed but retained the donor’s healthy mitochondrial DNA. As part of the treatment, eggs or embryos are created using nuclear genetic material and healthy donated mitochondria. The eggs are then combined with mitochondria from the donor’s egg and fertilized with sperm to create embryos. This ensures that the baby has DNA from both the mother and the father and a tiny set from the donor. While most of the DNA came from the parents of the baby, a tiny fraction of 0.1 per cent came from a third donor who is a woman.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: Recently, a baby has been born in the UK using a technique called mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT) (popularly called ‘Three Parents Baby’). Britain is not the first country to see children born through MDT. In 2016, a child was born in Mexico through the procedure, and since then, there have been several successful cases in countries like the US and Ukraine.

Q) Consider the following statements about the trend of welfare expenditure in India:

1. The budget allocation for the mid-day meal scheme has increased by 50 percent as a share of GDP in the last decade.
2. The share of central health expenditures in GDP increased only meagerly in the previous decade.
3. The central government’s expenditure on primary and secondary school education has steadily declined in recent years.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect:An analysis of the trend of welfare expenditure on key schemes shows a decline in central allocations for welfare schemes and sectors as a proportion of GDP since 2014. According to National Family Health Survey -5 data, the percentage of anaemic, underweight and stunted children in India is 67%, 32% and 36%, respectively. The fund allocation for POSHAN Abhiyaan has been reduced from 0.13% of GDP in 2014-15 to 0.07% in 2023-24. The budget allocation for mid-day meal scheme has decreased by 50% as a share of GDP, from 0.08% in 2014-15 to 0.04% in 2023-2024.
• Statement 2 is correct: The share of central health expenditure in GDP went up from 0.25% in 2014-15 to 0.30% this year. According to World’s Children report by UNICEF, India has the lowest vaccination rates in South Asia. India’s out-of-pocket expenditure on health remains much higher than the global average, pushing millions into poverty each year.
• Statement 3 is correct: As a share of GDP, central expenditure on school education (primary and secondary) has steadily declined from 0.37% in 2014-15 to 0.23% 2023-24. MGNREGA expenditure as a share of GDP went from 0.26% in 2014-15 to 0.20% in 2023-24. For NFSA (Food Subsidy), expenditure as a share of GDP went to 0.65% this year from 0.94% in 2014-15.

Q) With reference to Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), consider the following statements:

1. EVMs were used for the first time in the 1984 general elections.
2. EVMs are produced indigenously by Bharat Electronics Limited and the Electronics Corporation of India Limited.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect but statement 2 is correct:An electronic voting machine (EVM) is a portable instrument for the purpose of conducting elections to the parliament, legislature and local bodies like panchayats and municipalities. EVM is a microcontroller-based instrument designed to modernize the election procedure and there is no scope for invalid votes and total secrecy of voting data is maintained and it also facilitates quick and accurate counting. It is a reliable system to conduct elections where one person has to be elected out of many candidates. The EVM is designed for a single post and a single vote. Through an EVM, a voter can cast their vote for the candidate of their choice or choose the NOTA option. EVMs were used for the first time in the Goa State Assembly elections of 1999. EVMs are produced indigenously by two PSUs named Bharat Electronics Ltd., Bengaluru and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd., Hyderabad.

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