UPSC QUIZ 12.04.2024

Explanation:

• Recently, the Supreme Court announced that it would soon address petitions for 100% verification of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, just ahead of the first phase of voting on 19th April 2024.
• The VVPAT machine is attached to the ballot unit of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), and provides visual verification for the vote cast by a voter by printing a slip of paper with the voter’s choice on it.
• The slip of paper with the candidate’s details is briefly displayed for verification behind a glass window, giving the voter 7 seconds, before dropping into a compartment below.
• Voters are not allowed to take the VVPAT slip home as it is used to verify votes in five randomly selected polling booths.The concept aims to enhance trust in the voting process by enabling physical verification of electronically cast votes, reassuring both voters and political parties about the accuracy of their votes.

Explanation:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) released the Global Hepatitis Report 2024. In this report, data from 187 countries has been taken.
• The estimated number of deaths due to viral hepatitis has increased from 1.1 million in the year 2019 to 1.3 million in the year 2022.
• Of these, 83% of deaths were due to hepatitis B and 17% were due to hepatitis C. Every day, 3,500 people are dying globally due to hepatitis B and C infection.
• Chronic hepatitis B and C account for about 50% of infections 30 -54% is in people under 18 years of age, 12% is in children under 18 years of age. 58% of all cases are in men.

Explanation:

• India invoked the World Trade Organization (WTO) peace clause for the purpose of providing assistance to farmers in the 2022-23 marketing year for food security.
• India has informed WTO that it has The minimum limit specified under the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) for rice has been exceeded.
• The value of rice production in India in the year 2022-23 was $52.8 billion, during which subsidy of $6.39 billion was given to farmers.
• This means that rice subsidy in India was 12 percent of the value of production, thereby violating global trade rules. According to this, the 10 percent domestic support limit has been violated.
• No action can be taken against India for this violation because India has invoked the "peace clause".
• The purpose of its implementation is “to meet the household food security needs of India's poor and vulnerable populations, and not to facilitate trade”.

Explanation:

• Alien-like blue creatures called "Velella" have been spotted off the US west coast from Oregon to California.It is a hydrozoa or hydroid polyp.
• This creature is also known as By-The-Wind Sailors.It is found on the surface of warm waters of the world's temperate and tropical oceans.
• It is a dark blue colored aquatic creature that looks like a flat oval disc.Its length is up to 10 cm.
• This creature has sombrero-like wings on top and tentacles hanging down.
• They use their tentacles to sting fish larvae or zooplankton and navigate in the ocean.
• These appear to be jellyfish creatures, but they are not actually jellyfish.They are related to sea anemones, corals and hydroids.It eats small prey and fish larvae etc.

Explanation:

• A new gold-backed currency called ZiG has been introduced by Zimbabwe.
• The meaning of the name ZiG is "Zimbabwe Gold". The new ZiG banknotes will come in denominations between ₹1 and ₹200.
• Coins would also be introduced to address the shortage of American coins.
• It is the latest effort to stabilize an economy that has been moving from crisis to crisis for the past 25 years.
• ZiG replaced the Zimbabwe dollar, RTGS, which has lost three-quarters of its value so far this year.
• In March, annual inflation reached 55% – a seven-month high.
• Zimbabweans have 21 days to exchange old, inflation-hit notes for the new currency.
• However, the US dollar, which accounts for 85% of transactions, will remain legal tender and will continue to be preferred by most people.
• The new currency is being implemented with immediate effect and banks will be required to convert existing Zimbabwe dollar balances into ZiG.