Day-495 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

Answer: B
Explanation:
● A team of researchers in Canada say they have discovered two new minerals – and potentially a third – after analysing a slice of a 15-tonne meteorite that landed in east Africa.
Option (b) is correct:
● The 15-tonne El Ali meteorite was unearthed in Somalia in 2020. It is the ninth largest celestial rock found on Earth at over 2 metres wide. The meteorite came from an asteroid in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. The 2-metre-wide meteorite has been well known to generations of people who live in the area, where it was named Nightfall. The minerals have been named “elaliite,” after the town where the meteorite crashed, and “elkinstantonite,” after planetary scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton.

Answer: A
Explanation:
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty — the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States.
● Statement 1 is incorrect: New START is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation with the formal name of Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague, and, after ratification, entered into force on 5 February 2011. Arms control aims to limit the number of weapons and to regulate their use by virtue of bilateral or multilateral agreements or arrangements. Disarmament agreements usually directly prohibit the possession or production of weapons, arms-control agreements often proceed by setting limitations on the testing, deploying, or using certain types of weapons.
● Statement 2 is correct: The name START comes from the original “Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty”, known as START-I, which was signed between the US and the erstwhile USSR in 1991, and came into force in 1994. START-I, which capped the numbers of nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that each side could deploy at 6,000 and 1,600 respectively, lapsed in 2009, and was replaced first by the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT, also known as the Treaty of Moscow), and then by the New START treaty.
● Statement 3 is incorrect: The Treaty includes a standard withdrawal clause that states that each Party has the right to withdraw from the Treaty if it decides that extraordinary events related to the subject matter of the Treaty have jeopardized its supreme interests.

Answer: B
Explanation:
A joint report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (WHC) expressed concern about the status of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia, recommending that it “be inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger.”
● Statement 1 is correct: As per Article 11 of the World Heritage Convention 1972, World Heritage Committee shall establish, keep up to date and publish, whenever circumstances shall so require, under the title of “List of World Heritage in Danger”, a list of the property appearing in the World Heritage List for the conservation
● Statement 2 is correct: Under the 1972 World Heritage Convention, inscribing a site on the List allows the WHC to allocate immediate assistance from the World Heritage Fund to the endangered property, while simultaneously gathering international support and attention to the site.
● Statement 3 is incorrect: Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Queensland, Australia, the GBR is the world’s largest coral reef system with over 2,900 individual reefs, 900 islands and an area covering approximately 344,400 square kilometres. An irreplaceable part of the global ecosystem, the GBR is one of the biggest biodiversity hotspots in the world as well as one of its largest carbon sinks.
● Keeping in mind the dangers that the reef faces, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (WHC) report recommended adding the GBR to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Answer: B
Explanation:
● Heat exposure in the country led to the loss of 167 billion potential labour hours, a 39% increase from 1990–1999, said the Climate Transparency Report 2022 compiled by an international partnership of organisations.
Option (b) is correct:
● The Climate Transparency Report provides a concise overview of the key facts and figures on the state of climate performance of the G20 in a comparative stocktake. In 2022, the report especially highlights the link between the climate emergency and energy crisis. Developed by experts from 16 partner organisations from the majority of the G20 countries, the report informs policy makers and stimulates national debates.

Answer: B
Explanation:
● The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) accepted the Keki Mistry committee proposals towards gradually phasing out open market share buybacks by deciding to raise minimum utilisation requirements and creating a separate window for the same.
Option (b) is correct:
● The Keki Mistry-headed committee was set up by Sebi to review the share buyback regulations.
● It proposed changes like increasing the size of any buy-backs from 25% to 40% of the paid-up capital and free reserves of the company through a tender offer route. The committee also proposed reducing the cooling-off between buybacks.
● The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided to phase out the buyback of shares of listed companies through the exchange route. The regulator favours the repurchase of shares by companies from shareholders on a proportionate basis through the tender offer because that is considered more equitable, transparent, and fair.