Day-498 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

Answer: B
Explanation:
● The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure: Adopted in 1977, the Budapest Treaty concerns a specific topic in the international patent process: microorganisms. All states party to the Treaty are obliged to recognize microorganisms deposited as a part of the patent procedure, irrespective of where the depository authority is located. In practice this means that the requirement to submit microorganisms to each and every national authority in which patent protection is sought no longer exists.
● The Paris Convention: The Paris Convention, adopted in 1883, applies to industrial property in the widest sense, including patents, trademarks, industrial designs, utility models, service marks, trade names, geographical indications and the repression of unfair competition. This international agreement was the first major step taken to help creators ensure that their intellectual works were protected in other countries.
● Berne Convention: The Berne Convention, adopted in 1886, deals with the protection of works and the rights of their authors. It provides creators such as authors, musicians, poets, painters etc. with the means to control how their works are used, by whom, and on what terms. It is based on three basic principles and contains a series of provisions determining the minimum protection to be granted, as well as special provisions available to developing countries that want to make use of them.

Answer: B
Explanation:
The IUCN Green Status of Species, a new Global Standard to measure how close a species is to being fully ecologically functional across its range, and how much it has recovered due to conservation action.
● Statement 1 is incorrect: The Green Status of Species is a new global standard of measurement created by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) to help show how a species is functioning within the ecological system it lives in, and how much it has recovered due to conservation action.
● Statement 2 is correct: The IUCN Green Status classifies species into nine Species Recovery Categories, indicating the extent to which species are depleted or recovered compared to their historical population levels. Each Green Status assessment measures the impact of past conservation on a species, a species’ dependence on continuing support, how much a species stands to gain from conservation action within the next ten years, and the potential for it to recover over the next century.

Answer: C
Explanation:
Context: California and other parts of the West Coast have been hit with a series of what meteorologists call atmospheric rivers.
Option(c) is correct:
● Pineapple Express is a specific example of a common atmospheric phenomenon known as atmospheric rivers. These rivers in the sky occur often on the West Coast but can happen in other locations, including the eastern United States, where they often channel moisture from the Caribbean. And they carry a lot of moisture — enough water vapor to equal or sometimes exceed the average flow of the Mississippi River at the point where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
● When this moisture begins to interact with land, it can fall as rain or snow. Often, as is the case lately in California, the precipitation is abundant because these atmospheric rivers provide a continuous flow of moisture.
● Although atmospheric rivers come in different shapes and sizes, for one to be a “true Pineapple Express,” location matters. The tail end, where the moisture is pulled into the atmosphere, must start near Hawaii. Then the river must stretch continuously through the atmosphere to the U.S. West Coast.

Answer: D
Explanation:
The government on 6th April approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 that seeks to institutionalise the private sector participation in the space sector, with ISRO focusing on research and development of advanced space technologies.
● Statement 1 is correct: IN-SPACe shall function as an autonomous Government organisation, mandated to promote, hand-hold, guide and authorise space activities in the country. For this purpose, IN-SPACe shall periodically issue guidelines and procedures that would among other things promote ease of doing business. It will identify technologies developed by ISRO that are ready for transfer to NGEs and facilitate the transfer of such technologies.
● Statement 2 is correct: ISRO, as the National Space Agency, will focus primarily on research and development of new space technologies and applications, and for expanding the human understanding of outer space.
● Statement 3 is correct: Strategic activities related to the space sector will be carried out by the NSIL, a public sector undertaking under the Department of Space, which will work in a demand-driven mode. Operational part of the ISRO will be shifted to the NewSpace India Limited. NSIL, as the Public Sector Undertaking under DOS, shall be responsible for commercialising space technologies and platforms created through public expenditure.

Answer: C
Explanation:
The ISIL and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) has placed Abdul Rehman Makki, a fundraiser and key planner of the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), on its sanctions list.
● Statement 1 is correct: The Security Council can take action to maintain or restore international peace and security under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. Sanctions measures, under Article 41, encompass a broad range of enforcement options that do not involve the use of armed force. Since 1966, the Security Council has established 31 sanctions regimes.
● Statement 2 is correct: Article 41 of the United Nations Charter gives the Security Council the authority to use a variety of measures to enforce its decisions. The Council regularly creates subsidiary organs to support or implement these measures. Among the most common are those measures that are known as “sanctions”, which are generally supported by a committee, as well as Panels/Groups of Experts or other mechanisms to monitor implementation of the sanctions.