Day-543 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

Answer: A
Explanation:
Context: Government of India has launched the National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) as a separate and independent scheme to promote chemical-free and climate-smart agriculture.
• Statement 1 is incorrect: NMNF will cover a 7.5 lakh hectare area by developing 15,000 clusters. The farmers willing to implement natural farming on their field will be registered as cluster members, each cluster shall comprise 50 farmers or more with 50-hectare land. Also, each cluster can fall into one village or spread across 2-3 nearby villages under the same gram panchayat. There is no concept of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification in the mission for now.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: It is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
• Statement 3 is correct: Under NMNF, farmers will receive a financial assistance of ₹15,000 per hectare per year for three years for the creation of on-farm input production infrastructure.
Additional information:
● The National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF) has been formulated by upscaling the Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP) to promote natural farming across the country.
● NMNF will cover a 7.5 lakh hectare area by developing 15,000 clusters. The farmers willing to implement natural farming on their field will be registered as cluster members, each cluster shall comprise 50 farmers or more with 50-hectare land.
● Also, each cluster can fall into one village or spread across 2-3 nearby villages under the same gram panchayat.
Financial Assistance:
● However, the incentives would be provided to farmers only when they commit to natural farming and have actually taken it up.
● If a farmer defaults or does not continue with natural farming, subsequent instalments shall not be disbursed.

Answer: A
Explanation:
Context: Twenty-four writers across as many Indian languages were honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award 2022, at the beginning of the 39th ‘Festival of Letters’ in Delhi in March, 2023.
• Statement 1 is correct: It can be conferred upon only on an Indian Citizen.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: It is the second-highest literary honour given by the Government of India, after the Jnanpith award.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: A posthumous publication is eligible for Award only if the author has died within the five year period stipulated for the award or later.
Additional information:
● Sahitya Akademi award established in 1954, is a literary honour that is conferred annually by Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of letters.
● Akademi gives 24 awards annually to literary works in the languages it has recognized and an equal number of awards to literary translations from and into the languages of India.
● Besides the 22 languages enumerated in the Constitution of India, the Sahitya Akademi has recognised English and Rajasthani as languages in which its programme may be implemented.
Criteria for Choosing Awardee:
● The author must be of Indian Nationality.
● Book/work eligible for the award must be an outstanding contribution to the language and literature to which it belongs.
● When equal merit for books of two or more are found, certain criteria like total literary contribution and standing of authors shall be taken into consideration for declaring the award.

Answer: A
Explanation:
Context: The practice of ‘visa shopping’ has been gaining popularity in several Indian states, including Punjab, where travel companies often facilitate this setup for travellers.
● Visa shopping refers to obtaining visas for countries that individuals may or may not visit during the granted visa period.
● This is because such visas can provide a gateway for people to enter their preferred countries, particularly in Europe, even if they have obtained a visa for another European nation.
● Additionally, people who have no immediate plans to visit a specific country are also purchasing visas for such nations.
● This is to increase the chances of obtaining visas for countries of their choice in the future, given how the application process often takes a long time or has chances of rejection.
● Also, visas usually remain valid for a few years after being issued.

Answer: C
Explanation:
Context: The Delhi High Court restrained nine websites from illegally broadcasting the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 matches by passing a “dynamic injunction”.
● A dynamic injunction is an official order given by a law court, usually to stop someone from doing something.
● However, in most cases, such injunctions are granted by the court only after the court identifies the work and determines the plaintiff’s (party who initiates a lawsuit) copyright in that work.
● To avoid this cumbersome process and grant protection to copyrighted works in a timely manner, courts sometimes rely on the concept of “dynamic” injunctions.
● A dynamic injunction is passed to protect copyrighted works even before they are publicly released, distributed, or created.
● It ensures that no irreparable loss is caused to its authors and owner, owing to the imminent possibility of such works being uploaded on rogue websites or their newer versions immediately after their creation or release, given the challenges posed by online piracy.

Answer: D
Explanation:
Context: A recent dispute between China and the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea turns the spotlight on simmering tensions in the strategic waters with ramifications to all countries in the Indo-Pacific region, including India.
● The Scarborough Shoal is a dispute reef formation between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China in South China Sea.
● Scarborough Shoal is also known as Bajo de Masinloc, Panatag Shoal, Huangyan Island, and Democracy Reef, are two rocks in an atoll administered by China in the South China Sea.
● It is located between Macclesfield Bank to the west and Luzon, its nearest landmass, to the east.
● Scarborough Shoal forms a triangle-shaped chain of reefs and rocks with a perimeter of 46 km (29 mi).
● It covers an area of 150 km2 (58 sq mi), including an inner lagoon. The atolls’ highest point, South Rock, is 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) above sea-level at high tide.

Additional information:
● The heart of the South China Sea dispute revolves around territorial claims to land features (islands and reefs) and their associated territorial waters.
● The major island and reef formations in the South China Sea are the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Pratas, the Natuna Islands and Scarborough Shoal.