Day-572 | Daily MCQs | UPSC Prelims | CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

Answer: B
Context: Kozhikode in Kerala and Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh have made it to the prestigious creative cities list of UNESCO for contributions in the fields of literature and music respectively in November, 2023.
Explanation:
Statement 1 is incorrect: The network covers seven creative fields: crafts and folk arts, media arts, film, design, gastronomy, literature and music.
Statement 2 is correct: Kozhikode is the first city in India to be included in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network under the ‘Literature’ category.
Some other cities in the list:
Srinagar – Crafts and Folk Arts (2021)
Mumbai – Film (2019).
Hyderabad – Gastronomy (2019).
Chennai- Creative city of Music (2017).
Jaipur- Crafts and Folk Arts (2015).
Varanasi- Creative city of Music (2015).
Additional information:
Kozhikode in Kerala has been designated as the UNESCO ‘City of Literature’ and Gwalior as the ‘City of Music’ in the latest UNESCO list of Creative Cities Network. These cities get acknowledged and recognition for their strong commitment to harnessing culture and creativity.
Kozhikode is a permanent venue for the annual Kerala Literature Festival and hosts several other book festivals. Gwalior has a rich and diverse musical heritage encompassing classical Hindustani music, folk music, and devotional music. The city also has some prestigious music institutes and hosts popular festivals.
UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN):
• The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
• The cities which currently make up this network work together towards a common objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.
• The Creative Cities Network is a privileged partner of UNESCO, not only as a platform for reflection on the role of creativity as a lever for sustainable development but also as a breeding ground of action and innovation, notably for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Joining the Network, cities commit to sharing their best practices and developing partnerships involving the public and private sectors as well as civil society in order to:
a) Strengthen the creation, production, distribution and dissemination of cultural activities, goods and services;
b) Develop hubs of creativity and innovation and broaden opportunities for creators and professionals in the cultural sector;
c) Improve access to and participation in cultural life, in particular for marginalized or vulnerable groups and individuals;
d) Fully integrate culture and creativity into sustainable development plans.

Answer: B
Context: The Ministry of Jal Shakti has shed light on the progress of the Jal Jeevan Mission and the Arsenic and Metal Removal by Indian Technology (AMRIT) in December, 2023.
Explanation:
Statement 1 is incorrect: It is developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Madras.
Statement 2 is correct: It is designed for the removal of arsenic and metal ions from water, addressing water quality issues.
Statement 3 is incorrect: It utilizes nano-scale iron oxy-hydroxide, which selectively removes arsenic when water passes through it.
Statement 4 is correct: It is applicable for both domestic and community-level water purification.
Additional information:
• The technology aligns with the broader goals of the Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to provide safe and potable tap water to rural households in India.
• The technology has been recommended by the ‘Standing Committee’ of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for consideration in addressing water and sanitation challenges.
About Arsenic:
• Arsenic is a natural component of the earth’s crust and is widely distributed throughout the environment in the air, water and land. It is highly toxic in its inorganic form.
• Long-term exposure to arsenic from drinking water and food can cause cancer and skin lesions. Chronic poisoning of arsenic can cause Blackfoot disease (BFD), which affects the blood vessels in the lower limbs.
Jal Jeevan Mission:
• Jal Jeevan Mission, launched in 2019, is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India by Sustainable Development Goal- 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation for all).
• It envisages a supply of 55 liters of water per person per day to every rural household through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) by 2024.
• The Government of India also launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban) which has been designed to provide universal coverage of water supply through functional taps in all 4,378 statutory towns of India.

Answer: D
Context:
• Kambar is a title of the Occhans, to which caste Tamil epic poet Kamban is reputed to have belonged.
• Kamban lived in Therazhundur, a village in the culturally rich Nagapattinam District in the modern state of Tamil Nadu in South India.
• Kamban is generally dated after the Vaishnavite philosopher, Ramanuja, as the poet refers to the latter in his work, the Sadagopar Antati.
• Kamba Ramayana is not a verbal translation of the Sanskrit epic by Valmiki, but a retelling of the story of Rama. The Ramavataram or Kamba Ramayanam of Kamban is an epic of about 11,000 stanzas. The Rama-avataram or Rama-kathai as it was originally called was accepted into the holy precincts in the presence of Vaishnava Acharya Nathamuni.
• Kamban was a great scholar of both Tamil and Sanskrit—two of India’s oldest and richest languages in terms of literary works.

Additional information:
• Adikavi Pampa, a Jain poet who wrote in the Kannada language and went by the epithet Adikavi (“First Poet”), was active around the turn of the tenth century. Pampa is well known for his epics Vikramarjuna Vijaya or Pampa Bharata and the Adi Purana, both of which were written in the champu style around 939 CE and were court poems for the Vemulavada Chalukyan king Arikesari II. He was also a feudatory of the Rashtrakuta dynasty king Krishna III.
• Thiruvalluvar, commonly known as Valluvar, was an Indian poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the Tirukkuṟaḷ, a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economic matters, and love. The text is considered an exceptional and widely cherished work of Tamil literature. Valluvar has influenced a wide range of scholars down the ages since his time across the ethical, social, political, economical, religious, philosophical, and spiritual spheres. He has long been venerated as a great sage, and his literary works a classic of Tamil culture.
• Purandara Dasa belonged to the Vaishnava tradition during the Vijayanagar rule. Prior to the adoption of Vaishnava tradition, he was a rich merchant and was called Srinivasa Nayaka. He was a great devotee of Lord Krishna, a poet and a musician. He is considered the father of Carnatic Music. He formalized the music system which was a blend of various traditions of South India and the musical science as explained in the Vedas. He identified 84 ragas and devised a system of teaching Carnatic music in graded lessons. He composed songs in Kannada and Sanskrit with the pen name Purandara Vithala.

Answer: B
Context: In September, On the 81st anniversary of her martyrdom, President pays homage to the valiant Matangini Hazra . An emblem of women’s strength, she actively participated in the Indian Independence Movement and laid down her life for the nation’s freedom.
Explanation:
• Matangini Hazra was a staunch Gandhian from Tamluk, Bengal and was affectionately called ‘Gandhi Buri’. She fell to British bullets while leading a Quit India Movement march.
• Matangini was born in a village named Hogla, near Tamluk, in 1869. Following her husband’s death, she began devoting herself to social causes, gaining the trust and adulation of poor villagers.
• Matangini Hazra was among the thousands who fell for the charisma and message of the Mahatma, and joined the freedom struggle whole-heartedly.
• In his book Code Name God (2005), Indian-American scientist and author Mani Bhaumik, who grew up in Tamluk, wrote: “Matangani’s love for Gandhi was so great that she became known in our village as Gandhiburi, the old Gandhian woman…”
• At the age of 61, she was arrested for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930. In fact, her participation in the Movement led to several short stints in prison. It was during this time that she became an active member of the Indian National Congress, and started spinning her own khadi in Gandhi’s footsteps.
• Her involvement with the freedom struggle intensified during the Quit India Movement launched by Gandhi in August 1942. In September, 1942, Hazra led a large procession of around 6,000 protesters, mostly women. The procession marched with the aim to take over the Tamluk police station from British authorities.
Additional information:
• Bina Das was born in Chittagong, then East Bengal, the daughter of a school teacher, she later migrated to South Calcutta where she grew up. Her father taught at Ravenshaw College in Cuttack, where the revolutionary Subhas Chandra Bose was a student. This led to her involvement in the struggle for independence. As a young revolutionary, Bina Das took up arms against the British Government. In a memoir, she describes her experience of shooting the British Governor of Bengal, Stanley Jackson. She was inspired by her Gandhian father and was willing to risk her life for her country’s freedom. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1960 and died on 26 December 1986. She inspired millions of young women to stand up for a cause.
• Sucheta Kriplani was born in Ambala, and she grew up in a Bengali-Brahmo family. Her autobiography, An Unfinished Autobiography, provides a detailed account of the defining moments in her life. Sucheta Kripalani married a leading member of the Indian National Congress. She was active in the Quit India movement and during the riots around the Partition of India, she worked with Mahatma Gandhi. She served as the first head of the Women’s department of Congress. She later went on to establish the All India Mahila Congress and worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi. Despite challenges, Kripalani was one of the few women elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946.
• Pritilata Waddedar was a young woman when she became a freedom fighter in India. She studied philosophy at Bethune college in Calcutta and met the revolutionary leader Surya Sen, who was affectionately called Master Da. Waddedar joined Surya Sen’s underground group. Her dedication to the cause allowed her to carry out her assignments undetected. She became a symbol of women revolutionaries and was honored with a posthumous graduation certificate in 2012.

Answer: B
Context: Amid Israel’s ongoing military attacks on the Gaza Strip, particularly in its southern region, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter in a bid to establish a ceasefire in December 2023.
Explanation:
Statement 1 is incorrect: This move was intended to warn the UN Security Council about the danger caused by Israel’s actions in Gaza. This step is meant to draw attention to the pressing need to prevent a major humanitarian disaster in the area.
Statement 2 is correct: Till now, it has been invoked only on four occasions to achieve stability and peace. This article has been sparingly used, with previous invocations including addressing the upheaval in the Republic of the Congo in 1960, Tunisia’s complaint against France’s military actions in 1961, and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 and the recent invocation amid Israel’s ongoing military attacks.
Additional information:
Article 99 of the UN Charter:
• Article 99 is a provision within the United Nations Charter, serving as the U.N.’s constitution.
• It empowers the secretary-general to bring attention to the Security Council about matters that, in their opinion, could threaten international peace and security.
• Article 99 is considered discretionary, allowing the Secretary-General to highlight critical issues, and it requires the Security Council’s attention when invoked.
Charter of the United Nations
• The Charter of the UN is the founding document of the UN. It was signed on 26th June 1945, in San Francisco and came into force on 24th October 1945.
• The UN can take action on a wide variety of issues due to its unique international character and the powers vested in its Charter, which is considered an international treaty.
• As such, the UN Charter is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it.
• The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the primary judicial body of the United Nations, operates by its Statute, annexed to the UN Charter as an integral pa