Statement 1 is Incorrect: It is implemented by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India. The Mission envisages promoting holistic growth of bamboo sector by adopting area-based,regionally differentiated strategy and to increase the area under bamboo cultivation and marketing. Under the Mission, steps have been taken to increase the availability of quality planting material by supporting the setting up of new nurseries and strengthening of existing ones. To address forward integration, the Mission is taking steps to strengthen marketing of bamboo products,especially those of handicraft items. Statement 2 is Incorrect: It is a 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme called Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) in which National Bamboo Mission (NBM) is being implemented as a sub-scheme.

The mission aims to immunize all children under the age of 2 years, as well as all pregnant women, against eight vaccine-preventable diseases.

The diseases being targeted are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B. In addition to these, vaccines for Japanese encephalitis and Haemophilus influenzae type B are also being provided in selected states.

In 2016, four new additions have been made namely Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus.

In 2017, Pneumonia was added to the Mission by incorporating Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under Universal Immunization Programme.

Objectives of the Initiative:
To celebrate the unity in diversity of our nation and to maintain and strengthen the fabric of traditionally existing emotional bonds between the people of our country;

To promote the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement between all states and union territories through a year-long planned engagement between states;

To showcase the rich heritage and culture, customs and traditions of either state for enabling people to understand and appreciate the diversity that is India, thus fostering a sense of common identity;

To establish long term engagements; and

To create an environment this promotes learning between states by sharing best practices and experiences.

All Statements are Correct:
Users need to possess an Aadhar card to use DigiLocker. For sign-up, the Aadhar card number and the one-time password sent to the Aadhar-associated mobile number, need to be entered. For later log-ins, the user can set their own password or link the account to Facebook or Google logins.

There is also an associated facility for e-signing documents. The service is intended to minimise the use of physical documents, reduce administrative expenses, provide authenticity of the e-documents, provide secure access to government-issued documents and to make it easy for the residents to receive services.

The Global Microscope for Financial Inclusion, now in its 12th year, is a benchmarking index that assesses the enabling environment for financial access in 55 countries. The 2019 Microscope features 11 new indicators to better assess what governments are doing to address the gender gap in financial inclusion.

India- specific observations:
India is among top nations with most conducive environment for financial inclusion in terms of allowing non-banks to issue e-money, proportionate customer due diligence and effective consumer protection.

The overall environment for financial inclusion has improved globally with India, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay and Mexico having the most favourable conditions for inclusive finance.

Within the overall framework for promoting digital financial inclusion, the report identified four basic enablers – allowing non-banks to issue e-money, presence of financial service agents, proportionate customer due diligence and effective financial consumer protection.

India was among the top countries that safeguard e-money via some sort of deposit insurance or protection.

Statement 1 is Incorrect:
Tajikistan is a full-fleged member of SCO.

Statement 2 is Correct:
Both India and Pakistan are its members.

NOTE:
The original five nations, with the exclusion of Uzbekistan, were previously members of the Shanghai Five group, founded on 26 April 1996.

Since then, the organisation has expanded its membership to eight countries when India and Pakistan joined SCO as full members on 9 June 2017 at a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO, it meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.

Military exercises are also regularly conducted among members to promote cooperation and coordination against terrorism and other external threats, and to maintain regional peace and stability.

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 180 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.

By 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:

strengthen the creation, production, distribution and dissemination of cultural activities, goods and services;

develop hubs of creativity and innovation and broaden opportunities for creators and professionals in the cultural sector;

improve access to and participation in cultural life, in particular for marginalized or vulnerable groups and individuals;

fully integrate culture and creativity into sustainable development plans.

The Kung Fu Nuns are an order of Buddhist nuns who belong to the Drukpa Lineage, a thousand-year-old sect led by the Gyalwang Drukpa. Their name comes from the order’s proficiency in Chinese martial arts, which they began learning in 2008 after the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa authorized a training program for them despite centuries-old Buddhist laws banning exercise for nuns.

The Drukpa nuns are best known for their social activism and humanitarian work. They also occupy leadership roles in their nunneries, performing basic trades and management skills that have long been banned for Tibetan Buddhist women.

Statement 1 is Correct:
It was formalized in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 1992.

Statement 2 is Incorrect:
CBDR principle acknowledges all states have shared obligation to address environmental destruction but
denies equal responsibility of all states with regard to environmental protection.

NOTE:
In the Earth Summit, states acknowledged disparity of economic development between developed and developing countries. Industrialization proceeded in developed countries much earlier than it did in developing countries. CBDR is based on relationship between industrialization and climate change.

The more industrialized a country is, more likely that it has contributed to climate change. States came to an agreement that developed countries contributed more to environmental degradation and should have greater responsibility than developing countries.

CBDR principle could therefore be said to be based on polluter-pays principle where historical contribution to climate change and respective ability become measures of responsibility for environmental protection.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji Gurpurab, also known as Guru Nanak’s Prakash Utsav and Guru Nanak Dev Ji Jayanti, celebrates the birth of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak. This is one of the most sacred festivals in Sikhism, or Sikhi.

The festivities in the Sikh religion revolve around the anniversaries of the 10 Sikh Gurus. These Gurus were responsible for shaping the beliefs of the Sikhs . Their birthdays, known as Gurpurab, are occasions for celebration and prayer among the Sikhs.

Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born on Puranmashi of Kattak in 1469, according to the Bikrami calendar in Rai-Bhoi-di Talwandi in the present Shekhupura District of Pakistan, now Nankana Sahib.

Statement 1 is Correct: The GeM would be the national public procurement portal and will be registered as Section 8 Company for providing procurement of goods and services required by central and state government organizations. It will provide an end-to-end online marketplace for central and state government ministries and departments for procurement of common use goods & services in a transparent and efficient manner. Statement 2 is Correct: SWAYATT is an initiative to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through eTransactions on Government e Marketplace (GeM). This will bring together the key stakeholders within the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem to Government e-Marketplace the national procurement portal.

There are five conditions under which parliament can make laws on state list:

If rajya sabha approves a resolution with special majority and declares that a subject is of national interest. (under Article-249)

During times of national Emergency(under Article 250)

If the legislature of 2 or more state request parliament to make law for an item in state list. for example kerela and tamilnadu can ask for water disputes. (under Article 252)

For implementation of international treaties .eg Micro irrigation, treaty on agriculture.

During president’s rule.

It is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform that is aimed at addressing common man’s grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State Governments.

The PRAGATI platform uniquely bundles three latest technologies: Digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial technology. It also offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative federalism since it brings on one stage the Secretaries of Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States. With this, the Prime Minister is able to discuss the issues with the concerned Central and State officials with full information and latest visuals of the ground-level situation.

The DTAA, or Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement is a tax treaty signed between India and another country ( or any two/multiple countries) so that taxpayers can avoid paying double taxes on their income earned from the source country as well as the residence country. At present, India has double tax avoidance treaties with more than 80 countries around the world.

The need for DTAA arises out of the imbalance in tax collection on global income of individuals. If a person aims to do business in a foreign country, he/she may end up paying income taxes in both cases, i.e. the country where the income is earned and the country where the individual holds his/her citizenship or residence. For instance, if you are moving to a different country from India while leaving income sources such as interest from deposits in here, you will be charged interest by both India and the country of your current residence as per your consolidated global earnings. Such a scenario can have you pay twice the tax over the same income. This is where the DTAA becomes useful for taxpayers.

Alarmed by the low percentage of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the Centre has planned a programme to help girl students inculcate interest in these areas and also fund them if they get into any top institute for pursuing these underrepresented subjects, officials said on Sunday.

The programme ‘Vigyan Jyoti’ aims to tap 100 girl students in 550 districts from 2020-2025. The students will be chosen based on their percentile.

All Statements are Correct:
Highlights of the code:
The Code seeks to regulate health and safety conditions of workers in establishments with 10 or more workers, and in all mines and docks.

It subsumes and replaces 13 labour laws relating to safety, health and working conditions. These laws include: Factories Act, 1948; Mines Act, 1952; Dock Workers Act, 1986; Contract Labour Act, 1970; and Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979.

Establishments covered by the Code are required to register with registering officers, appointed by the central or state governments.

Welfare facilities, working conditions and work hours for different types of establishments and workers will be prescribed by the central or state governments through rules.

The Code sets up occupational safety boards at the national and state level to advise the central and state governments on the standards, rules, and regulations to be framed under the Code.

The Code creates special provisions for certain classes of establishments such as factories, mines, dock workers, and constructions workers. These include separate provisions on licenses, safety regulations, and duties of employers.

Four Directive Principles were added by 42nd amendment as follows:

To secure opportunities for healthy development of children (Article 39)

To promote equal justice and to provide free legal aid to the poor (Article 39 A).

To take steps to secure the participation of workers in the management of industries (Article 43 A)

To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wild life (Article 48 A).

Statement 1 is Incorrect:
India is on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target for reducing MMR by 2025. MMR has declined from 130/ lakh live births in 2014-16 to 122/ lakh live births in 2015-17 (6.2%
decline).

Statement 2 is Correct:
MMR of 100/lakh Live Births by 2020 was the target set under the National Health Policy 2017.

NOTE:
India is on track to achieve SDG target of MMR, however the four states namely Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will have to intensify their efforts to accelerate the MMR decline to achieve the SDG target. New initiatives in the form of LaQshya, POSHAN Abhiyan and SUMAN (Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan Initiative) will help to ensure that all pregnant women receive quality maternal care with dignity and that no mother or newborn dies due to a preventable cause.

Recently, India and Indonesia have carried out the bilateral maritime exercise “Samudra Shakti” in the Bay of Bengal.

The joint exercises focussed on surface warfare exercises, air defence exercises, weapon firing drills, helicopter operations, and boarding operations.

Garuda Shakti is the joint military exercise between India and Indonesia.

Geochemical Baseline Atlas of India:

The atlas consisting 45 maps of metals, oxides and elements present in top and bottom soils across India.

It will serve as a reference against which future generations of the country would be able to assess the chemical compositional changes on Earth’s surface.

These maps help in finding out future contamination caused by industries or other bodies which cause pollution.

Part of a Global Map:
It will be given to International Union of Global Sciences (IUGS), which is preparing global maps.

To develop the maps, the globe was divided into 5,000 cells of 160 km by 160 km each. Of it, India has 122 cells.

CSIR started this work in 2007 from cell number 1 which is in Kanyakumari. The last cell is in Arunachal Pradesh.

Uses:
Earlier, there was no way to prove if polluters denied causing damage to the environment. Now, the baseline maps atlas helps show evidence of it.
With a glance at it, policymakers will get to know regions with high and low concentrations of metal.

For instance, tanneries release chromium. By going through the map of chromium, policymakers will get to know regions with a high concentration of it.