Both Statements are Correct:
OCI does not confer political rights. The registered Overseas Citizens of India shall not be entitled to the rights conferred on a citizen of India under article 16 of the Constitution with regard to equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.

The Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) is an immigration status permitting a foreign citizen of Indian origin to live and work in the Republic of India indefinitely. The OCI was introduced in response to demands for dual citizenship by the Indian diaspora, particularly in developed countries. It was introduced by The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 in August 2005.

Option C is Not Correct:
Yellow Rust disease appears as yellow stripes of powder or dust on leaves and leaf sheaths of the wheat crop. Rust colonies in the leaves drain the carbohydrates from the plant and reduce the green leaf area.

Earlier, a new variety of wheat called HD-3226 or Pusa Yashasvi was released by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, which had higher levels of resistance against major rust fungi such as the yellow/stripe, brown/leaf and
black/stem.

Breeding resistant varieties is the most cost-effective method to control this rust. Fungicides are available but vary in availability depending on their registration restrictions by national or state governments.

The Index is released by NITI Aayog.

The latest release for 2019 states that no state now falls in the aspirant category (less than 50 points) any longer. The overall ranking of India has also i mproved from 57 in 2018 to 50 in SDGs, which has been attributed to strides made in the sectors of clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, industry, innovation and i nfrastructure, life on land and peace, justice and social institutions, where India has scored between 65 and 99 points.

It is the ninth edition of India-Bangladesh joint military exercise Sampriti. The exercise commenced at Umroi, Meghalaya on February 03, 2020. The objective of SAMPRITI-IX is to provide basic counter-terrorism training for mountainous and jungle locations.

As per the government agencies, a delegation of Bangladesh Army comprising of 31 officers and 138 other ranks are participating in the joint military exercise. On the other hand, a company group of Indian Army is showing its skill in SAMPRITI-IX.

The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen and broaden the interoperability and cooperation between the Indian and Bangladesh’s armies. Another objective of this exercise is to strengthen and expand the aspects of mutual cooperation between both armies.

The Ilbert Bill was a bill introduced in 1883 during the Viceroyship of the Marquess of Ripon, which was written by Sir Courtenay Peregine Ilbert (The law member of the Viceroy’s Council). According to this act, Indian judges could try Europeans.

Marathon discussion with Sir CP Ilbert to change the act, thereby favouring the Indians. This is called the famous Ilbert Bill or the White Mutiny(1883).

It was named after Courtenay Ilbert, the recently appointed legal adviser to the Council of India, who had proposed it as a compromise between two previously suggested bills. However, the introduction of the bill led to intense opposition in Britain and from British settlers in India that ultimately played on racial tension before it was enacted in 1884 in a severely compromised state.

The bitter controversy deepened antagonism between the British and Indians and was a prelude to the formation of the Indian National Congress in the next two years. There was also a strong protest among Europeans

The Chola dynasty port city in Tamil Nadu that vanished from maritime history around 1,000 years ago will be digitally reconstructed by a consortium led by the Department of Science and Technology.

DST officials said there are exhaustive narrations in works of Sangam Tamil l iterature to i nfer that the city, l ocated 30 km from the existing Poompuhar town in southern TN, was submerged due to “kadalkol” or rising sea levels.

Statement 1 is correct:
WHO defines zoonoses as diseases and infections that are naturally transmitted between vertebrate animals and humans.

Statement 2 is Not correct:
A zoonotic agent may be a bacterium, a virus, a fungus or other communicable disease agent. At l east 61% of all human pathogens are zoonotic and have represented 75% of all emerging pathogens during the past decade.

Paraquat, also known as Methyl Viologen, is an organic compound with the chemical formula [(C6H7N)2]Cl2. It is classified as a viologen, a family of redox-active heterocycles of similar structure.

Paraquat was manufactured by Chevron. This salt is one of the most widely used herbicides. It is quick-acting and non-selective, killing green plant tissue on contact. It is also toxic to human beings and animals due to its redox activity, which produces superoxide anions. It has been linked to the development of Parkinson’s disease and is banned in several countries.

The Registration Committee constituted under section 5 of the Insecticides Act, 1968 (46 of 1968) deliberated the Report in its special meeting and submitted its observation to the Central Government.

The Central Government, after considering the recommendations of the Expert Committee and after consultation with the Registration Committee satisfied that the use of eighteen pesticides are likely to involve risk to human being and animals.

Statement 1 is Incorrect:
The commission is constituted to make recommendations to the president about the distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Union and States and also the allocation of the same among the States themselves.

Statement 2 is Correct:
The 1 per cent decrease i n the vertical devolution is roughly equal to the share of the erstwhile state of Jammu and
Kashmir, which would have been 0.85% as per the formula described by the Commission.

Statement 3 is Incorrect:
As per article 280, its reports are submitted to the President.

Statement 1 is correct:
Article 145 (1) of the Constitution states “Subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament the Supreme Court may from time to time, with the approval of the President, make rules for regulating generally the practise and procedure of the Court

Statement 2 is correct:
Article 145 (3) states that- “The minimum number of Judges who are to sit for the purpose of deciding any case involving
a substantial question of law as to the interpretation of this Constitution or for the purpose of hearing any reference
under Article 143 shall be five:”

All Options are Correct:
All are part of the Vanilla Islands group. Vanilla Islands is a grouping of six island nations in south-west Indian Ocean who joined hands in 2010 to integrate their efforts to boost tourism. Mayotte, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, Reunion and Madagascar are its members

Option B is Correct:
The Government of the United Kingdom triggered Article 50 to begin the UK’s withdrawal from the EU in March 2017 following a referendum, and the withdrawal was scheduled in law to occur on 29 March 2019.

Subsequently, the UK sought and was granted, a further Article 50 extension until 31 January 2020. On 23 January 2020, the Withdrawal agreement was ratified by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and on 29 January 2020 by the European Parliament, affirming that there will be an agreement in place if the UK leaves the EU. The UK left the EU on the 31 January 2020 at 23:00 GMT.

Statement 1 is correct:
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is a United Nations agency.

Statement 2 is correct:
The IMO currently has 174 member states and three associate members; there are also scores of non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations.

Statement 3 is not correct:
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency tasked with regulating shipping, had mandated that merchant ships should not burn fuel with sulphur content greater than 0.5% beginning January 1.

Before the ban, fuel had a comfortable sulphur content limit of 3.5%, which was applicable to most parts of the world. Despite the industry gradually gearing up to introduce the new fuel, many industry professionals feared that the new very-low-sulphur fuel would be incompatible with the engines and other vessel equipment.

All the options are Correct:
The services of Anganwadis include supplementary nutrition; pre-school non-formal education; immunisation, nutrition and health education; as well as referral services. The aim of the scheme is to reduce infant mortality and child malnutrition.

Beneficiaries include children in the age group of six months to six years, and pregnant women and lactating mothers.

A typical Anganwadi centre provides basic health care in a village. It is a part of the Indian public health care system. Basic health care activities include contraceptive counseling and supply, nutrition education and supplementation, as well as pre-school activities. The centres may be used as depots for oral rehydration salts, basic medicines and contraceptives.

Statement 1 is correct:
Article 176(1) of the Constitution of India enjoins that the Governor shall Address both the Houses assembled together at the commencement of the first Session after each general election to the Assembly and at the commencement of the first session of each year and inform the Legislature of the causes of its Summons.

Statement 2 is not correct:
In case of absence of rules in particular matter, the speaker of state legislative assembly/council decides rules.

Option a is Correct:
The Global IP Index was released by Global Innovation Policy Center or GIPC of the US Chambers of Commerce. India has been ranked 40th out of 53 countries on a global intellectual property index, even as the country has shown improvement in terms of scores when it comes to the protection of IP and copyright issues.

The major indicator categories are:
● Patents, related rights, and limitations;
● Copyrights, related rights, and limitations;
● Trademarks, related rights, and limitations;
● Enforcement;
● Membership and ratification of international treaties

Option c is Not Correct:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech had announced this scheme, which aims to resolve 4.83 lakh direct tax cases pending at various appellate forums such as the Commissioner (Appeals), the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), high courts and the Supreme Court.

Cases involving serious financial crimes like money laundering, those related to undisclosed foreign assets and where the prosecution has been launched under the Income Tax Act and the Benami assets law will not be eligible to be included under the scheme.

Under the scheme, taxpayers with pending demands can pay due taxes by March 31 and get the complete interest and penalty waiver. After the March 31 deadline, the second deadline would be till June 30, but with the requirement to pay 10 per cent more on the tax. In case it is just the interest and the penalty which is in dispute, the taxpayer will have to pay 25 per cent of the disputed amount till March 31, and subsequently, it will be 30 per cent.

Option D is Not Correct:
The RBI has emulated the ECB (European Central Bank) action by introducing “long-term repo.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to introduce long-term repo operations (LTRO) to facilitate the transmission of monetary policy actions and flow of credit to the economy. The central bank will conduct long-term repos of one- and three-year tenors of appropriate sizes for up to a total amount of Rs 1,00,000 crore at the policy repo rate from the fortnight beginning February 15, 2020.

Statement 1 is Correct:
India and 50 African countries adopted the ‘Lucknow Declaration’ on Thursday, at the first India – Africa Defence Minister’s Conclave held on the sidelines of the ongoing DefExpo in Lucknow.

Statement 2 is Correct:
The ‘Lucknow Declaration’ states that all the signatories “commit to continue our collaboration in the fields of peace and security including conflict prevention, resolution, management and peace building through exchange of expertise and training, strengthening regional and continental early warning capacities and mechanisms, enhancing the role of women in peace keeping and propagating the culture of peace”.