Prelims Specific Objective

1) Consider the following statements about ‘Ayya Vaikunda Swamikal’

1. He was a social reformer who contributed to the modernization of Hindu society in South Travancore
2. He condemned those who divided society into many groups and considered them “nisas”
3. He was a contemporary of Saint Manikkavasagar

Choose the correct answer using the code given below.

a) 1 and 2 only
b) 1 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 2 and 3 only

2)‘Mount Merapi’, a volcano which erupted recently is located in

a) Philippines
b) Italy
c) Indonesia
d) Japan

3)‘Section 6A of Citizenship Act, 1955’ which has been referred to the Constitution Bench deals with

a) Deportation of persons identified as foreigners
b) Grant of refugee status
c) Registration of persons detected as foreigners
d) Deprivation of citizenship

Prelims Specific News Items

1) The Department of Consumer Affairs will be celebrating World Consumer Rights Day, 2023 on Wednesday, 15th March 2023. The Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Mrs. Nidhi Khare in this regard interacted with media persons here today and shared that the theme of the World Consumer Rights Day, 2023 is “Empowering consumers through clean energy transitions.

NCH works as an alternate dispute redressal mechanism at the pre-litigation level wherein consumers can easily register their grievances by calling ‘1915’ or through the mobile app. NCH is accessible in over 17 languages including recently added Maithili, Kashmiri and Santhali languages.

2) The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India has announced the launch of ‘Learning Science via Standards’, a unique initiative for students for learning science via standards.

The ‘Learning Science via Standards’ initiative focuses on a series of lesson plans aimed to use scientific concepts, principles and laws to help students understand their practical applications in manufacturing, functioning and testing of quality characteristics of different products as stated in the relevant Indian Standards.

3)Exercise Bold Kurukshetra

The Singapore Army and Indian Army participated in the 13th edition of Exercise Bold Kurukshetra, a bilateral armour exercise from 06-13 March 2023 at Jodhpur Military Station, India.

4) Governor Related Facts

Article 153 says that there shall be a Governor for each State. One person can be appointed as Governor for two or more States.

• A Governor is appointed by the President and is a nominee of the Central Government.
• It is stated that the Governor has a dual role.
• He is the constitutional head of the state, bound by the advice of his council of ministers (CoM).
• He functions as a vital link between the Union Government and the State Government.
• Articles 157 and 158 specify eligibility requirements for the post of governor.
• Governor has the power to grant pardons, reprieves, etc. (Article 161).
• There is a CoM with the CM at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions, except some conditions for discretion. (Article 163)
• Governor appoints the Chief Minister and other Ministers (Article 164).
• Governor assents, withholds assent, or reserves the bill for the consideration of the President passed by the Legislative Assembly (Article 200).
• Governor may promulgate the Ordinances under certain circumstances (Article 213).

5) Why is WhatsApp threatening to leave U.K.?

During a visit to the U.K. last week, WhatsApp’s head Will Cathcart said that WhatsApp would not comply with the country’s proposed Online Safety Bill (OSB) which will in effect outlaw end-to-end
(E2E) encryption. Mr. Cathcart said that it was the first time a “liberal democracy” was attempting to
block a “secure product”.

What is End to End Encryption

E2E encryption ensures that a message can only be decrypted by the intended recipient using a secure decryption key that is unique to each sender-recipient pair and to each of their messages.

Decryption, even by the messaging service provider, is impossible. Even if the platform’s servers are compromised, without the intended recipient’s decryption key, only a garbled string of characters will be available.

Over the last few years, E2E encryption has been steadily gaining ground. It is offered by default on WhatsApp, Signal, Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime and is an option on Meta’s Messenger and Telegram.

6. What is NOSTRO and VOSTRO Account

A Vostro account is an account that a domestic bank holds for a foreign bank in the domestic bank’s currency — which, in the case of India, is the rupee.

For Ex. In the case of trade with Russia, payments in rupee for the export and import of goods will go to these Vostro accounts.

The owners and beneficiaries of this money will be the exporters and importers in both the countries. The banks will keep the record of money transferred

What is Nostro Account :-

So, if an Indian bank like the SBI wants to open an account in the United States, it will get in touch with a bank in the US, which will open a Nostro account and accept payments for SBI in dollars.

The account opened by the Indian bank in the US will be a Nostro account for the Indian bank, while for the US bank, the account will be considered a Vostro account.

What is the News:- Banks from 18 countries have been permitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open special vostro rupee accounts (SVRAs) for settling payments in Indian rupees.

7. About Justice Rohini Commission

About Rohini Commission:

• The commission was set up by the President under Article 340 of the Indian Constitution on October 2,2017. 
• It is headed by former Delhi High Court judge, Justice G. Rohini (retd).
• Mandate: To examine the issues related to the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes.
• Terms of References:
  • to examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the castes or communities included in the broad category of Other Backward Classes, with reference to such classes included in the Central List;
  • to work out the mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorisation within such Other Backward Classes;
  • to take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes or communities or sub-castes or synonyms in the Central List of Other Backward Classes and classifying them into their respective sub-categories. 

What does Article 340 says?

• The Article reads, “The President may, by order, appoint a Commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fit to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India and the difficulties under which they labour and to make recommendations as to the steps that should be taken by the Union or any State to remove such difficulties and to improve their condition…”