Ans: A

Exp:

• Statement 2 is correct: The Prime Minister has rolled out health coverage for all citizens aged 70 years and above under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana irrespective of income status  (AB-PMJAY).
• AB-PMJAY is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme having a central sector component under the Ayushman Bharat Mission.
•  Nodal Ministry:  Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). 

• It is an umbrella of two major health initiatives, namely Health and Wellness Centres and the National  Health Protection Scheme.
• Statement 1 is not correct: It provides health insurance coverage of up to ₹5 lakhs per family annually for secondary and tertiary hospital care.
• Senior citizens who are availing private health insurance policies or the Employees’ State Insurance scheme, will also be eligible to avail benefits under the scheme.
• Statement 3 is correct: The scheme is being implemented in 33 states and Union territories currently except for Delhi, Odisha, and West Bengal.

Ans: D

Exp:

• India remains highly dependent on imports for minerals critical to accelerating its energy transition, with a full reliance on shipping in lithium, cobalt and nickel, according to a report released by Institute for Energy economics and financial anlysis.
• Critical minerals are necessary for national security, economic growth, and renewable energy. 
  • The development of numerous industries, such as high-tech electronics, telecommunications, transportation, and defence, depends on these.
• The Expert Committee under the Ministry of Mines has identified a set of 30 critical minerals for India.

• These are Antimony, Beryllium, Bismuth, Cobalt, Copper, Gallium, Germanium, Graphite, Hafnium, Indium, Lithium, Molybdenum, Niobium, Nickel, PGE, Phosphorous, Potash, REE, Rhenium, Silicon, Strontium, Tantalum, Tellurium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium, Zirconium, Selenium, and Cadmium. Option (d) is correct.

Ans: A

Exp: 

Union Home Minister on October 29, 2024 launched the Civil Registration System (CRS) mobile application to “integrate technology with governance”.

• • This application will make registration of births and deaths seamless and hassle-free by allowing citizens to register at any time, from any place, and in their State’s official language. “It will significantly reduce the time required for registration.
  • The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Act, 2023 mandates that from October 1, 2023, all births and deaths are to be digitally registered through the Central portal. Hence Statement 1 is correct.
  • The central database will enable easy updating of national registries like the NPR, ration cards, and electoral rolls. States do not exclusively control this data under the Act​. Hence Statement 2 is Incorrect.

• The digital birth certificates will be a single document to prove the date of birth for various services such as admission to educational institutions, government jobs and marriage registration. 

• Data for the NPR, first collected in 2010 and updated in 2015 through door-to-door enumeration, already includes information on 119 crore residents. NPR is the first step to the creation of the National Register of Citizens (NPR), as per the Citizenship Act.

Ans: C

Exp:

• Israel’s parliament passed two Bills to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
  • One of the Bills bars UNRWA from operating any representative office, providing any service, or conducting any activity, directly or indirectly, in Israel’s sovereign territory.
  • The second Bill cuts all ties between government employees and UNRWA, and takes away the legal immunities of the agency’s staff.

• The UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide aid to about 700,000 Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
• Statement 1 is correctUNRWA began operations on May 1, 1950. It operates in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan — where Palestinian refugees took shelter after their expulsion.
• Statement 2 is correctThe UN agency is funded mostly by voluntary contributions from donor states such as the United States, Germany, the European Union, etc. 
  • It also gets a limited subsidy from the UN, which is used only for administrative costs.

Ans: A

Exp: In a major setback to China’s BRI, Brazil has decided against joining Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar initiative becoming the second country after India in the BRICS bloc not to endorse the mega project. Option (a) is correct.

About BRICS:

• • The Belt and Road Initiative or BRI was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping  in 2013.
  • Objective: To connect Asia with Europe and Africa, through a network of railways, highways, ports, airports, and other infrastructure projects with the intent to promote trade, investment, and economic growth in participating countries.
  • Principal components: The Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road

• Geographic Corridors under BRI

• • • China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
    • New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor.
    • China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor.
    • China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.
    • China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor.
    • China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

• India has long opposed the initiative due to sovereignty concerns and issues with transparency, and Brazil has recently decided not to join, seeking alternative forms of cooperation with China instead​.