International Organizations, Defence, Books & Authors, World History

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Civil Services Day is celebrated on April 21 every year in India. This day is celebrated to commemorate the day when the first home minister of Independent India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, addressed administrative services officers in 1947.

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Flexible Credit Line (FCL) is a lending scheme of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The FCL was created in 2009 after the 2007 Financial Crisis. It was designed to meet the demand for crisis prevention and crisis mitigation lending for countries with strong policy frameworks and track records in economic performance. The FCL is useful for both crisis prevention and crisis resolution.
The FCL is a precautionary credit line that lasts one or two years. The repayment period is the same as for the Stand by Arrangement (SBA). Only Mexico, Colombia, and Poland have subscribed to the FCL.

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Among the given options, the junior most rank in the Indian Air Force is Flight Lieutenant. The rank hierarchy in the Indian Air Force from junior to senior among the listed ranks is as follows: Flight Lieutenant, Squadron Leader, Wing Commander, and Group Captain.

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European Court of Human Rights – Strasbourg

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The Revolution of Roses, also known as the Rose Revolution was a pro-Western peaceful change of power in Georgia in November 2003.

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Brahmos missile is able to engage ground targets from an altitude as low as 10 metres for surgical strikes without any collateral damage.

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‘Pandit Makhanlal Chaturvedi’ born in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh, also called Panditji, was an Indian poet, writer, essayist, playwright and a journalist who is particularly remembered for his participation in India’s national struggle for independence and his contribution to Chhayavaad, the Neo-romanticism movement of Hindi literature. He was awarded the first Sahitya Akademi Award in Hindi for his work ‘Him Taringini’ in 1955.He was also, awarded with the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1963 from Government of India.

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Saint Surdas, revered for his intense devotion to Lord Krishna, is the author of Sahitya Ratna. Blind from birth, he belonged to the Saguna School of the Bhakti Kal. Apart from Sahitya Ratna, Surdas has also composed Sur Sagar (Ocean of Melody), and Sur Saravali. His works, primarily centered around his spiritual affection for Lord Krishna, are celebrated for their melodious and devotional undertone.

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Palermo Protocol is a United Nations (UN) protocol that defines human trafficking and aims to prevent, suppress, and punish it. The protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000 and came into effect on December 25, 2003. The protocol’s purposes are to:

• Prevent and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children
• Protect and assist victims of trafficking
• The protocol defines human trafficking as exploitation that includes:
• Prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation
• Forced labor or services
• Slavery or practices similar to slavery
• Servitude
• The removal of organs

The Palermo Protocol is one of three supplementary protocols to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). The other two protocols are: (1) Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (2) Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms.

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A B Vajpayee is the author of book ‘New Dimensions of India’s Foreign Policy’. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an Indian politician, statesman and a poet who served three terms as the Prime Minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999, and finally, for a full term from 1999 to 2004.