19th May 2026

Explanation - War crimes are defined as serious violations of humanitarian laws during a conflict. The definition, established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is derived from the 1949 Geneva Conventions and is based on the idea that individuals can be held liable for the actions of a state or its military. The UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect separates war crimes from genocide and crimes against humanity. War crimes are defined as occurring in a domestic conflict or a war between two states, while genocide and crimes against humanity can happen in peacetime or during the unilateral aggression of a military towards a group of unarmed people. There is a long list of acts that can be considered war crimes. The taking of hostages, wilful killings, torture or inhuman treatment of prisoners of war, and forcing children to fight are some of the more obvious examples. Raids on a cities or villages, bombing residential buildings or schools, and even the killing of groups of civilians do not necessarily amount to war crimes — not if their military necessity is justified. The same act can become a war crime if it results in unnecessary destruction, suffering and casualties that exceed the military gain from the attack.

Explanation - The Nordic Countries are a group of countries in northern Europe. There are 5 Nordic countries — Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are constitutional monarchies and parliamentary democracies. Finland and Iceland are democratic republics. Iceland’s parliament, the Althing, is the oldest parliament in the world.

Sweden is the largest and most populous of the Nordic countries. Iceland is the least populous. Denmark is the smallest.

Explanation - The National Test House (NTH), a 109-year-old government quality assurance laboratory that provides material testing facilities for the industry, consumers and government agencies in all domains of engineering. NTH has 6 laboratories that are serving the country on quality assurance for industrial and economic growth. It comes under the overall supervision of Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The Government Test House (Today known as National Test House) was created in the year 1912 at Alipore in South Calcutta, and has contributed immensely to scientific theory, discoveries and practical product development. The NTH serves consumers, Industries (Heavy,Small scale),Central & State Governments, Public Sector Undertakings, Manufacturing & Construction agencies across Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Non Destructive Test (NDT), Rubber-Paper- Plastic & textile (RPPT) domains of testing.

Explanation - Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) is an officially recognised book of standards as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules 1945 thereunder. The IP specifies the standards of drugs manufactured and marketed in India in terms of their identity, purity and strength. In order to ensure the quality of medicinal products, the legal and scientific standards are provided by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) in the form of Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP). IPC also develops IP Reference Substances (IPRS) that act as fingerprint for identification of an article under test and its purity as prescribed in the IP monographs. Standards prescribed in the IP are authoritative in nature and are enforced by the regulatory authorities for quality control of medicines in India. Afghanistan has recently become the first country to recognise Indian Pharmacopoeia.

Explanation - Cabinet’s recommendation is a must for an ordinance to be promulgated. Using ordinances, immediate legislative actions can be taken. For an ordinance to exist, it should be approved by the Parliament (or State Legislature in case of Governor’s ordinance) within six weeks of it being introduced. Parliament is required to sit within 6 weeks from when Ordinance was introduced.