Daily Current Affairs MCQ - January 29, 2022 - CLAT MCQ

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare signed a MoU with the Central Silk Board on a convergence model for the implementation of Agroforestry in the silk sector under the ongoing Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) Scheme.

• This initiative in sericulture sector is especially targeted for augmentation of sericulture host plants e.g. Mulberry, Asan, Arjuna, Som, Soalu, Kesseru, BadaKesseru, Phanat, etc. to be cultivated both as block plantations and border or peripheral plantations on farmlands.
• The Central Silk Board (CSB) is a Statutory Body, established during 1948. It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, having head quarter at Bengaluru.

Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF)

• The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC & FW) has been implementing the Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) since 2016-17 as part of the recommendation of the National Agroforestry Policy 2014.
• India was the first country to have such a comprehensive policy which was launched at the World Agroforestry Congress held in Delhi in February 2014.
• At present, the scheme is being implemented in 20 States and 2 UTs.
• SMAF aims to encourage farmers to plant multi-purpose trees together with the agriculture crops for climate resilience and an additional source of income to the farmers, as well as enhanced feedstock to inter alia wood-based and herbal industry.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

International Women's Day 2021 is being celebrated on 8th of March with theme #ChooseToChallenge. It indicates that a "challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change".

• International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year.
• History:
  • IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first​ ​IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.
  • Prior to this the​ Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom's Suffragists and Suffragettes, and further groups campaigned for women's equality.
• Organized by: IWD is not country, group or organization specific.​ IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere.
• Objective: It is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a Gazette notification regarding mandatory provision of an airbag for passengers seated on the front seat of a vehicle, next to the driver.

• The Ministry has mandated that “Vehicles manufactured on and after the April 1, 2021, in the case of new models, and August 31, 2021, in the case of existing models, shall be fitted with airbags for the person occupying the front seat, other than the driver.”
• This has been mandated as an important safety feature and is also based on suggestions of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety.”
• The latest mandate is for all existing models in the M1 category — passenger motor vehicles having not more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s.

What are airbags?

• An airbag pops up as a protective cushion between the passenger and the car’s dashboard during a collision.
• In moderate to severe frontal crashes, front airbags are designed to inflate in order to prevent a person’s head and chest from contacting hard structures in the vehicle.

Implications of this decision

• India accounts for 10% of all road crash victims in the world, as per a recent World Bank report.
• In a country where 415 people die in road accidents every day, an airbag can literally be a lifesaver.

Some of the other safety features in automobiles are:

• Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)
• Speed Alert System
• Reverse Parking Sensors
• Driver and passenger seat belt reminder
• Manual override for central locking system

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

In a move aimed at improving its relations with former colony Algeria, France has admitted that its soldiers tortured and killed the Algerian lawyer and freedom fighter Ali Boumendjel, whose death in 1957 had until now been covered up as a suicide.

• 37 years old at the time of his death, Boumendjel was an Algerian nationalist and independence activist when the North African country was under French colonial rule.
• In 1957, French troops detained and placed him under solitary confinement during the Battle of Algiers, a part of the eight-year-long Algerian War of Independence. To pass off his death as suicide, Boumendjel was thrown from the sixth floor of a building after he was killed.
• The conflict lasted until 1962, and ended with it 132 years of French domination.
• Significance of the admission: Algeria, which celebrates sixty years of independence from France next year, welcomed the admission.
• Algeria is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa.
• Algeria is bordered to the northeast by Tunisia, to the east by Libya, to the southeast by Niger, to the southwest by Mali, Mauritania, and the Western Saharan territory, to the west by Morocco, and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea.
• Algeria is the largest country by area in the African Union and the Arab world.
• The capital is Algiers, located on the Mediterranean coast.
• Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Over 19 years after they were arrested, the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Surat has acquitted all 127 persons accused of “promoting a banned organisation”, the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in 2001.

• The Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is a banned terrorist organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in April 1977.
• The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic land. It has declared Jihad against India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by either forcefully converting everyone to Islam or by violence.
• The Indian government describes it as a terrorist organisation, and banned it in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. In February 2019, the Government of India extended ban on SIMI for a period of five more years starting February 1, 2019 under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
• Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

In Australia, Leading scientists and medical experts are calling for the pardon of convicted child killer Kathleen Folbigg after a recent study showed that her victims — four of her children — may have died of natural causes.

• Medical experts have argued that her children died due to a rare genetic defect. They inherited a genetic mutation from their mother called CALM2.
• CALM-2 mutations are known to cause sudden death due to cardiac arrest.
• Calmodulin 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CALM2 gene. Mutations in CALM2 are associated to cardiac arrhythmias.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has flagged off an all-woman crew onboard Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) vessel m.t. Swarna Krishna, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said.

• It is the first time in maritime history that a ship is being sailed by only women officers
• M.T. SWARNA KRISHNA is a Oil Products Tanker that was built in 2010 and is being operated by Shipping Corporation of India (SCI).
• Hence both statements are correct.

For effective implementation of various schemes and programmes of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, all major schemes of the Ministry have been classified under 3 umbrella schemes viz. Mission Poshan 2.0, Mission Vatsalya and Mission Shakti.

Schemes included under the Umbrella Scheme are as follows:

1. Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0:
   1. Umbrella ICDS - Anganwadi Services, Poshan Abhiyan, Scheme for Adolescent Girls, National Creche Scheme.
2. Mission VATSALYA:
   1. Child Protection Services and Child Welfare Services.
3. Mission Shakti (Mission for Protection and Empowerment for Women):
   1. SAMBAL (One Stop Centre, Mahila Police Volunteer, Women's Helpline/Swadhar/Ujjawala/Widow Homes etc.)
   2. SAMARTHYA (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Creche, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana/ Gender Budgeting/Research/

• Mission Shakti will run in convergence with the other Missions/ Umbrella Schemes of M/o WCD [viz. Mission POSHAN 2.0; Mission VATSALYA; & Mission SAKSHAM-ANGANWADI (including-common-knowledge-cum-admin-backbone-from-national-to-panchayat-level).
• Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

According to information provided to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources, Only half of government schools and anganwadis have tap water supply, despite a 100-day campaign for 100% coverage being launched by the Jal Shakti Ministry in October 2020.

• Less than 8% of schools in Uttar Pradesh and 11% in West Bengal have it, while it is available in only 2-6% of anganwadis in Assam, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bengal.
• The campaign to provide potable piped water supply for drinking and cooking purposes and tap water for washing hands and in toilets in every school, anganwadi and ashramshala or residential tribal school was launched on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti.
• The 100-day period should have ended on January 10, 2021. However, as of February 15, only 48.5% of anganwadis and 53.3% of schools had tap water supply, the Ministry told the Parliamentary panel.
• Seven States — Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Punjab — achieved 100% coverage.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Following below are the Programmes launched by Government to promote women entrepreneurship across the country.

• The Ministry of Skill Development is implementing Pradhan Mantri YUVA (PM YUVA) Yojana, a pilot scheme, for creating an enabling ecosystem through entrepreneurship education, training, advocacy and easy access to entrepreneurship network.
• Ministry of Skill Development is implementing the pilot project, ‘Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs and Startups by Women’ in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Germany.
• Ministry of MSME is implementing the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), which has the target to generate self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro enterprises for non-farm sector.
• Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Skill development program through Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) enabling a trainee to take Bank credit and start his/her own Micro-enterprise.
• Ministry of Rural Development is also implementing Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) which aims at eliminating rural poverty through promotion of multiple livelihoods for each rural poor household.
• Under the Sub-scheme i.e. Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) covered under DAY-NRLM, a total of 194,144 enterprises have been set-up ( up to 31st January, 2021).
• Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.