Daily Current Affairs MCQ - April 10, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

• The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses the Arctic governments' issues and the indigenous people of the Arctic.
• The eight countries with sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle constitute the council members: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States.
• Observer status is open to non-Arctic states approved by the Council at the Ministerial Meetings that occur once every two years. Observers have no voting rights in the Council. As of May 2019, thirteen non-Arctic states have Observer status. India has the Observer status in Arctic Council.

Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – except Iraq.

• Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is a formal process used to predict any development project's environmental consequences. Environment Impact Assessment in India is statutory backed by the Environment Protection Act in 1986, which contains various EIA methodology and process provisions.

Rationale behind EIA: EIA looks into various problems, conflicts and natural resource constraints which may not only affect the viability of a project but also predict if a project might harm to the people, their land, livelihoods and environment. Once these potential harmful impacts are predicted, the EIA process identifies the measures to minimize those impacts.

• The EIA's objective is to: Identify the environmental, social and economic impacts of a project prior to deciding on its implementation. Mitigation of harmful impacts and maximizes the beneficial effects.

• Once the assessment is complete, the EIA findings are communicated to all stakeholders viz. developers, investors, regulators, planners, politicians, affected communities etc. Based on the conclusion of EIA process, the government can decide if a project should be given environment clearance or not. The developers and investors can also shape the project so that its harms can be mitigated and benefits can be maximized.

• The term heavy metal refers to any metallic chemical element that has a relatively high density (> 5 g/cm³) and is toxic or poisonous at low concentrations.

  • Examples of heavy metals include mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), thallium (Tl), and lead (Pb)

• Source of Heavy Metals:

• Heavy metals are introduced into the environment either by natural means or by human activities.

  • Natural Sources: Geographical phenomena like volcanic eruptions, weathering of rocks, leaching into rivers, lakes and oceans due to action of water.

  • Anthropogenic Sources:These metals are released into the water through anthropogenic activities such as mining, manufacturing, electroplating, electronics, discharge from auto exhaust, domestic waste, agricultural waste and fertilizer production. 

• Effect of Heavy Metals on Human:

  • There are some essential heavy metals that the human body requires in trace amounts such as Cobalt, copper, zinc, and manganese, but it can be detrimental to health in the excessive amount.

• The heavy metals found in drinking water such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium have no beneficial effects on your body. 

  • Their accumulation inside the body can cause severe health problems.

• The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) is a Central Sector Scheme that was announced in December 1993. 

  • Initially, it came under the control of the Ministry of Rural Development. Later, in October 1994, it was transferred to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

• Functioning:

  • Each year, MPs receive Rs. 5 crore in two instalments of Rs. 2.5 crore each. Funds under MPLADS are non-lapsable

  • Lok Sabha MPs have to recommend the district authorities projects in their Lok Sabha constituencies, while Rajya Sabha MPs have to spend it in the state that has elected them to the House.

  • Nominated Members of both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha can recommend works anywhere.

• Gravitational Waves are invisible ripples that form when:

  • A star explodes in a supernova.

  • Two big stars orbit each other.

  • Two black holes merge.

  • so, option 1 is wrong as it states that only when two black holes collide will gravitational waves be formed. There are other ways too which are mentioned above.

• They travel at the speed of light and squeeze and stretch anything in their path. As a gravitational wave travels through space-time, it causes it to stretch in one direction and compress in the other, Any object that occupies that region of space-time also stretches and compresses as the wave passes over them, though very slightly, which can only be detected by specialized devices like LIGO. 

Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment reviewed the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme's progress for Scheduled Castes in the last financial year.

• The government had completely revamped the Post Matric Scholarship scheme for Scheduled Castes to provide universal access to the SC youth for higher education.

• The funding pattern under the Scheme was changed from the committed liability formula to a fixed sharing pattern of 60:40 between the Centre and the States (90:10 for the North EasternStates), thus increasing the commitment of the Government in the scheme by almost four times.

• An amount of Rs.35,534 crore was committed by Central Govt. for this scheme till 2025-26 and it is estimated that about 4 crore youth from the SC community will be benefitted during this period.

• Apart from increasing the scheme's central share, the Government has brought in several process improvements to avoid delays in payment of scholarships using the DBT system.

According to a new study published in the journal Biological Conservation, many animals and plants unique to the world’s most scenic natural places face extinction if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.

• if the planet heats by over 3°C, then a third of endemic species living on land, and about half of endemic species living in the sea, face extinction. On mountains, 84% of endemic animals and plants face extinction at these temperatures, while on islands that number rises to 100%.

• Endemic species threatened by climate change include lemurs, which are unique to Madagascar, and the snow leopard, one of the most charismatic animals of the Himalayas.

• They also include important medical plants such as the lichen Lobaria pindarensis, used to alleviate arthritis.

• However, remaining within the Paris Agreement's climate goals — which aims to keep global heating well below 2°C, ideally at 1.5°C, compared to a baseline — would save the majority of species.

India has protested the U.S. decision to conduct a patrol in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the western Indian Ocean, rejecting the U.S.’s claim that its domestic maritime law violated international law.

• In a rare and unusual public statement, the U.S. Navy announced that its ship, USS John Paul Jones, had carried out Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) in the Indian EEZ, adding that its operations had “challenged” what the U.S. called India’s “excessive maritime claims”.

• USS John Paul Jones asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s exclusive economic zone, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law, the U.S. Navy’s 7th fleet said

• The Government of India’s stated position on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is that the Convention “does not authorise other States to carry out in the EEZ and on the continental shelf, military exercises or manoeuvres, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives, without the consent of the coastal state.

• While India ratified UNCLOS in 1995, the U.S. has failed to do it so far.

• The Sambhar Salt Lake, India’s largest inland Salt Lake, is located in Rajasthan.

• The lake receives water from five rivers: Medtha, Samaod, Mantha, Rupangarh, Khari, and Khandela.

• It is surrounded by the Aravali hills on all sides.

• Sambhar has been designated as a Ramsar site (recognized wetland of international importance) because the wetland is a key wintering area for tens of thousands of pink flamingos and other birds that migrate from northern Asia and Siberia. The specialized algae and bacteria growing in the lake provide striking water colours and support the lake ecology that, in turn, sustains the migrating waterfowl.