Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 13, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

The 7th anniversary of the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was commemorated recently.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, launched on 8th April, 2015.

• It is a Financial Inclusion (FI) programme in the country based on three pillars - Banking the Unbanked, Securing the Unsecured and Funding the Unfunded.
• One of the three pillars - funding the unfunded, brings non-corporate, non-farm small or micro enterprises to the formal financial system and extends affordable credit to them.
• Types of loans provided:Shishu - Covering loans up to Rs 50,000; Kishor - Covering loans above Rs 50,000 and up to Rs 5 lakh; Tarun - Covering loans above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh.
• The interventions have been named so to signify the stage of growth or development and funding needs of the beneficiary and also provide a reference point for the next phase of growth to look forward to.
• There is no subsidy for the loan given under PMMY. However, if the loan application is related to a government scheme that provides capital subsidies, it will be eligible under PMMY as well.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

At the meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee, Home Minister Amit Shah suggested that states should communicate with each other in Hindi rather than English, while stressing that Hindi should not be an alternative to local languages.

• Opposition parties esp. in NorthEast have criticised this as “Hindi imposition”.
• The 2011 linguistic census accounts for 121 mother tongues, including 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. Hindi is the most widely spoken, with 52.8 crore individuals, or 43.6% of the population, declaring it as their mother tongue.
• The next highest is Bengali, mother tongue for 97 lakh (8%) — less than one-fifth of Hindi’s count.
• In terms of the number of people who know Hindi, the count crosses more than half the country. Nearly 13.9 crore (over 11%) reported Hindi as their second language, which makes it either the mother tongue or second language for nearly 55% of the population.
• Hindi has been India’s predominant mother tongue over the decades, its share in the population rising in every succeeding census. In 1971, 37% Indians had reported Hindi as their mother tongue, a share that has grown over the next four censuses to 38.7%, 39.2%, 41% and 43.6% at last count.

What explains Hindi’s high numbers?

• One obvious explanation is that Hindi is the predominant language in some of India’s most populous states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
• Another reason is that a number of languages are bracketed under Hindi by census enumerators. Among them is Bhojpuri, and 5 crore people have reported Bhojpuri as their mother tongue, but the census has decided that Bhojpuri is Hindi.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Shri Vivek Johri, Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), presented a set of Time Release Studies (TRS) conducted by the department.

• TRS are essentially a performance measurement tool for assessing the cargo clearance process of the international trade, as recommended by the World Trade Organization (WTO) under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and the World Customs Organization (WCO).
• It adopts average cargo release time, i.e. the time taken from the arrival of the cargo at the customs station to its eventual release for import or export, as the case may be.
• The National Time Release Study (NTRS) 2022 covered 15 major Customs formations, including four port categories - seaports, air cargo complexes (ACCs), inland container depot (ICDs) and integrated check posts (ICPs) and is based on the sample period between 1st – 7th January 2022.

Hence both statements are correct.

First flight of Made in India HAL Dornier Do-228 will take off from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh on April 12, 2022.

• Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has approved a Scheme – “Providing air connectivity and Aviation infrastructure in North Eastern Region (NER)” to promote air connectivity in the States of NER and, if required, to develop infrastructure for air connectivity.
• As a part of this scheme, two important development will take place on 12th April 2022 –First flight of Made in India HAL Dornier Do-228 from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Alliance Air will be India’s first commercial airline to fly Indian made aircraft for civil operations.
• There will also be inauguration of First FTO (Flying Training Organization) for North Eastern Region at Lilabari, Assam.
• Connectivity in NER is very essential and Under “Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)”, the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has identified NER as a priority area.

Hence both statements are correct.

The GST Council’s 45th meeting was held today in Lucknow under the chairmanship of the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.

Recommendations of 45th GST Council Meeting

• The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has decided to keep petroleum products out of the GST regime, while consumers will have to keep paying the Compensation Cess levied on products like automobiles till March 2026 instead of July 2022 as originally envisaged at the time of rolling out the indirect tax regime.
• To shore up GST revenues, the Council has decided to form two groups of ministers (GoMs) that have to recommend measures within two months.
• The first one has been tasked with reviewing tax rate rationalisation issues to correct anomalies in the rate structure, while the other will look to tap technology to improve compliance and monitoring.
• The Compensation Cess levied on automobiles, tobacco products and aerated water, over and above the basic GST rate, was to be tapped for covering the gap between States’ actual revenues and the 14% annual revenue growth for five years they were assured for adopting GST.
• The GST Council effected several long-pending tweaks in tax rates, including an increase in the GST levied on footwear costing less than ₹1,000 as well as readymade garments and fabrics to 12% from 5%. The new rates will take effect from January 1.
• The Council approved a special composition scheme for brick kilns with a turnover threshold of ₹20 lakh, from April 1, 2022. Bricks would attract GST at the rate of 6% without input tax credits under the scheme, or 12% with input credits.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Health Ministry has flagged the emerging challenge in 11 States across India of serotype 2 dengue, which it said is associated with “more cases and more complications” than other forms of the disease.

• The States reporting serotype - II dengue cases are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, MP, UP, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.
• Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection, found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas.
• The virus responsible for causing dengue, is called dengue virus (DENV).
• There are four DENV serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4), meaning that it is possible to be infected four times.

Hence both statements are correct.

Ministry of Power has issued an order for the setting up of District Level Committees which shall exercise oversight over all power related schemes of Government of India.

• This is being done in order to ensure the involvement and oversight of the people in the process of power sector reforms, and their implementation, in the country.
• The Composition of the Committee would be:
  • Most Senior MP in the district: Chairperson
  • Other MPs in the district: Co-chairpersons
  • District Collector: Member Secretary
  • Chairperson/President of the District Panchayat: Member
  • MLAs of the district: Members
  • Most Senior representatives of CPSUs of Ministry Members of Power and NRE located in the concerned district, or their nominated officials for the district.
  • Chief Engineer/Superintending Engineer of the Convenor DISCOM/ Power Department concerned
• The Committee of a district will meet at District Headquarters at least once in three months to review and coordinate overall development of power supply infrastructure in the district in accordance with the schemes of the Government.

Hence both statements are correct.

TRIFED has entered into a collaborative project with Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FIIT), a unit established by IIT Delhi and M/s Rusicaa Beverages Private Ltd, Purbi Singhbhum, Jharkhand to commercialize the production of Mahua Nutra beverage – A Heritage Drink in the State of Jharkhand.

• TRIFED in association with FITT has developed this value added product Mahua nutra beverage made out of Mahua flower so that the tribals can benefit maximum from the value addition of MFPs and development of technologies.
• This is the first of its kind of initiative in the State of Jharkhand and the country by TRIFED.
• The Mahua Nutra beverage in its improvised form is blended with Pomegranate fruit juice, which enhances the nutritional value and masks the flavour of Mahua beverage by improving its aroma and texture.

Hence both statements are correct.

Union Minister of Ayush said that the Ministry should promote Ayush Aahar throughout the country. This will also help saving the youth from the ills of junk food.

• The Ministry of Ayush is promoting Ayush based diet & lifestyle and is working in convergence with the Ministry of Women & Child Development in the Poshan Abhiyan to realize the ultimate goal of ‘Suposhit Bharat’.
• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in convergence with Ministry of Ayush has also released draft guidelines on Ayush Aahar, which will facilitate standardized Ayush based Aahar.

Hence both statements are correct.

The first Expression of Interest (EOI) for signing long-term agreement with upcoming dedicated Ethanol plants for supply of Ethanol has received an overwhelming response, with 197 bidders participating in the same.

• The EOI was published by BPCL on behalf of Oil Marketing Companies under the guidance of Ministry of Petroleum &Natural Gas on 27th August which opened on 17th September.
• This EOI is a proactive step taken by MoP&NG and Oil companies to motivate project proponents to set up ethanol production plants in ethanol deficit states, thereby paving the way forward for the nation in achieving the ethanol blending target of 20% and more in the coming years.
• 173 Cr litre Ethanol was procured last year and 5%blending was achieved during ESY - 2019-20. The target for ongoing year ESY - 2020-21 is 325 Cr litre which will take the blending to 8.5%. Actual achievement during ESY - 2020-21 so far has been 243 Cr litre, accounting for 8.01% blending.
• The Government has announced five different rates for Ethanol based on feedstock used for Ethanol production.

Raw material: Ex-mill price per lit

• Sugarcane juice / sugar / sugar syrup: ₹62.65
• B molasses: ₹57.61
• C molasses: ₹45.69
• Damaged food Grains / Maize: ₹51.55
• Surplus rice with FCI: ₹56.87

Hence both statements are correct.