Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 16, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Researchers from IIT Madras and IISER Kolkata have developed a method to detect minute quantities of chemicals in solution.

• They use a variation of absorption spectroscopy that surpasses the systemic limits imposed by conventional absorption spectroscopy.
• With this technique, they can, in principle, illuminate the insides of cells and detect minuscule quantities of substances present there. The work was published in Nanoscale.
• Absorption spectroscopy is a tool to detect the presence of elements in a medium. Light is shone on the sample, and after it passes through the sample is examined using a spectroscope.
• Usually in absorption spectroscopy, the principle used is that light because of its wavelike nature, shows diffraction patterns, that is, dark and light fringes, when it scatters off any object. A related concept called the Abbe criterion sets a natural limit on the size of the object being studied.

Hence both statements are correct.

A recent circular issued by the police in Kashmir has asked field intelligence units to look into the past record of involvement in stone-pelting incidents and other street protests whenever someone applies for a passport or a government job.

• Under Section 6(2) of the Indian Passports Act, 1967, the passport authority can refuse to issue a passport for specific reasons such as
  • the applicant being not a citizen of India;
  • that the applicant may engage, outside India, in activities prejudicial to the country’s sovereignty and integrity, or
  • that the applicant’s departure may be detrimental to the country’s security; or
  • that the person’s presence abroad may prejudice India’s friendly relations with a foreign country.
• Refusal of passport may also be related to a person’s antecedents. Conviction for any offence that involves “moral turpitude” with a sentence of not less than two years in the five preceding years would mean denial of passport.
• In January 2016, the Delhi High Court upheld the validity of Section 6(2)(f) of the Act, which allows the Centre to refuse a passport to anyone against whom criminal proceedings are pending.
• Section 22 of the Act confers power on the Union government to exempt any person or class of persons from its provisions by way of notification.
• On August 25, 1993, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a notification to provide relief to citizens against whom proceedings are pending before a criminal court.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Union Minister of Textiles has said that steps needs to be taken to increase the production capacities of handloom sector from existing 60,000 crore rupees to over one lakh 25,000 crore rupees within three years.

• The minister announced that a Committee will be constituted consisting of all weavers, trainers equipment makers , marketing experts and other stake holders to recommend ways and means to achieve the objective and improve all round progress of handloom sector.
• It is a sector that directly addresses women’s empowerment with over 70% of all weavers and allied workers being female.
• An e-commerce portal is being developed in coordination with Digital India Corporation (under MEITY) for handloom weavers and handicraft artisans. This will enable our weavers and artisans to sell directly to consumers.
• On the clarion call of the Prime Minister, National level – “My Handloom My Pride Expo” is being organized at Dilli Haat, INA, New Delhi from 1st August to 15th August 2021 by National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC) to celebrate the 7th National Handloom Day.

Hence both statements are correct.

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment launched ‘PM-DAKSH’ Portal and ‘PM-DAKSH’ Mobile App.

• They have been developed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in collaboration with NeGD, to make the skill development schemes accessible to the target groups.
• It ensures availability of all information related to skill development at one place for Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and Safai Karamcharis.
• The Pradhan Mantri Dakshta Aur Kushalta Sampann Hitgrahi (PM-DAKSH) Yojana is being implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment from the year 2020-21.
• Under this Yojana, eligible target group are being provided skill development training programmes on
  • Up-skilling/Re-skilling,
  • Short Term Training Programme,
  • Long Term Training Programme and
  • Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP).

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Indian Railways Organization of Alternate Fuel (IROAF), Green Fuel vertical of Indian Railways, has invited the bids for Hydrogen Fuel Cell based Train on Railways Network.

• The project entails retrofitting Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) in 89 km Sonipat-Jind section of Northern Railway.
• The retrofitting of diesel-powered DEMU and converting it into hydrogen fuel-powered train set will not only save the cost to the tune of ₹2.3 crore annually by converting from diesel to hydrogen, but also save the carbon footprint (NO2) of 11.12 kilo tons per annum and particulate matter of 0.72 kilo tonnes per annum.
• Presently, very few countries are using this method. The trial of one rake is being done in Germany and the trial of the other in Poland.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

• Nipah virus is a zoonotic virus (it is transmitted from animals to humans). Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The organism which causes Nipah Virus encephalitis is an RNA or Ribonucleic acid virus of the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus, and is closely related to Hendra virus. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • Hendra virus (HeV) infection is a rare emerging zoonosis that causes severe and often fatal disease in both infected horses and humans.
• It first broke out in Malaysia and Singapore in 1998 and 1999. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
• It first appeared in domestic pigs and has been found among several species of domestic animals including dogs, cats, goats, horses and sheep.

• Babu Jagjivan Ram, popularly known as Babuji, was a national leader, a freedom fighter, a crusader of social justice, a champion of depressed classes and an outstanding Parliamentarian.
• His Pre Independence Contributions:
  • In 1931, he became a member of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party).
  • He was instrumental in laying the foundation of the All India Depressed Classes League, an organisation dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables, in 1934-35. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • He was a champion of social equality and equal rights for the Depressed Classes.
  • In 1935, he proposed at a session of the Hindu Mahasabha that drinking water wells and temples be open to untouchables.
  • In 1935, Babuji also appeared before the Hammond Commission at Ranchi and demanded, for the first time, voting rights for the Dalits. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • He was jailed twice in the early 1940s for his political activities associated with the Quit India movement against British rule. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Prahlad Patel

• Prahlad Patel hailed from Becharaji in Gujarat and fought for India's independence from British rule, and later joined the 'Bhoodan' movement of social reformer Vinoba Bhave. Hence statement 1 is correct.
  • He donated 200 bighas of land that he owned.
• The freedom fighter joined the freedom struggle on the call of Mahatma Gandhi and underwent imprisonment in Sabarmati and Yerawada .
• Shri Patel’s father passed away when he was incarcerated but Shri Prahladji Patel did not accept the conditions of apology that were put forward by the colonial rulers for allowing him to perform the last rites.
  • He also supported many freedom fighters who were fighting underground.
• Prahlad Patel also helped Sardar Patel in the merger of princely states after independence. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• When Gujarat was formed in 1960, he even contested elections from the Chanasma seat in Patan district and took the entire region on the path of development.

• DNTs are communities that were ‘notified’ as being ‘born criminals’ during the British regime under a series of laws starting with the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871.
  • These Acts were repealed by the Independent Indian Government in l952, and these communities were "De-Notified".
• While most DNTs are spread across the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories, some DNTs are not covered in any of the SC, ST or OBC categories.
• A National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) was constituted in 2006 by the then government.
  • It was headed by Balkrishna Sidram Renke and submitted its report in 2008. Hence, the statement 2 is correct
  • The commission held that “It is an irony that these tribes somehow escaped the attention of our Constitution makers. Hence, statement 1 is NOT correct.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasted a ‘normal’ southwest monsoon for this year and also revised the definition of what constitutes average rainfall.

Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)

• The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is defined by the difference in sea surface temperature between two areas (or poles, hence a dipole) – a western pole in the Arabian Sea (western Indian Ocean) and an eastern pole in the eastern Indian Ocean south of Indonesia.
• In scientific terms, the IOD is a coupled ocean and atmosphere phenomenon, similar to ENSO but in the equatorial Indian Ocean.
• A ‘positive IOD’ — or simply ‘IOD’ — is associated with cooler than normal sea-surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and warmer than normal sea-surface temperatures in the western tropical Indian Ocean.
• The opposite phenomenon is called a ‘negative IOD’, and is characterised by warmer than normal SSTs in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and cooler than normal SSTs in the western tropical Indian Ocean.

Hence both statements are correct.