Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 19, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) recently published the draft Uniform Code for Medical Device Marketing Practices (UCMDMP), which is aimed at bringing in a voluntary code to regulate fair marketing practices by the medical device industry.

• It also aims at giving the industry an identity, apart from influencing the marketing dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry.
• Medical devices are characteristically different from pharmaceuticals and therefore a separate code for medical devices was much needed to accurately capture the ethical marketing practice requirements for the medical device sector.
• The implementation of the UCMDMP will be a big step towards furthering patient interest and “will restrain the unethical element and restore competitiveness and esteem for the compliant players.”

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Twitter countered Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company for more than $43 billion with a corporate tool known as a poison pill, a defensive strategy by boardrooms trying to fend off takeovers.

• This defense mechanism was developed in the 1980s as company leaders, facing corporate raiders and hostile acquisitions, tried to defend their businesses from being acquired by another enterprise, person or group.
• A poison pill is a maneuver that typically makes a company less palatable to a potential acquirer by making it more expensive for the acquirer to buy shares of the target company above a certain threshold.
• The strategy also gives a company more time to evaluate an offer and can give the board leverage in trying to force a direct negotiation with the potential acquirer.
• A poison pill is officially known as a shareholder rights plan, and it can appear in a company’s charter or bylaws or exist as a contract among shareholders.
• There are different types of poison pills, but usually, they allow certain shareholders to buy additional stock at a discounted price.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao staged a dharna at Telangana House, demanding a uniform paddy procurement policy. The protest came after the Centre said it was stopping the purchase of excess parboiled rice, of which Telangana is a major producer.

• parboiled rice refers to rice that has been partially boiled at the paddy stage, before milling.
• Parboiling of rice is not a new practice, and has been followed in India since ancient times.
• there are several processes for parboiling rice. The Paddy Processing Research Centre (PPRC), Thanjavur follows a method known as the chromate soaking process.
• All processes generally involve three stages—soaking, steaming and drying. After passing through these stages, the paddy goes for milling.

What are the benefits?

• Parboiling makes rice tougher. This reduces the chances of the rice kernel breaking during milling.
• Parboiling also increases the nutrient value of the rice.
• Third, parboiled rice has a higher resistance to insects and fungi.

What are the drawbacks?

• The rice becomes darker and may smell unpleasant due to prolonged soaking.
• Besides, setting up a parboiling rice milling unit requires a higher investment than a raw rice milling unit.

Hence both statements are correct.

The NITI Aayog is planning to launch a National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) in May to provide government data in a user-friendly format, to promote data-driven decision making and research.

• Conceived in 2020, the platform aims to standardise data across government sources and provide flexible analytics that make it easy for users to analyse information using multiple datasets.
• The portal will help policymakers, academics and researchers to easily analyse data without having to process it. The portal will have 200 datasets from more than 46 ministries at the time of the launch.
• New datasets will be added up to the village level in the future.
• Presently, many government departments have public dashboards with options to download data, some are available as image files while others are in PDF format, making it difficult to compile information. Experts say this will be addressed in NDAP.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

• Malaria is a life-threatening mosquito-borne blood disease caused by plasmodium parasites.
• The parasites spread through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
  • After entering the human body, parasites initially multiply within the liver cells and then attack the Red Blood Cells (RBCs) resulting in their rupture. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Plasmodium Vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, and P. falciparum are the four types of malaria parasites that can infect humans:
  • Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium Vivax are the most common types that infect humans. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • Plasmodium falciparum causes a more severe form of the disease leading to a higher risk of death.
• Malaria signs and symptoms typically begin within a few weeks after being bitten by an infected mosquito. However, some types of malaria parasites can lie dormant in the body for upto a year.
• It is preventable as well as curable.

• Under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010, foreign funding of persons in India is regulated under FCRA act and is implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Individuals are permitted to accept foreign contributions without permission of MHA.
• However, the monetary limit for acceptance of such foreign contributions shall be less than Rs. 25,000.
• The Act ensures that the recipients of foreign contributions adhere to the stated purpose for which such contribution has been obtained.
• Under the Act, organisations are required to register themselves every five years. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• It is a missile propulsion technology jointly developed by India and Russia. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• SFDR technology is a missile propulsion system based on the concept of Ramjet Engine principle.
• A ramjet is a form of air-breathing jet engine that uses the vehicle’s forward motion to compress incoming air for combustion without a rotating compressor. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• In a ramjet, the high pressure is produced by "ramming" external air into the combustor using the forward speed of the vehicle. The external air that is brought into the propulsion system becomes the working fluid.
• Ramjets produce thrust only when the vehicle is already moving, ramjets cannot produce thrust when the engine is stationary or static.

Central Tibetan Relief Committee (CTRC)

• It was launched in 2015. The main objective of the committee is to coordinate Individual, Voluntary Agencies and Indian Government’s efforts to rehabilitate and settle Tibetan Refugees.
  • CTRC includes members from each of the 53 Tibetan settlements in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• It is dedicated to preserving the cultural and religious heritage of Tibet and building and maintaining sustainable, democratic communities in exile.
• CTRC is dependent on generous international assistance from governments, especially India, Nepal and Bhutan, philanthropic organisations and individuals.
• All the CTRC activities are carried out with consent and support from the Board of Directors and approval from TPiE (Tibetan Parliament in Exile). Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The TPiE has its headquarters in Dharamsala, in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh according to which over 1 lakh Tibetans are settled across India.

• The Three-Language Formula was first proposed by the Kothari Commission in 1968. Under this scheme:
  • First language: It will be the mother tongue or regional language.
  • Second language: In Hindi speaking states, it will be other modern Indian languages or English. In non-Hindi speaking states, it will be Hindi or English.
  • Third Language: In Hindi speaking states, it will be English or a modern Indian language. In the non-Hindi speaking state, it will be English or a modern Indian language. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India contains a list of 22 recognised schedule languages. These languages are as follows:
  • Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi,Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
  • English is not a part of the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

• The Pinaka rocket system is a multi-barrel rocket system, which is named after Lord Shiva’s bow. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • It is developed by Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).
• The development of the Pinaka was started by the DRDO in the late 1980s as an alternative to the Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher systems of Russian make called the ‘Grad’, which are still in use by some regiments.
• After successful tests of Pinaka Mark-1 in late 1990, it was first used in the battlefield during the Kargil war of 1999, quite successfully. Subsequently, multiple regiments of the system came up in the 2000s. Hence, statement 2 is correct.