Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 25, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

After the late October 2018 India-Italy Summit in New Delhi, the bilateral relations are on the upswing. The latest visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar to Matera in Italy, to attend the meeting of the foreign and development ministers of G-20 group, has further raised the banner of bilateral relations.

• Italy is the eighth largest economy in the world. Italy is also a member of the 27 nation European Union, the influential G-20, and the powerful G-7, besides NATO and OECD.
• Italy has chosen India among the five priority countries, for strengthening all-round relations.
• Besides economy and trade, the two countries have also decided to strengthen defence cooperation by increased defence exchanges through greater two-way collaboration and technology cooperation, co-development, and co-production. Both countries have already set up a joint defence committee to promote this.
• In fact, the November 2020 virtual Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resulted in a Joint Declaration and Plan of Action to prioritize areas of cooperation and strategic goals for the five-year period till 2025.
• Being the fifth largest trade partner in the EU, India is home to more than 600 Italian companies. Italy also hosts over 1,80,000 overseas Indians.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The United States of America has added Pakistan and 14 other countries to a Child Soldier Recruiter List published under its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.

• The recruitment or use of children below the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited by both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the additional protocols to the Geneva Conventions.
• The CRC was adopted on November 20, 1989 and entered into force on September 2, 1990.
• Currently, 193 countries have ratified the CRC. The CRC requires state parties to “take all feasible measures” to ensure that children under 18 are not engaged in direct hostilities. It further prohibits the state parties from recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces.
• It is also considered a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Optional Protocol to the CRC

• In 2000, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
• While the CRC requires states to refrain from using children under 15 in direct hostilities, the Optional Protocol raises this age to 18.
• The United States is a party to the Optional Protocol.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

NTPC Ltd, a Maharatna CPSU under Ministry of Power and India’s largest integrated power producer, in its endeavour towards 100% utilization of fly ash has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) for sale of fly ash from the designated ports of the Middle East and other regions.

• Fly Ash is a by-product of power generation with coal.
• The Fly Ash generated at NTPC stations is ideal for use in the manufacture of Cement, Concrete, Concrete Products, Cellular Concrete products and for Bricks / Blocks / Tiles.
• To promote the use of Fly Ash bricks in building construction, NTPC has set up Fly Ash brick manufacturing Plants at its Coal based Thermal Power Plants. These bricks are being utilized in Plants as well as township construction activities exclusively.
• Over the last five years the fly ash utilisation has grown up by 80% in the country.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education launched National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) on 5th July, 2021.

• The vision of NIPUN Bharat Mission is to create an enabling environment to ensure universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy, so that every child achieves the desired learning competencies in reading, writing and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27.
• NIPUN Bharat will be implemented by the Department of School Education and Literacy.
• A five-tier implementation mechanism will be set up at the National- State- District- Block- School level in all States and UTs, under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Marking a significant step towards worldwide visibility for Ayurveda based clinical trials, the Ayurveda dataset on CTRI Portal will be launched online by Ayush Minister.

• This Ayurveda Dataset of CTRI has been jointly developed by ICMR and CCRAS, Ministry of Ayush.
• CTRI is a primary register of Clinical Trials under WHO’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) and creation of Ayurveda dataset in CTRI facilitates usages of Ayurveda terminologies to record clinical study meta data based on Ayurveda interventions.
• The key feature of this digital platform is the provision of selection of the Ayurveda Health conditions from drop down of 3866 Ayurveda morbidity codes incorporated from the NAMASTE portal (a portal developed by the AYUSH Ministry) in which morbidity statistics pertaining to Ayurveda has been classified according to International Classification of Diseases standards.
• The Minister will also launch four more Portals, all developed by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS). These are AMAR, SAHI, e-MEDHA and RMIS.

Hence both statements are correct.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has signed an MoU with Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) for gender sensitization of police personnel across the country.

• The objective of the programme is to ensure gender sensitization of police personnel with respect to legislation and policies concerning women and bringing attitudinal and behavioural changes in police officers while dealing with crimes against women.
• The training will be conducted for a duration of three-five days, preferably in residential mode as a short intense course with an expected training of 18-24 hours in total. It will have special focus on gender issues, women related laws, role of implementing agencies along with sharing of best practices.

National Commission for Women (NCW)

• National Commission for Women (NCW) is the apex national level organization with the mandate of protecting and promoting the interests of women under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Govt. of India.
• NCW was set up as statutory body in 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990.

Bureau Of Police Research And Development (BPR&D)

• Parent agency: Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Established in: 1970. 
• Headquarters: New Delhi.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Union Power Minister releases 9th Integrated Ratings of State Power Distribution utilities and Rankings for the rating period FY 2019-20.

• The Integrated Rating exercise is carried out on an annual basis since 2012 as per the methodology approved by Ministry of Power.
• The exercise presently covers 41 States distribution utilities spread across 22 States. ICRA and CARE are the designated credit rating agencies.
• The Ninth Integrated Ratings have been carried out by ICRA Analytics Limited (IAL) & CARE Advisory Research & Training Limited (CART), the consulting arms of ICRA ratings and CARE respectively.
• Power Ministry has mandated Power Finance Corporation (PFC) to co-ordinate with the utilities, rating agencies & MoP during the rating exercise.

Hence both statements are correct.

Union Minister for Power and MNRE inaugurates “Aiming for Sustainable Habitat: New Initiatives in Building Energy Efficiency 2021” which was virtually launched by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

• Specifying code compliance approaches and minimum energy performance requirements for building services, and verification framework with Eco Niwas Samhita 2021.
• Creating an Online Directory of Building Materials that would envisage the process of establishing Standards for energy efficient building materials.
• Announcement of NEERMAN Awards, (National Energy Efficiency Roadmap for Movement towards Affordable & Natural Habitat), with the goal of encouraging exceptionally efficient building designs complying with BEE’s Energy Conservation Building Codes.
• Online Star Rating tool for Energy Efficient Homes created to improve energy-efficiency and reduce energy consumption in individual homes. It provides performance analysis to help professionals decide the best options to pick for energy-efficiency of their homes.
• Training of over 15,000 Architects, Engineers and Government officials on Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2017 and Eco Niwas Samhita (ENS) 2021).

Hence both statements are correct.

The Ministry of Jal Shakti has notified the jurisdiction of Godavari River Management Board and Krishna River Management Board, which provide the required authority and power to the two Boards in terms of administration, regulation, operation and maintenance of listed projects in Godavari and Krishna rivers in the two States.

• The Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014 (APRA) contains provisions for the effective management of river waters in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• Constitution of the Godavari and Krishna River Management Boards and the constitution of an Apex Council for the supervision of the functioning of these Boards, is laid down in this Act.
• The Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 85 of the APRA, 2014, constituted the two River Management Boards effective from 2nd June, 2014
• In accordance with the provisions under Section 87 of APRA, 2014, Government of India has issued two gazette notifications, one for the jurisdiction of GRMB and the other for KRMB, for administration, regulation, maintenance and operation of projects in Godavari and Krishna river basins respectively, in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Hence both statements are correct.

• In order to facilitate farmers to get ‘right information at right time’ in their desired language, a digital platform namely ‘KisanSarathi’ was launched jointly by Minister for Agriculture with Minister for Electronics and Information Technology on the occasion of 93rd ICAR Foundation Day.
• with the digital platform, the farmers can interact and avail personalised advisories on agriculture and allied areas directly from the respective scientists of KrishiVigyan Kendra (KVKs).
• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. The Union Minister of Agriculture serves as its president. it was formed in 1929.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.