Daily Current Affairs MCQ - April 26, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

The Chenab river rises in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh state. 

• The river is formed by the confluence of two rivers, Chandra and Bhaga, at Tandi, 8 km southwest of Keylong, in the Lahaul and Spiti district.

  • The Bhaga river originates from Surya taal lake, which is situated a few kilometers west of the Bara-lacha la pass in Himachal Pradesh.

  • The Chandra river originates from glaciers east of the same pass (near Chandra Taal).

• Chenab flows through the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir into the plains of Punjab, Pakistan, before flowing into the Indus River. 

• Some of the important projects/dams on Chenab:

  • Ratle Hydro Electric Project

  • Salal Dam- hydroelectric power project near Reasi

  • Dul Hasti Hydroelectric Plant- power project in Kishtwar District

  • Pakal Dul Dam (under construction)- on a tributary Marusadar River in Kishtwar District

• The Pong Dam is built on the Beas river. 

• Food Corporation of India (FCI) is a statutory body set up in 1965 by the Food Corporations Act 1964 under Department of Food & Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. 

• It was established against a major shortage of grains, especially wheat.

  • Simultaneously, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) was created in 1965 to recommend remunerative prices (MSP) to farmers. CACP is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

• It has primary duty to undertake purchase, store, move/transport, distribute and sell food grains and other foodstuffs.

• The World Economic Outlook is a survey by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 
• It is usually published twice a year in April and October.
• It analyzes and predicts global economic developments during the near and medium-term. 

• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body.

• UNCTAD is the part of the United Nations Secretariat dealing with trade, investment, and development issues. The organization’s goals are to: “maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries and assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis”.

• Marking a major achievement globally, India recorded a 13% growth in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2020 when fund flows declined most strongly in major economies such as the UK, the US, and Russia. Amidst global collapse, China is the only other country that has shown remarkably high FDI growth.

• The five Indian states that share a land border with Nepal are Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Sikkim.

• The Sharda River demarcates Nepal’s western border with India.

• Gwadar Port is the deepest seaport of the world, situated on the Arabian Sea at Gwadar in Balochistan province of Pakistan.

• Kyaukpyu is a significant town in Rakhine State, in western Myanmar.

• India is developing its maiden deep-sea port in Indonesia’s Sabang, close to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

World Book and Copyright Day was celebrated on April 23, 2021.

• World Book Day is also known as World Book and Copyright Day, or International Day of the Book.

• It is an annual event to promote reading, publishing, and copyright and to celebrate authors, books and illustrators.

• April 23. It is the date on which several prominent authors, William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died.

• Organized by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

• It was first celebrated on 23 April 1995.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, chaired the “Reaching Zero” forum on malaria elimination to celebrate World Malaria Day.

• Every year, 25th April is observed as ‘World Malaria Day. This year’s theme for the day is “Reaching the Zero Malaria target.’’

• Prime Minister Modi has been among the 18 Global leaders who endorsed the Malaria Elimination roadmap of Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance at the East Asia Summit held in Malaysia in 2015. It was then that the alliance leadership set the goal of ensuring that the Region becomes free of malaria by 2030.

• India has been able to achieve remarkable success in reducing the malaria burden in terms of cases by 84.5% and deaths by 83.6%, which has been well recognized by World Malaria Reports of 2018, 2019, and 2020.

• In 2020, as many as 116 districts in India reported zero malaria cases.

Government of India has decided to allocate free-of-cost food grains @ 5 Kg per person per month to nearly 80 Crore beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) over and above NFSA food grains for next two months i.e., May and June 2021 on the same pattern as the earlier “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY)”.

• Under this special scheme (PMGKAY), around 80 Crore NFSA beneficiaries covered under both categories of NFSA, namely Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Householders (PHH), will be provided with an additional quota of free-of-cost food grains (Rice/Wheat) at a scale of 5 Kg per person per month, over and above their regular monthly entitlements under NFSA.

• Government of India will bear full expenditure of over Rs 26,000 Crore on account of cost of food grains, intrastate transportation etc. as part of Central assistance to States/UTs.

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has published Draft Standards for Road-Trains.

• To revolutionize the transport of goods and reduce the overall logistic costs, the Automotive Industry Standards Committee has amended its AIS-113 Standard to include the safety requirements of Road-Trains. It has hosted the draft on Ministry of Road Transport & Highway’s website.

• The amended standard AIS-113 (Code of Practice for Type Approval of Trailers / Semi-trailers of categories T2, T3 and T4 being towed by Motor Vehicles of categories N2 and N3) has been published for invitation of public comments, after which it shall be notified in due course.

• After examining European benchmarks, the standards have been prepared, keeping in mind Indian operating conditions.

• Road-Train is a motor vehicle wherein the puller provides the traction, which is connected to a serial combination of trailers or semi- trailers. These shall ply on select stretches to reduce congestion, save fuel and reduce noise & air pollution.

• The Automotive Industry Standards Committee has representatives from the relevant Ministries, Testing Agencies, Industry stakeholders, BIS etc.