Daily Current Affairs MCQ - April 3, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

• Coal gasification is the process of converting coal into synthesis gas (also called syngas), which is a mixture of hydrogen (H₂), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The syngas can be used in various applications such as in the production of electricity and making chemical products, such as fertilisers.

• According to the International Energy Agency’s Energy Technology Systems Analysis Programme (ETSAP), the coal gasification process holds good potential in the future, with coal being the most abundantly available fossil fuel across the world, and that even low-grade coal can be used in the process.

Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate their units' generation and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) established under Ministry of Home affairs (MHA) to act as a nodal point at National level in the fight against cybercrime by providing a platform to deal with cybercrimes in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.

Government of India launched the All-India Survey of Migrant Workers and All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey.

• Labour and Employment Ministry said the All-India Survey of Migrant Workers' objective is to study the kind of employment-related migration undertaken by workers.

• The survey will provide the details of working and living conditions faced by Migrant Workers and impact of COVID 19 on their world of work.

All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey

• All-India Quarterly Establishment-based Employment Survey will provide the employment estimates for establishments employing ten or more workers and those with nine or less workers.

• The survey will provide crucial data on the changes in employment situation across the selected sectors every quarter.

• These surveys will plug-in the data gap on various aspects of labour and employment and will aide evidence-based policy making processes.

Central Government has constituted three expert committees to review the existing rules and regulations on safety, health and working conditions standards, pertaining to factories, docks and construction work.

• One committee will look into the safety parameters of industries, docks and ports while the other two committees have been asked to study and suggest rules for the building and other construction works and the fire safety.

• The committees include experts from industry and subject matter, from both public and private sectors across the country.

• A separate committee on fire safety standards has been formed to have a comprehensive and holistic approach for fire safety provisions regarding recent spurt in fire accidents at workplaces.

According to a notice, the government has pushed back deadlines for coal-fired power plants to adopt new emission norms by up to three years and allowed utilities that miss the new target to continue operating after paying a penalty.

• India had initially set a 2017 deadline for thermal power plants to install Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) units that cut emissions of sulphur dioxides. But that was postponed to varying deadlines for different regions, ending in 2022.

• The new order dated April 1 from the environment Ministry said plants near populous regions and the capital New Delhi will have to comply by 2022, while utilities in less polluting areas have up to 2025 to comply or retire units.

• Operators of coal-fired utilities have long been lobbying for dilution of the pollution standards, citing high compliance costs.

• The Central Pollution Control Board will constitute a task force to categorise plants in three categories “on the basis of their location to comply with the emission norms”.

• In case of non-compliance, a penalty of up to ₹0.20 will be levied for every unit of electricity produced.

HARD CURRENCY refers to money issued by a nation that is seen as politically and economically stable. HARD CURRENCIES are widely accepted worldwide as a form of payment for goods and services and may be preferred over the domestic CURRENCY.

• Devaluation reduces the exchange value of a country’s monetary unit in terms of gold, silver, or foreign monetary units. Devaluation is employed to eliminate persistent balance-of-payments deficits. 

• For example, a devaluation of currency will decrease prices of the home country’s exports that are purchased in the import country’s currency. While making the exported goods cheaper for other countries, devaluation also increases the prices of imports purchased in the home country. Devaluation will not be effective if the balance-of-payments disequilibrium results from basic structural flaws in a country’s economy.

A reserve tranche is a portion of the required quota of currency each member country must provide to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that can be utilized for its purposes—without a service fee or economic reform conditions.

• Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. 

• Consequently, the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urban areas grow. (Sub-urbanization is inversely related to urbanization, which denotes a population shift from rural areas into urban centres.)

• Many metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, and choose to live in satellite communities called suburbs and commute to work via automobile or mass transit.