Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 8, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

The National Mission on Cultural Mapping (NMCM) has now been handed over to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), which is gearing up for a trial run in 75 villages in October 2021.

• The Culture Ministry had approved the mission in 2017 with a ₹469 crore budget from 2017-18 to 2019-20, according to the administrative approval for the project. However, the project had been slow to take off.
• Culture Ministry was working on the cultural mapping mission to build a comprehensive database of artists, art forms and other resources from organisations under the Ministry.
• So far 14.53 lakh artists/artisans have been registered on NMCM portal through secondary sources State/Union Territory-wise. However, no direct benefit or assistance has been extended through this Mission to the registered artists/institution.
• The work on creating a database for folk arts and mapping of heritage of villages would be carried out over five years.
• Volunteers from the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanghathan, the National Service Scheme and students of sociology and social work would be deputed to collect such data from villages, he said.
• While the entire project would take five years and a budget of ₹89 crore had been approved for it, the IGNCA would aim to complete mapping in 5,000 villages by the end of financial year 2021-2022.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Odisha government sounded a warning for the cyclonic storm Gulab, which is expected to cross the coast between its southern districts and north Andhra Pradesh with wind speeds of 75-85 kmph on Sunday evening.

• The India Meteorological Department informed the National Crisis Management Committee that the cyclone was likely to hit Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh, and Ganjam and Gajapati districts of Odisha.
• The deep depression over northwest and adjoining west central Bay of Bengal moved nearly westwards with a speed of seven kmph in last 6 hours, intensified into Cyclonic Storm ‘Gulab’ (pronounced as Gul-Aab) and lay centered over northwest and adjoining west central Bay of Bengal.

Cyclone Landfall

• A landfall, in simple words, is the storm moving over the land, after its intensification in the ocean. Therefore, a tropical cyclone is said to make landfall when the centre of the storm moves across the coast. The tropical cyclones are usually formed in warmer seas.
• As per the US National Hurricane Centre, definition, it is 'the intersection of the surface centre of a tropical cyclone with a coastline.'
• The strongest winds of the cyclone are not at the centre but on the immediate surroundings of the eye of the storm, usually stronger on one side of the centre.
• Therefore, very high wind speed can be experienced over the land area when the cyclone is near the land—even when it does not make landfall. It can be vice versa, where the cyclone can make landfall but leave the strongest wind over the ocean.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The European Commission has proposed a plan to harmonise charging ports and fast charging technology for electronic devices — something that could force original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to adopt a single technology for most of their devices.

• The executive arm of the European Union (EU) has proposed that USB Type-C will be the common port, and this move is expected to hit iPhone maker Apple the most given that it uses its proprietary Lightening connector for iPhones and most iPads.
• The proposal, however, only covers wired chargers and excludes wireless charging from its ambit, meaning that only if a device uses a cable to be charged will it need to have a USB-C port. In case the device is only to be charged wirelessly, there is no compulsion to have a USB-C port in the device.
• USB-C (formally known as USB Type-C) is a 24-pin USB connector system with a rotationally symmetrical connector.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi delivered a video address at ‘Global Citizen Live’.

• Global Citizen Live is a 24-hour global event starting on September 25 to unite the world to defend the planet and defeat poverty.
• Hailing from 6 continents, the broadcast will feature artists, celebrities and world leaders coming together to create change and impact climate and poverty.
• The event will feature performances from all over the world, including: Lagos, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, and Sydney.
• Additional locations and event-specific details will be announced in the weeks ahead, in accordance with local health and safety restrictions.
• Global Citizen Live is part of Global Citizen’s 2021 global campaign, a Recovery Plan for the World. The Recovery Plan focuses on five key objectives: ending COVID-19 for all, ending the hunger crisis, resuming learning for all, protecting the planet, and advancing equity for all.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Vice President Venkaiah Naidu called for addressing the shortage of trained human resources in the health sector on a war footing.

• Noting the low doctor to population ratio at 1:1,511 in India against the WHO norm of 1:1,000, he stressed the need for creating more medical colleges in line with the government’s intention of setting up one medical college and hospital in every district of the country.
• Referring to the paucity of paramedical staff in the country, Shri Naidu called for improving the nurse to population ratio (1:670 in India, compared to the WHO norm of 1:300) in a mission mode.
• He referred to the 15th Finance Commission recommendations, which said that states should increase spending on health to more than 8% of their respective budgets by 2022 and the public health expenditure of the Centre and States together should be increased in a progressive manner to reach 2.5 percent of GDP by 2025.
• Referring to the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission for allocating more than Rs.13,000 crore to train allied health workers, he said it is expected to create an additional 15 lakh workforce.

Hence both statements are correct.

On September 24, President Biden hosted Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan at the White House for the first-ever in-person Leaders’ Summit of the Quad.

Key highlights:

• Quad Infrastructure Coordination Group: A senior Quad infrastructure coordination group will meet regularly to share assessments of regional infrastructure needs and coordinate respective approaches to deliver transparent, high-standards infrastructure.
• Climate: To address the climate crisis with the urgency it demands, Quad countries will focus their efforts on the themes of climate ambition, including working on 2030 targets for national emissions and renewable energy, clean-energy innovation and deployment.
• Clean-Hydrogen Partnership: The Quad will announce a clean-hydrogen partnership to strengthen and reduce costs across all elements of the clean-hydrogen value chain, leveraging existing bilateral and multilateral hydrogen initiatives in other fora.
• Enhance Climate Adaptation, Resilience, and Preparedness: The Quad countries will convene a Climate & Information Services Task Force and build a new technical facility through the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure that will provide technical assistance in small island developing states.
• Quad Fellowship: The Quad will launch the Quad Fellowship which will sponsor 100 students per year—25 from each Quad country—to pursue masters and doctoral degrees at leading STEM graduate universities in the United States.
• Publish a Quad Statement of Principles: After months of collaboration, the Quad will launch a statement of principles on technology design, development, governance, and use that we hope will guide not only the region but the world towards responsible, open, high-standards innovation.
• Establish Technical Standards Contact Groups: The Quad will establish contact groups on Advanced Communications and Artificial Intelligence focusing on standards-development activities as well as foundational pre-standardization research.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Budget session of Parliament concluded, with both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha registering impressive productivity numbers and fewer disruptions.

• In one of the most productive sessions, the Lok Sabha passed 13 Bills, including the Finance Bill, Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill and the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill.
• The Rajya Sabha passed 11 Bills, including six Appropriation Bills and Finance Bills that were returned.
• The total productivity of the eighth session of the 17th Lok Sabha was 129%.
• The Rajya Sabha too recorded impressive functioning, clocking 99.8% productivity.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, has pulled up the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for “deficient data management”.

• UIDAI is the statutory authority established in 2016 to issue Aadhaar to all residents of the country. As of October 31, 2021, UIDAI had issued 131.68 crore Aadhaar numbers.
• There are issues of data-matching, errors in authentication, and shortfall in archiving, the CAG has said in its audit report on the functioning of the UIDAI.
• The CAG has said the data of Aadhaar card holders have not been matched with their Aadhaar number even after 10 years in some cases.
• It has also criticised the absence of a system to analyse the factors leading to authentication errors.
• Even though UIDAI was maintaining one of the largest biometric databases in the world, it did not have a data archiving policy, which is considered “a vital storage management best practice.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Russia’s membership to the Human Rights Council (HRC) was suspended after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted, 93 to 24, with 58 abstentions, including India, to adopt a resolution suspending Moscow from the UN body.

• This was part of the global response to the alleged war crimes in Bucha, a town outside Kyiv, where more than 300 bodies of civilians have been found after the withdrawal of the Russian forces.
• The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system, which is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the world.
• The Human Rights Council replaced the former UN Commission on Human Rights. It was created by the UNGA on March 15, 2006, and the body met in its first session from June 19-30, 2006.
• The Council, which meets at the UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland, is made up of 47 UN Member States who are elected by majority vote through a direct and secret ballot at the UNGA.
• The membership of the Council is based on equitable geographical distribution. African and Asia-Pacific states have 13 seats each, Latin American and Caribbean states have 8 seats, Western European and other states 7 seats, and Eastern European states 6 seats.
• The members serve for three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
• The Council has a five-person Bureau, consisting of a president and four vice-presidents, each representing one of the five regional groups. They serve for a year each, in accordance with the Council’s annual cycle.

Russia and UNHRC

• With membership on the Council comes a responsibility to uphold high human rights standards. This is a criteria insisted on by States themselves when they adopted resolution 60/251 in March 2006 to create the Human Rights Council.
• It is this responsibility that Russia is alleged to have wilfully violated in Ukraine. Russia’s three-year term as member of the Council began on January 1, 2021.

Hence both statements are correct.

India has welcomed the decision by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 120 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic reserves, in addition to the release of 180 million barrels of crude oil from the strategic reserves of the US.

• The move is aimed at calming crude oil prices that hit a 14 year-high of $139 per barrel in March.
• India had in November 2021 announced that it would release 5 million barrels from the strategic reserve as part of a coordinated effort with other crude oil importing countries to stabilise the price of crude oil.

International Energy Agency (IEA)

• The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation.
• It was established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.
• The IEA was initially dedicated to responding to physical disruptions in the supply of oil, as well as serving as an information source on statistics about the international oil market and other energy sectors.
• It is best known for the publication of its annual World Energy Outlook.
• Membership: Only OECD member states can become members of the IEA. In 2022, Lithuania joined the IEA and became its 31st member.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.