Daily Current Affairs MCQ- August 12, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

S. President Joe Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia as part of a larger trip to West Asia in July.

During this visit, President Joe Biden will join a virtual summit with other leaders of the so-called I2-U2 diplomatic group.

• I2-U2 is a diplomatic group of the India, Israel, the UAE and the United States.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has used the I2-U2 moniker for the four-member grouping.
• The grouping was launched in October 2021 when the first virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of India, Israel, the US and the UAE took place.
• The new grouping is described as an international forum for economic cooperation.
• This is being termed as a new QUAD for middle east.
• Objective – To generate synergies that go beyond government level cooperation.

Hence both statements are correct.

Minister of Railways launched Indian Railway Innovation Policy - “StartUps for Railways”. Through this platform start-ups will get a good opportunity to connect with Railways.

Salient details of Indian Railway Innovation Policy are as under:

• Grant up to Rs. 1.5 Crore to innovator on equal sharing basis with provision of milestone-wise payment.
• Complete process from floating of problem statement to development of prototype is online with defined time line to make it transparent and objective.
• Trials of prototypes will be done in Railways. Enhanced funding will be provided to scale up deployment on successful performance of prototypes.
• Developed Intellectual property rights (IPR) will remain with innovator only.
• Assured developmental order to innovator.
• De-centralization of complete product development process at divisional level to avoid delays.

Hence both statements are correct.

Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela was organised across 200 locations across India on June 13th, 2022.

• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will be organising the Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela every month now on.
• It's objective is to connect the youth with more opportunities of on-ground training within corporates and further a chance to get employment.
• Individuals having a 5th–12th grade pass certificate, a skill training certificate, an ITI Diploma, or a graduate degree can apply for an interview across these trades/opportunities.
• The candidates will be given a choice of 500+ trades, including welders, electricians, housekeepers, beauticians, mechanics, and others.
• Candidates will also receive Apprenticeship certificates recognised by the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) at the end of their training period, which will give them industry recognition.
• A credit bank concept will also be introduced soon, with a depositary of various credits accumulated by learners that can be used for future academic pathways.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Union Minister of Civil Aviation awarded the first Type Certificate (TC) under Drone Rules, 2021 to IoTechWorld Avigation Pvt Ltd. The Gurugram based company was established in April 2017 and is one of India’s leading manufacturers of kisan drones.

• IoTech has received the Type Certificate in barely 34 days after submission of its online application on the DGCA’s DigitalSky Platform on 11 May 2022.
• This is despite the fact that the Drone Rules, 2021, allow 60 days to Quality Council of India (QCI) or the Certification Bodies (CB) and 15 days to DGCA for issuing the Type Certificate (i.e 75 days in total).
• The Drone Rules, 2021 were notified on 25 Aug 2021 and the ‘Certification Scheme for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (CSUAS)’ for obtaining Type Certificate (TC) for drones was notified on 26 Jan 2022. The drone certification scheme of January 2022 was developed by the Quality Council of India (QCI).

Hence both statements are correct.

Union Minister for Health launched the Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF)-2022. IDCF programme is being implemented from 13th June to 27th June, 2022 in the States/UTs.

• The Intensive Diarrhoea Control Fortnight (IDCF) is being organized since 2014 with an objective to 'bringing the number of deaths due to diarrhoea in childhood to zero'.
• This fortnight is organized especially during summer/monsoon so that preventive measures can be taken such as awareness generation and establishment of ORS-Zinc corners.
• According to the latest report of SRS-2019, child mortality rate in the country has come down from 45 per 1000 live births in 2014 to 35 per 1000 live births in 2019. But even today, diseases related to diarrhoea continue to be a major cause of death in children under the age of five.
• According to NFHS-5, only 60.6% children under the age of five with diarrhoea were given ORS and only 30.5% were given zinc. This means that there is lack of awareness among mothers.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Union Cabinet approved an attractive recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the Armed Forces. The scheme is called AGNIPATH and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.

• The policy, which comes into immediate effect, will hereafter govern the enrolment for the three services. Under the AGNIPATH scheme, the Agniveers will be enrolled in the Forces under respective Service Acts for a period of four years.
• They would form a distinct rank in the Armed Forces, different from any other existing ranks.
• During this period of service to the nation, the Agniveers will be imparted with various military skills and experience, discipline, physical fitness, leadership qualities, courage and patriotism.
• Post this stint of four years, the Agniveers will be infused into the civil society where they can contribute immensely towards the nation building process.
• Upon the completion of four years of service, Agniveers will be offered an opportunity to apply for permanent enrolment in the Armed Forces.
• Enrolment will be based on ‘All India All Class’ basis and the eligible age will be in range from 17.5 to 21 years.

Benefits to the Agniveers:

• Agniveers will be given an attractive customised monthly package along with Risk and Hardship allowances as applicable in the three services.
• On completion of the engagement period of four years, Agniveers will be paid one time ‘Seva Nidhi’ package which shall comprise their contribution including accrued interest thereon and matching contribution from the Government. The ‘Seva Nidhi’ will be exempt from Income Tax.
• Agniveers will be provided non-contributory Life Insurance Cover of Rs 48 lakhs for the duration of their engagement period in the Indian Armed Forces.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Union Cabinet of India was apprised about the Agreement signed among the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states on cooperation in the field of youth work.

• The objective of the Agreement is to strengthen cooperation among young people of SCO member States and supporting the activities of the SCO Youth Council.
• The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation. It is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance and has been the primary security pillar of the region.
• It was established in 2001. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.
• The SCO Secretariat is based in Beijing.
• Eight member states are India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

LaMDA is Google's modern conversational agent enabled with a neural network capable of deep learning.

The algorithm is trained using 1.56 trillion words of public dialogue data and web text on diverse topics.

The chatbot is not yet public, but users are permitted to interact with it.

Google claims that LaMDA can make sense of nuanced conversation and engage in a fluid and natural conversation.

Hence both statements are correct.

According to the 2022 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, trust in news is declining in nearly half of the countries polled, with significant proportions of the public, particularly younger age groups, turning away from news.

• Furthermore, rather than traditional media, social media platforms such as TikTok are increasingly being used to consume news. 
• It is an annual report commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which tracks how news is consumed in different countries.
• The 2022 report (11th edition) is based on a survey (online questionnaires), covering 46 markets in six continents.
• Because it is based on online questionnaires, the results may not be nationally representative, particularly in countries with low internet penetration.
• The 2022 report flags six major trends which could have wider socio-political implications.

Hence both statements are correct.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently announced the “Agnipath” scheme, for recruitment of youth in the armed forces for four years.

• The process of recruitment has planned an intake of about 46,000 young men and women in 2022.
• Under the scheme, around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers will be recruited annually, and most will leave the service in just four years.
• This will be the only form of recruitment of soldiers into the three defence services hereon and the soldiers recruited under the scheme will be called Agniveers.
• The aim of the scheme is to recruit young talent from the society who are more in tune with contemporary technological trends and plough back skilled, disciplined and motivated manpower into the society.

Hence both statements are correct.