Daily Current Affairs MCQ - August 21, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

On Saturday last week, for the first time on record, the summit of Greenland received rain and not snow, just as temperatures at the spot went above freezing for the third time in less than ten years. The event has sparked fear as scientists are pointing to it as evidence that Greenland is warming rapidly.

• Greenland, which is the world’s largest island located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, has three-quarters of its surface covered with a permanent ice sheet– which is increasingly coming under threat because of climate change.
• The rain, coupled with warm conditions, caused a major melting event at the summit, adding to concerns of rapid ice melting running off into the ocean in volumes, thus accelerating global sea level rise.
• Greenland, which is two-thirds the size of India, already witnessed one of its most severe melting events of the past decade last month, when it lost 8.5 billion tons of surface mass in one day– the third such extreme event in the past decade.
• The UN’s “code red” climate report released last week concluded that the burning of fossil fuels led to Greenland melting in the last 20 years.
• The rapid melting is also threatening polar bears, which now have to make their way hundreds of kilometres towards Greenland’s interior from the coasts, where they usually find enough food.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

On August 15, the public sector aircraft manufacturing company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) carried out a successful ground run and low speed taxi trials of a commercial aircraft – Hindustan-228 – for ‘Type Certification’ by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The type certification by the DGCA will enable HAL to get an international certification for the aircraft.

• The 19-seater Hindustan-228 or the Do-228 is the first major attempt in India to develop a small civil transport aircraft after the 14-seater Saras aircraft development program at the National Aeronautics Laboratory was shelved in 2009 on account of multiple problems in its development.
• The Hindustan-228 aircraft is built on the existing frame of the German Dornier 228 defence transport aircraft used by the defence forces.
• Despite producing aircrafts like the Hindustan Trainer-2 and its variant – the Hindustan Propulsion Trainer 32 (HPT-32) – for the Indian Air Force six decades ago, and more recently the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) for the IAF, the Indian aviation sector has not produced any civil transport aircraft.
• Small civilian aircrafts are considered to be an essential element of the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme that the central government is attempting to put in place for regional connectivity.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Taliban have pledged that women in Afghanistan will have rights “within the bounds of Islamic law,” or Shariah, under their newly established rule. But it is not clear what that will mean.

• Shariah is based on the Quran, stories of the Prophet Muhammad’s life and the rulings of religious scholars, forming the moral and legal framework of Islam. The Quran details a path to a moral life, but not a specific set of laws.
• One interpretation of Shariah could afford women extensive rights, while another could leave women with few. Critics have said that some of the Taliban restrictions on women under the guise of Islamic law actually went beyond the bounds of Shariah.
• The interpretations of Shariah are a matter of debate across the Muslim world, and all groups and governments that base their legal systems on Shariah have done so differently.

What does Shariah prescribe?

• Shariah lists some specific crimes, such as theft and adultery, and punishments if accusations meet a standard of proof. It also offers moral and spiritual guidance, such as when and how to pray, or how to marry and divorce.
• It does not forbid women to leave home without a male escort or bar them from working in most jobs.
• Hence both statements are correct.

In a major policy shift aimed at increasing the country’s declining birth rate, China relaxed its previous two-child norm and endorsed a three-child policy mooted by the ruling Communist Party.

• The resolution was passed along with several others during a meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC).
• Earlier this year, after China’s census data showed population growth slipping to its slowest rate since the 1950s, the country announced that it would allow three children per married couple — five years after it first relaxed its controversial one-child policy to two.
• China’s one-child policy, which had been enforced by former leader Deng Xiaoping in 1980, had remained in place until 2016, when fears of a rapidly ageing population undermining economic growth forced the ruling Communist Party to allow two children per married couple.
• While the relaxation did result in some improvement in the proportion of young people in the country, the policy change was deemed insufficient in averting an impending demographic crisis.
• Even as a three-child policy has now been announced, many remain skeptical, wondering how it would be able to address challenges that the 2016 change could not, due to factors such as higher cost of living and long working hours.
• The United Nations expects China’s population to begin declining after 2030, but some experts say this could happen as early as in the next one or two years. By 2025, the country is set to lose its ‘most populous’ tag to India, which in 2020 had an estimated 138 crore people, 1.5 per cent behind China
• Hence both statements are correct.

Legal proceedings against child marriages are commonly undertaken against elopements whereas forced child marriages often go unpunished, finds a new study.

• The report — “Child Marriage Prosecutions in India” — brought out by Partners for Law in Development (PLD), a Delhi-based legal resource group, analysed 83 high court and district court verdicts in cases relating to child marriage from 2008 and 2017.
• It selected for analysis judgments and orders in which child marriage was specifically mentioned.
• These included cases filed under the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006, as well as legal action initiated under other laws in relation to child marriage such as Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• The study found that legal prosecution of child marriages was twice as much against elopement or self-arranged marriages by girls with such cases accounting for 65% ( 54 out of a total 83 cases) of the total cases studied.
• Only 30% of the cases were those of arranged child marriages, and a mere 5% were forced child marriages (such as those that involved kidnapping, enticement or forcible marriage by parents).
• An analysis of who initiated the legal proceedings shows that it was primarily the parents of girls who approached the legal system with a complaint. Only 7% of the cases were initiated by a child marriage prohibition officer — the State functionary designated for implementing the law.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Akshay Urja Diwas (Renewable Energy Day) has been observed every year on 20 August since 2004 to raise awareness about the developments and adoption of renewable energy in India. About the Day: It was initiated by the Indian Ministry for New & Renewable Energy Sources in 2004. The aim of this day is to make people aware that they have to think about renewable energy (Akshya Urja) apart from traditional energy. Akshay Urja: Energy such as Biogas, Wind energy, Solar Energy, hydroelectric power are few examples of Akshay Urja.

Mt Manirang is one of the highest mountains in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It lies on the border between Kinnaur district and Lahaul and Spiti district. Why in the News? An all-women team of the three armed forces scaled Mt Manirang in Himachal Pradesh on August 15. The team unfurled the national flag to celebrate the 75th Independence Day. The 15-member expedition was led by Wing Commander Bhavana Mehra of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

On August 19, 2021, under the Ministry of Defence, Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh launched Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) 5.0 under the Innovations for Defence Excellence – Defence Innovation Organisation (iDEX-DIO) initiative, in New Delhi. DISC: It is a platform wherein the Government, Services, industry, startups, think tanks and innovators can work together to support the defence & aerospace sectors reach full potential by developing a strong, modern & well-equipped military and equally capable & self-reliant defence industry.

Every year on August 20, World Mosquito Day is observed to raise awareness about the causes of malaria and how it can be prevented. The day also celebrates the discovery made by British doctor Sir Ronald Ross in 1897 that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans. In 1902, Ross won the Nobel Prize for Medicine becoming the 1st British person to receive the award. Mosquito: The word "mosquito" is Spanish for "little fly". Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, 1 pair of wings, 1 pair of halteres, 3 pairs of long hair-like legs, and elongated mouthparts

Assam’s detention centres for foreigners and those declared such by specific tribunals have been renamed as “Transit Camps”. Detention Centres in Assam: The State currently has 6 detention centres (Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Silchar) with 181 inmates, 61 of whom are immigrants and 121 foreign convicts awaiting deportation. 2 of these centres house 22 children along with their “foreigner” mothers. Detention Centers: They are places designated to hold illegal immigrants (people entering the country without the required documents) if they are detained by the authorities until the time of confirmation of their citizenship and deportation to their country of origin.