Daily Current Affairs MCQ- August 26, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan pitched in with an idea of a “Malviya Mission” to develop enabling ecosystem across the country for teacher education/faculty development.

• Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (1861 – 1946) was an Indian educationist and a Freedom Fighter.
• Names: He was conferred the title of ‘Mahamana’ by Mahatma Gandhi. During his school days he started writing poems under the pen name ‘Makarand’ which were published in journals and magazines.
• Role in Freedom Movement: He was a moderate leader. He was elected as the president of Indian National Congress four times in 1909, 1918, 1932 and 1933, but owing to his arrest by the Government of India, he could not preside over the 1932 and 1933 sessions which had been banned.
• As an Educationist: He founded Banaras Hindu University (BHU) at Varanasi in 1916, which was created under the B.H.U. Act, 1915. He was Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University from 1919–1938.
• Journalism: He started the 'Abhyudaya' as a Hindi weekly in 1907 and made it a daily in 1915. He also started the 'Maryada' a Hindi monthly in 1910. He started the 'Leader' an English daily in 1909. He was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the 'Hindustan Times' from 1924 to 1946.

Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal today chaired the 4th meeting of National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC) in New Delhi.

• Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had constituted the National Startup Advisory Council to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country.
• Besides the ex-officio members, the council has non-official members, representing various stakeholders such as founders of successful startups.

NavIC Grand Challenge

• The Minister also launched NavIC Grand Challenge which aims at promoting adoption of NavIC as geo-positioning solution, a key proponent for digital Aatmanirbharta.
• The applications for the grand challenge are open on Startup India’s website (www.startupindia.gov.in) and it aims to identify and handhold solutions of startups which are engaged in developing NavIC enabled drones.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 has been challenged in the Supreme Court on the ground that it bars judicial review, which is a basic feature of the Constitution.

Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 Act

• Nature of place of worship: The Act declares that the religious character of a place of worship “shall continue to be the same as it existed” during independence from British rule. It signifies two things as follows:
• No Alteration: The Act prohibits conversion of any place of worship, in full or part of a place of worship of any religious denomination into a place of worship of a different religious denomination — or even a different segment of the same religious denomination.
• Specific Date: The Act specifies 15th day of August, 1947, as cutoff date to maintain status quo of any place of worship.
• Nullifies suit or appeal: The Act also mentions that any suit or legal proceeding with respect to the conversion of the religious character of any place of worship existing on August 15, 1947, pending before any court, shall abate — and no fresh suit or legal proceedings shall be instituted.

Hence both statements are correct.

Several parts of the country are reeling under heat wave conditions. Cities, especially, are a lot hotter than rural areas. This is due to a phenomenon called an “urban heat island”.

• An urban heat island is a local and temporary phenomenon experienced when certain pockets within a city experience higher heat load than surrounding or neighbouring areas on the same day.
• These are not the typical islands around water bodies, but urban heat islands that record higher day temperatures than other localities.
• The temperature variation can range between 3 to 5 degrees Celsius.
• For example, a greener locality like Pashan in Pune often records cooler temperatures than urban areas like Shivajinagar, Chinchwad or Magarpatta.

Causes

• The variations are mainly due to heat remaining trapped within locations that often resemble concrete jungles.
• Rural areas have relatively larger green cover in the form of plantations, farmlands, forests and trees as compared to urban spaces. This green cover plays a major role in regulating heat in its surroundings.
• Cities usually have buildings constructed with glass, bricks, cement and concrete — all of which are dark-coloured materials, meaning they attract and absorb higher heat content.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation rate surged to a record high of 15.1 per cent in April, with rise in prices of vegetables, fruits, milk and fuel, government data released showed.

Causes:

• The heatwave led to a spike in prices of perishables such as fruits, vegetables and milk, which, along with a spike in tea prices, pushed up primary food inflation.
• The core-WPI inflation rose to a four-month high of 11.1% in April, with producers forced to pass on the input price pressures. Fuel inflation rose to 38.66 per cent, while inflation for manufactured products rose to 10.85 per cent.
• Much of the inflation spike is being seen as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with the contribution in retail inflation being seen at three-fourths of the index.

Impact

• WPI inflation has been in double digits for the thirteenth months in a row now.
• With WPI inflation remaining in double-digits, the probability of a repo hike in the June monetary policy has risen further.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI)

• Wholesale Price Index, or WPI, measures the changes in the prices of goods sold and traded in bulk by wholesale businesses to other businesses.
• WPI tracks prices at the factory gate level. It thus represents the production side and not the consumption side.
• The numbers are released by the Office of the Economic Advisor, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Provisional figures of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) are released on 14th of every month (or next working day) with a time lag of two weeks of the reference month.
• After 10 weeks, the index is finalized and final figures are released and then frozen thereafter.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The newly released National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) reconfirms that a large number of Indians have a preference for sons. NFHS-5 covers the period 2019-21.

• The number of married people (age 15-49) who want more sons than daughters is several times the number who want more daughters than sons. In spite of these preferences, most Indians still believe an ideal family should include at least one daughter.
• Among the states and UTs, men in Mizoram (37%), Lakshadweep (34%) and Manipur (33%), and women in Bihar (31%) show the strongest preference for more sons than daughters.

Meghalaya

• The only exception is women in Meghalaya, among whom the preference for more daughters than sons is more prevalent than the preference for more sons than daughters.
• The explanation for Meghalaya women’s preference for daughters is that it is a matrilineal society.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Air pollution was responsible for 16.7 lakh deaths in India in 2019, or 17.8% of all deaths in the country that year.

• This is the largest number of air-pollution-related deaths of any country, according to a recent report on pollution and health published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
• The majority of the 16.7 lakh air pollution-related deaths in India – 9.8 lakh — were caused by PM2.5 pollution, and another 6.1 lakh by household air pollution.
• According to the report, air pollution is most severe in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This area contains New Delhi and many of the most polluted cities.
• Burning of biomass in households was the single largest cause of air pollution deaths in India, followed by coal combustion and crop burning.
• Globally, air pollution alone contributes to 66.7 lakh deaths, according to the report, which updates a previous analysis from 2015.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, the Supreme Court of India (SC), held that Union and State legislatures have equal, simultaneous and unique powers to make laws on Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the recommendations of the GST Council are not binding on them.

• It is an indirect tax (not directly paid by customers to the government), that came into effect from 1 July 2017 through the implementation of the 101st Amendment to the Constitution of India.
• It has actually replaced various indirect taxes such as - service taxes, VAT, excise and others in the country.
• It is levied on the manufacturer or seller of goods and the providers of services.
• The sellers usually add the tax expense into their costs and the price the customers pay is inclusive of GST. Thus, one ends up paying a tax even if s/he is not an income taxpayer.
• It is divided into five different tax slabs for collection of tax - 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%.

Hence both statements are correct.

India has recorded highest ever annual FDI inflow of USD 83.57 billion in the Financial Year 2021-22.

• In terms of top investor countries of FDI Equity inflow, ‘Singapore’ is at the apex with 27%, followed by U.S.A (18%) and Mauritius (16%) for the FY 2021-22.
• ‘Computer Software & Hardware’ has emerged as the top recipient sector of FDI Equity inflow during FY 2021-22 with around 25% share followed by Services Sector (12%) and Automobile Industry (12%) respectively.
• Under the sector `Computer Software & Hardware’, the major recipient states of FDI Equity inflow are Karnataka (53%), Delhi (17%) and Maharashtra (17%) during FY 2021-22.
• Karnataka is the top recipient state with 38% share of the total FDI Equity inflow reported during the FY 2021-22 followed by Maharashtra (26%) and Delhi (14%).
• Further, India is rapidly emerging as a preferred country for foreign investments in the manufacturing sector. FDI Equity inflow in Manufacturing Sectors have increased by 76% in FY 2021-22 (USD 21.34 billion) compared to previous FY 2020-21 (USD 12.09 billion).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the transfer of 30,307 crore rupees as surplus to the Central Government for the accounting year 2021-22.

• The decision was taken after deciding to maintain the contingency risk buffer at 5.50 per cent of its balance sheet.
• According to the Bimal Jalan committee’s report, the RBI, at all times, has to maintain a minimum contingency risk buffer of 5.5 per cent.
• This year’s transfer is sharply lower than what the central bank had did in the previous financial year — Rs 99,126 crore.

Hence both statements are correct.