Daily Current Affairs MCQ- August 31, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Preparations are afoot for the 90th Interpol General Assembly that is to be held in the Indian capital later this year.

The arrangements for the event are being made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in coordination with other government agencies.

• International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) is the radio-telegraph code for the organisation.
• Interpol is an international police organisation made up of 195 member countries.
• It does not work under UN.
• It has enjoyed a special role – that of Permanent Observer at the United Nations - since 1996.
• It was founded in 1923 and is headquartered at Lyon, France.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

As the Quad grouping looks to track and address illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Indo-Pacific, an ambitious effort to install the satellite-based Vehicle Monitoring System (VMS) for small fishing vessels (less than 20 metres) across the country’s coastline is still to be rolled out.

• Despite pilot studies being conducted, the project, conceived in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, remains stuck primarily due to two reasons.
• Fishermen don’t want to get tagged as they do not want any of their illegal activities recorded and they are sceptical that others will get to know of where there is good catch. Second is that fishing is a State subject and there are local politics involved.
• There is no legislation to force fishermen to install the transponders and efforts by the Ministry of Fisheries to table the Indian Marine Fisheries Bill, 2021 which covers this has repeatedly been delayed due to the opposition from the States and fishermen.
• The Quad grouping, comprising India, Australia, Japan and the U.S., announced at the Tokyo summit last month an ambitious Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) initiative to track “dark shipping” and to build a “faster, wider, and more accurate maritime picture of near-real-time activities in partners’ waters” integrating three critical regions in the Indo-Pacific.
• There are two main regulations globally on IUU fishing — the Cape Town Agreement (CTA) and the Agreement on Ports State Measures (PSMA) — and India is, so far, not a signatory to both agreements.
• The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is for bigger ships, which was made compulsory for all vessels above 20 metres after 26/11 by the National Committee on Strengthening Maritime and Coastal Security (NCSMCS).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

India has achieved the target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol, five months ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

• This, he claimed, had led to a reduction of 27 lakh tonnes of carbon emissions and saved foreign exchange worth ₹41,000 crore. Farmers earned ₹40,600 crore in the past eight years due to increase in ethanol blending, Mr. Modi said.
• Last June, Mr. Modi made public the “Road map for ethanol blending in India, 2020-25”, which laid out a pathway for achieving 20% ethanol blending by 2025-26.
• The 10% blending target was to be achieved in November 2022.

Hence both statements are correct.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have been on a selling spree in India. May figures of about ₹44,000 crore formed the highest monthly quantum of sell-off since March 2020 when India announced a nationwide lockdown.

• Foreign portfolio investors are those that invest funds in markets outside of their home turf.
• Their investments typically include equities, bonds and mutual funds.
• They are generally not active shareholders and do not exert any control over the companies whose shares they hold. The passive nature of their investment also allows them to enter or exit a stock at will and with ease.
• Promise of attractive returns on the back of economic growth draws investors including FPIs into a country’s markets.

What impact does an FPI sell-off have?

• When FPIs sell their holdings and repatriate funds back to their home markets, the local currency takes a beating. As supply of the rupee in the market rises, its value declines.
• Their selling actions have triggered a significant decline in benchmark indices resulting in a drop in market capitalisation of companies.

Hence both statements are correct.

Authorities worldwide, particularly central bankers, foresaw a period in the near future “where growth is low, unemployment is at least up a little bit and inflation is still high”, adding, “So you could call that stagflation”.

• The most difficult problem for policymakers is when inflation runs high even as economic output either stagnates or, worse, shrinks. The slowdown in economic activity, in turn, leads businesses to shed jobs and the resultant situation is termed as ‘stagflation’.
• One of the classic instances when most economies including the U.S. faced ‘stagflation’ was during the ‘oil shock’ of the early 1970s when an embargo led by the oil producers’ cartel OPEC caused the price of crude to almost quadruple in a period of just under six months.

What has sparked the latest concerns about stagflation?

• While the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the curbs imposed to contain the spread of the virus caused the first major recent economic slowdown worldwide, the subsequent fiscal and monetary measures taken to address the downturn, including substantial increases in liquidity in most of the advanced economies, fuelled a sharp upsurge in inflation.
• The ongoing war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of its southern neighbour and the consequent Western sanctions on Moscow have caused a fresh and as yet hard-to-quantify ‘supply shock’.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved Hyderabad-based Biological E. Limited (BE)’s COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax as a COVID-19 booster dose.

• Corbevax gets nod as COVID-19 booster dose
• The vaccine can be administered to adults six months after the administration of second dose of Covaxin or Covishield for restricted use in emergency situations.
• Corbevax is India’s first approved heterologous COVID booster (when the third dose is different from earlier doses), the company said.
• Clinical trial data showed that Corbevax booster dose provided significant enhancement in immune response and good safety profile required for an effective booster.

Hence both statements are correct.

Petitioners in the Delhi High Court questioned why marital status, age, or gender were the criteria for being allowed to commission or not commission surrogacy in India.

• As per the Surrogacy Act that kicked in from January this year, a married couple can opt for surrogacy only on medical grounds.
• The law defines a couple as a married Indian “man and woman” and also prescribes an age-criteria with the woman being in the age group of 23 to 50 years and the man between 26 to 55 years.
• Additionally, the couple should not have a child of their own.
• Though the law allows single women to resort to surrogacy, she should either be a widow or a divorcee, between the age of 35 to 45 years. Single men are however, not eligible.

Hence both statements are correct.

An ‘orange alert’ was issued for a severe heatwave in Delhi and neighbouring areas of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

• The IMD has issued an “orange" alert, warning of severe heatwave conditions, when the maximum temperature could jump to between 45°C and 47°C in parts of Delhi.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declares a heatwave over the plains if the maximum temperature is 40°C or higher and 4.5 degrees above normal, with this criterion being satisfied over two consecutive days.

Hence both statements are correct.

A multinational peacekeeping exercise-Ex Khaan Quest 2022 featuring participation from military contingents from 16 countries including India commenced in Mongolia.

• President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh inaugurated the exercise.
• The Indian Army is represented by a contingent from the LADAKH SCOUTS.
• The 14-day exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability, building military to military relationships, and developing peace support operations and military readiness among participating nations.

Hence both statements are correct.

In conjunction with the World Environment Day that was observed on June 5, the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and World Resources Institute (WRI) India, jointly announced ‘Leaders in Climate Change Management’ (LCCM), a practice-based learning program.

• To facilitate this face-to-face learning program, the Administrative Training Institute (ATI), Mysuru, also singed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NIUA and WRI India, becoming the first delivery partner of the LCCM program.
• LCCM envisions capacitating 5,000 professionals, including mid to junior-level government officials and frontline workers, and preparing them to champion climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions towards a coordinated effort to achieve India’s climate commitments.
• At COP26 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a five-fold strategy – Panch Amrit – to global leaders, extending India’s co-operation to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius targets.
• The LCCM program, designed and implemented in partnership with the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) and Indian School of Business (ISB), aims to strengthen India’s workforce to achieve this goal.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.