Daily Current Affairs MCQ - August 4, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

The Lok Sabha passed the Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2021. The Bill replaces a similar Ordinance promulgated in April 2021.

The Bill provides for:

• Uniform terms and conditions of service for Chairperson and Members of various tribunals, including the following, namely:
  • Search-cum-Selection Committee for tribunals other than State Administrative Tribunals to be headed by the Chief Justice of India or a Judge nominated by him;
  • Search-cum-Selection Committee for the State Administrative Tribunal to be headed by the Chief Justice of the High Court of the concerned State;
  • age of retirement to be seventy years for Chairperson and sixty-seven years for a Member;
  • the Chairperson and Member of a Tribunal shall be eligible for reappointment.
• Abolition of tribunals or authorities under various Acts by amending
  • the Cinematograph Act, 1952,
  • the Copyrights, Act, 1957,
  • the Customs Act, 1962,
  • the Patents Act, 1970,
  • the Airport Authority of India Act, 1994,
  • the Trade Marks Act, 1999,
  • the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999,
  • the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001,
  • the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002;
• Transfer of all cases pending before such tribunals or authorities to the Commercial Court or the High Court, as the case may be, on the appointed date;

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Ebrahim Raisi was inaugurated as President of Iran. This ceremony marked Mr. Raisi’s formal accession to office. He will next be sworn in before Parliament when he is to submit his proposed government line-up.

• Mr. Raisi, a conservative, replaces moderate President Hassan Rouhani, whose landmark achievement was the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and six major powers.
• Mr. Raisi won a presidential election in June in which more than half the electorate stayed away after many heavyweights were barred from standing. A former judiciary chief, he has been criticised by the West for his human rights record.

Challenges

• From the outset, Mr. Raisi will have to tackle negotiations aimed at reviving the nuclear deal from which the US unilaterally withdrew imposing sweeping sanctions.
• The 2015 nuclear deal saw Iran accept curbs on its nuclear capabilities in return for an easing of sanctions. But then U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the accord three years later and ramped up sanctions again, prompting Tehran to pull back from most of its nuclear commitments.
• The 60-year-old also faces the United States, Britain and Israel's warnings to Iran over a deadly tanker attack last week for which Tehran denies responsibility.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Independent charitable organisation Oxfam has said that ‘net zero’ carbon targets that many countries have announced may be a “dangerous distraction” from the priority of cutting carbon emissions.

• "Land-hungry ‘net zero’ schemes could force an 80 per cent rise in global food prices and more hunger while allowing rich nations and corporates to continue “dirty business-as-usual,” Oxfam has said in a new report titled “Tightening the Net”.
• The report says that if the challenge of change is tackled only by way of planting more trees, then about 1.6 billion hectares of new forests would be required to remove the world’s excess carbon emissions by the year 2050.
• Net-zero, which is also referred to as carbon-neutrality, does not mean that a country would bring down its emissions to zero.
• That would be gross-zero, which means reaching a state where there are no emissions at all, a scenario hard to comprehend.
• Therefore, net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
• One way by which carbon can be absorbed is by creating carbon sinks.
• In 2019, the New Zealand government passed the Zero Carbon Act, which committed the country to zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner, as part of the country’s attempts to meet its Paris climate accord commitments.
• In the same year, the UK’s parliament passed legislation requiring the government to reduce the UK’s net emissions of greenhouse gases by 100 per cent relative to 1990 levels by the year 2050.
• More recently, US president Joe Biden announced that the country will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
• Further, John Kerry, who is US’s climate envoy and considered one of the chief architects of the Paris Climate agreement, launched a bipartisan organisation called World War Zero in 2019 to bring together unlikely allies on climate change and with the goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions in the country by 2050.
• The European Union too, has a similar plan, called “Fit for 55”, the European Commission has asked all of its 27 member countries to cut emissions by 55 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030.
• Last year, China also announced that it would become net-zero by the year 2060 and that it would not allow its emissions to peak beyond what they are in 2030.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Minister for External Affairs said that India has joined the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, CPLP as Associate Observer in July this year. this sets a new platform for strengthening India’s historic bonds of friendship with Lusophone countries.

• The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) is also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth.
• It is an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language.
• The CPLP consists of 9 member states and 32 associate observers, located in Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, totaling 37 countries and 4 organizations.
• Member states: There are nine full member states of the CPLP. Seven were founding members of the CPLP: Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe; Timor-Leste joined in 2002 and Equatorial Guinea joined in 2014.
• It was founded in 1996, in Lisbon.
• Headquarters: Lisbon, Portugal.

Lusophones

• Lusophones are peoples and nations that comprise an estimated 270 million people spread across 10 sovereign states and territories that recognize Portuguese as an official language.
• This area is known as Lusofonia or the Lusophone world (Mundo Lusófono).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Indian Naval Ship (INS) Khanjar becomes the first Indian Navy ship to call at the heritage coastal port of Gopalpur in Odisha. The two-day visit which concluded on 02 Aug 21, was organised as part of Aazadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Independence.

• Gopalpur is a coastal town and a Notified Area Council on the Bay of Bengal coast in Ganjam district in the southern part of Odisha.
• During ancient times, Gopalpur served as an important port for the seafarers of ancient Kalinga. It is identified with the site Mansurkota located near Gopalpur, just below the mouth of the river Rushikulya.
• Even during the World War –I, it was an important military port where soldiers used to embark on a journey to Burma.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Only statement 2 is correct. Statement 1: It acknowledges anyone living in Goa for 30 years or more as a ‘Bhumiputra (son of the soil)’. Recently, the Assembly of Goa passed the Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill, 2021. Statement 2: Under this bill, Bhumiputra is entitled to its own ‘small dwelling unit’ if ownership cannot be determined to date. Key Points of the Bill: Once acknowledged as a Bhumiputra, an individual can stake claim to ownership of their house of not more than 250 sq m, built before April 1, 2019. The goal was to enable the ‘mool Goenkar (original Goan)’ to live with dignity. The Bill allows the formation of Bhumiputra Adhikarini, a committee that includes the Deputy Collector as its Chairperson.

Titagarh Wagons Ltd has announced that its plant in Italy has rolled out the 1st train for the Pune Metro coach, out of the 34 trains. Key Points About the Trains: 34 trains will be sent from Italy. Each train will comprise 3 coaches. These coaches will arrive in Pune in September 2021. Titagarh Wagons: It is a railway wagon manufacturer based in Titagarh, West Bengal. It manufactures coaches for Indian Railways, bailey bridges and mining equipment.

On 30th July 2021, Eutelsat Quantum, the world's 1st commercial fully re-programmable satellite launched from French Guiana, onboard an Ariane 5 rocket. It is developed under a European Space Agency partnership project with satellite operator Eutelsat and prime manufacturer Airbus. Significance of the Satellite: Launched with the prospect of a new era of flexible communication. It is the first fully-fledged satellite software in the world. Its beams can be redirected to almost real-time to provide information to passengers on ships or aircraft.

At Amazon.com Inc., the European Union has fined $ 886.6 million or 746 million euros. This penalty is levied for processing personal information in violation of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). About the Fine Imposed: Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) levied it on Amazon Europe Core. The CNPD alleges that Amazon has cracked down on user data to show what ads and information they receive. The complaint was filed against Amazon by 10,000 people according to the EU's GDPR which requires companies to obtain public consent before using their personal information or facing penalties. Amazon’s Take: Amazon has decided to challenge the fine.

NESAC is a regional space centre established in September 2000 by a joint initiative of the Department of Space, Government of India (GOI) and North Eastern Council. It was established to speed up the usage of remote sensing technology to discover natural minerals uncovered in the North-Eastern states of India. Why in the News? The Centre has asked the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) to map and demarcate the State boundaries using satellite imaging to solve the Assam- Mizoram border dispute and to arrive at a permanent solution.