Daily Current Affairs MCQ- August 4, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Speaking at the inaugural session of the first All India District Legal Services Authorities meet, the PM recently said that ease of justice is as important as ease of doing business and ease of living.

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA):

• NALSA has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• It aims to provide free Legal Services to the weaker sections of the society and to organise Lok Adalats for amicable settlement of disputes.
• Currently, Justice N. V. Ramana, the Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief of NALSA.
• In every State,
  • The State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) has been constituted to give effect to the policies and directions of the NALSA.
  • This is to give free legal services to the people and conduct Lok Adalats in the State.
  • It is headed by the Chief Justice of the respective High Court, called as the Patron-in-Chief of the State Legal Services Authority.
• In every District, the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) has been constituted.
• Through DLSAs and SLSAs, various legal aid and awareness programmes are implemented by NALSA.

Hence both statements are correct.

While Mohammad Zubair of Alt News was arrested for tweeting a still picture from a movie that had some religious context attached to it, Nupur Sharma, a member of the BJP, has been absconding with no coercive action taken against her for her inflammatory remarks on a prime-time TV show.

• The legality of Section 295(A) was affirmed by a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court. The court said that the punishment under Section 295(A) deals with aggravated form of blasphemy which is committed with the malicious aim of offending any religious sensibilities.
• Insulting a religion may be disputed but should not be legally outlawed. The reason for this is because hate speech laws are predicated on the critical distinction between criticising religion and encouraging prejudice towards individuals because of their faith.
• Blasphemy laws which prohibit religious criticism in general are incompatible with the principles of a democratic society.

Hence both statements are correct.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has received the Letter of Intent from the Services for the manufacture of 12 light utility helicopters (LUHs), which have been designed and developed indigenously.

• At the same time, nine light combat helicopters (LCH) have been manufactured against the sanction of 15 limited series production (LSP) variants and are in the process of being handed over to the Services. The Army is in negotiations for acquiring 11 more Apache AH-64E attack helicopters from the U.S.
• Last November, the Defence Acquisition Council approved the procurement of an initial lot of 12 LUHs, six each for the Army and the Air Force.
• In June, the Army raised its first LCH squadron in Bengaluru which will move to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Eastern Command once complete next year.
• As of now, the Army is looking at acquiring around 111 LUHs and 95 LCHs. Army sources had said that seven LCH units are planned for a combat role in the mountains, each with 10 helicopters. The IAF is scheduled to raise its first LCH squadron in the next few months.
• The Cabinet Committee on Security earlier gave sanction for the procurement of 39 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters from the U.S. Following this, the IAF inducted 22 Apaches procured under a deal signed in September 2015.

Hence both statements are correct.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu presented the President's colour to the Tamil Nadu Police.

• The President’s Colour is the highest honour given to the military, paramilitary and police forces of States and Union Territories.
• The State of Tamil Nadu ranks second in the list of more women in the police force and the State was the first to create a women commando force.
• Tamil Nadu is the only State to have a police unit to investigate smuggling of idols and statues.

Hence both statements are correct.

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar participated in the meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers.

SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation, created in June 2001 in Shanghai (China).

Founding members included Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

This organization represents approximately 42% of the world’s population, 22% of its land area and 20% of global GDP.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

With the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), governments around the world are initiating steps towards developing or even sourcing a vaccine against monkeypox.

• There is yet no dedicated monkeypox vaccine, but vaccinations against smallpox was found to be 85% effective in preventing smallpox, a disease eradicated in 1980.
• In 2019, the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), approved the JYNNEOS vaccine for the prevention of smallpox, monkeypox and other diseases caused by orthopoxviruses, including vaccinia virus, in adults 18 years of age and older and categorised as having a “high risk of infection.”
• JYNNEOS, developed by Danish biotechnology company, Bavarian Nordic, contains a live vaccinia virus that does not replicate efficiently in human cells.

Hence both statements are correct.

The elephant range States across India have ignored an instruction from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to furnish information on their elephant reserves.

• Data uploaded on the Wildlife Institute of India’s website say the elephant population across 16 States in the country ranged between 27,785 and 31,368 in 2012.
• While Karnataka had up to 7,458 elephants followed by Assam with 5,281, Maharashtra had only four.
• India has 30 notified elephant reserves, spread across 15 Elephant Range States.
• There are also 10 sites for the MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) programme, mandated by the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
• The MIKE sites are Chirang-Ripu and Dihing-Patkai in Assam, Deomali in Arunachal Pradesh, Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Eastern Dooars in West Bengal, Mayurbhanj in Odisha, Shivalik in Uttarakhand, Mysore in Karnataka, Wayanad in Kerala and Nilgiri in Tamil Nadu.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR Act):

• It is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted in 1957, which forms the basic framework of regulating the mining sector in India and mandates the requirement for granting leases for mining operations.
• The Ministry of Mines, Government of India, is responsible for the administration of the Act.
• It describes the procedure and terms for obtaining a mining or prospecting licence in India.
• Prior approval from the Ministry of Environment and Forests is required for mining on forest land.
• This act is applicable to all minerals except minor minerals (such as river sand, which is under the purview of state governments) and atomic minerals.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

In the wake of the detection of monkeypox cases in India, the Union government has constituted a task force to monitor and provide guidance on the expansion of diagnostic facilities and to explore vaccination against the infection in the country.

• The team will be headed by V.K. Paul, member (Health), NITI Aayog. India has reported six confirmed cases of monkeypox so far — four in Kerala and two in Delhi.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 18,000 cases have been reported from 78 countries.
• Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the same family of viruses that causes smallpox.
• The disease is endemic in regions like West and Central Africa, but lately, cases have been reported from non-endemic countries too, according to WHO.

Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill.

• The first Bill will amend the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005.
• The amendment seeks to prevent financing of prohibited activities related to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
• The Bill also proposes to empower the Central government to freeze, seize or attach funds or financial assets or economic resources for preventing financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and to prohibit making available funds or resources for such activities.

Hence both statements are correct.