Daily Current Affairs MCQ- December 30, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, new research clarifies that Sepsis is one of the most expensive medical conditions in the world, and can lead to cell death.

• Despite dramatic improvements in understanding the immunological mechanisms behind sepsis, it remains a major medical concern, affecting nearly 50 million people globally each year.
• Sepsis is a life-threatening condition arising from the body’s over-reactive response against infection, leading it to injure its tissues and organs.
• Researchers have studied how certain types of bacteria interact with cells during infections to discover the cells and molecules that potentially trigger death from sepsis.

Autoimmunity and sepsis

• The body’s response to infection starts when immune cells recognise components of the invading pathogen. These cells then release molecules like cytokines that help eliminate the infection.
• Among the hundreds of cytokines that exist, tumour necrosis factor, or TNF stands tall as the most potent and the most studied for nearly the past 50 years.

What is Tumour Necrosis Factor?

• It is a cytokine which is produced when the immune system is stimulated by a bacterial extract called Coley’s toxin.
• Blood cells made in the bone marrow (myeloid cells) are the major producers of TNF.
• In normal conditions, TNF promotes beneficial processes such as cell survival and tissue regeneration.
• Uncontrolled TNF production can lead to a dangerous cytokine storm and the development of rheumatoid arthritis and similar inflammatory conditions.
• Blocking and neutralising TNF activity can effectively treat numerous autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.

What are Cytokines?

• These are a broad group of small proteins released by the immune cells in response to a pathogen.
• Cytokines play an essential role in the immune response, excessive and uncontrolled cytokine production can lead to a dangerous cytokine storm.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, the Allahabad High Court quashed the Uttar Pradesh government’s draft notification on urban local body elections and ordered it to hold the polls without reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Provisions of the Urban Local Body

• The Urban Local Bodies were constitutionalized through the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992.
• This act added a new Twelfth Schedule to the Constitution and it contains 18 functional items of municipalities.
• Reservation:
• The act provides not less than one-third of the total number of seats for women (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the SCs and the STs).
• It also provides for the reservation of seats for the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes in every municipality in the proportion of their population.
• There will be no bar on State Legislatures from making provisions for the reservation of seats in any municipality or office of Chairperson in the municipalities in favour of the backward class of citizens.
• Term: The municipality has a fixed term of 5 years from the date appointed for its first meeting.
• Elections:
• To constitute a municipality are required to be completed before the expiration of the duration of the municipality.
• If the municipality is dissolved before the expiry of 5 years, the elections for constituting a new municipality are required to be completed within 6 months from the date of its dissolution.
• If a municipality is elected after it has been dissolved, it will remain in existence for the remainder of the time that it would have remained in existence had it not been dissolved.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Recently, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has started conducting joint inspections of identified Drug Manufacturing Units along with the State Drugs Control Administration. 

• A committee of two Joint Drugs Controllers has been constituted at CDSCO (HQ) to monitor the process of inspection, reporting & subsequent action. 

What is CDSCO?

• It is the Central Drug Authority for discharging functions assigned to the Central Government under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940.
• It works under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.
• Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for
• Approval of Drugs.
• Conduct Clinical Trials.
• Laying down the standards for Drugs.
• Control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country.
• Coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations.
• Further CDSCO along with state regulators, is jointly responsible for the grant of licences to certain specialised categories of critical Drugs such as vaccines and sera, etc.
• The Indian government has announced plans to subject all medical devices, including implants and contraception, to CDSCO scrutiny.
• Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI): DCGI is the head of the department of the CDSCO of the Government of India responsible for approval of licences of specified categories of drugs such as blood and blood products, IV fluids, vaccines and sera in India.
• DCGI also sets standards for the manufacturing, sales, import, and distribution of drugs in India.

Hence both statements are correct.

With the India-Australia interim trade deal set to kick off, the Central Board of Indirect

Taxes and Customs has notified the Rules of Origin.

About:

• The notification, which relates to the eligibility requirement to claim the preferential customs duty on trade in goods, under the economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA), will come into effect from December 29. This is when the ECTA will also come into effect.
• India and Australia had in April this year signed the ECTA, which is expected to cover 90% of the bilateral trade between the two.

What is Rules of Origin?

• Rules of origin are the criteria needed to determine the national source of a product. Their importance is derived from the fact that duties and restrictions in several cases depend upon the source of imports.

Where are rules of origin used?

Rules of origin are used:

• to implement measures and instruments of commercial policy such as anti-dumping duties and safeguard measures;
• to determine whether imported products shall receive most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment or preferential treatment;
• for the purpose of trade statistics;
• for the application of labelling and marking requirements; and
• for government procurement.

No specific provision in GATT

• GATT has no specific rules governing the determination of the country of origin of goods in international commerce.
• Each contracting party was free to determine its own origin rules, and could even maintain several different rules of origin depending on the purpose of the particular regulation.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

National Stock Exchange of India (NSE India) recently received an in-principle approval from the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to set-up SSE as a separate segment.

What is SSE?

• SSE is a novel idea in India, and a stock exchange of this kind is intended to benefit the private and non-profit sectors by directing more capital to them.
• During her Budget speech for the fiscal year 2019–20, Finance Minister first proposed the concept of SSE. The Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 was then invoked by the government, which subsequently published a gazette notification announcing a new security as "zero coupon zero principal".
• The SSE will function as a distinct division of the current stock exchanges under the new regulations.

Who can list on SSE?

• Not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) and for-profit social enterprises with social intent and impact as their primary goal will be eligible to participate in the SSE.
• The social enterprises will have to engage in a social activity out of 16 broad activities listed by the regulator.
• The eligible activities include-
  • eradicating hunger poverty, malnutrition and inequality
  • promoting healthcare, supporting education, employability and livelihoods
  • gender equality empowerment of women and LGBTQIA communities
  • supporting incubators of social enterprise.
• Corporate foundations, political or religious organisations or activities, professional or trade associations, infrastructure companies, and housing companies, with the exception of affordable housing, will not be eligible to be identified as social enterprises.
• According to Sebi's framework, minimum issue size of ₹1 crore and a minimum application size for subscription of ₹2 lakh are currently required for SSE.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, the Ministry of Road Transport &Highways (MoRTH) released the Annual report ‘Road accidents in India 2021.

• As per the report, there were 4,12,432 unfortunate incidences of road accidents during 2021 which claimed 1, 53,972 lives and caused injuries to 3, 84,448 persons.
• This report has been developed by reporting, management, claim processing and analysis of road accident data by using the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD) system.

What is iRAD?

• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and is funded by World Bank, to improve road safety in the country. 
• This will facilitate road accident data collection by 4 stakeholder departments; Police, Transport, Highways and Health Departments.
• Through a collection of road accident data from all over the country, a road accident database will be developed. The collected data will be analysed using different data analytics techniques for the identification of accident-prone areas and the causes of the accidents.
• The analysis output will be represented in appropriate dashboards, access to higher authorities of stakeholder departments and MoRTH. And accordingly, a strategy will be formed for the reduction of the number of road accidents in India and to enhance road safety.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Recently, the Minister for Electronics & Information Technology launched G20-DIA as a part of India's G20 presidency.

• Objective: To identify, recognize, and enable the adoption of innovative and impactful digital technologies developed by start-ups, from G20 nations as well as the invited non-member nations.
• It can address the needs of humanity in the six critically important sectors i.e Agri-tech, Health-tech, Ed-tech, Fin-tech, Secured Digital Infrastructure, and Circular Economy.
• Startup products in these six sectors enabled through Digital Public Goods Infrastructure can create a global population-scale impact and reduce the digital divide and enable sustainable, and inclusive techno-socio-economic development.
• This summit which will be held in Bangalore on the sidelines of the Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) meeting will be a multi-day program where top nominated startups from each of the theme areas from all of the G20 countries and the non-member invited countries will showcase their solutions to the global community of investors, mentors, corporates, and other government stakeholders.
• The engagement of innovators, entrepreneurs, start-ups, corporations, investors, mentors, and other ecosystem stakeholders will lead to the speedy acceptance of the platform that India plans to offer through this summit.
• This will create cutting-edge digital solutions in the six themes that bridge the digital divide between different segments of humanity and advance the world economy.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, the Election Commission of India said that it has begun the process of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Assam.

• The Delimitation process in Assam will be based on Census data from 2001. The last delimitation of constituencies in Assam was done in 1976 based on the 1971 Census.

Who carries out delimitation?

• Delimitation is carried out by an independent Delimitation Commission, appointed by the Government of India under provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act.
• Under Article 82, Parliament is to enact a Delimitation Act after every Census. Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up the Delimitation Commission.
• The Commission is supposed to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in a way that the population of all seats, so far as practicable, is the same. The Commission is also tasked with identifying seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• It works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
• The commission is composed of a retired Supreme Court judge, the Chief Election Commissioner of India and respective State Election Commissioners.
• In the history of the Indian republic, Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times- 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under the Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.

Hence both statements are correct.

Coal Ministry has recently Identified more Blocks to Enhance Coking Coal Production.

About:

• Coal is a fossil fuel and is the altered remains of prehistoric vegetation that originally accumulated in swamps and peat bogs.
• The quality of each coal deposit is determined by: varying types of vegetation from which the coal originated; depths of burial; temperatures and pressures at those depths; and length of time the coal has been forming in the deposit.
• Coking coal is a high-quality coal that is low in impurities and has a high carbon content, which makes it ideal for use in the metallurgical process.
• Coking coal is used to produce coke, which is a porous, solid carbon material that is used as a fuel and a reducing agent in the production of iron and steel.
• Largest coal-producing countries in the world: China (3.7 billion tonnes), India (783 million tonnes), United States (640 million tonnes), Indonesia (616 million tonnes).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recently released recommendations on ‘Spectrum Requirements of National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) for Train Control System for RRTS Corridors’

What is NCRTC ?

• The NCRTC is a joint partnership institution between the Central Government and the participating states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and the NCT of Delhi.
• It works under the administrative control of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• Objective: It is mandated for implementing the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project across the NCR of India, ensuring a balanced and sustainable urban development through better connectivity and access.
• Institutional Setup:
  • NCRTC was formally incorporated on 21st August, 2013 as a Company under the Company Act, 1956.
  • As a joint partnership project between the Center and the States, NCRTC would have one nominated Director each from the participating States, and four nominee Directors from the Government of India.
  • The Secretary (UD) is the ex-officio Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Managing Director, a nominee of MoUD. NCRTC also has the flexibility of forming separate subsidiary companies for implementing specific projects.

Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS)

• National capital region (NCR) is a multi-state region with the National Capital as its centre. This region, spread over an area of about 35,000 km2, comprises the entire National Capital territory of Delhi and some parts of the neighbouring states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), in order to enhance the connectivity within the NCR, has proposed to connect urban, industrial (SEZs/industrial parks), regional and sub-regional centers through a fast rail based Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS).
• The objective of this system is to reduce dependence of commuters on road based transportation.

Hence both statements are correct.