Daily Current Affairs MCQ - December 31, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

• Flex-fuel vehicles (FFV): They have engines that can run on flexible fuel — a combination of petrol and ethanol, which can include up to 100% ethanol. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV): When FFV is integrated along with strong hybrid electric technology, it is referred as FFV-SHEVs.
• Strong hybrid is another term for full hybrid vehicles, which have the capability to run solely on either electric or petrol modes. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • In contrast, mild hybrids cannot run purely on one of these modes and use the secondary mode merely as a supplement to the main mode of propulsion.

• The Apatani weave comes from the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh living at Ziro, the headquarters of lower Subansiri district. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • The Apatani community weaves its own textiles for various occasions, including rituals and cultural festivals.
• The woven fabric of this tribe is known for its geometric and zigzag patterns and also for its angular designs. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • The tribe predominantly weaves shawls known as jig-jiro and jilan or jackets called supuntarii.
• The people here use different leaves and plant resources for organic dying the cotton yarns in their traditional ways.
  • Only women folk are engaged in weaving.
• The traditional handloom of this tribe is a type of loin loom, which is called Chichin, and is similar to the traditional handloom of the Nyishi tribe. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • It is portable, easy to install and operated by a single weaver, especially the female members of the community.

• In September 2021, the US announced a new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific, between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS). Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• It is the first agreement on the technology to be publicly signed since the three countries announced the formation of a defence alliance, AUKUS, to confront strategic tensions in the Pacific where China-US rivalry is growing. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Under the AUKUS deal, Australia would obtain eight state-of-the-art, nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines capable of stealthy, long-range missions. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

The Union Budget 2021-22 seeks to further simplify the Tax Administration, Litigation Management and ease the compliance of Direct Tax Administration.

• To further reduce litigation of small tax payers, Smt. Sitharaman proposed to constitute a Dispute Resolution Committee. Anyone with a taxable income upto Rs. 50 lakh and disputed income upto Rs. 10 lakh, shall be eligible to approach the Committee.
• She also announced setting up of National Faceless Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Centre, wherein all communication between the Tribunal and the appellant shall be electronic.
• In the 75th year of independence, the Budget seeks to reduce compliance burden on senior citizens who are of 75 years of age and above. Such senior citizens having only pension and interest income, will be exempted from filing their income tax return.
• The Budget proposes to notify rules for removing the hardship of Non-Resident Indians returning to India, on the issue of their accrued incomes in their foreign retirement account. It proposes to make dividend payment to REIT/InvIT exempt from TDS.
• The Finance Minister proposed to extend the eligibility period for claim of additional deduction for interest of Rs. 1.5 lakh on loan taken for purchase of an affordable house to 31st March, 2022.
• In order to incentivize start ups in the country, Smt. Sitharaman announced extension in the eligibility for claiming tax holiday for startups by one more year till 31st March, 2022.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Public transport system in urban areas got a major boost in the Budget for the year 2021-22.

• A new scheme will be launched at a cost of `18,000 crore to support augmentation of public bus transport services. It will facilitate deployment of innovative PPP models to enable private sector players to finance, acquire, operate and maintain over 20,000 buses.
• Government plans to deploy two new technologies i.e. ‘MetroLite’ and ‘MetroNeo’ to provide metro rail systems at much lesser cost with same experience, convenience and safety in Tier-2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier-1 cities.

Budget proposed Central counterpart funding to:

• Kochi Metro Railway Phase-II of 11.5 km at a cost of `1957.05 crore.
• Chennai Metro Railway Phase –II of 118.9 km at a cost of `63,246 crore.
• Bengaluru Metro Railway Project Phase 2A and 2B of 58.19 km at a cost of `14,788 crore.
• Nagpur Metro Rail Project Phase-II and Nashik Metro at a cost of `5,976 crore and `2,092 crore respectively.
• Hence both statements are correct.

• The Union Minister of Finance announced several measures to augment road infrastructure in the Union Budget 2021-22 presented in the Parliament.
• An enhanced outlay of 1,18,101 crore has been provided for Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, of which 1,08,230 crore is for capital, the highest ever.
• More than 13,000 km length of roads, at a cost of ` 3.3 lakh crore, has already been awarded under the 5.35 lakh crore Bharatmala Pariyojana project of which 3,800 kms have been constructed. By March 2022, another 8,500 kms would be awarded.
• Advanced Traffic management system with speed radars, variable message signboards, GPS enabled recovery vans will be installed in all new four and six lane highways.

Some flagship corridors and other important projects that would see considerable activity in 2021-22 are:

• Delhi-Mumbai Expressway: Remaining 260 km will be awarded before 31.3.2021
• Bengaluru – Chennai Expressway: 278 km will be initiated in the current financial year. Construction will begin in 2021-22
• Delhi-Dehradun economic corridor: 210 km corridor will be initiated in the current financial year. Construction will begin in 2021-22
• Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway: 63 km expressway providing an alternate route to NH 27 will be initiated in 2021-22
• Chennai – Salem corridor: 277 km expressway will be awarded and construction would start in 2021-22
• Raipur-Vishakhapatnam: 464 km passing through Chhattisgarh, Odisha and North Andhra Pradesh will be awarded in the current year. Construction will start in 2021-22
• Amritsar-Jamnagar: Construction will commence in 2021-22
• Delhi –Katra: Construction will commence in 2021-22
• Hence both statements are correct.

Against an original Budgetary Estimates (BE) 2020-2021 for expenditure of Rs. 30.42 lakh crore, the Revised Estimates (RE) 2020-21 are Rs. 34.50 lakh crore.

• Fiscal deficit in RE 2020-21 is pegged at 9.5% of GDP. It has been funded through Government borrowings, multilateral borrowings, Small Saving Funds and short term borrowings.
• Another Rs 80,000 crore would be needed for which Government would be approaching the markets in these 2 months.
• The fiscal deficit in BE 2021-2022 is estimated to be 6.8% of GDP. The gross borrowing from the market for the next year would be around 12 lakh crore.
• Finance minister will be proposing an amendment to the FRBM Act towards achieving Central Government fiscal deficit along the broad path indicated above.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Inaugural ceremony for Aero India 2021, Asia’s largest Aerospace and Defence Exhibition is being held at Air Force Station, Yelahanka, Bengaluru between February 03-05, 2021.

• Aero India is a biennial air show and aviation exhibition held in Bengaluru, India at the Yelahanka Air Force Station.
• It is organised by the Defence Exhibition Organisation, Ministry of Defence.
• The first edition of the air show was held in 1996.
• Aero India 2021 is the 13^th edition of Aero India. This year Aero India 2021 has been organised in hybrid mode with a concurrent virtual exhibition to encourage maximum participation.
• The Yelahanka Air Force Station is an Indian Air Force airfield in Yelahanka, Bengaluru. The main role of this airfield is to train pilots to fly transport planes.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

United States has extended the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) nuclear arms control treaty with Russia for five years.

• President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin reportedly discussed it by phone a week ago, and subsequently Mr Putin signed it into law on Friday.
• The treaty had been set to lapse on 5 February, as the Trump administration had refused to approve the extension. Now the pact has been extended to 5th February 2026.
• The treaty, which first went into effect in 2011, limits the United States and Russia to deploying no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads each and imposes restrictions on the land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The WHO has identified three new variants of coronavirus originating in the UK, Brazil and now in South Africa.

• Of the three, the latest South African variant known as 20H/501Y.V2 or B.1.351 appears to be more infectious than the original virus.
• This potentially more concerning variant, which has been spotted since December 22 last year and spread to nearly 40 countries including the United States.
• The South African variant carries a mutation called N501Y that appears to make it more contagious or easy to spread. this variant “is less susceptible to antibody neutralisation” than previous variants.
• This South African variant has become a major cause of worry because of its unusually large number of mutations, especially in the spike protein, which the virus uses to gain entry into the cells within the human body.
• Hence both statements are correct.