Daily Current Affairs MCQ - December 7, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

• According to the Ministry of Labour & Employment, nearly 46 lakh Unorganised Workers (UW) have been registered under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan (PM-SYM) pension scheme.
• PM-SYM is a Central Sector Scheme administered by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India and Community Service Centers (CSCs). Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) is the Pension Fund Manager and responsible for Pension pay out.
• Eligibility:
  • Should be an Unorganised Worker (UW).
  • Monthly Income Rs 15000 or below.
  • Entry age between 18 and 40 years. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • Should possess a mobile phone, savings bank account and Aadhaar number.
  • Should not be covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme or Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
  • Should not be an income tax payer.

• Sedition is a crime under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • The Section 124A IPC defines sedition as an offence committed when "any person by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India".
  • Disaffection includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity. However, comments without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, will not constitute an offence under this section.
• Punishment for the Offence of Sedition: It is a non-bailable offence. Punishment under the Section 124A ranges from imprisonment up to three years to a life term, to which fine may be added. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • A person charged under this law is barred from a government job. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • They have to live without their passport and must produce themselves in the court at all times as and when required.

• An Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) is a specialized financial institution that buys the Non Performing Assets (NPAs) from banks and financial institutions so that they can clean up their balance sheets. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • This helps banks to concentrate on normal banking activities. Banks, rather than going after the defaulters by wasting their time and effort, can sell the bad assets to the ARCs at a mutually agreed value.
  • The SARFAESI Act, 2002 provides the legal basis for the setting up of ARCs in India.
• At present, there is neither a unified mechanism to tackle NPAs in the farm sector nor a single law that deals with enforcement of mortgages created on agricultural land. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • Agriculture being a state subject, the recovery laws, wherever agricultural land is offered as collateral – varies from state to state.

Encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read it.

All messaging services like WhatsApp, Viber, Google Chat, Yahoo messenger use encrypted services. Banks (payment gateways) and e-commerce sites also use encryption to protect financial and private data including passwords.

Encryption is also used to protect data in transit, for example data being transferred via networks (e.g. the Internet, e-commerce), mobile telephones, wireless microphones, wireless intercom systems, Bluetooth devices and bank automatic teller machines.

Precision agriculture is basically the ‘right-input’ at the ‘right-time’ in the ‘right-amount’ at the ‘right-place’ and in the ‘right-manner’ for improving productivity, conserving natural resources and avoiding any ecological or social tribulations.

Today, precision agriculture is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI). IoT, satellite imagery, drones, Web-GIS frameworks, Big Data, cloud and machine learning are expected to improve global agricultural productivity in the near future.

But to arrive at these desired results, huge amounts of data collation is required. Environmental data, through technological intervention, has already fuelled better farming techniques in developed countries.

Sensors and analysis tools can boost crop yield. In order to do this, environmental data is collected in the geospatial format to measure quantifiable variables like weather, soil moisture, volumetric soil temperature, fertiliser rates, water run-off, agrochemicals movement and rain.

• The Parliamentary committees are established to study and deal with various matters that cannot be directly handled by the legislature due to their volume.
• These committees act as a mini-parliament, as they have MPs representing different parties are elected into them through a system of the single transferable vote, in roughly the same proportion as their strength in Parliament.
• They monitor the functioning of the executive branch and provide legislature with various policy input, playing an important role in Indian democracy.
• It scrutinises the accounts and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, thereby ensuring accountability of any misspending.
• Parliamentary committees ensure executive accountability through scrutiny of public spending and various laws.
• The Public Accounts Committee is concerned with the manner and results of spending public funds.
• Although committee recommendations are not binding on the government, their reports create a public record of the consultations that took place and put pressure on the government to reconsider its stand on debatable provisions.

On December 4, during the 1971 Indo-Pak War, the Indian Navy played a significant role in the bombing of Karachi harbour, when Operation Trident was launched. Owing to its success, since then December 4 is celebrated as Navy Day.

सेविंग वन हू वाज़ डेड (चेक गणराज्य) के लिए वाक्लाव कदरंका को सर्वश्रेष्ठ निर्देशक का पुरस्कार दिया गया।

HSBC India launches the country's first credit card made from recycled PVC plastic to help save plastic waste and lower overall carbon emission.

The Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gita Gopinath will take up a new role as the First Deputy Managing Director of IMF. Gopinath will be the second-rank official at IMF. She will replace the First Deputy Managing Director Geoffrey Okamoto who plans on leaving the IMF early in 2022.