Daily Current Affairs MCQ - Feb 22, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Institute of Medical Sciences and Research at IIT Kharagpur on 23rd February 2021.

• The super speciality hospital has been set up by the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur with support from the Ministry of Education.
• The hospital will focus on robust Biomedical, Clinical and Translational Research, the development of remote diagnostics, telemedicine, teleradiology along with research in drug design and delivery.
• The MBBS programme is expected to start from the academic year 2021-22 in addition to Postgraduate and doctoral programmes.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu celebrated International Mother Language Day.

• The day is observed on the 21st of February every year to preserve and promote linguistic diversity and promoting mother tongue-based multilingual education.
• The declaration came up in tribute to the Language Movement done by the Bangladeshis (the then East Pakistanis). In Bangladesh, the 21 February is the anniversary of the day when Bangladeshis fought for recognition for the Bangla language.
• UNESCO has been celebrating International Mother Language Day since 2000.
• At least 43 % of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. According to UN data, a language disappears every two weeks taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage.
• Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain.

The Union Minister of Railways dedicated to the Nation various infrastructure development and passenger amenity related works in the North Bengal area.

• 126 Route Kilometer newly electrified section from New Jalpaiguri to New Coochbehar dedicated is part of the Railway electrification work which is going on to achieve 100% electrification of the Indian Railways’ network.
• The Haldibari station bordering Bangladesh has been constructed. PM Modi and PM of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the railway link between Haldibari in India and Chilahati in Bangladesh during the PM level virtual bilateral summit on 17.12.2020.
• Gangarampur is an important town in the South Dinajpur district of West Bengal. The station here has been converted to a crossing station with the provision of High-level platform and modern Electronic Interlocking.
• With an aim to provide better amenities and convenience to the passenger, the Alipurduar Jn station has been re-developed to meet the operational requirement.
• Madarihat station falling in the Dooars section of North Bengal is an important tourist place. The provision of a new Foot Over Bridge in between PF No. 1 & 2 has been provided.
• Railway electrification of the whole of N.F. Railway was sanctioned in the budget of 2018 and it is targeted to be completed by December 2023.

The Assam government announced that the wage of tea garden workers will be increased from Rs 167 to Rs 217 per day. Although the tea garden managements pay the wages, the government fixes it.

• Moreover, for equal wages of small tea workers, a one-man committee under Principal Secretary Dr JB Ekka will be formed.
• Coming ahead of the state elections, the announcement is important because the tea tribe community — comprising 17% of the state’s population — is a deciding factor in almost 40 Assam Assembly seats out of the 126.
• The community is spread over in 800 tea gardens plus several unorganised small gardens of Assam. It is marked by exploitation, economic backwardness, poor health conditions and low literacy rates.
• Last Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a rally in the state that the party will ensure a Rs 365 per day wage to tea garden workers of Assam if elected to power.
• In the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, Rs 1,000 crore was announced for the welfare of tea workers in Assam and West Bengal.

Hearing arguments on the preservation of Laxmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara, a Gaekwadi heritage structure, the Gujarat High Court Chief Justice recalled a similar judgment by Allahabad High Court

• The Lakshmi Vilas Palace is located in Vadodara, Gujarat.
• It was constructed by the Gaekwad family, a prominent Maratha family, who ruled the Baroda State. It was built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1890.
• Major Charles Mant was credited to be the main architect of the palace.
• Lakshmi Vilas Palace was styled on the Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture.

President Ram Nath Kovind said India's constitutional values of social justice, freedom, equality and fraternity are in line with Guru Ravidas's philosophy of life. He said this while addressing 'Shri Guru Ravidas Vishva Mahapeeth Rashtriya Adhiveshan in New Delhi.

• He was a Dalit-poet saint from the Bhakti movement era in northern India who probably lived during the 14th to 16th He belonged to a leather-working Chamar community, whose profession involved processing dead animals and their skins.
• The 41 hymns of Guru Ravidas have been included in the Guru Granth Sahib.
• The famous saint poetess, Mirabai was a disciple of Guru Ravidas.

Key teachings:

• Everybody is equal in all respects, irrespective of caste, colour or a belief in any form of God; Emphasised on universal brotherhood and tolerance.
• God created man and not man created God;
• He abandoned saguna (with attributes, image) forms of supreme beings, and focussed on the nirguna (without attributes, abstract) form of supreme beings.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the Annual Report of the Ombudsman Schemes for the year 2019-20.

• RBI has three Ombudsmen- Banking, Non-Banking Finance Company (i.e. NBFC) and digital transactions. A common man can approach these Ombudsmen for their grievances.
• As announced in the recent Monetary Policy Statement, the three Ombudsman Schemes are being merged and integrated into a single scheme which will be rolled out starting from June this year.

Key highlights of the report:

• There was an increase of around 65 per cent in the receipt of complaints out of which almost 92 per cent have been disposed of.
• Banking Ombudsman received major complaints regarding ATM & Debit Cards, Mobile & Electronic Banking while NBFC’s Ombudsmen received most complaints about non-observance of regulatory guidelines, lack of transparency in contract/ loan agreement and levy of charges without notice.
• Digital Transactions Ombudsmen received most complaints about fund transfer. RBI has taken various measures for creating awareness among various stakeholders to minimise the grievances.

India and Maldives signed agreements on a wide range of domains including fish processing, public broadcasting, sustainable urban development, road infrastructure and housing.

• The agreement in the field of broadcasting is for cooperation between Prasar Bharati and PSM, the official State Media of Maldives. The MoU intends to facilitate collaboration and capacity building in the field of public broadcasting.
• Dr Jaishankar also handed over one lakh additional doses of COVID vaccine to Mr Shahid and Maldivian Health Minister Ahmed Naseem.
• India has signed a 50 million dollar Line of the Credit agreement in the defence sector with the Maldives. The agreement will facilitate capability building in the maritime domain.
• Dr Jaishankar also co-signed the UTF Harbour Project agreement with Maldives Defence Minister Mariya Didi. He said that the project agreement will strengthen Maldivian Coast Guard capability and facilitate regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief efforts.
• India also extended a new line of credit of US dollar 40 million for the development of new sports infrastructure in the Maldives.

One of the top Twitter trends over the past few hours has been “#modi_rojgar_do”. The hashtag essentially asks Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide more employment.

• Just before the Covid crisis at the end of 2019-20 financial year, India had (according to the data provided by Mahesh Vyas of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) around 403.5 million employed people and around 35 million (or 3.5 crores) openly unemployed people in the country.
• To this existing pool, each year India adds roughly 10 million (or 1 crore) new job seekers.
• But over the past year, several million have lost their jobs. As a result, as of January 2021, India had only about 400 million employed.
• If we look at Vyas/CMIE data, which is being compiled since 2016, the total number of employed people in India has been steadily coming down. It was 407.3 million in 2016-17 and then fell to 405.9 million in 2017-18, and to 400.9 million at the end of 2018-19.
• India has a labour force participation rate (LFPR) of just about 40%. In other words, in India just 40% of the 20 million joining the working-age group each year actually come forward looking for a job.

Chandigarh became the first state or Union Territory in India to launch Carbon Watch, a mobile application to assess the carbon footprint of an individual.

• Although the app can be accessed by everyone, it has specific options for the residents of Chandigarh to compile a detailed study.
• The application can be downloaded through a QR code in Android supported smart cell phones.
• As a person downloads the application, they will need to fill details in four parts- Water, Energy, Waste Generation and Transport (Vehicular movement).
• With the mentioned information, the mobile application will automatically calculate the carbon footprint of the individual. The application will also provide information such as the national and world average of the emission, and the individual’s level of emission generation.
• The mobile application will suggest methods to reduce carbon footprints. The application will suggest ways as per the information furnished by the individuals.
• Carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases-especially carbon dioxide-released into the atmosphere by particular human activity.