Daily Current Affairs MCQ - Feb 26, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the consecration ceremony of Mahamrityunjaya temple in Naugaon, Assam.

• He participated in the consecration ceremony of the world's tallest 126 feet high Shivling in the Mahamrityunjaya temple.

• He also visited Borodua pilgrimage, the birthplace of Mahapurush Shrimant Shankardev. He started the new Vaishnav tradition from this holy land and made the Vaishnavite tradition vibrant.

• The Mahamrityunjaya Mantra also known as the Rudra Mantra or Tryambakam Mantra, is a verse of the Rigveda.

• The sūkta is addressed to Tryambaka, "The Three-eyed One", an epithet of Rudra who is identified with Shiva in Shaivism. The verse also recurs in the Yajurveda.

Brihadishwara temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in South bank of Kaveri river in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the largest South Indian temples and an exemplary example of a fully realized Tamil architecture.

The Chalukya Shiva Temple (Lad Khan temple), dedicated to Shiva, is one of the oldest Hindu temples and is located in the group of monuments at Aihole in the state of Karnataka, India. 

PM Modi inaugurated and laid foundation stone of various development projects in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

• He dedicated to the nation the 1000 MW Neyveli New Thermal Power Project and 709 MW Solar Power Project of NLC India Limited (NLCIL) (formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited).

• He laid the foundation stone for design, supply, installation and commissioning of a 5MW grid connected ground based solar power plant at V.O.Chidambaranar Port and for the extension, renovation and modernisation of Lower Bhavani Project System.

• He also laid the foundation stone for development of Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCC) in nine Smart Cities including Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur, Vellore, Tiruchirappalli, Tiruppur, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi.

• He inaugurated the 8-laning of Korampallam Bridge and Rail Over Bridge (ROB) at V.O.Chidambaranar Port and the tenements constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) scheme.

Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate The India Toy Fair 2021 on 27th February.

• In his Mann ki Baat address in August 2020, the Prime Minister had said that toys not only augment activity, but also give flight to aspirations. He also emphasized boosting toy manufacturing in India.

• The India Toy Fair 2021 is being organized in line with this vision of the Prime Minister.

• The Fair will be held from 27th February to 2nd March 2021.

• It aims to bring together all stakeholders including buyers, sellers, students, teachers, designers etc. on a virtual platform to create sustainable linkages and encourage dialogue for the overall development of the industry.

• The Government of India has also launched 'Toycathon', an online toy hackathon for innovative toys/games concepts.

• Toycathon-2021 is conceived to challenge India's innovative minds to conceptualize novel Toy and Games based on Bharatiya civilization, history, culture, mythology and ethos.

Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) inaugurated the latest technology Integrated Bamboo Treatment Plant in the premises of North East Cane and Bamboo Development Council (NECBDC) in Byrnihat near Guwahati.

• The plant is based on vacuum-pressure-impregnation technique and is funded by the National Bamboo Mission (NBM) and North Eastern Council (NEC).

• This is an initiative of the central government to make India self-reliant in bamboo industry and create employment in this sector.

Other initiatives in the field of Bamboo

• The Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir will set up three Bamboo Clusters through collaboration from North East Cane and Bamboo Development Council (NECBDC). Each of the three clusters will be devoted to the production of Agarbatti, baskets and charcoal respectively.

• Home grown bamboo is exempt from the purview of the 100 year old Indian Forest Act. This will help in bringing ease of doing business in the bamboo sector for the young entrepreneurs.

• During the COVID-pandemic, the import duty on Agarbatti coming from other countries has been hiked to nearly 35%. This will discourage import of bamboo made Aggarbatties and encourage domestic production.

Prime Minister Modi will deliver the inaugural address at the 2nd Khelo India National Winter Games on 26th February 2021.

• The Games will be held from 26th February to 2nd March, 2021.

• The event has been organised by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, in collaboration with the J&K Sports Council and the Winter Games Association of J&K.

• The sports activities will include alpine skiing, nordic ski, snowboarding, ski mountaineering, ice hockey, ice skating, ice stock etc.

• 27 States, Union Territories and Boards are sending their teams to participate in the games.

The City Innovation Exchange (CiX) platform was launched by Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

• The City Innovation Exchange (CiX) will connect cities to innovators across the national ecosystem to design innovative solutions for their pressing challenges.

• Designed on the philosophy of 'everyone is an innovator', the platform will bring together Citizen Organisations-Academia- Businesses- Government to co-create for the future of Urban India in a transparent and sustainable manner.

• The platform will ease the discovery, design& validation of solutions through a robust, transparent and user centric process that will reduce barriers for innovators and cities to discover fitting solutions.

• The Platform has more than 400 start-ups, 100 smart cities, more than 150 challenges statements and over 215 solutions at the time of launch.

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti has announced the selection of the 12 iconic sites under Phase IV of Swachh Iconic Places (SIP).

• Under Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) initiative of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G), aim is to transform the iconic heritage, spiritual and cultural places in the country as 'Swachh Tourist Destinations'.

• The objective of SIP is to achieve a distinctly higher level of Sanitation/Cleanliness at these places, especially on the peripheries and in approach areas.

• This project is being coordinated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti in association with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and the concerned State/UT governments.

The places are:

1. Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra

2. Sanchi Stupa, Madhya Pradesh

3. Kumbhalgarh Fort, Rajasthan

4. Jaisalmer Fort, Rajasthan

5. Ramdevra, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

6. Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, Telangana

7. Sun Temple, Konark, Odisha

8. Rock Garden, Chandigarh

9. Dal Lake, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

10. Banke Bihari Temple, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh

11. Agra Fort, Agra, Uttar Pradesh

12. Kalighat Temple, West Bengal

To showcase the strength and opportunities of the India's biotechnology sector at national level and to the global community, the second edition of Global Bio-India will be organised from 1-3 March 2021 on digital platform.

• The theme for this year is "Transforming lives" and tag line "Biosciences to Bioeconomy"

• Global Bio-India 2021 is expected to have representatives from 50+ countries with Switzerland being the partner country and Karnataka as its state partner

• Global Bio-India is being co-organised by the Department of Biotechnology along with its Public Sector Undertaking, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) in partnership with Invest India.

• The first edition of Global Bio-India 2019 was organized at New Delhi.

Now LPG can be transported through Inland Waterways. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) signed an MoU with MOL (Asia Oceania) Pte. Ltd for transportation of LPG through barges on National Waterways-1 and National Waterways-2.

• The world's largest gas carrier company, MOL Group will invest for construction and operation of dedicated LPG barges under Make-in-India initiative, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said in a statement.

• Handling LPG by inland waterways will help reduce the carbon footprints, lowering the overall logistics cost, which in India stands approx. 13 to 14% of GDP, compared to global average of 8% and contributing to Government social schemes like "UJJAWLA" for LPG supply.

• Currently, 60 per cent of the LPG is moved through road to the various locations with a cost of ₹5-6 per tonne per kilometre, which the oil companies are interested in reducing.

• At times, strikes by transporters, road blockages also cause delay in transportation.

• Also, there are some areas which are difficult to approach through rail or road especially in the North-East region where IWT sector may provide usable solutions.

The government has notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

• The Rules have been framed in exercise of powers under section 87 (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and in supersession of the earlier Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011.

• Part- II of these Rules shall be administered by the Ministry of Electronics and IT, while Part-III relating to the Code of Ethics and procedure and safeguards in relation to digital media shall be administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Salient features

• Due diligence must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries. In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.

• The Rules make a distinction between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries to encourage innovations and enable growth of new social media intermediaries without subjecting smaller platforms to significant compliance requirement,

• Significant Social Media Intermediary should appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Contact Person and Resident Grievance Officer who shall be a resident in India.

• Code of Ethics for online news, OTT platforms and digital media: This Code of Ethics prescribe the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.

• Self-Classification of Content:

  • The OTT platforms, called the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age-based categories- U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).

  • Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher, and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as "A".