Daily Current Affairs MCQ - February 19, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has announced New Biotechnology Policy for the year 2022-27.

• Under this policy, the strategic projects and mega and large projects are eligible for special packages. This will attract new investment through anchor units and existing industries and create new employment opportunities in the state.
• According to this new policy, the MSMEs with a capital investment of less than 200 crore rupees will be given maximum assistance of 40 crore rupees.
• Similarly, the mega and large projects with a capital investment of more than 200 crore rupees and special projects like ecosystem empowerment, emerging technologies in challenging areas and strategic importance will be assisted up to 25 percent of the total capital expenditure up to a maximum limit of 200 crore rupees.
• This assistance will be provided in the form of 20 quarterly installments over five years. MSME units with a capital investment of less than 200 crore rupees will be assisted with a maximum of 5 crore rupees per annum.
• Mega and large projects with a capital investment of more than 200 crore rupees and special projects like ecosystem empowerment will be given an assistance of up to 15 percent of the total operating cost up to a maximum of 25 crore rupees per annum.
• Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The conviction rate in cases of human trafficking has been on the decline, government data show.

• Details of cases shared in Parliament earlier this month showed that the conviction rate has been declining over the past four years although the number of anti-human-trafficking units (AHTU) in the country has increased to 696.
• The conviction rate of cases related to human trafficking dropped from 27.8% in 2016 to 10.6% in 2020. Between 2018 and 2019 the conviction rate in such cases increased from 19.4% to 22.5%.
• The data has been sourced from a reply by Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra to a question in the Rajya Sabha earlier this month.
• Hence both statements are correct.

A new study by the University of California Davis published in the journal Nature suggests that the difference between a scenario where the Earth will be warmed by upto 1.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century and a scenario where the Earth will be warmed by upto 3.6 degrees Celsius depends on the social system.

• In other words, public perceptions of climate change, the future cost and effectiveness of climate mitigation and technologies, and how political institutions respond to public pressure are important determinants of the degree to which the climate will change over the 21st century.
• The study says that there is a “strong probability” of warming between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius at the end of the century.
• The key drivers of how climate change will shape up include people’s perceptions and social groups, the improvements in mitigation technology over time and the responsiveness of political institutions. These key drivers trump individual actions.
• When it comes to global warming, one of the most prominent temperature-control goals is the figure of 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is the target set out by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement that was signed by 195 countries in 2015.
• Net-zero, also referred to as carbon-neutrality, is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorption and removal of greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has relaxed the eligibility criteria for accreditation of higher educational institutions.

• The new guidelines drawn up by the NAAC, which is an autonomous body under the UGC, allow newer institutions — those with one academic year or more — to apply for provisional accreditation.
• So far, colleges and universities needed to be at least six years old in order to apply. The purpose of the change, according to the guidelines, is to “widen the horizon of accreditation”.

How many institutions in India are accredited?

• There are 1,043 universities and 42,343 colleges listed on the portal of the All India Survey on Higher Education. As of February 8, there were 392 universities and 8,483 colleges that were NAAC-accredited.
• Among the states, Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of accredited colleges at 1,796, which is more than twice as many as the Karnataka’s 864, the next highest.
• Tamil Nadu has the most accredited universities at 43.
• Pondicherry University is among the oldest accredited universities.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Preamble in the Constitution gives prominent importance to liberty of belief, faith and worship to all citizens.

The concepts of faith, belief and worship are the foundations of Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India. 

The Supreme Court under Article 142 of the Constitution can pass any order to carry out for doing complete justice being in the public interest, while upholding the Constitution of India.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell–like state by being forced to express genes and factors important for maintaining the defining properties of embryonic stem cells.

Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.

Stem cells are distinguished from other cell types by two important characteristics:

• First, they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity.
• Second, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues.

Constitution (Forty–Second Amendment) Act, 1976 inserted in the Constitution Article 31D (during Emergency) which defined “anti-national activity” and this Article 31D was, subsequently, omitted by the Constitution (Forty-third Amendment) Act, 1977.

‘Public Order’ and ‘Police’ were State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

The responsibility of maintaining law and order, including investigation, registration and prosecution of crimes, protection of life and property, rested primarily with the respective State government.

Tarapur Massacre

• The Tarapur massacre was the biggest massacre carried out by the British police after the one in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in 1919.
• On 15^th February, 1932, a group of young freedom fighters planned to hoist an Indian national flag at Thana Bhawan in Tarapur.
• Police were aware of the plan, and several officers were present at the spot.
• A 4,000-strong crowd pelted the police with stones, injuring an officer of the civil administration.
• The police responded by opening indiscriminate fire on the crowd. After about 75 rounds were fired, 34 bodies were found at the spot, even though there were claims of an even larger number of deaths. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• But only 13 of the dead could be identified:

Reasons for the Protest

• The hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru in Lahore on 23^th March, 1931, sent a wave of grief and anger around the country.
• Following the collapse of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, the Mahatma was arrested in early 1932.
  • By this Pact, Gandhiji consented to participate in a Round Table Conference (the Congress had boycotted the first Round Table Conference) in London and the government agreed to release the political prisoners.
• The Congress was declared an illegal organisation, and Nehru, Patel, and Rajendra Prasad were also thrown into jail.
• In Munger, freedom fighters Srikrishna Singh, Nemdhari Singh, Nirapad Mukherjee, Pandit Dasrath Jha, Basukinath Rai, Dinanath Sahay, and Jaymangal Shastri were arrested.
• A call given by the Congress leader Sardar Shardul Singh Kavishwar to raise the tricolour over government buildings resonated in Tarapur. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

Stem Cells

• Stem cells are special cells that can make copies of themselves and change into the many different kinds of cells that the body needs. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• They have two unique properties that enable them to do this:
  • They can divide over and over again to produce new cells.
  • As they divide, they can change into the other types of cell that make up the body.
• There are several kinds of stem cells and they are found in different parts of the body at different times.
• Cancer and cancer treatment can damage the hematopoietic stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells are stem cells that turn into blood cells.

Use of Stem Cells

• Research: It helps in understanding the basic biology of how living things work and what happens in different types of cell during disease.
• Therapy – In replacing lost or damaged cells that the bodies can’t replace naturally. Hence statement 2 is correct.

• Synthetic biology refers to the science of using genetic sequencing, editing, and modification to create unnatural organisms or organic molecules that can function in living systems.
• The term ‘synthetic biology’ was first used by Barbara Hobomin in 1980, to describe bacteria that had been genetically engineered using recombinant DNA technology.
• More broadly in this sense, the term has been used with reference to efforts to ‘redesign life’. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• India is yet to formally come up with its national strategy on synthetic biology (both policy and regulatory). Recently, the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology released a draft foresight paper on synthetic biology.
  • The document stresses on the need for a national policy that can consolidate India’s stand on the issue. Hence, statement 2 is NOT correct.