Daily Current Affairs MCQ- January 28, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently announced a National Suicide Prevention Strategy.

• It is the first of its kind in the country, with time-bound action plans and multi-sectoral collaborations to achieve reduction in suicide mortality by 10% by 2030.
• The strategy broadly seeks to establish effective surveillance mechanisms for suicide within the next three years.
• It aims to establish psychiatric outpatient departments that will provide suicide prevention services through the District Mental Health Programme in all districts within the next five years.
• It also seeks to integrate a mental well-being curriculum in all educational institutions within the next eight years.
• It envisages developing guidelines for responsible media reporting of suicides, and restricting access to means of suicide.
• The stress is on developing community resilience and societal support for suicide prevention.
• While the strategy is in line with the WHO’s South East-Asia Region Strategy for suicide prevention, it says it will remain true to India’s cultural and social milieu.

Suicides in India:

• In India, more than one lakh lives are lost every year to suicide, and it is the top killer in the 15-29 years category.
• In the past three years, the suicide rate has increased from 10.2 to 11.3 per 1,00,000 population.
• The most common reasons for suicide include family problems and illnesses, which account for 34% and 18% of all suicide-related deaths.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Indian Army recently issued two Request For Proposals (RFP) for procurement of 7,000 body-worn camera systems and 1,612 ballistic shields to be procured under Emergency Procurement (EP) through the fast-track procurement (FTP) route.

• The ballistic shields should have a minimum indigenous content of 50% and the manufacturer should provide a 60 months warranty for the ballistic shield and 24 months for the harness.
• The shield should have a service life of five years.
• The shield should be of ambidextrous design with height not less than 860 mm and width not less than 520 mm.
• The weight should not be more than 20 kg plus 5%, including ballistic view port and accessories attached to the shield.
• It should be provided with support harness to enable hands-free carriage of ballistic shield while ensuring unhindered usage of personal weapon and balanced weight distribution once fully worn.

Emergency financial powers:

• Emergency financial powers were granted to the armed forces by the Defence Ministry in the past on three occasions; post the Uri surgical strikes in 2016, the Balakot air strike in 2019 and the 2020 standoff with China in eastern Ladakh.
• Under the FTP route, the forces can procure weapons systems upto ₹300 crores on an “urgent basis without any further clearances to cut short the procurement cycle”.
• Three tranches of EPs were executed under which 68 contracts worth ₹6,000 crores were placed and the fourth EP for indigenous equipment is underway.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Retired Punjab cadre IAS officer Arun Goel recently assumed the office of Election Commissioner (EC), two days after President Droupadi Murmu appointed him to the post.

Appointment of Election Commissioners:

• View of Constitution:
  • The power to appoint the CEC and the ECs lies with the President of India under Article 324(2) of the Constitution, which states that “the President shall fix the number of ECs in a manner he sees fit, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament”.
  • Thus, Article 324(2) left it open for the Parliament to legislate on the issue.
• Procedure:
  • But, in the absence of any Parliamentary law governing the appointment issue, the ECs are appointed by the government of the day, without pursuing any consultation process.
  • There is no concept of collegium and no involvement of the opposition.
• Tenure: The Commissioners are appointed for a 6-year period, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
• Qualification: There are no prescribed qualifications for their appointment, although convention dictates that only senior (serving or retired) civil servants, of the rank of the Cabinet Secretary or Secretary to the GoI or an equivalent rank, will be appointed.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Indian Cost Guard recently laid the keel for two Coast Guard Pollution Control Vessels, GSL Yard 1267 & 1268 at the Goa Shipyard.

• Pollution Control Vessels would be a new generation Special Role Vessel, equipped with the most advanced and sophisticated equipment, capable of performing multifarious roles of Indian Coast Guard, with prominent being combating marine pollution at extended ranges from the coastline.
• The PCVs will be equipped with state-of-art technology, advanced & highly sensitive pollution control equipment, navigation and communication equipment, sensor and machinery.
• Ships will be capable of carrying out dedicated oil spill response operations for containment, recovery, separation and dispersal of pollutants.
• The vessel will be fitted with latest pollution control equipment including two flush type side sweeping arms enabling it to contain oil spill whilst in motion.
• Advanced software would assist in predicting the spread of the complex oil spill pattern and Dynamic Positioning System will enable the vessel to be maneuvered in restricted areas with precision.
• The vessel is being designed to recover the lightest to the most viscous oil at the rate of 300 tons per hour.
• The vessels are also equipped with fire-fighting and salvage systems.

Hence both statements are correct.

Largest South Asian film market- Film Bazaar was recently inaugurated by Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur.

• The initiative organised on side-lines of 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), encourages creative and financial collaboration between the South Asian and International film communities.
• It was created and organized by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).
• It was started in 2007.
• Every edition witnesses increased national and international participation.
• It becomes the converging point for film buyers and sellers from all over the world.
• The focus is on discovering, supporting and showcasing South Asian content and talent in filmmaking, production and distribution.
• The Bazaar also facilitates the sales of world cinema in the South Asian region.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh to inaugurate the 25th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) to be held in Katra, Jammu & Kashmir on 26th November, 2022.

• Theme: "Bringing citizens, industry and government closer".
• Presented by: Department of Administrative reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG) presents National Awards every year during National conference on e-Governance.
• Objective: To recognize and promote Excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives.
• Who are conferred the awards?
  • The Award recognizes some of the best Government to Government (G to G), Government to Citizen (G to C), Government to Business (G to B) initiatives taken by government departments.
  • It also recognizes initiatives in Start-ups, Academic Research Institutions as well as initiatives in adopting emerging technologies.
• Categories:
  • It will be presented under 5 categories of the NAeG Scheme - 2022 to 18 e-Governance initiatives at Central, State and District levels, Academic & Research Institutions and Public Sector Undertaking.
  • This includes 9 Gold and 9 Silver Awards.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Prof. Venu Gopal Achanta Director, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), New Delhi, has been elected as a member of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM).

• The CIPM is a supreme international committee which functions under the authority of General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM).

General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM):

• CGPM is a highest intergovernmental international organisation created as diplomatic treaty called Meter Convention signed on 20th May 1875 in Paris.
• It is responsible for development and implementation of International Systems of Unites, universally abbreviated as SI, its wide dissemination; make necessary modifications time to time for the advancement of science and technology.
• Advancement of Industry in the country is directly dependent on the state of its metrology capabilities.
• This year CGPM has adopted 7 important resolutions including new SI prefixes ronna (10²⁷), quetta (10³⁰), ronto (10-²⁷) and quecto (10-³⁰).
• With this nomenclature, mass of the electron (1 quectogram) and weight of earth (1 ronnagram) can be expressed easily in SI units.

Members:

• At present, CGPM is represented by 64 member countries and meets every 4th year at International Bureau of Weight and Measure (BIPM), France.

Functions:

• The CIPM advises and recommends the amendments, changes, alterations to the SI to the CGPM for formal adoption.
• It can also pass resolutions and recommendations about the basic units of measurements, if needed, at its own authority.
• The primary objective of the CIPM, comprised of 18 members from 18 member states (nations), is to promote international harmonization of SI, meets annually, deliberate reports sent by its 18 Consultative Committees (CCs), among other matters brought to its notice as per mandate.
• Each member of the CIPM takes the responsibility of Chairmanship of one CC.

India’s Standards of Weights and Measures Act:

• The Government of India enacted the “Standards of Weights and Measures Act” for the first time in 1956 to ensure that every citizen has access to uniform standards of weights and measures those are traceable to the SI units.
• During the year 1957, India became member of the CGPM.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

According to data furnished by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in the last 5 years, Rs 10 lakh crore in write-offs has enabled banks to reduce their non-performing assets (NPAs).

• A non-performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.
• Banks are required to classify NPAs further into Substandard, Doubtful and Loss assets.
• Substandard assets: Assets which has remained NPA for a period less than or equal to 12 months.
• Doubtful assets: An asset would be classified as doubtful if it has remained in the substandard category for a period of 12 months.
• Loss assets: As per RBI, loss asset is considered uncollectible and of such little value that its continuance as a bankable asset is not warranted, although there may be some salvage or recovery value.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

According to a working research paper published in the Bank for International Settlements, over 73% crypto currency users lost money.

• After the U.S. and Turkey, India has the third highest number of registered downloads of crypto exchange apps.
• As of June 2022, there were over 30 million crypto exchange app downloads in India.
• But in terms of downloads per capita, India features among the countries with the lowest number of downloads.
• This is because of its vast population and crypto awareness being mostly limited to urban pockets.
• Countries such as the U.S., Canada, Australia and the U.K. rank much higher in terms of per capita downloads.
• India also features among those countries with the lowest average monthly app usage per 1 lakh people.
• According to the study 73%-81% of the users would have lost money. A median investor would have lost $431, corresponding to 48% of the total $900 invested.

Cryptocurrency:

• Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of their units and verify the transfer of funds.
• These currencies operate independently of a central bank.
• The economic transactions underlying cryptocurrency are decentralized, distributed and disbursed.
• The first and most famous cryptocurrency, bitcoin was introduced in 2009.

Technology:

• Most cryptocurrencies of the world are built on blockchain technology.
• Blockchain is a decentralized and distributed database on a peer-peer network which works on the basis of a consensus mechanism involving every node (computer) on the network.
• Blockchain is a peer-to-peer distributed network that records a public history of transactions without actually recording identities of the parties or the transaction details.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The 14th Dalai Lama was recently conferred the Gandhi Mandela Award 2022 at Thekchen Choeling in Dharamshala’s McleodGanj by Himachal Pradesh governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar.

• A government of India registered Trust, the Gandhi Mandela Foundation is a non-profit organisation, formed with the motive to promote Mahatma Gandhi’s and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela’s values of non-violence.
• It has constituted an international prize, the Gandhi Mandela Award.
• The foundation instituted the award on the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, MK Gandhi.
• The award is given to personalities who have carried forward the legacies of Gandhi and Mandela by making significant contributions in the fields of Peace, Social Welfare, Culture, Environment, Education, Healthcare, Sports and Innovation.

Hence both statements are correct.