Daily Current Affairs MCQ - July 12, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the State’s population policy for 2021-2030.

• The new policy aims at
  • decreasing the total fertility rate from 2.7 to 2.1 by 2026 and 1.9 by 2030,
  • increase modern contraceptive prevalence rate from 31.7% to 45% by 2026 and 52% by 2030,
  • increase male methods of contraception use from 10.8% to 15.1% by 2026 and 16.4% by 2030,
  • decrease maternal mortality rate from 197 to 150 to 98, and infant mortality rate from 43 to 32 to 22, and under 5 infant mortality rate from 47 to 35 to 25.
• Targeting stabilisation, the draft of the policy also said the State would attempt to maintain a balance of population among the various communities.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) plenary session ended its five-day deliberation and put out the list of countries that it has identified to have “strategic deficiencies”.

• The Paris based UN watchdog that looks after issues like terrorism financing, money laundering and the flow of black money at the global level has retained Pakistan in the list of countries with “strategic deficiencies”. The list is generally referred to as the “grey list”.
• The grey listing by FATF shows that the issue of money laundering and consequent funding of illicit activities is fast spreading to other countries as well. The latest grey list includes countries like the Philippines, Malta, South Sudan and Haiti.
• The 39 member grouping works in close coordination with the UN Security Council which evaluates countries for commitment to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

Pakistan

• The FATF has noted that Pakistan has made progress in addressing several of the issues that the watchdog has been raising in its plenary sessions. However, Pakistan failed to implement the most crucial of the 27 action items: to act against terror masterminds facing UN sanctions.
• The latest move from FATF is expected to keep Pakistan under pressure to come clean on its links with the UN-designated terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed, the chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad. Both LeT and JeM are a threat to India as well as to Afghanistan.
• Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Cuba has said its homegrown Covid-19 vaccine Soberana 2 (Sovereign 2), when delivered with a booster shot of Soberana Plus, is about 91 percent effective against symptomatic Covid-19 cases as demonstrated in its late stage clinical trials.

• If approved, Cuba will become the first Latin American country to manufacture and produce a vaccine against Covid-19.
• The Soberana 2 is delivered through a three dose regimen. Two shots of Soberana 2 and one of Soberana Plus, when taken in a 0-28-56 day regimen, have an efficacy of 91.2 percent, the Cuban government’s Covid-19 task force announced.
• It is a protein vaccine, which is to say that these vaccines are made up of a protein derived from the virus, which then binds to human cells to trigger an immune response.
• Hence, option (c) is the correct answer.

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and five others undertook a brief trip to the “edge of space”, taking off on the VSS Unity spaceship from New Mexico and reaching an altitude of 85 km from Earth before returning. Such a trip is called a “suborbital flight”.

• When an object travels at a horizontal speed of about 28,000 km/hr or more, it goes into orbit once it is above the atmosphere.
• Satellites need to reach that threshold speed in order to do orbit Earth. Such a satellite would accelerating toward the Earth due to gravity. However, it moves fast enough that the Earth curves out from under it as fast as it falls, giving it a circular path.
• Any object travelling slower than 28,000 km/hr must eventually return to Earth. However, Branson’s spacecraft travelled fast enough to reach a point far enough to be considered outer space.
• These are suborbital flights, because they will not be travelling fast enough to orbit Earth once they reach the “edge of space”.
• Such a trip allows space travellers to experience a few minutes of “weightlessness”.
• If an object travels at 40,000 km/hr, it will achieve what is known as “escape velocity”, and never return to Earth.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the country’s first Private LNG Facility plant at Nagpur.

• Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is natural gas in its liquid form. When natural gas is cooled to minus 259 degrees Fahrenheit (-161 degrees Celsius), it becomes a clear, colorless, odorless liquid.
• During the process known as liquefaction, natural gas is cooled below its boiling point, removing most of these compounds. The remaining natural gas is primarily methane with only small amounts of other hydrocarbons.
• Properties: LNG is neither corrosive nor toxic. Natural gas is primarily methane, with low concentrations of other hydrocarbons, water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen and some sulfur compounds. LNG weighs less than half the weight of water so it will float if spilled on water.
• Benefits: Liquification is done for easy storage and transportation. LNG achieves a higher reduction in volume than CNG.
• A majority of the world's LNG supply comes from countries with large natural gas reserves.

Hence both statements are incorrect.

The Stockholm Convention, ratified by India on 13.01.2006, is a global treaty to protect human health and environment from Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). POPs are chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and are toxic to human beings and wildlife. POPs travel globally and can cause damage wherever they travel. The Convention that entered into force of 17th May, 2004, lays down that in its implementation, Governments will take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment.

The Stockholm Convention seeks the elimination or restriction of production and use of all intentionally produced POPs (industrial chemicals and pesticides). The Convention also seeks the continuing minimization and wherever feasible, ultimate elimination of the releases of unintentionally produced POPs such as dioxins and furans. The use of DDT is restricted in India. Use of DDT is banned for agricultural purposes; it is produced in a restricted manner for use in vector control only, as India has obtained exemption for use of DDT for vector control.

A Global Environment Facility (GEF) has been set up as an interim financial mechanism, to assist the developing countries in implementation of the Convention.

The proposed diamond mine in the Buxwaha protected forest region in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh may have a greater ecological impact on the region than projected so far.

• Five new portals on Ayush Sector have been launched - CTRI (Clinical Trial Registry of India), RMIS (Research Management Information System), SAHI (Showcase of Ayurveda Historical Imprints), AMAR (Ayush Manuscripts Advanced Repository), and e-Medha (electronic Medical Heritage Accession).
  • Meaning of 'Ayush': Traditional & Non-Conventional Systems of Health Care and Healing Which Include Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy etc.
• Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI): It is a primary Register of Clinical Trials under the World Health Organization’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform.
• Research Management Information System (RMIS): It will be a one stop solution for Research and Development in Ayurveda based studies.
• Showcase of Ayurveda Historical Imprints (SAHI): It showcases inscriptions, Archeo-botanical Information, Sculptures, classical texts and advanced Archeo Genetic studies. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Ayush Manuscripts Advanced Repository (AMAR): It has digitized information on rare and hard to find Manuscripts and catalogues of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa in libraries or in individual collections across India or in other parts of the world.
• e-Medha (electronic Medical Heritage Accession): Online public access catalog for more than 12000 Indian medical heritage books through NIC’s (National Informatics Centre) e-granthalaya platform. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • e-Granthalaya: It is a Digital Platform developed by NIC for Government Libraries for Automation of In-house activities as well as member services and Networking for resource sharing.

• In 1989, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recommended that 11^th July be observed by the international community as World Population Day, a day to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • UNDP was inspired by the public interest and awareness that was created by "Five Billion Day" on 11^th July 1987 when the world's population reached 5 billion.
  • A resolution to the effect was passed, and the day was first marked on 11^th July, 1990.
• The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was created in 1969, the same year the United Nations General Assembly declared “parents have the exclusive right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.
  • In 1987, it was officially renamed the United Nations Population Fund but the original abbreviation, ‘UNFPA’ for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities was retained. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • The UNFPA is a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly and works as a sexual and reproductive health agency.
  • The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) establishes its mandate.
• UNFPA works directly to tackle Sustainable Development Goals on health (SDG3), education (SDG4) and gender equality (SDG5).
• UNFPA is not supported by the UN budget, instead, it is entirely supported by voluntary contributions of donor governments, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, foundations and individuals. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.