Daily Current Affairs MCQ - July 13, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

At least 30 people were killed in separate incidents of lightning in various parts of the country in the past 24 hours.

• As a whole, India sees 2,000-2,500 lightning deaths every year on average. Lightning is the biggest contributor to accidental deaths due to natural causes.
• And yet, lightning remains among the least studied atmospheric phenomena in the country.
• Just one group of scientists, at the Indian Institute of Tropical Management (IITM) in Pune, works full-time on thunderstorms and lightning.

Ground currents

• Lightning rarely hits people directly — but such strikes are almost always fatal.
• People are most commonly struck by what are called “ground currents”. The electrical energy, after hitting a large object (such as a tree) on Earth, spreads laterally on the ground for some distance, and people in this area receive electrical shocks.
• It becomes more dangerous if the ground is wet (which it frequently is because of the accompanying rain), or if there is metal or other conducting material on it.

Hence both statements are correct.

In recent years, countries around the world have been attempting to pass effective ‘right to repair’ laws.

• US President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling on the Federal Trade Commission to curb restrictions imposed by manufacturers that limit consumers’ ability to repair their gadgets on their own terms.
• The UK, too, introduced right-to-repair rules that should make it much easier to buy and repair daily-use gadgets such as TVs and washing machines.
• Activists and organisations around the world have been advocating for the right of consumers to be able to repair their own electronics and other products as part of the ‘right to repair’ movement.
• The movement traces its roots back to the very dawn of the computer era in the 1950s.
• The goal of the movement is to get companies to make spare parts, tools and information on how to repair devices available to customers and repair shops to increase the lifespan of products and to keep them from ending up in landfills.
• They argue that these electronic manufacturers are encouraging a culture of ‘planned obsolescence’ — which means that devices are designed specifically to last a limited amount of time and to be replaced. This, they claim, leads to immense pressure on the environment and wasted natural resources.
• Large tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla, have been lobbying against the right to repair.
• Their argument is that opening up their intellectual property to third party repair services or amateur repairers could lead to exploitation and impact the safety and security of their devices.
• Hence both statements are correct.

IFSCA has issued a framework for Setting up and operating International Trade Finance Services Platform (‘ITFS’).

• The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has been set up vide IFSCA Act, 2019 to develop and regulate the financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs).
• Towards this end, IFSCA has issued a framework for Setting up and operating International Trade Finance Services Platform (‘ITFS’) for providing Trade Finance Services at International Financial Services Centres (‘IFSCs’).
• The framework will enable Exporters and Importers to avail various types of trade finance facilities at competitive terms, for their international trade transactions through a dedicated electronic platform viz, ITFS.
• This will help in their ability to convert their trade receivables into liquid funds and to obtain short term funding.
• Hence both statements are correct.

A MoU has been signed for execution of 679 MW Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project in Nepal between Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Central Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Power, Government of India & Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) in Kathmandu Nepal.

• The Lower Arun HEP (679 MW) is a downstream development of Arun-3 HEP.
• The Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project is located in Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur Districts of Nepal.
• The project will not have any reservoir or dam and will be a tail race development of 900 MW Arun3 HEP.
• The project will have four francis type turbines.
• On completion the Project will generate 2970 million units of electricity per annum.
• It is scheduled to be completed in four years after commencement of construction activities and has been allocated to SJVN for 25 years on Build Own Operate Transfer basis.

Arun 3 Hydro Electric Project

• This is the second project awarded to SJVN in Nepal, the first one being the 900 MW Arun 3 Hydro Electric Project in Sankhuwasabha District.
• Arun-3 Project is being implemented through wholly owned subsidiary company of SJVN i.e. SJVN Arun-3 Power Development Company Limited (SAPDC) incorporated in Nepal.
• Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted the people on the auspicious occasion of Ashadhi Bij, the Kutchi New Year.

• Ashadi Beej or Ashadhi Bij is observed on the second day of the Shukla Paksha or waxing phase of moon in Ashada month.
• It is the Kutchi New Year. This Hindu New Year is observed in the Kutch region in Gujarat.
• Ashadi Beej is mostly a traditional affair and is a celebration of rains. During Ashadhi-beej, farmers check the moisture in the atmosphere to help predict which crop would do best in coming monsoon.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Following NASA’s footsteps, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it has selected EnVision as its next orbiter that will visit Venus sometime in the 2030s.

The government announced the formation of a separate Union Ministry of Cooperation, a subject that till date was looked after by the Ministry of Agriculture.  Ministry of Cooperation will provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.

By definition, cooperatives are organisations formed at the grassroots level by people to harness the power of collective bargaining towards a common goal.

The history of cooperative societies dates back to the pre-Independence era, in response to the agrarian distress and overall indebtedness.

In agriculture, cooperative dairies, sugar mills, spinning mills etc are formed with the pooled resources of farmers who wish to process their produce. In banking and finance, cooperative institutions are spread across rural and urban areas. There are also cooperative marketing societies in rural areas and cooperative housing societies in urban areas.

Amul is a successful example of a dairy cooperative society.

Agriculture and cooperation are in the state list, which means state governments can govern them. A majority of the cooperative societies are governed by laws in their respective states.

Under Indian law, the freedom of speech and of the press do not confer an absolute right to express one’s thoughts freely. Clause (2) of Article 19 of the Indian constitution enables the legislature to impose certain restrictions on free speech under following heads:

• security of the State,
• friendly relations with foreign States,

III. public order,

• decency and morality,
• contempt of court,
• defamation,

VII. incitement to an offence, and

VIII. sovereignty and integrity of India.

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
  • It was established in 2005 following the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force.
  • It was constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Project Tiger is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change launched in 1973 to provide central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves in India.
  • The project is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• There are three Lists which provide for distribution of legislative powers (under 7th Schedule to the Constitution):
  • Union List (List I) - It contains 98 subjects (originally 97) and comprises the subjects which are of national importance and admit of uniform laws for the whole of the country.
    • Only the Union Parliament can legislate with respect to these matters e.g. Defence, Foreign Affairs, Banking (Entry no 45), Currency, Union Taxes, etc.
  • State List (List II) - It contains 59 subjects (originally 66) and comprises subjects of local or State interest.
    • It lies within the legislative competence of the State Legislatures, viz. Public Order (Entry no 1) and Police (Entry no 2), Health (Entry no 6), Agriculture, Forests, etc. Hence, option D is correct.
    • Entry no 1 and 2 of state list are
  • Concurrent List (List III) - It contains 52 (Originally 47) with respect to which; both Union Parliament and the State Legislature have concurrent power of legislation.
    • The Concurrent List (not found in any federal Constitution) was to serve as a device to avoid excessive rigidity to a two-fold distribution.