Daily Current Affairs MCQ- July 14, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, PM Modi said that Surat’s success in connecting 75 farmers in every panchayat with natural farming is going to become an example for the entire country.

Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF):

• Zero budget natural farming is a type of farming practice that promotes chemical-free agricultural practices.
• It was originally introduced by agriculturist Subhash Palekar in the mid-1990s as an alternative to the Green Revolution methods such as the adoption of high yield variety seeds and use of inorganic fertilisers and pesticides.
• While current farming practices are driven by using chemicals, zero budget natural farming promotes low-cost inputs such as the use of:
• Cow dung, aged cow urine, jaggery, pulse flour and other plant-based extracts.
• Palekar has argued that the cost of external inputs such as pesticides and fertilisers were the leading cause of indebtedness and suicides among farmers in the country.

Hence both statements are correct.

India is set to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, with each counting more than 1.4 billion residents this year, a United Nations report said, warning that high fertility would challenge economic growth.

• The world’s population, estimated to reach 8 billion by November 15 this year, could grow to 8.5 billion in 2030, and 10.4 billion in 2100, as the pace of mortality slows, said the report released on World Population Day.
• India’s population was 1.21 billion in 2011, according to the domestic census, which is conducted once a decade. The government had deferred the 2021 census due to the pandemic.
• The world’s population was growing at its slowest pace since 1950, having fallen below 1% in 2020, UN estimates showed.
• In 2021, the average fertility of the world’s population stood at 2.3 births per woman over a lifetime, having fallen from about 5 births in 1950.
• The UN said more than half of the projected increase in the global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in eight countries — Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Hence both statements are correct.

Indian soldiers patrolling on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), when they come face to face with Chinese soldiers, will soon be able to understand Mandarin and reply instantly.

• This will be possible with the help of a 600gm Artificial Intelligence (AI) based device developed by an Indian start-up and currently under advanced trials with feedback from the Army.
• This was one of the 75 AI-enabled products and applications unveiled by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the ‘AI in defence’ symposium.
• It is an offline hand-held language translation system which works based on AI. It has been tested in the forward areas and Army has given lot of assistance. Its performance will improve as more and more data comes from the field.
• It is bidirectional with a range of 5-10 feet and gives converts Mandarin to English.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Centre does not have any data on child labour in the country and a reason for this is the drying up of budgetary provisions meant for the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), which had been monitoring the issue for about three decades.

• Since the NCLP was merged with the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan in 2016, the labour Ministry has no records of child labour. The currently available data is of the 2011 Census, which says the country has more than a million child labourers.
• Education Ministry also does not have a mechanism to find out the number of children engaged in child labour.
• Though India has a legislation, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, since 1986 the menace of child labour is continue unchecked.

Hence both statements are correct.

Code on Industrial Relations 2020

• The provision will be applicable for every industrial establishment wherein 300 or more than 300 workers are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
  • After becoming a law, orders will not be dependent on whims and fancies of executives of state governments.
• Strike
  • At present, a person employed in a public utility service cannot go on strike unless they give notice for a strike within six weeks before going on strike or within fourteen days of giving such notice, which the IR Code now proposes to apply for all the industrial establishments. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• It has also proposed to set up a re-skilling fund for training of retrenched workers with contribution from the employer, of an amount equal to 15 days last drawn by the worker. Hence statement 3 is correct.

• The National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) was established as an autonomous Research and Development Institution of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (formerly Department of Ocean Development) on the 25th May 1998. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Year-round maintenance of the two Indian stations (Maitri & Bharati) in Antarctica is the primary responsibility of the Centre.
  • Maitri (1989) and Bharati (2011) were established, for carrying out research by the Indian scientists in all disciplines of polar research.
  • Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• It is designated as the nodal organization for the co-ordination and implementation of the Indian Antarctic Programme, including the maintenance of India’s permanent station in Antarctica. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

• Recently, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released ‘Youth in India 2022’ Report. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• This report shows that the population share of the youth is starting to decline whereas the share of the elderly is expected to increase during 2021-2036. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• Decline in Youth Population: The youth population is expected to increase initially but will start to decline in the latter half of 2011-2036 period.
• Proportion of Youth and Elderly Population: Proportion of youth to the total population had increased from 26.6% in 1991 to 27.9% in 2016 and then projected to start a downward trend and to reach 22.7 % by year 2036.
  • On the contrary, the proportion of elderly population to the total population has increased from 6.8% in 1991 to 9.2% in 2016 and is projected to reach 14.9% in 2036.
• Scenario in the States: States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh are projected to see a higher elderly population than the youth by 2036. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• Bihar and Uttar Pradesh experienced a rise in proportion of youth population to total population till 2021 and then it is expected to start declining.
  • These two states, along with Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, are projected to have over half (52%) of the country’s youth.

• Dark matter acts as an attractive force, a kind of cosmic mortar that holds our world together, and not a repulsive force,
  • This is because dark matter interacts with gravity yet does not reflect, absorb, or emit light. Meanwhile, dark energy is a repulsive force, a kind of anti-gravity that slows down the expansion of the universe, hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Whereas Dark Energy is a type of energy that exerts a negative, repulsive force, acting in the opposite direction of gravity.
  • It has been proposed to explain the observed features of distant types of supernovae, which reveal the universe expanding at an accelerated rate. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

With funding starting to dry up due to global macro-economic factors, the start-up ecosystem in India is bracing itself for a “long and bitter winter” and potential mass layoffs in the next 12 to 18 months, particularly in sectors such as edtech and gaming that got a significant push during the pandemic.

• In the April-June quarter, start-up funding fell by about 40% to about $6-7 billion. Prior to this, start-ups were seeing investments of about $10-11 billion per quarter.
• As start-ups look to extend the runway with existing funds, estimates peg the job losses in them at over 10,000 this year.
• Some of the key factors include the Russia-Ukraine conflict, supply chain disruptions, consequent inflationary pressures, and rising cost of capital, amongst others.
• Over the past years, India’s strong digital boom, along with the relative ease of obtaining funding, fuelled the rise of Indian start-ups, and with an intent to ramp-up growth through new offerings – including products and solutions, they went on a rapid expansion of their product and tech teams.

Hence both statements are correct.

To bolster measurement of air pollution in rural India, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, is embarking on a $2.5-million project to install nearly 1,400 sensors in the rural blocks of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

• The three-year project is expected to be a pilot that, going ahead, could pave the way for a national network of air quality sensors in rural India.
• Air pollution in India is largely framed as an urban blight though causes of pollution, such as biomass burning and reliance on diesel generators for electricity, are worsening air quality in villages too.
• In 2019, the government launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to reduce particulate matter air pollution by 20-30% by 2024. This, however, is primarily aimed at 122 cities that have been categorised as India’s most polluted cities.
• Cities, because of their population density and industrial establishments, continue to be the overwhelming source of emissions. The country’s current annual safe limits for PM 2.5 and PM 10 are 40 micrograms/per cubic metre (ug/m3) and 60 micrograms/per cubic metre.
• Under NCAP, ₹375.44 crore was provided to 114 cities from 2018-19 to 2020-21 and ₹290 crore was allocated to 82 cities for the financial year 2021-22. The programme has an allocation of ₹700 crore envisaged for 2021-26.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.