Daily Current Affairs MCQ - July 8, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

An online database on spyware Pegasus’ use was recently launched by Forensic Architecture, Amnesty International and Citizen Lab to document attacks against human rights defenders.

• The interactive platform — Digital Violence: How the NSO Group Enables State Terror — showed the connections between ‘digital violence’ of Pegasus spyware and the real-world harms faced by lawyers, activists, and other civil society figures.
• Amnesty said the NSO Group, which makes the spyware, was a “major player in the shadowy surveillance company” and Pegasus had been used in some of the “most insidious digital attacks” on human rights activists in the world.
• The spyware enabled an attacker to get complete access to a person’s phone.

Bhima Koregaon case

• The platform, available at digitalviolence.org, lists out “targets” of the spyware in India that include activists Bela Bhatia and Anand Teltumbde.
• In 2020, Amnesty and Citizen Lab revealed that the spyware was used on nine human rights defenders who were accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse has been killed in an attack on his home in the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The country’s interim prime minister Claude Joseph informed this. Claude Joseph said the president’s residence in Port-au-Prince was stormed by unidentified armed men.

• Haiti is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, to the east of Cuba and Jamaica and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
• It occupies the western three-eighths of the Hispaniola island (the second largest island in the Greater Antilles) which it shares with the Dominican Republic.
• To its south-west lies the small island of Navassa Island, which is claimed by Haiti but is disputed as a United States territory under federal administration.
• At 27,750 sq km Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean behind Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
• The country has a roughly horseshoe shape and because of this it has a disproportionately long coastline, second in length behind Cuba in the Greater Antilles.
• Capital: Port-au-Prince.

Hence both statements are incorrect.

Indian aircraft leasing company Vman Aviation Services, which is based out of International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat's Gift City, became the first company from the business district to sign an aircraft purchase agreement after placing an order for an Airbus H125 helicopter.

• Vman will soon announce its first dry lease transaction. A dry lease is a leasing arrangement where an aircraft lessor provides an aircraft without crew, ground staff, etc, to an airline or corporation.
• The union budget announced earlier in the year rolled out several incentives and tax holidays on capital gains on aircraft leasing conducted at Gift city.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Ministry of Ayush has issued a statement challenging the findings of a study that linked the herb giloy to liver damage.

• Tinospora cordifolia (common names gurjo, heart-leaved moonseed, guduchi or giloy) is a herbaceous vine of the family Menispermaceae indigenous to tropical regions of the Indian subcontinent.
• It gets its name heart-leaved moonseed by its heart-shaped leaves and its reddish fruit.
• It has been in use for centuries in traditional medicine to treat various disorders.
• According to the Ministry of Ayush, it is packed with antioxidants and can help one fight off free radicals and disease-causing germs. It is beneficial in removing toxins from the body, purifies blood, and help combat urinary tract infections and liver disease.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has directed the allocation of portfolios among the new members of the Council of Ministers on 7 July 2021.

• Articles 74 & 75 of the constitution of India deal with the Council of Ministers and Prime Minister. These articles have below provisions.
• Article 74(1): There shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in the exercise of his functions, act in accordance with such advice. The president may require the council of ministers to reconsider such advice and president shall act in accordance with such advice reconsidered.
• Article 74(2): What advice was tendered to the president cannot be inquired into any court.
• Article 75(1): The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.
• Article 75(2): The Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the President.
• Article 75(3): The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People.
• Article 75(4): Before a Minister enters upon his office, the President shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule
• Article 75(5): A Minister must be a member of any of the houses within 6 months.
• Article 75(6): Parliament will decide the salary and allowances of the Ministers and until parliament decides, so shall be as specified in the Second Schedule.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Electoral Bond is a financial instrument for making donations to political parties.

State Bank of India is authorised to issue and encash these bonds, which are valid for fifteen days from the date of issuance.

These bonds are redeemable in the designated account of a registered political party. The bonds are issued in multiples of Rs. 1,000, Rs. 10,000, Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 1 crore without any maximum limit.

The bonds are available for purchase by any person (who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India) for a period of ten days each in the months of January, April, July and October as may be specified by the Central Government.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) announced an Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) project that is aimed at curbing “digital monopolies”. This is a step in the direction of making e-commerce processes open source, thus creating a platform that can be utilised by all online retailers.

It will make the e-commerce ecosystem open source, which means allowing sellers to be discoverable across multiple platforms for a wider reach to customers instead of available to customers on only one particular e-commerce platform, will help democratize digital commerce much like Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Heat pumps use electricity to move heat from a cool space to a wam space. This makes the cool place cooler and the warm place warmer. Therefore, a heat pump does not create any heat or cool air, but it merely shifts air. For instance, if a heat pump is being used inside a room to make it cool, it will absorb the heat in the room and will release it outdoors with the help of an outdoor compressor. In heating mode, the heat pump will absorb heat from outside and release it indoors.

They are most efficient in moderate climates.

• Recently, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has launched the Online Course Mobile App “Matsya Setu” for fish farmers. It aims to disseminate the latest freshwater aquaculture technologies to the aqua farmers of the country, thus increasing productivity and income.
  • Shaphari is a certification scheme for aquaculture products developed by the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) based on the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s technical guidelines on aquaculture certification. Shaphari is a Sanskrit word that means superior quality of fishery products suitable for human consumption. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Aquaculture is breeding, raising, and harvesting fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has inaugurated the online filing of Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) applications. AEO is a programme (2007) under the aegis of the World Customs Organization (WCO) SAFE Framework of Standards to secure and facilitate global trade.
• It aims to enhance international supply chain security and facilitate the movement of goods. Under this, an entity engaged in international trade is approved by WCO as compliant with supply chain security standards and granted AEO status. Hence, C is the correct option.