Daily Current Affairs MCQ - July 9, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief over the demise of the former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh.

• Virbhadra Singh (1934 – 2021) was an Indian politician. He was a member of the Indian National Congress.
• He was popularly known by the honorific Raja Sahib. He was born in the royal family of the princely state of Bushahr. He was the titular Raja of Bushahr from 1947 until 1971, when, by the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India, the privy purses of the princes were abolished and official recognition of their titles came to an end.
• He was the longest-serving Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, he served as the Chief Minister from 2012 to 2017.He previously served as Chief Minister from 1983 to 1990, from 1993 to 1998 and from 2003 to 2007.
• He was an elected member of the Lok Sabha in 1962, 1967, 1971, 1980 and in 2009.

Bushahr

• Bushahr, also spelt as 'Bashahr' and 'Bussahir' or 'Bushair' was a princely state in India during the British Raj.
• The territory of this former state is now part of Kinnaur and Shimla districts of the present Himachal Pradesh state.
• The erstwhile Bushahr state was traversed by the Sutlej river.
• Hence both statements are correct.

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. In the Cabinet reshuffle of July 7, Home Minister Amit Shah was given charge of the new Ministry.

• Cooperatives are organisations formed at the grassroots level by people to harness the power of collective bargaining towards a common goal.
• In agriculture, cooperative dairies, sugar mills, spinning mills etc are formed with the pooled resources of farmers who wish to process their produce. The country has 1,94,195 cooperative dairy societies and 330 cooperative sugar mill operations. Cooperative sugar mills account for 35% of the sugar produced in the country.
• In banking and finance, cooperative institutions are spread across rural and urban areas. Village-level primary agricultural credit societies (PACSs) formed by farmer associations are the best example of grassroots-level credit flow.
• There are also cooperative marketing societies in rural areas and cooperative housing societies in urban areas.
• Like agriculture, cooperation is in the concurrent list, which means both the central and state governments can govern them.
• A majority of the cooperative societies are governed by laws in their respective states.
• In 2002, the Centre passed a MultiState Cooperative Societies Act that allowed for registration of societies with operations in more than one state.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Ministry of Defence has implemented SPARSH [System for Pension Administration (Raksha)], an integrated system for automation of sanction and disbursement of defence pension.

• This web-based system processes pension claims and credits pension directly into the bank accounts of defence pensioners without relying on any external intermediary.
• A Pensioner Portal is available for pensioners to view their pension related information, access services and register complaints for redressal of grievances, if any, relating to their pension matters.
• Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Consignments of Geographical Indications (GI) certified Madurai malli and other traditional flowers such as button rose, lily, chamanthi and marigold were exported to USA and Dubai from Tamil Nadu.

• Indian community in Dubai and USA would be able to offer freshflowers to Hindu deities both at home and temples while celebrating religious and cultural festivals after exports of flowers from India continue at regular interval.
• During 2020-2021, fresh cut flowers jasmine flowers and bouquets (comprising of jasmine and other traditional flowers) valued at Rs 66.28 crores were exported to countries like USA, UAE, Singapore, etc.
• Jasmine (Jasminum Officinale) is one of the most popular flowers found across the world. The scent of Jasmine is synonymous with the splendor of Madurai’s Meenakshi temple.
• Madurai has emerged as a major market for the malligai grown in its neighbourhood, and has evolved into the ‘jasmine capital’ of India.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Union Cabinet has approved a new scheme ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response & Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II’ amounting to Rs. 23,123 crore for FY 2021-22. The Phase-II of the Package has Central Sector (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) components.

• National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) would be strengthened by providing Genome Sequencing machines, besides sanctioning Scientific Control room, Epidemic Intelligence Services (EIS) and INSACOG Secretariat support.
• Support would be provided for implementation of Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) in all the District Hospitals of the Country (presently, it is implemented only in 310 DHs).
• Support would also be provided for expanding the National Architecture of eSanjeevani Tele-consultation platform to provide upto 5 lakhs tele-consultations per day from the present 50,000 Tele-consultations per day.
• Support would also be provided for IT interventions, including strengthening the Central War room at DoHFW, strengthening Country’s COVID-19 Portal, 1075 COVID help lines and COWIN platform.

Under the CSS components, States/UTs would be supported to:

• Create Paediatric units in all 736 districts and also, to establish Paediatric Centre of Excellence (PaediatricCoE) in each State/UT, for providing Tele-ICU services, mentoring and technical hand-holding to the District Paediatric units.
• Augment 20,000 ICU beds in public healthcare system out of which 20% will be Pediatric ICU beds.
• Install 1050 numbers of Liquid Medical Oxygen Storage Tanks with Medical Gas Pipeline System (MGPS), with an aim to support at least one such unit per district.
• Augment the existing feet of ambulances - 8,800 ambulances will be added under the package.

What is SAARC? When was it established?

• The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
• The Secretariat of the Association was set up in Kathmandu on 17 January 1987.
• SAARC comprises of eight Member States: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• SAARC maintains permanent diplomatic relations at the United Nations as an observer and has developed links with multilateral entities, including the European Union.

Afghanistan became the member of SAARC at the 13th annual summit in 2005.

RLV-TD is India’s first uncrewed flying testbed developed for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstration Programme.

RLV-TD was developed by ISRO under the RLV Technology Demonstration Programme. The Technology Demonstration Programme consists of development of hypersonic rocket with air-breathing engines and the reusable launch vehicle.

GSLV Mark II: This variant uses an Indian cryogenic engine, the CE-7.5, and is capable of launching 2500 kg into geostationary transfer orbit.

• SPARSH (System for Pension Administration Raksha) is implemented by the Ministry of Defence. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• It is a pensioner portal available for pensioners to view their pension related information, access services and register complaints, if any. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• SPARSH envisages establishment of Service Centres to provide last mile connectivity to pensioners who may be unable to directly access the SPARSH portal.
  • The two largest banks dealing with defence pensioners – State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) – have been co-opted as Service Centres.

• Recently, the government reallocated the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) to the finance ministry from the ministry of heavy industries. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The Finance Ministry will now have six departments while DPE's parent ministry, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises will now be called the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
  • It is the nodal department for all the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).
  • It lays down, in particular, policy guidelines on performance improvement and evaluation, autonomy and financial delegation and personnel management in CPSEs.
  • It furthermore collects and maintains information in the form of a Public Enterprises Survey on several areas in respect of CPSEs.
• The DPE will now be the sixth department in the finance ministry besides economic affairs, revenue, expenditure, financial services and Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The shift of DPE to the Finance Ministry will help in efficient monitoring of the capital expenditure, asset monetisation and financial health of the CPSEs.

• Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the second largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations (UN) with a membership of 57 states. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• It is the collective voice of the Muslim world. It endeavors to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world.
• India is neither a member nor an observer of the OIC. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.