Daily Current Affairs MCQ- June 12, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

The Union environment ministry has said the 2022 Environment Performance Index (EPI) is unscientific and biased in its methodology.

Environment Performance Index (EPI)

• EPI which ranks 180 countries on 40 performance indicators including climate change, environmental public health, biodiversity etc.
• The report is prepared by the researchers of
• Yale Centre for Environmental Law &Policy and
• Centre for International Earth Science Information Network Earth Institute, Columbia University.
• The EPI offers a scorecard that highlights leaders and laggards in environmental performance.
• It also provides practical guidance for countries that aspire to move toward a sustainable future.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that India’s bio-economy has grown eight times in the last eight years from $10 billion to $80 billion” and that the country is “not too far from reaching the league of top-10 nations in biotech’s global ecosystem”.

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC):

• BIRAC is a not-for-profit public-sector enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
• Objective: To act as an interface agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs.
• BIRAC is an industry-academia interface and implements its mandate through a wide range of impact initiatives such as:
  • Providing access to risk capital through targeted funding,
  • Technology transfer,
  • IP management and
  • Handholding schemes that help bring innovation excellence to the biotech firms and make them globally competitive.
• In its eight years of existence, BIRAC has initiated several schemes, networks and platforms that help to bridge the existing gaps in the industry-academia Innovation research and facilitate novel, high quality affordable products development through cutting edge technologies.
• BIRAC has initiated partnerships with several national and global partners to collaborate and deliver the salient features of its mandate.

Hence both statements are correct.

The UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA's 35-nation board of governors passed a resolution criticizing Iran for failing to explain uranium traces at undeclared sites.

• The resolution was submitted by the UK, France, Germany and the US to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and was backed by 30 countries.
• Only Russia and China opposed the move. Iran condemned the resolution.
• The motion is the first to chide Iran over its nuclear ambitions since 2020. It comes as talks to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) remain stalled.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
• Though IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957 through its own international treaty, the IAEA Statute, the IAEA reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.
• It is based in Vienna.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

In a paper published in Nature, astronomers have reported a fast radio burst (FRB) whose characteristics are different from almost all other FRBs previously detected, except one. The scientists used the National Science Foundation’s Karl G Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and other telescopes to study the object.

• FRBs are bright flashes of light that appear for a few milliseconds and then vanish.
• Since the first FRB was discovered in 2007, 140 more were discovered until June 2021, according to a post on the MIT website.
• Their origins are unknown, and their appearance is unpredictable.
• The new study in Nature describes FRB 20190520B, first discovered in 2019. What makes it different is that unlike many other FRBs, it emits frequent, repeating bursts of radio waves. And between bursts, it constantly emits weaker radio waves.
• Only one FRB has been previously observed to behave this way. Called FRB 121102, that was discovered in 2012.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Union Government has launched the Rashtriya Puruskar Portal for inviting nominations for various awards of the various Ministries, Departments and agencies to ensure transparency and public partnership.

• This common portal has been developed by the government to bring together all the awards under one digital platform.
• The Portal aims to facilitate citizens to nominate individuals and organizations for various awards instituted by the Government of India.

Currently, nominations/recommendations for the following Awards are open:

• Padma Awards- Nomination open till 15/09/2022
• Sardar Patel National Unity Award- Nomination open till 31/07/2022
• Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award- Nomination open till 16/06/2022
• Jeevan Raksha Padak series of Awards- Nomination open till 30/09/2022
• Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Telecom Skill Excellence Award- Nomination open till 16/06/2022.

Hence both statements are correct.

• EXP: it Mandates Social Media companies to Exercise Greater Diligence:
• Broadly, the IT Rules (2021) mandate social media platforms to exercise greater diligence with respect to the content on their platforms as their protection under mediator stands diminished and are punishable under law for the content on their website/app, Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Establish a Grievance Officer:
  • They are required to establish a grievance redressal mechanism and remove unlawful and unfitting content within stipulated time frames.
• The grievance officer of the platform’s redressal mechanism is responsible for receiving and resolving complaints of the users.
• She/he is expected to acknowledge receipt of the complaint within 24 hours and dispose of the same in an appropriate manner within 15 days.
• Its access and spread by any other means on the platform should also be disabled. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Made Government the Arbiter to Suppress Speech:
  • This would have made the government the arbiter of permissible speech on the internet and incentivized social media platforms to suppress any speech that may not be palatable to the government. Hence statement 3 is correct.
• Obligation on social media to Resolve Complaints:
  • The draft put forth the obligation that all social media intermediaries resolve all complaints within 72 hours of reporting.
  • Intermediaries are known to invest sizable time in thoroughly scrutinizing and determining the content and user accounts they are called to censor.
    • The shortened timelines therefore invited fears of a hastier approach to get things done. Hence statement 4 is correct.

• The State Food Safety Index is developed by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) to measure the performance of states on five significant parameters of Food Safety on five significant parameters of Food Safety, the parameters include -
  • Human Resources and Institutional Data,
  • Compliance, Food Testing
  • Infrastructure and Surveillance,
  • Training & Capacity Building and Consumer Empowerment. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Tamil Nadu topped in the fourth edition State Food Safety Index, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Among Smaller States:
  • Goa stood first, followed by Manipur and Sikkim.
• Among UTs:
  • Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh secured first, second and third ranks.

• Two years after train services were stopped due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, passenger train services between India and Bangladesh resumed recently.
• The following trains have been flagged off after the resumption of train services:
  • Maitree Express from Dhaka to Kolkata
  • Mitali Express from New Jalpaiguri to Dhaka
  • Bandhan Express from Kolkata to Khulna. Hence, statement 1 is correct
• Defense Cooperation:
  • Joint exercises:
    • SAMPRITI (Army)
    • TABLETOP (Air)
    • IN-BN CORPAT (Navy), Hence statement 2 is not correct
    • Exercise Bongosagar (Navy)
    • SAMVEDNA (Multinational Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise with Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and UAE).

• Recently, wildlife scientists and conservationists in Arunachal Pradesh have flagged threats to local biodiversity from the proposed Etalin hydroelectric (3,097 MW) project in Dibang Valley.
• The Project is based on the river Dibang and is proposed to be completed in 7 years. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • Dibang is a tributary of the Brahmaputra River which flows through the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Hence, statement 1 and statement 2 are correct.
• It envisages construction of two dams over the tributaries of Dibang: Dir and Tangon.
  • The Project falls under the richest bio-geographical province of the Himalayan zone and would be located at the junction of major biogeographic zones like Palearctic Zone and Indo-Malayan Zone.

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)

• The CCPA is a statutory body constituted under Section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• Mandate: To protect the rights of the consumer by cracking down on unfair trade practices, and false and misleading advertisements that are detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers.
• Concerned Ministry: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Hence only statement 1 is correct.