Daily Current Affairs MCQ- June 17, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, The Association of Man-made Fibre Industry of India (AMFII) has appealed to the Union Finance Ministry to accept the recommendations of the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) on the levy of anti-dumping duty (ADD) on imports of Viscose Staple Fibre from Indonesia.

• Viscose is a type of rayon. Originally known as artificial silk, in the late 19th century, the term “rayon” came into effect in 1924.
• The name “viscose” is derived from the way this fibre is manufactured; a viscous organic liquid used to make both rayon and cellophane.
• Viscose is made from tree wood pulp, like beech, pine, and eucalyptus, but can also be made from bamboo
• As a manufactured regenerated cellulose fibre, it is neither truly natural (like cotton, wool or silk) nor truly synthetic (like nylon or polyester) – it falls somewhere in between.
• Chemically, viscose resembles cotton, but it can also take on many different qualities depending on how it is manufactured.
• It is versatile, Highly absorbent and Inexpensive fibre.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, the Union government has informed the Supreme Court that significant progress has been made in the computerisation of land ownership records, as cadastral maps of 35% of over six lakh villages have so far been geotagged.

• As per the Management Information System of Digital India land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), out of 6,56,793 villages, Cadastral Maps have been Geo-referenced in 2,31,026 villages (35. 17%) and 1,17,38,272 number of maps have been digitised.

What is Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme (DILRMP)?

• It is a Central Sector scheme that has been extended to 2023-24, to complete its original targets as well as expand its ambit with a slew of new schemes.
• In 2008, two schemes viz, Computerisation of Land Records (CLR) and Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR) were merged into a modified scheme named DILRMP.
• It is being implemented by the Department of Land Resources under the Ministry of Rural Development.
• Aim: It attempts to build upon the commonalities that exist in the arena of land records in various States to develop an appropriate Integrated Land Information Management System (ILIMS) across the country.
• The ILIMS integrates all the processes and lands records databases with the banks, financial institutions, circle rates, Registration Offices and other sectors.
• Major components: Computerization of land records, Survey/re-survey, Computerization of Registration.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Recently, Researchers from the University of Cambridge, the United Kingdom have developed a system that can transform polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste and greenhouse gases into sustainable fuels and other valuable products using solar energy.

• The researchers developed an integrated reactor with two separate compartments: One for plastic and one for greenhouse gases.
• The reactor uses a light absorber based on perovskite - a promising alternative to silicon for next-generation solar cells.
• Tests of the reactor under normal temperature and pressure conditions showed the reactor could efficiently convert polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles and CO2 into different carbon-based fuels such as CO, syngas or formate, in addition to glycolic acid.
• The reactor produced these products at a rate that is also much higher than conventional photocatalytic CO2 reduction processes.

What is Polyethylene terephthalate?

• It is a condensation polymer of ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid.
• The by-product of the reaction is water so it is an example of condensation or step-growth polymerization.
• PET Plastic is a thermoplastic synthetic substance which malleable under heat and can be placed into nearly any shape.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently around 250 Indian Skimmers were sighted in Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary in a day during the Asian Waterbird Census-2023.

• It is found in the coastal estuaries of western and eastern India.
• It occurs primarily on larger, sandy, lowland rivers, around lakes and adjacent marshes and, in the non-breeding season, in estuaries and coasts.
• About 20% of the total population of fewer than 2,500 birds nest along river Chambal.
• Protection status

IUCN: Endangered

Key facts about the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is a wildlife sanctuary and estuary situated in Andhra Pradesh.
• Between this sanctuary area and the sea Hope Island blocks the direct confluence of the sea and Godavari. As a result, about 40% of the sanctuary is only sea backwaters and the rest of the area is intermingled with creeks and gets inundated with tidal waters.
• Flora: It has extensive mangrove and dry deciduous tropical forests. It is the second-largest stretch of mangrove forests in India.
• Fauna: It is home to the critically endangered white-backed vulture and the long-billed vulture.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Prime Minister of India will inaugurate the 26th National Youth Festival in Hubballi, Karnataka on 12 January 2023.

• The National Youth Festival is being held on National Youth Day, which is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, to honour and cherish his ideals, teachings, and contributions.
• Since 1985, the Indian Government is celebrating the birthday of Swami Vivekananda as National Youth Day.
• Theme of the festival 2023: Viksit Yuva Viksit Bharat.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday conducted raids on over 50 places, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh in connection with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) scam case.

• FCI is Public Sector Undertaking, under the Department. of Food & Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
• Formation: It is a statutory body set up in 1965 under the Food Corporations Act, 1964 against the backdrop of major shortage of grains in India to fulfill following objectives of the Food Policy:
• Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers.
• Distribution of foodgrains throughout the country for public distribution system.
• Maintaining satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of foodgrains to ensure National Food Security
• Vision: Ensuring Food Security for citizens of the country.
• Organizational Set-Up of FCI: FCI coordinates its functions through a country-wide network of offices with Headquarters at New Delhi with five Zonal Offices, twenty-five Regional Offices and 170 District Offices under its control.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Recently, the Government has sanctioned ₹154.84 crore to National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) for mineral exploration and boosting capabilities.

• What is it? NMET is a Trust set up as a non-profit body by the Central Government for the purposes of regional and detailed exploration of minerals using the funds accrued to it and in such manner as prescribed by the Central Government.
• Act: The Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015, (MMRDA) mandated the setting up of the NMET.
• Structure: NMET has a two tier structure.
• The apex body is the Governing Body, chaired by the Hon’ble Minister of Mines. It holds the overall control of the Trust.
• The Executive Committee, chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Mines, administers and manages its activities.
• Funding: To implement mandated activities an NMET Fund has been established. The NMET Fund receives money from holders of mining lease or a prospecting license-cum-mining lease, an amount equivalent to two percent of royalty paid in terms of the Second Schedule of the MMDR Act.

Functions of NMET:

• funding special studies and projects designed to identify, explore, extract, beneficiate and refine deep-seated or concealed mineral deposits;
• undertaking studies for mineral development, sustainable mining, adoption of advanced scientific and technological practices and mineral extraction metallurgy;
• detailed and regional exploration for strategic and critical minerals
• facilitating geophysical, ground and aerial survey and geochemical survey of obvious geological potential areas and rest of India;
• capacity building of personnel engaged in mineral exploration
• facilitating a national core repository for encouraging research in earth sciences and for evaluation of the mineral prospects;

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, Union Cabinet approved an outlay of ₹2,600 crore to promote payments using RuPay cards and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the fund will be paid to banks in view of the lack of a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for UPI and RuPay transactions.

• MDR also referred to as the transaction discount rate (TDR) is basically a fee that a merchant is charged by their issuing bank for accepting payments from their customers via credit and debit cards. ‌
• Before accepting debit and credit cards as payment the merchant must set up this service and agree to the rate.
• MDR compensates the bank issuing the card, the bank which installs the PoS (Point of Sale) terminal and network providers, and payment gateways for their services.
• The MDR sums up all the charges and taxes that electronic or digital payments entail. For example, the MDR can consist of bank fees that are charged to customers and vendors for making payments digitally. In the same way, MDR also includes transaction processing costs that the payment aggregator will pay to virtual or mobile platforms or to banks.
• MDR charges are expressed as a percentage of the transaction amount.
• The rates are dependent on the level of business transactions being processed, the types of cards (debit or credit) used by customers, and the value of the average transaction (also known as average tickets or average sales).

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Recently, SC told the Centre on Wednesday it cannot decide its curative plea seeking an additional Rs 7,844 crore from the successor firms of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) for giving compensation to the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy as a lawsuit.

• The concept of curative petition originated from the case of Rupa Ashok Hurra Vs. Ashok Hurra and another case (2002) where the following question arose before the court of law- 'whether an aggrieved person is entitled to any relief against the final judgment/order of the Supreme Court, after the dismissal of a review petition?'

What is a Curative Petition?

• A curative petition, is the final and last option for the people to acquire justice as mentioned and promised by the Constitution of India.
• A curative petition may be filed after a review plea against the final conviction is dismissed.
• Objective: It is meant to ensure there is no miscarriage of justice, and to prevent abuse of process.
• Criteria for admission:
• The court ruled that a curative petition can be entertained if the petitioner establishes there was a violation of the principles of natural justice, and that he was not heard by the court before passing an order.
• It will also be admitted where a judge failed to disclose facts that raise the apprehension of bias.
• The SC has held that curative petitions must be rare rather than regular, and be entertained with circumspection.
• A curative petition must be accompanied by certification by a senior advocate, pointing out substantial grounds for entertaining it.
• Who hears Curative petitions?
• A curative petition must be first circulated to a bench of the three senior-most judges, and the judges who passed the concerned judgment, if available.
• Only when a majority of the judges conclude that the matter needs hearing should it be listed — as far as possible, before the same Bench.
• A curative petition is usually decided by judges in chamber, unless a specific request for an open-court hearing is allowed.
• It shall be open to the Bench at any stage of consideration of the curative petition to ask a senior counsel to assist it as amicus curiae.
• In the event of the Bench holding at any stage that the petition is without any merit and vexatious, it may impose exemplary costs on the petitioner

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Recently, The President of India greeted fellow citizens on the eve of Lohri (which falls on 13th January 2023) Makar Sankranti, Magh Bihu and Pongal (which fall on 14th January 2023).

• Bihu is one of Assam's most prominent cultural events, celebrating the changing seasons.
• The festival of Bihu has three forms: Bohag Bihu, Kati Bihu and Magh Bihu. Each of these falls in the agriculture calendar.
• This day is considered auspicious in the Hindu lunar year as well and is known as the Makar Sankranti, i.e., the day when the sun begins its northward journey or Uttarayan and transitions into the Hindu zodiac sign of Makara.
• On this day the Sun God is worshipped in various parts of India in the form of different festivals such as Pongal (Tamil Nadu), Maghi (Punjab) and Uttarayan (Gujarat).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.