Daily Current Affairs MCQ - June 24, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

To fulfill the long-standing vision of Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) to achieve academic excellence in Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs), 120 EMRS teachers and principals from 3 states completed a 40 days’ NISHTHA Program, a national flagship program of NCERT on 19th June 2021.

• In August 2019, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister launched NISHTHA to build capacities of 42 Lakh government teachers across the country.
• NISHTHA is the world’s largest teachers’ training programme of its kind in the world.
• Objective: To motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
• Features: Under it, teachers will develop their skills on various aspects related to Learning Outcomes, School Safety and Security, ICT in teaching-learning including Artificial Intelligence, Environmental Concerns and School Based Assessment in a joyful learning manner.
• Coverage: It aims to build the capacities of around 42 lakh participants covering all teachers and Heads of Schools at the elementary level in all Government schools, faculty members of SCERTs, DIETs as well as Block Resource Coordinators and Cluster Resource Coordinators in all States/UTs.
• Strategy: Training will be conducted directly by 33120 Key Resource Persons (KRPs) and State Resource Persons (SRP) identified by the State and UTs, who will in turn be trained by 120 National Resource Persons identified from NCERT, NIEPA, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), CBSE and NGO.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

In the last week, two Supreme Court judges — Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Aniruddha Bose — have recused themselves from hearing cases relating to West Bengal.

• When there is a conflict of interest, a judge can withdraw from hearing a case to prevent creating a perception that she carried a bias while deciding the case.
• The practice stems from the cardinal principle of due process of law that nobody can be a judge in her own case.
• The decision to recuse generally comes from the judge herself as it rests on the conscience and discretion of the judge to disclose any potential conflict of interest.
• There are no formal rules governing recusals, although several Supreme Court judgments have dealt with the issue. In Ranjit Thakur v Union of India (1987), the Supreme Court held that the tests of the likelihood of bias is the reasonableness of the apprehension in the mind of the party.
• Once a request is made for recusal, the decision to recuse or not rests with the judge.
• Since there are no formal rules governing the process, it is often left to individual judges to record reasons for recusal. Some judges disclose the reasons in open court; in some cases, the reasons are apparent.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Minister of State for Education Shri Sanjay Dhotre launched NIOS Diploma course in Yogic Science on the occasion of International Day of Yoga.

• The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was formerly known as National Open School.
• It is the National board of education under the Government of India that administers examinations for Secondary and Senior Secondary examinations similar to the CBSE and the CISCE. It also offers vocational courses after the high school.
• It is an autonomous institute under Union Ministry of HRD.
• Established in: 1989.
• Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
• NIOS operates through a network of five Departments, Regional Centres and Accredited Institutions (Study Centres) in India and abroad.
• It has a current enrolment of about 2.71 million students at Secondary, Senior Secondary & Vocational levels which makes it the largest open schooling system in the world.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

The Union Cabinet has approved an Agreement between India and Saint Vincent and The Grenadines for the Exchange of Information and to provide assistance to each other in collection of tax claims.

• This is a new Agreement between the Republic of India and Saint Vincent and The Grenadines. There was no such agreement in past between the two countries.
• Agreement also contains tax examination abroad provisions which provide that a country may allow the representatives of the other country to enter its territory to interview individuals and examine records for tax purposes.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Caribbean.
• It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean.
• Kingstown is the capital and main port.
• Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

India had organised the two-day summit on green hydrogen involving BRICS nations, on their initiatives around the green fuel. The summit started on 22 June and was organised by state-run NTPC Ltd.

• India pitched for common international standards for green hydrogen at the BRICS Green Hydrogen Summit, to ensure safe transportation and storage of the new age emission-free fuel.
• Green hydrogen gas is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electrolyzer that may be powered by electricity generated from renewable energy sources.
• Leveraging India’s landmass and green energy sources for exporting green hydrogen is one of the steps for achieving energy sufficiency for the country, according to a draft proposal circulated by the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), for the planned National Hydrogen Energy Mission.
• Hence both statements are correct.

In the landmark 1962 Kedar Nath Singh case, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the sedition law, it attempted to restrict its scope for misuse. The court held that unless accompanied by an incitement or call for violence, criticism of the government cannot be labelled sedition.

Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code states: “Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in [India], shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.”

Namibia shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres of the Zambezi River separates the two countries.

Assam now has the third most National Parks after the 12 in Madhya Pradesh and nine in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Kaziranga and Manas are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. They are also tiger reserves along with Nameri and Orang.

The 234.26-sq. km Dihing Patkai straddling eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts is a major elephant habitat.

German Agrochemicals Major Bayer has commercially launched the 1st-ever yellow watermelon variety called “Yellow Gold 48” in India under the Seminis brand. Yellow Watermelon: Yellow watermelon variety has been commercially introduced in India after 2 years of local trials. It has been developed from superior germplasm under Bayer’s global research and development efforts. It has enhanced yield potential, better disease & pest tolerance and higher returns which can benefit watermelon growers.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in agriculture & allied sectors has been signed between India and Fiji. MoU between both the countries provides for cooperation in fields of Dairy Industry Development, Coconut Industry Development, Agriculture Mechanization, Animal Husbandry, Agricultural Research, Root crop diversification, Rice Industry Development, Water Resources Management, Food Processing Industry Development, Horticulture Industry Development, Pest & Disease, Cultivation, Post-Harvest & Milling, Breeding & Agronomy Value Addition & Marketing. Fiji: It is a country in the South Pacific. It is an archipelago of more than 300 islands.