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

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IIT Roorkee (IITR) on 10th March 2022 for establishment of ‘BIS Standardization Chair Professor’ at IIT Roorkee.

• This would be the first Standardization Chair established by BIS in an Institute for activities on Standardization and Conformity Assessment.
• The MoU would facilitate the research & development, teaching and training in the field of Standardization and Conformity Assessment in the country with focus on the areas of civil, electrical, mechanical, chemical, earthquake engineering etc.
• The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India under Department of Consumer affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
• It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016.
• The organisation was formerly the Indian Standards Institution (ISI), set up under the Resolution of the Department of Industries and Supplies, dated 3 September 1946.

Hence both statements are correct.

Marking International Women’s Day 2022, new batches of women-centric courses were started by RSETIs (Rural Self Employment Training Institutes) across the country.

• RSETI (Rural Self Employment Training Institutes) programme is a three-way partnership between the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), GoI, State Governments and Sponsor Banks.
• The Banks are mandated to open at least one RSETI in their lead district to provide training to rural youth to take up self-employment/ entrepreneurship ventures. RSETI program runs with an approach of short-term training & long-term handholding of entrepreneurs.
• Rural poor youth between the age group of 18-45 years are eligible to join the training.
• The RSETIs have become established as pioneers in capturing the aspirations of the rural poor youth and turning them into profitable entrepreneurs by training them in the domain and entrepreneurial skills.
• A total of 39.9 lakh candidates have been trained under RSETIs in 64 courses and 28.11 lakh candidates have been settled into self-employment till 31st January 2022.
• The programme is currently being implemented in 28 States and 7 UTs with 585 functioning RSETIs sponsored by 23 leading Banks.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Union Minister of Ayush inaugurated the International Conference on “Diet and Nutrition in Unani Medicine for Good health & well-being” in Srinagar.

• On this occasion, the Minister announced that the Regional Research Institute of Unani Medicine will be developed into an Ayush Center of Excellence in Ilaj bi’l-Tadbir (Regimental Therapy).
• The Minister informed the World Health Organization that Ministry of Ayush has published Benchmarks for the Training of Unani Medicine and this document will address the aspects like training requirements for good-quality Unani medicine services.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Union Minister for MSME launched the MSME Innovative Scheme (Incubation, Design and IPR) along with the MSME IDEA HACKATHON 2022.

• The MSME Innovation Scheme will act as a hub for innovation activities facilitating and guiding development of ideas into viable business proposition which benefits society directly.
• MSME Innovative is a holistic approach to unify, synergize and converge 3 sub-components and interventions with a single purpose.

Details of the sub-schemes are as under:

• Incubation: The primary objective of the scheme is to promote and support untapped creativity and to promote adoption of latest technologies in MSMEs that seek the validation of their ideas at the proof-of-concept level. Financial assistance up to Rs. 15 lakh per idea and up to Rs. 1.00 crore for relevant plant and machines will be provided.
• Design: The objective of this component is to bring Indian manufacturing sector and Design expertise/ Design fraternity on to a common platform. Financial assistance up to Rs. 40 lakh for design project and up to Rs. 2.5 lakh for student project will be provided.
• IPR (Intellectual Property Rights): The objective of the scheme is to improve the IP culture in India with a view to enhance the awareness of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) amongst the MSMEs and to encourage creative intellectual endeavor in Indian economy.

Hence both statements are correct.

• BrahMos is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India (DRDO) and the NPOM of Russia.
  • BrahMos is named on the rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.
• It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the first stage and liquid ramjet in second) missile.
• It is a multiplatform missile i.e it can be launched from land, air, and sea and multi capability missile with pinpoint accuracy that works in both day and night irrespective of the weather conditions.
• It operates on the "Fire and Forgets" principle i.e it does not require further guidance after launch.
• Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise missiles currently operationally deployed with speed of Mach 2.8, which is nearly 3 times more than the speed of sound.
• Hence, option A is correct.

• The National Agricultural Market (e-NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal.
• It was launched in April 2016 with the objective of integrating the existing Mandis to “One Nation One Market” for agricultural commodities in India. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• It networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities and has a vision:
  • To promote uniformity in agriculture marketing by streamlining procedures across the integrated markets.
  • Removing information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promoting real time price discovery based on actual demand and supply.
  • Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• It provides for contactless remote bidding and mobile-based anytime payment for which traders do not need to either visit mandis or banks for the same.
• Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is the lead agency for implementing e-NAM. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • It functions under the aegis of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

• Narmada is the largest west flowing river of the peninsular region flowing through a rift valley between the Vindhya Range on the north and the Satpura Range on the south. Hence, statement 1 is correct but statement 2 is not correct.
• It rises from Maikala range near Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh.
• Major Tributaries: Hiran, Orsang, the Barna and the Kolar.
• The major Hydro Power Projects in the basin are Indira Sagar, Sardar Sarovar etc. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

• The State Governments are the owners of minerals located within the boundary of the State concerned.
• District Mineral Foundations are statutory bodies in India established by the State Governments by notification. They derive their legal status from Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • The objective of District Mineral Foundation is to work for the interest of the benefit of the persons and areas affected mining related operations in such manner as may be prescribed by the State Government.
• The Central Government is the owner of the minerals underlying the ocean within the territorial waters or the Exclusive Economic Zone of India. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • International Seabed Authority (ISA) is the organization through which States Parties to UNCLOS organize and control all mineral-resources-related activities in the Area for the benefit of mankind as a whole.
• Granting Mineral Concessions:
  • The State Governments grant mineral concessions for all the minerals located within the boundary of the State, under the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and Mineral Concession Rules, 1960.
  • However, for minerals specified in the First Schedule to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 approval of the Central Government is necessary. Schedule I contains minerals such as coal and lignite, minerals of the “rare earths” group containing Uranium and Thorium. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
  • Also, the Central Government notifies certain minerals as ‘minor’ minerals from time to time for which the absolute powers for deciding on procedures of seeking applications for and granting mineral concessions, fixing rates of royalty, dead rent, and power to revise orders rest only with the State Government.
    • Example of minor minerals include building stones, gravel, ordinary clay, ordinary sand.

Liquidity Management Initiative

• The “liquidity management” of a central bank is defined as the framework, set of instruments and especially the rules the central bank follows in steering the amount of bank reserves in order to control their price (i.e. short term interest rates) consistently with its ultimate goals (e.g. price stability).
  • Bank reserves are the cash minimums that financial institutions must have on hand in order to meet central bank requirements
• Liquidity Management Initiative is a tool used in monetary policy by the RBI, that allows banks to borrow money through repurchase agreements (repos) or for banks to make loans to the RBI through reverse repo agreements. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Various Instruments under this framework are:
  • Repo/reverse repo auction
  • Marginal Standing Facility (MSF)
  • Forex Swaps. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

International Energy Agency (IEA) was established in the wake of the 1973-1974 oil crisis, to help its members respond to major oil supply disruptions, a role it continues to fulfil today.

IEA’s mandate has expanded over time to include tracking and analyzing global key energy trends, promoting sound energy policy, and fostering multinational energy technology cooperation.

Only OECD member states can become members of the IEA. But all OECD members are not IEA members.