Daily Current Affairs MCQ- March 20, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

The Delhi High Court recently disposed of a plea seeking direction to the Bar Council of India (BCI) to make the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) a compulsory subject in all law schools. 

About Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act):

• The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right.
• RTE Act is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August 2009 as envisaged under Article 21-A.
• Main Features of the RTE Act:
• Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the 6 to 14 age group.
• It clarifies that ‘compulsory education’ means the obligation of the appropriate government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance, and completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group. 
• No child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education.
• It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age-appropriate class.
• It specifies the duties and responsibilities of appropriate Governments, local authorities, and parents in providing free and compulsory education and sharing of financial and other responsibilities between the Central and State Governments.
• It lays down the norms and standards relating inter alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, and teacher-working hours.
• It provides for the appointment of appropriately trained teachers, i.e., teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications.
• It prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment, screening procedures for admission of children, capitation fee, private tuition by teachers, and running of schools without recognition.
• It provides for the development of a curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Gujarat High Court recently sought a report from the state government on the licenses and permissions it has granted for mining activities within Wild Ass Sanctuary in the Little Rann of Kutch.

About Wild Ass Sanctuary:

• Location: It is located in the Little Rann of Kutch of the Gujarat State in India.
• It is the only place where the Indian wild ass, locally called Khacchar, is found.
• The sanctuary is home to a sizeable population of Rabari and Bharwad tribes.
• Topology:
• It can be considered a large ecotone, a transitional area between marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
• It is a continuum of a dry area of dark silt with salt encrustation.
• It is dotted with about 74 elevated plateaus or islands, locally called 'bets'. 
• During the monsoon, large parts are flooded to depths of up to 2m.
• Flora:
• It is full of dry thorny scrub, and there are no large trees except on the fringes and bets.
• Some of the plants and trees that are found in this sanctuary are Morad, Unt morad, Theg, Dolari, Khijdo, Kerdo, Mithi jar, Kheri pilu, Akado, etc.
• Fauna:
• Besides Indian Wild Ass, the other mammals found here include Blackbuck, Nilgai, Bluebull, Hare, Wolf, Foxes, Desert Cat, Indian fox, Jackal, Hyena, Wild boar, etc.
• There is rich birdlife, including the Houbara bustard, Sandgrouse, Pale harrier, Black-shouldered kite, Pelican, etc.

Hence both statements are correct.

A recent bipartisan Senate resolution in the United States recognizes the McMahon Line as the international boundary between China and Arunachal Pradesh.

About McMahon Line:

• It is a geographical border between Northeast India and Tibet.
• It is the boundary between China and India, although its legal status is disputed by the Chinese government. 
• It was negotiated between Tibet and Great Britain at the end of the Shimla Conference in 1914.
• It is named after Henry McMahon, who was the foreign secretary of British India and the chief negotiator of the convention at Simla.
• The length of this boundary is 890 kilometers.
• It runs from the eastern border of Bhutan along the crest of the Himalayas until it reaches the great bend in the Brahmaputra River, where that river emerges from its Tibetan course into the Assam Valley.
• Though India considers the McMahon Line as the legal national border, China rejects it, contending that Tibet was not a sovereign state and therefore did not have the power to conclude treaties. 

Hence both statements are not correct.

Three Eurasian Otters were recently spotted in the Neeru stream of the Chenab catchment in Jammu and Kashmir.

About Eurasian Otter:

• It is a semi-aquatic carnivorous mammal.
• Scientific Name: Lutra lutra
• Distribution:
• It has one of the widest distributions of all Palaearctic mammals.
• Its range covers parts of three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa.
• In India, it occurs in northern, northeast, and southern India.
• Habitat:
• It lives in a wide variety of aquatic habitats, including highland and lowland lakes, rivers, streams, marshes, swamp forests, and coastal areas.
• In the Indian sub-continent, Eurasian otters occur in cold hill and mountain streams.
• Features:
• It has a long lithe body with a thick tail and short legs.
• It has sensitive whiskers around the snout to help detect prey.
• It has two layers of fur: a thick waterproof outer one and a warm inner one with 50,000 hairs/cm 2
• It has an acute sense of sight, smell, and hearing. 
• Conservation Status:
• IUCN: Near threatened
• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule II
• CITES:  Appendix I

Hence both statements are not correct.

Recently, the Health Ministry confirmed that at least two people have succumbed to the H3N2 subtype of seasonal influenza in India.

• Influenza A H3N2 is a seasonal virus and the occurrence of influenza infections normally peaks during season changes.
• Symptoms- Fever, body ache, sore throat, cough, runny/blocked nose and a few shortness of breath.
• It can spread from person to person and while anyone can get infected- older, adults and younger children are at a higher risk from H3N2.
• The method of testing for H3N2 is also similar to COVID-19 testing – RTPCR.
• There is a vaccine for seasonal flu that also covers H3N2.

Seasonal influenza:

• According to WHO, seasonal influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by influenza viruses.
• There are 4 types of seasonal influenza viruses, types - A, B, C and D. In which Influenza viruses A, B, and C can infect humans.
• Influenza A viruses are further classified into subtypes according to the combinations of the hemagglutinin (HA) and the neuraminidase (NA), the proteins on the surface of the virus.
• There are 18 different subtypes of HA, which are numbered H1 through H18. Similarly, there are 11 different subtypes of NA, numbered N1 through N11.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, Women and Child Development Minister introduced about NIPUN BHARAT in Rajysabha.

• It has been launched as a National Mission called “National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat)” in 2021.
• Aim: To ensure that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27.
• A five-tier implementation mechanism will be set up at the National- State- District- Block- School level in all States and UTs, under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha.
• It is one of the components of the NEP 2020.
• Implementing agency: The Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently Women and Child Development Minister introduced about Baal Swaraj portal in Rajya Sabha.

• It is a portal launched by NCPCR for online tracking and digital real-time monitoring mechanism of children in need of care and protection.
• The portal has two functions- COVID care and CiSS.
• COVID Care link caters to the children who have lost either or both parents due to COVID-19 or otherwise post March 2020.
• Ciss- to help in the rehabilitation process of Children in Street Situations.
• Portal also provides a platform for professionals and organizations to provide any help for children in need in the form of open shelters, counselling services, medical services, de-addiction services, education services, volunteering etc.
• It has been launched under a centrally sponsored scheme namely Mission Vatsalya.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment is implementing Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC), a component of Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana.

• It is a Central Sector Scheme, which is formerly known as National Action Plan for Senior Citizens.
• Its vision is to create a society where senior citizens live healthy, happy and empowered life.
• It has two components – the Integrated Program for Senior Citizens (IPSrC) and the State Action Plan for Senior Citizens (SAPSrC)
• IPSRC: It entails setting up homes to improve the quality of life of senior citizens, especially indigent senior citizens for writing basic amenities.
• SAPSRC: Each state/union territories expected to frame its own action plan for the welfare of senior citizens.
• Under IPSrC component grant in aid is provided to NGOs/ Voluntary Organisations (VOs) for running and maintenance of old age homes, Continuous Care Homes.
• Five schemes have been launched under this umbrella scheme:
• Poshan Abhiyan for elderly
• Livelihood and skilling initiatives for senior citizens
• scheme on promoting silver economy
• Awareness generation and capacity building for welfare of senior citizens
• Channelising CSR funds for elderly care.

Nodal Agency: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

Recently, researchers from the Institute of Advanced Studies in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati, revealed that peptides derived from snake venom nerve growth factors can impede the progression of Parkinson's disease.

• Researchers have developed two novel custom peptides (commercially produced peptides for use in biomedical laboratories) ---TNP and HNP inspired by snake venom neurotrophin that regulate the development, maintenance, and function of vertebrate nervous systems.
• Peptides are naturally occurring short chains of amino acid monomers connected by amide bonds.
• They include many antibiotics, hormones and other substances that involve in the biological functions of living beings.
• Peptide is used in many anti-ageing creams. The most commonly used peptides are those that are obtained from ocean plants like sea jasmine, sea fennel and sea beet.
• It is used in treating the skin that is affected by injury, sun damage or acne lesions.
• Aspartame which is a synthesized peptide used as an artificial sweetener with zero calories found in many diet foods is produced in labs and is 200 times sweeter than sugar.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is working on making an ongoing initiative of providing potable water in six islands of Lakshadweep using a Low-Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology process free of emissions.

• It is a desalinization initiative of providing potable water in six islands of Lakshadweep.
• The LTTD is a process under which the warm surface seawater is flash evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep seawater.
• The LTTD technology does not require any chemical pre and post-treatment of seawater and thus the pollution problems are minimal and suitable for island territories.
• This technique works on the principle that water in the ocean 1,000 or 2,000 feet below is about 4º C to 8º C colder than surface water. So, salty surface water is collected in a tank and subject to high pressure (via an external power source). 
• The pressured water vapourises and is trapped in tubes or a chamber. Cold water plumbed from the ocean depths is passed over these tubes and the vapour condenses into fresh water and the resulting salt is diverted away.
• The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) an autonomous body of the Ministry of Earth Sciences has been responsible for the design, development, demonstration and commission of the LTTD plants in selected coastal locations.

Hence both statements are correct.