Daily Current Affairs MCQ- March 27, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Union Minister of Science & Technology announced the launch of Data-Driven Research to Eradicate TB- “Dare2eraD TB” by the Department of Biotechnology, M/o Science & Technology, on the occasion of World TB Day.

• The Minister said that Dare2eraD TB will be the umbrella TB program of DBT comprising of following key initiatives-
  • InTGS - Indian Tuberculosis Genomic Surveillance Consortium;
  • InTBK Hub- Indian TB Knowledge Hub- Webinar Series;
  • Host Directed therapies against TB and developing an evidence-based regimen for treating extra-pulmonary Tuberculosis.
• Dr Singh said that Indian Tuberculosis Genomic Surveillance Consortium (InTGS) is proposed on lines of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) for Whole Genome Sequencing, (WSG) TB surveillance.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

A 19% increase was witnessed in 2021 from the previous year in TB patients’ notifications.

• The number of incident TB patients (new and relapse) notified during 2021 was 19,33,381 against the 16,28,161 in 2020, noted India TB Report 2022 released recently.
• On World Tuberculosis Day. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya reaffirmed the government’s commitment to making India tuberculosis–free by 2025 and said this will be achieved by ensuring access to quality healthcare and advanced treatment.
• The government also released the National TB Prevalence Survey Report which was conducted from 2019 to 2021 to know the actual disease burden of TB. The reports said there has been an increase in the mortality rate due to all forms of TB between 2019 and 2020 by 11%.
• The survey report said prevalence of microbiologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) among 15 years and above in India was 316/lakh population with the highest PTB prevalence of 534/lakh in Delhi and the lowest PTB prevalence of 115/lakh in Kerala.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Supreme Court has fixed the outer limits to apply for COVID-19 death compensation at 60 days for deaths that occurred before March 20, 2022, and 90 days in case of future deaths.

• The States have to process the applications and pay ₹50,000 for each death within 30 days.
• This court passed the order directing the Union of India/NDMA/concerned States to pay ex gratia amount keeping in mind the humanity and keeping in mind the sufferings of the family members who lost one of their family members due to COVID-19.
• If no outer limit of time is fixed, there is a greater possibility of making false claims.

Fake Claims

• The Bench also took into consideration the possibility of fake claims.
• If anybody is found to have made a fake claim for financial aid, he or she would face legal action under Section 52 of the Disaster Management Act of 2005. The provision prescribes imprisonment for a term extending to two years and fine.
• The Bench ordered the Centre through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Disaster Management Authority to carry out a random scrutiny of 5% of the claim applications made in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra at the first instance.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has given the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for procurement of a GSAT 7B satellite, along with equipment like Night Sight (image intensifier), 4X4 light vehicles, and Air Defence Fire Control Radar (light).

• GSAT 7 satellites are advanced satellites developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to meet the communication needs of the defence services.
• The GSAT 7 satellite was launched in August 2013 from an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from Kourou in French Guiana.
• It is a 2,650 kg satellite which has a footprint of nearly 2,000 nautical miles in the Indian Ocean region. This satellite is mainly used by the Indian Navy for its communication needs.
• The GSAT 7 provides a gamut of services for military communication needs, which includes low bit voice rate to high bit rate data facilities, including multi-band communications.
• Named Rukmini, the satellite carries payloads in UHF, C-band and Ku-band, and helps the Navy to have a secure, real time communication link between its land establishments, surface ships, submarines and aircraft.
• The satellite was injected into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) of 249 km perigee (nearest point to earth), 35,929 km apogee (farthest point to earth) and an inclination of 3.5 degree with respect to the equator.
• The GSAT 7B will primarily fulfil the communication needs of the Army. Currently, the Army is using 30 per cent of the communication capabilities of the GSAT 7A satellite, which has been designed for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah pitched for a “hybrid” security model where the CISF could train and certify private security agencies so that they can take over the task of efficiently guarding various kinds of industrial and manufacturing units in the country. He was speaking at the 53rd Raising Day celebrations of the CISF.

• The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is one of the Central Armed Police Forces in India.
• The CISF is governed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, and its headquarters are at New Delhi.
• It was set up under an Act of the Parliament of India in 1969. CISF was subsequently made an armed force of India by another Act of Parliament passed in 1983.

Mandate

• It which works to provide security cover to over 300 industrial units, government infrastructure projects and facilities and establishments located all over India.
• Among its duties are guarding sensitive governmental buildings, the Delhi Metro, and providing airport security.
• CISF also provides consultancy services to private industries as well as other organisations within the Indian government. The scope of CISF's consulting practice includes security consulting and fire protection consulting.
• It also plays a major role in Disaster Management. The CISF has a 'Fire Wing' which helps during fire accidents in Industries where the CISF is on guard.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

During the 2022 Budget session of Parliament, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said that while implementing Phase 2 of the eCourts projects, under operation since 2015, a need was felt to adopt new, cutting-edge technologies of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to increase the efficiency of the justice delivery system.

• To explore the use of AI in judicial domain, the Supreme Court of India has constituted the Artificial Intelligence Committee which has mainly identified application of AI technology in translation of judicial documents, legal research assistance and process automation.
• Several law firms are now keen on trying out new technologies for a quick reference on judicial precedents and pronouncements on cases with similar legal issues at stake.
• The Mumbai-based Riverus, a “legal tech” firm, has developed ML applications that peruse troves of cases, “understand” them, and parse cases that are similar in content — very much like a human expert would do — in a fraction of the time.

Present status in India

• Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of technology for e-filing, and virtual hearings has seen a dramatic rise.
• From the beginning of the lockdown in 2020 until January 8 this year, the Supreme Court of India emerged as a global leader by conducting 1,81,909 virtual hearings.
• But the use of ML in India’s legal sphere has so far been restricted to automating back-end work, and is still a very long way from being used as a decision-making tool for the judiciary.
• SUVAS is a language-learning application being used to translate judgments, and SUPACE, which can draft a legal brief, comprise the initiatives being undertaken in the Indian judiciary as a part of incorporating ML-based applications.

Hence both statements are correct.

Deepak Dhar, physicist, from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, has been selected for the Boltzmann medal, awarded by the Commission on Statistical Physics (C3) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.

• He has been chosen for this award for his contributions in the field of statistical physics, including universal long-time relaxation in disordered magnetic systems, exact solutions in percolation and cluster counting problems and definition of spectral dimension of fractals.
• He becomes the first Indian to win this award, which was initiated in 1975, with Nobel laureate (1982) K.G. Wilson being the first recipient.
• He shares the platform with American scientist John J. Hopfield who is known for his invention of an associative neural network, now named after him.
• The award consists of the gilded Boltzmann medal with the inscription of Ludwig Boltzmann, and the chosen two scientists will be presented the medals at the StatPhys28 conference to be held in Tokyo, 7-11 August, 2023.
• The medal, which honours outstanding achievements in the field of statistical physics, has been given to one or two persons, once in three years, in the last 47 years.
• It is given only once to a person and on the condition that that person has not won the Nobel prize so far.

Hence both statements are correct.

Researchers at ACTREC-Tata Memorial Centre have identified the presence of a bacteria, Fusobacterium nucleatum, in the oral tumours at a significantly higher burden than in the oral cavity of healthy individuals.

• Interestingly, Fusobacterium nucleatum is known to play a vital role in colorectal cancer, wherein its presence affects the spread of the disease and the patient's response to chemotherapy. However, a similar role of Fusobacterium in oral cancer was not known earlier.
• The presence of the bacteria was found in Indian and Caucasian oral cancer patients, with a much higher incidence among the Indian patients.
• Moreover, oral cancer patients positive for Fusobacterium were found to be negative for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection, suggesting they are present in a mutually exclusive way.

Hence both statements are correct.

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH received the maiden voyage of food-grains from Patna to Pandu via Bangladesh in Guwahati.

• Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) welcomed the self-propelled vessel MV Lal Bahadur Shastri carrying a total of 200 MT of foodgrains for Food Corporation of India (FCI) as it completed the maiden pilot run from Patna to Pandu via Bangladesh.
• The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) came into existence on 27th October 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation. The Authority primarily undertakes projects for development and maintenance of IWT infrastructure on national waterways through grant received from Ministry of Shipping. The head office of the Authority is at Noida. 

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

• The Russian military has used warplanes and Kalibr (Caliber) cruise missiles to hit facilities throughout the country. To hit key targets, the Russian military also has used Iskander missiles that have a range of up to 500 kilometers.
• The Soviet-designed Grad (Hail), Smerch (Tornado) and Uragan (Hurricane) multiple rocket launchers are designed to fire a salvo of powerful rockets to destroy concentrations of troops or military equipment.
• The Russian military also has a wide range of powerful Soviet-designed artillery units, which were bizarrely named after flowers, such as self-propelled 203-mm Peony and 152-mm Hyacinth and Acacia self-propelled howitzers.
• Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of using cluster munitions. Cluster bombs, rockets and artillery shells open in the air, releasing submunitions, or “bomblets,” that are dispersed over a large area and simultaneously hit multiple targets.
• The Ukrainian military has used Bayraktar drones supplied by Turkey before the conflict.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.