Daily Current Affairs MCQ - March 4, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collections in February (for sales in January) rose 17.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.33 lakh crore, data released by the Finance Ministry showed.

• This marks the fifth consecutive month of GST collections being more than Rs 1.30 lakh crore, coming on the back of anti-evasion measures and a pickup in economic activity.
• Experts said GST collections remaining at this level indicate the revenues may cross the revised targets set for FY22 in the Budget.
• While on an overall basis the collections are 17.6 per cent higher than the same period last year, there is significant divergence amongst states, from the range of 2 per cent to 23 per cent.
• GST Compensation Cess collections crossed ₹10,000 crore in a month for the first time in February, which the Ministry said “signifies recovery of certain key sectors, especially, automobile sales”.
• The cess collections in February were ₹10,340 crore, and included ₹638 crore collected on import of goods.

Hence both statements are correct.

On February 28, 2022, FIFA and UEFA decided to indefinitely suspend all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, from participation in all competitions run by the two football bodies.

• FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association in French, is the highest global governing body of football (also known as soccer to distinguish it from American football), the world’s most popular game.
• FIFA is also the international governing body for futsal (a kind of mini football played indoors on a hard court between two teams of five players each) and beach soccer (five-a-side, played on a beach).
• FIFA is responsible for organising and promoting football’s major international tournaments, most importantly the football World Cup, which began in 1930, and the Women’s World Cup which began in 1991.
• The membership of FIFA now comprises 211 national football associations around the world.
• FIFA, which is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, supports these national associations financially and logistically through various programmes.
• The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of FIFA, in which each of the 211 members of the organisation has a vote. The Congress ordinarily meets annually.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The President of India Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated on March 1, 2022 a newly developed Arogya Vanam at the President’s Estate in the presence of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.

• Spread in 6.6 acres, the Arogya Vanam has been developed in the shape of a human sitting in the Yoga Mudra. It consists of around 215 herbs and plants used for therapeutic purposes in Ayurveda.
• Some of the other features of this Vanam are water fountains, Yoga platform, water channel, lotus pond and a view point.
• The concept of Arogya Vanam has been conceived with the aim of publicising the importance of Ayurvedic plants and their effects on human body. This Vanam will be now open for public viewing.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), commemorated its 20th Foundation Day by organising the National Innovation Conclave on Low Carbon Technologies. On this occasion, a compendium of the FLCTD Accelerator was released.

• Facility for Low Carbon Technology Deployment (FLCTD) Project was launched in 2016 with an objective to identify innovative energy efficiency and low carbon technology solutions that address the existing technology gaps in Indian industrial and commercial sectors.
• FLCTD project is financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in collaboration with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
• FLCTD has identified six priority technology verticals for ‘Innovation Challenge’. FLCTD project have already developed 18 new techniques and of which 12 have been commercialised.

Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a type of passive wireless technology that allows for tracking or matching of an item or individual. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• The system has two basic parts: Tags and Readers.
• The reader gives off radio waves and gets signals back from the RFID tag, while the tag uses radio waves to communicate its identity and other information. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• A tag can be read from up to several feet away and does not need to be within the direct line-of-sight of the reader to be tracked.
• The technology has been approved since before the 1970s but has become much more prevalent in recent years due to its usages in things like global supply chain management and pet microchipping.

• The Central Government introduced the NPS with effect from January 2004 (except for armed forces).
• In 2018 to streamline the NPS and make it more attractive, the Union Cabinet approved changes in the scheme to benefit central government employees covered under NPS.
• The National Pension System (NPS) was made available to all Citizens of India from May 2009.
• Any individual citizen of India (both resident and Non-resident) in the age group of 18-65 years can join NPS. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• However, OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) and PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card holders and Hindu Undivided Family (HUFs) are not eligible for opening of NPS accounts.
• NPS is implemented and regulated by PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority). Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• National Pension System Trust (NPST) established by PFRDA is the registered owner of all assets under NPS.

International Court of Justice

• The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).
  • It is the only one of the six principal organs of the UN that is not located in New York City. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the UN and began work in April 1946.
• The role of ICJ is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised UN organs and specialised agencies.
  • The first case, which was brought by the UK against Albania and concerned incidents in the Corfu channel — the narrow strait of the Ionian Sea between the Greek island of Corfu and Albania on the European mainland — was submitted in May 1947.
• English and French are the official languages of ICJ.
• All members of the UN are automatically parties to the ICJ statute, but this does not automatically give the ICJ jurisdiction over disputes involving them. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • The ICJ gets jurisdiction only if both parties consent to it. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • The judgement of the ICJ is final and technically binding on the parties to a case.
  • However, the ICJ has no way to ensure compliance of its orders, and its authority is derived from the willingness of countries to abide by them.

• Any Member of Parliament who is not a minister is referred to as a private member. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Its drafting is the responsibility of the member concerned. Its introduction in the House requires one month’s notice. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The government bills\public bills can be introduced and discussed on any day, private member’s bills can be introduced and discussed only on Fridays. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• In case of multiple Bills, a ballot system is used to decide the sequence of bills for introduction.
• The Parliamentary Committee on Private Member's Bills and Resolutions goes through all such Bills and classifies them based on their urgency and importance.
• Its rejection by the House has no implication on the parliamentary confidence in the government or its resignation.
• Upon conclusion of the discussion, the member piloting the bill can either withdraw it on the request of the minister concerned, or he may choose to press ahead with its passage.

A patent is a conferral by the state of an exclusive right to make, use and sell an inventive product or process. Patent laws are usually justified on three distinct grounds: on the idea that people have something of a natural and moral right to claim control over their inventions; on the utilitarian premise that exclusive licenses promote invention and therefore benefit society as a whole; and on the belief that individuals must be allowed to benefit from the fruits of their labour and merit, that when a person toils to produce an object, the toil and the object become inseparable.

The term of every patent in India is twenty years from the date of filing the patent application.

India has had a history of urban employment schemes such as the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), which was launched in 1997. It provided employment to the unemployed and underemployed urban poor through self-employment and wage employment. In 2013, the SJSRY was replaced by the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM). But none of them were employment “guarantee” schemes.

Most unemployment data — be it from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy or the government’s own Periodic Labour Force Survey — shows that the unemployment rates are typically higher in urban areas.