Daily Current Affairs MCQ - May 17, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

• India is a member whereas Mongolia is an observer state at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • Other Forums of which both the countries are members: Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), World Trade Organisation (WTO).
• Defence Cooperation between India and Mongolia:
  • Joint defence exercises code-named Nomadic Elephant.
  • India is also an active participant in an annual week-long joint training exercise called the Khaan Quest, hosted by Mongolia. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• Advanced Chemistry Cells (ACCs) are the new generation of advanced storage technologies that can store electric energy either as electrochemical or as chemical energy and convert it back to electric energy as and when required. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • Such battery storages will cater not only to electric vehicles but also to the consumer electronics industry and electricity grids.
• The Union Cabinet has approved a Rs. 18,100-crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturers of Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage, to reduce imports (PLI scheme is applicable to ACCs). Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • The PLI Scheme has also been approved for sectors such as automobiles, pharmaceuticals, IT hardware including laptops, mobile phones & telecom equipment, white goods, chemical cells and textiles, etc.
• The scheme called the National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Storage (NPACC) is launched under the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises (and not under Meity). Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
  • The plan is to set up 50 gigawatt hour (GWh) manufacturing capacity for ACC batteries by attracting investments totaling Rs. 45,000 crore.
  • Requires each selected ACC battery Storage manufacturer to set-up an ACC manufacturing facility of minimum 5 GWh capacity, achieve a domestic value addition of at least 25% and incur the mandatory investment Rs.225 crore /GWh within 2 Years.

• Project Elephant was launched in 1992 to provide financial and technical support to wildlife management efforts by states for their free ranging populations of wild Asian Elephants. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS). Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • Objectives:
    • To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors.
    • To address issues of man-animal conflict.
    • Welfare of captive elephants.
• Elephant census is conducted once in 5 years under the aegis of Project Elephant. Last Elephant Census was conducted in 2017. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • According to the Elephant Census 2017, India’s Asian elephant population is 27,312.
  • The numbers are lower than from the last census estimate in 2012 (between 29,391 and 30,711).
  • Karnataka (6049) has the highest number of elephants, followed by Assam ( 5719) and Kerala (5706). Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
    • The state of Karnataka alone is home to 22% of the elephants.
    • The South Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are home to nearly 44% of the elephants in India.
• There are around 32 Elephant Reserves in India. The very first elephant reserve was the Singhbhum Elephant Reserve of Jharkhand.

Homen Borgohain was an Author and Journalist and belonged to Assam. He has authored four non-fiction and 11 novels in his lifetime and was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi in 1978 for his novel Pita Putra. He was also the editor-in-chief of Assamese daily Niyomiya Barta.

The ‘Dongria Kondh’ tribe is primarily found in the Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha. They are members belonging to the ‘Kondh’ tribal community. The other well-known Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of the ‘Kondh’ tribal community are the ‘Kutia Kondh’ and live in hilltop and valleys, whereas community living in the high land and near streams are called Dongria Kondh. Why in the News? Infections have been reported among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of the Dongria Kondh of Odisha.

What are earth-observation satellites used for?

• Land and forest mapping and monitoring, mapping of resources like water or minerals or fishes, weather and climate observations, soil assessment, geospatial contour mapping are all done through earth-observation satellites.
• They are intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, cartography and others.

Though according to Article 153, the executive power of the state vests with governor, he is bound to act under the aid and advice of the council of ministers headed by the chief minister.

The Supreme Court has ruled umpteen times that governors cannot act independent of the advice of the council of ministers except in specified areas where the Constitution has entrusted them with discretionary powers.

The governor can also discard the aid and advice of the council of ministers, if specifically permitted by the president, when a state of emergency is declared under Article 353.

United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) flagship State of World Population Report 2021 titled ‘My Body is My Own’.

India’s ‘One Health’ vision derives its blueprint from the agreement between the tripartite-plus alliance comprising the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) — a global initiative supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank under the overarching goal of contributing to ‘One World, One Health’.

What is Ways and Means Advances (WMA)?

It is a facility for both the Centre and states to borrow from the RBI. These borrowings are meant purely to help them to tide over temporary mismatches in cash flows of their receipts and expenditures. In that sense, they aren’t a source of finance per se. Section 17(5) of the RBI Act, 1934 authorises the central bank to lend to the Centre and state governments subject to their being repayable “not later than three months from the date of the making of the advance”.

RBI has equal powers to regulate Urban Cooperative Banks (not Rural Cooperative Banks) at par with the commercial banks.

Rural co-operative banks remain under the dual regulation of RBI and Registrar of Co-operative Societies.