Daily Current Affairs MCQ- May 24, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, Carborundum Universal Limited (CUMI), a private sector pioneer in material sciences, has signed a “Licensing Agreement for Transfer of Technology” with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for manufacturing ceramic radomes used in aerospace and missile systems.

• Ceramic Radome Technology is the state-of-the-art technology for Missiles across the world. ASTRA/ QRSAM, high Mach missiles experience high surface temperatures during their traverse due to atmospheric thermal heating.
• To mitigate the thermal heating, Ceramic is considered a radome material.
• Ceramic Radome fabrication is a two-stage process, gel-casting followed by sintering.
• Ceramics are classified as inorganic and nonmetallic materials that are essential to our daily lifestyle.
• Properties of ceramics: In general, ceramics are corrosion-resistant, hard, and brittle. The majority of ceramics are also excellent insulators and can withstand high temperatures.
• Radomes are structures or enclosures designed to protect an antenna and associated electronics from the surrounding environment and elements such as rain, snow, UV light, and strong wind.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has directed NAFED to contribute to and promote the 'International Year of the Millet' 2023 on a global scale.

• NAFED is an apex organization of marketing cooperatives for agricultural produce in India.
• It was founded on 2 October 1958 to promote the trade of agricultural produce and forest resources across the nation.
• It is registered under Multi State Co-operative Societies Act.
• With its headquarters in New Delhi, NAFED has four regional offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, apart from 28 zonal offices in capitals of states and important cities.
• It is the nodal agency to implement price stabilization measures under "Operation Greens" which aims to double the farmers' income by 2022.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Google Doodle is celebrating the Iranian New Year Navroz, a festival that is celebrated by Parsis all across the globe. 

• Navroz is an Iranian and Persian New year. The word ‘now’ means ‘new’ and roz means ‘day’. Therefore, the word translates to a new day.’ 
• It marks the beginning of the spring season and is celebrated with great fervour by members of the Parsi community across the globe.
• The festival of Nowruz is named after the Persian king, Jamshed, who is credited for creating the Persian or the Shahenshahi calendar. 
• It is said that the festival came to India courtesy of an 18th-century wealthy tradesman from Surat, Nusservanji Kohyaji, who often travelled to Iran and began celebrating Nowruz in India.
• It is listed in the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of India.
• In India, the festival is observed around August 16-17 by the Parsi community following the Shahenshahi calendar which does not account for leap years.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, Interpol has withdrawn the Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued against Mehul Choksi.

• The mandate of The International Police Organisation (Interpol): It is an international organization facilitating international police cooperation against cross-border terrorism, trafficking, and other crime.
• Governance: All decisions regarding the activities of INTERPOL are made by the General Assembly which is its supreme governing body which meets annually.
• Status: It is ‘NOT’ a unit or part of a united nation system. It is an independent international organization.
• National Central Bureau (NCB):
• It has a National Central Bureau (NCB) in each member country, which is the central point of contact for both the general secretariat and the other NCBs around the world.
• Each NCB is run by police officials of that country and usually sits in the government ministry responsible for policing. (Union Home Ministry in India.)
• Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) represents Interpol in India as the country's national central bureau.

Hence both statements are not correct.

The Ministry of Finance recently informed that the Income Tax Department has raised tax demands worth Rs 13,566 crore under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act over the last four years.

About Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015:

• Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, or the Black Money Act (as popularly known), has come into force w.e.f. 01.07.2015.
• Objective: To create a deterring effect on illegal foreign transactions and bring back undisclosed Indian money abroad.
• Features of the Act:
• Applicability:
• The Act will apply to all person resident in India.
• It will also apply to a person being Not an ordinary resident or Non-resident but who was an ordinary resident of India during the previous year when undisclosed income was earned or assets acquired outside India.
• Provisions of the Act will apply to both undisclosed foreign income and assets (including financial interest in any entity).
• Tax:
• Undisclosed foreign income or assets shall be taxed at a flat rate of 30 percent.
• No deductions, exemptions, carry forward, or set-off shall be available while computing tax liability under the BM Act, unlike the Income Tax Act.
• Penalties:
• The penalty for non-disclosure of income or an asset located outside India will be equal to three times the amount of tax payable thereon, i.e., 90 percent of the undisclosed income or the value of the undisclosed asset. This is in addition to the tax payable at 30%.
• There are other penalties also leviable on account of non-disclosure of required information etc., and there are prosecution provisions also within the Act.
• One-time compliance opportunity:
• The Act also provides a one-time compliance opportunity for a limited period to persons who have any undisclosed foreign assets which have hitherto not been disclosed for the purposes of Income-tax.
• Such persons may file a declaration before the specified tax authority within a specified period, followed by payment of tax at the rate of 30 percent and an equal amount by way of penalty.
• Such persons will not be prosecuted under the stringent provisions of the Act.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Finance Ministry recently asked central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) to issue letters of comfort (LoCs) based on their own financial strength.

About Letter of Comfort (LoC):

• What is it? An LoC is a letter issued to a lending institution by a stakeholder of the company acknowledging the support of the attempt for financing asked by that company.
• They are usually issued by a third party or a stakeholder in the transaction.
• For instance, a holding company can give an LoC on behalf of its subsidiary, or a government can issue a letter of comfort for PSUs.
• It is not legally binding and does not imply that the parent company guarantees repayment of the loan being sought by the subsidiary company.
• It merely gives reassurance to the lending institution that the parent company is aware of the credit facility being sought by the subsidiary company and supports its decision.
• This provides some comfort to the financial institution to lend money for the short term or long term.
• It, thus, is a moral rather than a legal obligation for the borrower.
• It can also be issued by banks, NBFCs, and auditors.
• It lays down the contract conditions and steps to complete the transaction successfully.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras recently developed an online open-source database, ‘Ab-CoV’ of coronaviruses neutralizing antibodies.

About Ab-CoV database:

• What is it? It is an online open-source database of coronaviruses’ neutralizing antibodies encompassing crucial features such as binding affinity and neutralization profiles of antibodies.
• It is an exhaustive repository of antibodies, not just specific to SARS CoV-2 but also to other members of the coronavirus family, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) viruses.
• It also contains the source of each antibody and the viral protein(s) and virus strains they recognize.
• It includes 1,780 coronavirus-related antibodies, including 211 nanobodies, and can help develop drugs against new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
• Ab-CoV has a wide range of search and display options through which users can directly search and download the processed data based on the antibody's name, viral protein epitope, neutralized viral strain, antibody, and nanobody.
• It also has the option to view structures of antibodies or viral proteins in a 3D model.
• Applications: The information compiled in this database can assist researchers in,
• antibody engineering;
• analyzing immune escape for known and future variants of SARS-CoV-2;
• computational studies on neutralizing antibodies;
• relating structural features with binding affinity;

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Scientists have recently confirmed the existence of a "missing" continent known as Zealandia.

About Zealandia:

• It is a long, narrow microcontinent that is mostly submerged in the South Pacific Ocean.
• Zealandia or Te Riu-a-Māui in the Māori language was formally one of the constituent continents of the ancient supercontinent called Gondwana, which also included Western Antarctica and Eastern Australia over 500 million years ago. 
• It began to "pull away" from Gondwana roughly 105 million years ago.
• As Zealandia started pulling away, it began to sink beneath the waves, with over 94 percent remaining underwater for millennia.
• It is approximately 1.89 million square miles (4.9 million square km) in size, about half the size of Australia.
• The vast majority of this new continent lies beneath 6,560 feet (2km) of water.
• The part of Zealandia which is above water forms the foundation of New Zealand's north and south islands as well as the island of New Caledonia. 
• The existence of Zealandia was first recorded in 1642 by Dutch businessman and sailor Abel Tasman, who was on a mission to find the "great Southern Continent," or Terra Australis. 

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Recently, the Union Minister of Tribal said in the Lok Sabha that 15 lakh rupees per Van Dhan Vikas Kendra (VDVK) were given under the Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Vikas Yojna (PMJVM) for the support of livelihood activities of tribal people in the country.

• The Van Dhan Scheme is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED. 
• It was launched on 14th April 2018 and seeks to improve tribal incomes through the value addition of tribal products.
• Implementation:
  • The scheme will be implemented through the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as Nodal Department at the Central Level and TRIFED as Nodal Agency at the National Level.
  • At the State level, the State Nodal Agency for MFPs and the District collectors are envisaged to play a pivot role in scheme implementation at the grassroots level.
  • Locally the Kendras are proposed to be managed by a Managing Committee (an SHG) consisting of representatives of Van Dhan SHGs in the cluster.

Hence both statements are not correct.

Announcing the 30-year celebration of ‘Project Elephant’ recently officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that the DNA profiling of 270 of the 2,675 captive elephants in the country has been completed.

• Project Elephant’ was launched in 1992 as a Centrally-Sponsored Scheme to protect elephants and improve their habitat and corridors, reduce Human-elephant conflict and ensure their welfare.
• Under this project, financial and technical support is given to wildlife management efforts by states for their free-ranging populations of wild Asian Elephants.
• Project elephant is mainly implemented in 16 States.
• Conservation status of Asian Elephant
  • IUCN: Endangered
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
  • CITES: Appendix I

Hence only statement 1 is correct.