Daily Current Affairs MCQ - May 7, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

• Factors Influencing Southwest Monsoon Formation:
  • The differential heating and cooling of land and water creates a low pressure on the landmass of India while the seas around experience comparatively high pressure. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • The shift of the position of Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in summer, over the Ganga plain (this is the equatorial trough normally positioned about 5°N of the equator. It is also known as the monsoon-trough during the monsoon season).
  • The presence of the high-pressure area, east of Madagascar, approximately at 20°S over the Indian Ocean. The intensity and position of this high-pressure area affect the Indian Monsoon. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • The Tibetan plateau gets intensely heated during summer, which results in strong vertical air currents and the formation of low pressure over the plateau at about 9 km above sea level.
  • The movement of the westerly jet stream to the north of the Himalayas and the presence of the tropical easterly jet stream over the Indian peninsula during summer. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • Tropical Easterly Jet (African Easterly Jet).
  • El Nino/Southern Oscillation (SO): Normally when the tropical eastern south Pacific Ocean experiences high pressure, the tropical eastern Indian Ocean experiences low pressure. But in certain years, there is a reversal in the pressure conditions and the eastern Pacific has lower pressure in comparison to the eastern Indian Ocean. This periodic change in pressure conditions is known as the SO.

• Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) or Ecologically Fragile Areas are areas within 10 kms around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • In case of places with sensitive corridors, connectivity and ecologically important patches, crucial for landscape linkage, even areas beyond 10 km width can be included in the eco-sensitive zone.
• ESZs are notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), under Environment Protection Act, 1986. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

• Recently, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to step up purchase of Government Securities (G-Sec) under the Government Securities Acquisition Programme (G-SAP) led to the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond falling below 6%.
  • The RBI, for the year 2021-22, has decided to put in place a secondary market G-SAP 1.0.
  • It is part of RBI’s Open Market Operations (OMOs). Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • Under the programme, the RBI will commit upfront to a specific amount of Open Market Purchases of G-Secs.
• The objective is to avoid volatility in the G-sec market in view of its central role in the pricing of other financial market instruments across the term structure and issuers, both in the public and private sectors.
• It will provide certainty to the bond market participants with regard to RBI’s commitment of support to the bond market in Financial Year (FY) 2021-2022.
• It will help reduce the difference between the repo rate and the 10-year government bond yield. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • That, in turn, will help to reduce the aggregate cost of borrowing for the Centre and states in FY 2021-22.
• It will enable a stable and orderly evolution of the yield curve amidst comfortable liquidity conditions.

• 2G technology was launched in the 1990s which uses digital radio signals and supported both voice and data transmission with a bandwidth of 64 Kbps. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • 1G technology, launched in the 1980s, worked on analog radio signals.
• 4G was launched in 2009 with a peak speed of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps and it also enables 3D virtual reality. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• 5G technology is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
  • 5G mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.
    • Low band spectrum: It has shown great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange however the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
    • Mid-band spectrum: It offers higher speeds compared to the low band, but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
    • High-band spectrum: It has the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

The world-famous Lonar crater in Buldhana district was added to ‘Ramsar sites’, getting the highest level of protection.

WHAT IT MEANS

• Increased publicity and prestige for Lonar wetlands
• Access to aid through grant fund
• Facilitate development of lake, policies for its wise use
• Encourage international cooperation and expert advice on problems of Lonar wetland
• Help ensure survival of representative natural eco-systems of Lonar as well as rare and endemic species

Bajra, jowar and ragi are the three millets covered under MSP. Soyabean is an oilseed. Maize is a Coarse cereal.

Apollo 11 became one of the most publicly recognised missions of NASA and was the first manned mission to the Moon. 

Arouca Bridge 516, the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge and was officially inaugurated on 02 May 2021 in northern Portugal.

The first-ever India-France-Australia Trilateral Foreign Ministerial Dialogue was held on 4 May 2021, in London, UK, on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. The meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar from India, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jean-Yves Le Drian and Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Marise Payne.

The top Oil and Gas PSUs of India, including IndianOil, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and GAIL, have inked a Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the Shri Badrinath Utthan Charitable Trust on May 06, 2021, for Construction and Redevelopment of Shri Badrinath Dham in Uttarakhand as a Spiritual Smart hill Town. Under the MoUs, these PSUs will contribute Rs. 99.60 crore in the first phase of project.