Daily Current Affairs MCQ- May 8, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

The Ministry of Home Affairs has recently decided to introduce Millets, Shree Anna in the meals of personnel of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

• The decision to introduce 30 per cent Millets in the meals.
• The Ministry had asked all the forces to take action for the introduction of Millets based menu.
• The Ministry informed that Millets will also be made available in Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandar, Grocery Shops of the campuses and Ration Store by setting up the dedicated counters and corners.
• The forces will organize training of cooks in preparing millets based dishes through reputed institutes in this field.

International Year Millets:

• The United Nations had declared 2023 the International Year Millets as recognizing the importance of millets, and creating a domestic and global demand along with providing nutritious food to the people, at the behest of the Government of India.
• Millets are good source of proteins, gluten-free, low in Glycemic Index (GI) and rich in dietary fibre, micronutrients including calcium, iron, phosphorus etc, and phyto-chemicals.
• The campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote Shree Anna will fulfill nutritional requirements of crores of people of the country.
• International Year of Millets (IYOM) - 2023 will provide an opportunity to increase global production, efficient processing and better use of crop rotation and promote millets as a major component of the food basket.

Hence both statements are correct.

Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation (IADF) is set to host a grand community reception in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the QUAD Leaders' Summit slated to take place in Sydney in May 2023. 

What is Quad Grouping?

• The grouping of four democracies –India, Australia, US and Japan– is known as the quadrilateral security dialogue or quad.
• The aim of this grouping is to ensure a free and open international order based on the rule of law in the Indo- Pacific.

What are the objectives of the Quad?

• The group’s primary objectives include
  • maritime security,
  • combating the Covid-19 crisis, especially vis-à-vis vaccine diplomacy,
  • addressing the risks of climate change,
  • creating an ecosystem for investment in the region and
  • boosting technological innovation.

Evolution of Quad:

• Following the Indian Ocean tsunami, India, Japan, Australia, and the US created an informal alliance to collaborate on disaster relief efforts.
• Quad as a formal group was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007.
• However, due to Chinese resistance and reluctance shown by India, it could not move ahead.
• Later, during the 2017 ASEAN Summits, all four former members re-joined negotiations to revive the quadrilateral alliance.
• The Quad was upgraded to the ministerial level in September 2019.
• In March 2021, the first-ever summit of QUAD leaders took place virtually.
• It was participated by the PMs/Presidents of all the member countries. The summit was hosted by US.
• Later, in September 2021, the first in-person meeting of Quad leaders was hosted by the US.

Hence both statements are correct.

Buddha Purnima is being celebrated recently.

• It not only marks the day when Gautam Buddha was born but also the day when he attained Nirvana under the Mahabodhi tree at Bodh Gaya. 
• Lord Buddha was born as Prince Siddhartha Gautama on the full moon day in 563 BC at Lumbini in Nepal.
• In Hinduism, Buddha is considered as the ninth avatar of Lord Vishnu.
• His birth anniversary is also known as Vaisakhi Buddha Purnima or Vesak. 
• This day is commemorated by Buddhists and Hindus all over the world and is a major festival in countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, China, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor recently said that Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) platforms could bring about a substantive change in the sphere of cross-border payments.

About Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC):

• CBDCs are a form of digital currency issued by a country's central bank.
• Examples of central banks include the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the US Federal Reserve System, the Bank of Japan.
• CBDCs are similar to stablecoins, except that their value is fixed by the central bank and equivalent to the country's fiat currency.
• Advantages:
• It provides businesses and consumers with privacy, transferability, convenience, accessibility, and financial security. 
• It also decreases the cost of maintenance that a complex financial system requires.
• It reduces cross-border transaction costs.
• It would also reduce the risks associated with using digital currencies, or cryptocurrencies, in their current form. CBDCs, backed by a government and controlled by a central bank, would give households, consumers, and businesses a secure means of exchanging digital currency.

What are Stablecoins?

• They are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged or tied to that of another currency, commodity, or financial instrument.
• Stablecoins aim to provide an alternative to the high volatility of the most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC).
• Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, stablecoins’ prices remain steady in accordance with whichever fiat currency backs them.
• E.g., USDC stablecoin is backed by dollar-denominated assets.

Hence both statements are correct.

Legendary mridangam ‘vidwan’ Karaikudi R Rani recently died due to age-related issues.

About Mridangam:

• It is one of the oldest Indian percussion instruments, originating 2,000 years ago.
• This traditional instrument is found in various parts of South India.
• It is a popular bifacial drum of Carnatic music and is used as an accompaniment in South Indian Classical music.
• It is also known by the name of maddal or maddalam.
• It is held across the lap and played on both ends with the hands and fingers.
• A similar instrument, the pakhavaj, is played in the Hindustani tradition of northern India, as well as in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• Making process:
• The body of the mridangam is scooped out of a single block of wood.
• Jack wood or redwood is the ideal choice of mridangam makers, but the wood of the morgosa tree or the core of the coconut tree and the palm tree is also used for this purpose. 
• Shape: It is shaped like a barrel whose right head is a little smaller than the left.
• Layered parchments, fastened to leather hoops and kept intact and tight by leather braces, control the skin tension.
• At times, small pieces of wood are also put in between these braces to facilitate the tuning.
• A removable patch of tuning paste is affixed to each end, giving the drum a definite pitch.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Central Government has recently categorised practising chartered accountants, company secretaries and cost accountants as a “reporting entity” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

About Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA):

• It is an Act to prevent money laundering and to provide for the confiscation of property derived from or involved in money laundering.
• The Act was formulated for the following objectives:
• Prevent money-laundering.
• Combat/prevent channelising of money into illegal activities and economic crimes.
• Provide for the confiscation of property derived from, or involved/used in, money laundering.
• Provide for matters connected and incidental to the acts of money laundering.
• The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, is responsible for investigating the offences of money laundering under the PMLA.
• Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND) under the Department of Revenue is the central national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analysing, and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions.
• The scheduled offences are separately investigated by agencies mentioned under respective acts, for example, the local police, CBI, customs departments, SEBI, or any other investigative agency, as the case may be.
• Actions that can be initiated against the person involved in money laundering:
• Seizure/freezing of property and records and attachment of property obtained with the proceeds of crime.
• Any person who commits the offence of money laundering shall be punishable with –
• Rigorous imprisonment for a minimum term of three years and this may extend up to seven years.
• Fine (without any limit).

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

President of India recently paid Floral Tributes to Giani Zail Singh on his Birth Anniversary.

• Name: He was born as Jarnail Singh, but later changed his name to Zail Singh. He was given the title of Giani as he was educated and learned about Guru Granth Sahib and other Sikh scriptures.
• Political career: Prior to his presidency, he was a politician with the Indian National Congress party, and had held several ministerial posts in the Union Cabinet, including that of Home Minister. He also served as the Chief Minister of Punjab (1972–77).
• NAM: He served as the Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1983 to 1986.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Indian Meteorological Department, IMD has issued a warning that a cyclonic circulation is likely to develop over the Southeast Bay of Bengal by May 7, 2023

• Cyclones are centres of low pressure surrounded by closed isobars and having increasing pressure outwards.
• As air enters an area of low pressure from all directions, the Coriolis Effect bends the direction of the wind to the right of its path.
• This creates a counter clockwise rotation around the low and convergence near the centre of the system. As the air collides near the centre it is forced aloft where divergence takes air away from the centre of the system.
• A Cyclone is a system of low level convergence and high level divergence with a rising column of air in the centre of the rotating air mass. If the upper air is not diverging then there cannot be a cyclone present.

Cyclones are broadly of two types:

• Temperate cyclones (caused in middle and high latitudes, thus does not occur in India)
• Tropical cyclones

Tropical Cyclones

• Cyclones developed in the regions between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, are called tropical cyclones.
• The weather conditions of low latitudes, mainly rainfall regimes are largely controlled by tropical cyclones.
• Tropical cyclones usually develop in summer season in the vicinity of Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) over warm ocean surface.
• Tropical cyclones are one of the mechanisms by which surface heat energy is redistributed from the equator to the poles.
• Tropical cyclones are known by various names in different parts of the world.
• In the North Atlantic Ocean and the eastern North Pacific they are called hurricanes, and in the western North Pacific around the Philippines, Japan, and China the storms are referred to as typhoons.
• In the western South Pacific and Indian Ocean they are variously referred to as severe tropical cyclones, tropical cyclones, or simply cyclones.
• All these different names refer to the same type of storm.

Conditions necessary for development:

• Tropical cyclone is like a heat engine which is energized by latent heat of condensation. Generally, tropical cyclones are formed due to low pressure of thermal origin.
• The conditions favourable for the formation and intensification of tropical cyclone storms are:
  • Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27° C
  • Presence of the Coriolis force
  • Small differences in the vertical wind speed
  • A pre-existing weak- low-pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation
  • Upper divergence above the sea level system.
  • Having these conditions met is necessary, but not sufficient as many disturbances that appear to have favorable conditions do not develop.

Hence both statements are correct.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit France on 14th of July to attend this year’s Bastille Day Parade as Guest of Honour in Paris. 

• July 14 is marked as France’s National Day.
• One of the revolutionary days in Paris and now a national holiday, the July 14 ("Bastille Day") is celebrated with a mixture of solemn military parades and easygoing dancing and fireworks.
• The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 has been commemorated in France for more than a century.
• Every Bastille Day, Paris’ famous avenue des Champs-Elysées hosts a military parade - similar to India's Republic Day parade on Kartavya Path.
• French heads of state have been the Republic Day guests of honour five times since 1951.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the 2nd Indian PM to be the guest of honour at Bastille Day, after Manmohan Singh in 2009.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Central Government recently promulgated Article 355 in Manipur to take charge of the security of the state.

About Article 355 of the Indian Constitution:

• It is a part of emergency provisions contained in Part XVIII of the Constitution of India, from Article 352 to 360.
• It empowers the central government to take all necessary steps to protect a state against internal disturbances and external aggression.
• This article empowers the Centre to take necessary steps to protect a state from any kind of threat, be it internal or external. 
• The provision is designed to ensure that the government can act swiftly and decisively in the event of any disturbance or threat to the peace and security of the country.
• Exact definition:
• The exact definition of Article 355 in the Constitution of India is, “It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”

Hence only statement 1 is correct.