Daily Current Affairs MCQ - November 10, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

After oxygen cylinders, it’s everyday-use portable oxygen cans that are now witnessing brisk sales across the country, with escalating air pollution levels and increased travel and outdoor activities. It is also being used by those recovering from COVID-19.

• Sales of these portable oxygen cans, according to industry experts, have doubled post-Diwali, and going by the current trend they are expected to triple in the coming weeks.
• Delhi-NCR alone claims to bring in 65% of the sales, while Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune also are witnessing a steady climb in demand for this product.
• This when medical doctors are not ready to give an all-clear for the product, stating that it can actually delay medical intervention and lead to a false sense of well-being.
• According to doctors, these cans are not useful and they should not be recommended
• Technically, a patient in need of oxygen will require at least 1 litre per minute. While these portable oxygen spray cans can have up to 12 litres of oxygen, they will last for about 10 minutes or even less. They shouldn’t be seen as a medical intervention.
• These oxygen spray cans will hardly help in times of acute respiratory failure. One requires a continuous, high flow of oxygen supply with a proper setting.
• These spray cans may only be used in areas with severe air pollution, for certain sports activities, high-altitude climbing and expeditions, mountaineering, sky expeditions etc.
• As oxygen supports combustion, storing these at homes is also hazardous.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

The fourth submarine of the Project – 75, Yard 11878 was delivered to the Indian Navy today, 09 November 2021.

• Christened ‘Vela’, the submarine was launched on 06 May 19, and has completed all major harbour and sea trials including weapon and sensor trials.
• The submarine would soon be commissioned into the Indian Navy and enhance the Indian Navies capability.

Project – 75

• Project – 75 includes construction of six submarines of Scorpene design.
• These submarines are being constructed at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, under collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France.
• Three of these submarines are already in commission with the Indian Navy.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D), Ministry of Defence, Israel have entered into a Bilateral Innovation Agreement (BIA) to promote innovation and accelerated research and development in start-ups and MSMEs for the development of dual use technologies.

• Under the agreement, start-ups and industries of both countries will work together to bring out next-generation technologies and products in the areas such as Drones, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum technology, Photonics, Energy Storage and Natural Language Processing.
• Products and technologies will be customised to meet the unique requirements of both countries. The development efforts will be jointly funded by DRDO and DDR&D, Israel.
• The technologies developed under BIA will be available to both countries for their domestic applications.

Hence both statements are correct.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh inaugurated DBT - APSCS&T Centre of Excellence for Bioresources and Sustainable Development and Rural Technology Demonstration Centre at Kimin in Papum Pare District of Arunachal Pradesh.

• The prestigious project for establishing “Centre for Bio-Resources and Sustainable Development as a Centre of Excellence” was sanctioned by the Department of Biotechnology.
• With the setting up of the Bio-Resource Centre by the Department of Biotechnology, said Dr Jitendra Singh, the entire North Eastern Region will be able to use its fruit and organic food potential to the maximum extent.
• Besides, this will also help in exploring many vast areas and to find hitherto lesser known or unknown new species including diverse habitats and diverse flora.

Hence both statements are correct.

Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya has said that at present 96 countries have agreed to Mutual Acceptance of Vaccination Certificates and also those who recognize Indian vaccination certificates of travellers fully vaccinated with COVISHIELD and WHO and nationally approved COVID vaccines.

• These countries include Canada, the United States of America, Bangladesh, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Finland, Estonia, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine etc.
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with the Ministry of External Affairs is in continuous communication with all countries for mutual recognition of vaccine certificates and WHO and nationally approved vaccines to facilitate hassle-free international travel across countries.
• Union Government’s commitment to accelerate the pace and expand the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country has resulted in crossing the 100 crore milestone in the administration of doses on 21st October 2021.
• Bharat Biotech's vaccine Covaxin was recently granted Emergency Use Listing from the World Health Organisation.

Hence both statements are correct.

In simple words, fiscal prudence is Spending within budget.

For any economy to mature, fiscal prudence is critical. If the government continues to spend way more than its revenues, it will either have to print more currency or borrow from the market to meet the shortfall. Printing currency will fuel inflation and, at times, hyper-inflation.

In a bid to avoid these scenarios and mandate fiscal prudence, the Government of India passed the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act in 2003. Its objective was to institutionalise fiscal prudence and reduce the country’s fiscal deficit in such a manner that it gradually moves towards balancing the Budget.

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), defined in Article 12 of the Protocol, allows a country with an emission-reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol (Annex B Party) to implement an emission-reduction project in developing countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.

It is the first global, environmental investment and credit scheme of its kind, providing a standardized emission offset instrument, CERs.

A CDM project activity might involve, for example, a rural electrification project using solar panels or the installation of more energy-efficient boilers.

India registered 1,703 projects under the CDM which is the second highest in the world. 

Registered NGOs can receive foreign contribution for five purposes — social, educational, religious, economic and cultural. An FCRA registration is mandatory for NGOs to receive foreign funds.

NITI Aayog announces five top aspirational districts in education sector.

• NITI Aayog has announced the top five most improved aspirational districts in the education sector for the month of September.
• Bhoopalpalli in Telangana tops the ranking.
• It is followed by Chatra and Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Nuapada in Odisha and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.
• This is as per NITI Aayog's delta rankings.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that India is poised to achieve a services export target of one trillion dollars by 2030.

• He was addressing the Global Services Conclave-2021 in New Delhi.
• The Minister said that in 2020, India became the 7th largest services exporter in the world, moving up the ladder by two positions.
• Emphasizing that India had the potential to become the top services exporter in the world, Mr. Goyal said that the services sector is boosting India’s transition from an Assembly economy to a Knowledge-based economy.
• Mr. Goyal said that today India’s services export largely comprises of IT and IT-enabled services. He stressed that we need to focus on other potential growth sectors.

Hence both statements are correct.