Daily Current Affairs MCQ- November 15, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted the hot test of CE20 cryogenic engine.

• According to ISRO, CE20 cryogenic engine is indigenously developed for LVM3.
• This will enhance the LVM3 payload capability up to 450 kg with additional propellant loading.
• The Launch Vehicle Mark-III went through the hot test at an uprated thrust level of 21.8 tonnes for the first time.
• The major modifications carried out on this test article compared to previous engines was introduction of Thrust Control Valve (TCV) for thrust control.
• In addition to the hot test, a 3D printed LOX and LH2 turbine exhaust casings were inducted in the engine for the first time.
• The LVM3 is the heaviest launch vehicle of ISRO.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Moody’s Investor Services has lowered India’s economic growth forecast by 70 basis points to 7 per cent for 2022. This is in line with the downward revision of the global growth forecast.

• The report titled ‘Global Macro Outlook 2023-24: Global economy faces a reckoning over inflation, geopolitics and policy trade-offs’.

Highlights:

• The downward revision assumes higher inflation, high interest rates and slowing global growth will dampen economic momentum by more than previously expected.
• The weakening of the rupee and high oil prices continue to exert upward pressure on inflation, which has remained above the Reserve Bank of India’s ‘4 per cent -/+ 2 per cent’ target range for much of this year.
• Annual headline CPI inflation increased to 7.5 per cent in September, 2022 after dipping below 7 per cent in July.
• Wholesale price inflation, however, declined for four straight months, from a peak of 16.6 per cent in May to 10.7 per cent in September.
• From May to September, the RBI has raised the repo rate a cumulative 190 bps to 5.9 per cent to contain inflation risks.

Other revisions:

• This is not the first downward revision of the Indian economy, though all the revisions are for the fiscal year.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut India’s GDP forecast for the current fiscal (FY23) by 60 basis points to 6.8 per cent from 7.4 per cent estimated earlier.
• Before that, the World Bank cut the forecast by 1 percentage point to 6.5 per cent, ADB by 50 basis points to 7 per cent, Fitch by 80 basis points to 7 per cent and the RBI by 20 basis points to 7 per cent.
• S&P Global and OECD have maintained the forecast at 7.3 per cent and 6.9 per cent, respectively.

Hence both statements are correct.

According to a study published in Journal of Threatened Taxa, differing elevations of habitation make one group of Himalayan Gray Langur prefer fruits and another group relish flowers.

• The Himalayan Gray Langur or the Chamba Sacred Langur (Semnopithecus ajax) is a colobine, meaning leaf-eating monkey.
• It is considered an endangered species globally as its population is estimated to be less than 1,500 mature individuals in 15-20 groups.
• They inhabit areas between 2,200-4,000 metres above mean sea level in the subtropical, tropical moist temperate, alpine, coniferous and broadleaved forests and scrublands.
• It is endemic to the Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal regions of western Himalayas, where the ecosystem is vulnerable and susceptible to the impact of anthropogenic pressures.
• It is also reported from Pakistan and Nepal.

Hence both statements are correct.

Cochin Shipyard has recently signed an MoU with Inland Waterways Authority of India to build the country's first hydrogen fuel cell catamaran vessel for Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

• The Shipyard also signed another MoU for the construction of six electric catamaran vessels for Uttar Pradesh and two such vessels for Guwahati.
• The air-conditioned hydrogen fuel cell catamaran vessel will have a seating capacity for 100 passengers.
• It will be deployed at Varanasi after test and trial in Kochi.
• The air-conditioned electric hybrid vessels, designed for short-distance commute in riverine waters, will have seating capacity for 50 passengers.
• The vessels will provide onboard accommodation for the crew, besides toilet and washroom facilities for the passengers.
• The vessels will significantly contribute to the reduction in pollution levels in the National Waterways.

Hence both statements are correct.

The year 2022 has been declared as the ASEAN-India Friendship year, as ASEAN and India commemorate 30 years of partnership.

• ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
• It is a political and economic union of 10 Asian countries aimed at promoting the economic growth, political stability of individual countries, and regional stability among its members.
• Apart from economic and political growth it also focuses on social progress, social-cultural evolution among member countries, and provision of mechanisms and strategies to resolve differences peacefully.
• History: It was formed in 1967, by Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Membership has been extended to include Vietnam, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei.
• It includes eight dialogue partners -- India, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Russia.
• Secretariat: Jakarta, Indonesia.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Indian skimmer is seen in huge flocks during winter in Coringa wildlife sanctuary (Kakinada).

• A thick, orange-yellow bill with a slightly longer lower mandible (jaw) is one of the most striking features of the Indian skimmer (Rynchops albicollis).
• The Indian skimmer grows to a length of 40-43 cm.

Distribution:

• More widespread in winter, the Indian skimmer is found in the coastal estuaries of western and eastern India.
• It occurs primarily on larger, sandy, lowland rivers, around lakes and adjacent marshes and, in the non-breeding season, in estuaries and coasts.
• About 20% of the total population of fewer than 2,500 birds nest along river Chambal.

Threat:

• Its population is declining primarily because of the degradation of wetland and riverine habitats.
• The damming of the Chambal River, in upstream Rajasthan, has adversely affected its population at National Chambal Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh, due to the dropping water levels allowing predators and livestock access to breeding islands.

Conservation:

• IUCN: Endangered
• In 2020, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) have initiated a ‘Guardians of the Skimmer’ programme, which is a community-based conservation initiative.
• BNHS in collaboration with Bird Count India have also initiated ‘Indian Skimmer Count’-a citizen science initiative.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The US Department of Treasury recently removed India along with Italy, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam from its Currency Monitoring List of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices and macroeconomic policies.

• India had been on the list for the last two years.
• China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan are the seven economies that are a part of the current monitoring list.
• The countries that have been removed from the list have met only one out of three criteria for two consecutive reports.

Currency Manipulation:

• The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 of US requires its Treasury Department to report to the Congress in every six months if any country is manipulating its currencies to gain trade advantages over the US.
• One of the ways of manipulation involves any country artificially weakening its currency by selling it in exchange for a foreign currency, usually the US dollar.
• This artificial weakening of currency makes its own exports cheaper, thereby gaining an unfair trade advantage over another country’s exports.

Criteria:

• There are three criteria the US Treasury looks at in placing a country on the watch list:
  • Significant trade surplus with the US (at least $20 billion in 12 months)
  • A large current account surplus (at least 2 per cent of GDP over a 12-month period)
  • “Persistent", one-sided intervention (when net purchases of foreign currency totalling at least 2 per cent of the country’s GDP over a 12-month period are conducted repeatedly, in at least six out of 12 months).

The countries that meet two out of the three criteria are placed on the watch list.

Hence both statements are correct.

A study published recently in BMJ, which involves a larger cohort, found that pre-symptomatic transmission of monkeypox virus had taken place as long as four days before symptoms manifested.

• The monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus, which is a genus of viruses that also includes the variola virus, which causes smallpox, and vaccinia virus, which was used in the smallpox vaccine.
• Monkeypox causes symptoms similar to smallpox, although they are less severe.
• While vaccination eradicated smallpox worldwide in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in a swathe of countries in Central and West Africa, and has on occasion showed up elsewhere.
• According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), two distinct clade are identified:
  • the West African clade and
  • the Congo Basin clade, also known as the Central African clade.
• Monkeypox is a zoonosis, that is, a disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans.
• Cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus.
• Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys.
• Human-to-human transmission is, however, limited. Transmission, when it occurs, can be through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets and contaminated objects.

Hence both statements are correct.

Tirupati district is dotted with anthropomorphic burial sites, said to be the largest as a collection in Andhra Pradesh.

• Anthropomorphic sites are those marked by a representation of human form above the megalithic burials.
• The most prominent one is the ‘pillared dolmen’ of the megalithic era, found at Mallayyagaripalle, nestling on a hillock between Chandragiri and Dornakambala, in Tirupati.
• The structure locally referred to as ‘Pandava Gullu’ or ‘Pandavula Banda’ in memory of the Pandavas, is estimated to be 2,500 years old.
• There is another endangered megalith monument in Palem village near Kallur, which resembles a bull’s horn. It is called locally as ‘Devara Yeddhu’.
• Another megalithic burial site in Venkatapuram is the ‘stone circle’, where the tomb is surrounded by round stones arranged in a circle.

Megalith:

• A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones.
• The word megalithic describes structures made of such large stones without the use of mortar or concrete, representing periods of prehistory characterised by such constructions.
• The construction of these structures took place mainly in the Neolithic period and continued into the Chalcolithic period and the Bronze Age.

Hence both statements are correct.

With winter setting in, several migratory bird species have started flocking to the wetlands.

• Delhi-NCR accounts for almost one-third of the total bird species found in India.
• The region has about 1,800 species of fauna out of which 446 are bird species.
• There are nine protected areas, including one national park, six wildlife sanctuaries, one reserve forest and one conservation reserve.
• There are eight important bird areas, including Okhla Bird sanctuary (Gautam Budh Nagar), Sultanpur National Park (Gurgaon), Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary (Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bijnor), Basai Wetlands (Gurgaon) etc. None of them are in Delhi.
• Some of the major migratory ducks are Northern shoveler, Gadwall, Greylag geese, Pallas’s gulls, brown-headed and black-headed gulls, coots, etc.
• India is a winter home for most of the Siberian birds such as the Siberian Cranes, Greater Flamingo, and Demoiselle Crane, also numerous species of birds from other regions of the world.
• They migrate to India every year during the winter and summer season for food, breeding, and nesting.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.