Daily Current Affairs MCQ - November 23, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

El Salvador, the only country to recognise Bitcoin as a legal tender, is planning to build an entire city based on the largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin, President Nayib Bukele announced.

• El Salvador’s “Bitcoin City” would be funded with the issuance of a $1 billion Bitcoin Bond. The city will be located along the Gulf of Fonseca near a volcano.
• Bitcoin city, as planned by the El Salvador president, will be laid out in a circle (like a coin) and in the city center will be a plaza that will be host to a huge Bitcoin symbol.
• The city will be built near the Conchagua volcano to take advantage of the country’s geothermal energy— to power both the city and cryptocurrency mining —an energy consuming process of solving complex mathematical calculations day and night to verify and add crypto coins to the Blockchain network.
• El Salvador is already running a pilot Bitcoin mining venture at another geothermal power plant beside the Tecapa volcano.
• The residents of Bitcoin city won’t have to pay any income, property, capital gains or even payroll taxes.
• Bukele unveiled a $1 billion US “Bitcoin bond”—half of which ($500 millions) would be used to build energy and mining infrastructure, and the rest ($500 millions) will be used by the country to buy more Bitcoins.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman, who was held captive for three days by Pakistan after he chased and downed a Pakistani fighter jet in 2019, was awarded Vir Chakra, the third highest wartime gallantry award, by President Ram Nath Kovind.

• He was among several other military officers who were presented Gallantry awards and Distinguished Service decorations in a defence investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was posthumously given Shaurya Chakra for his role in a counter-insurgency operation, where five terrorists were eliminated and 200 kg of explosive material was recovered.
• The second highest peacetime gallantry award, Kirti Chakra, was posthumously awarded to Sapper Prakash Jadhav for neutralising terrorists in an operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
• President Kovind also presented Shaurya Chakra posthumously to Naib Subedar Sombir for killing a dreaded terrorist in an operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia attends Udan Utsav, says target to increase airports in country to 220 in next five years.

• Attending the Udan Utsav to commemorate the journey of UDAN at Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Jharsuguda in Odisha today, he said that it was due to the emphasis of the PM on connectivity that the country has added as many as 62 new airports in a span of seven years taking the present total to 136.
• Surendra Sai (23 January 1809 – 28 February 1884) was an Indian freedom fighter who sacrificed his life fighting against the British East India Company. Surendra Sai and his associates resisted the British and successfully protected most parts of Western Odisha region for some time from the British rule.
• In September 2018 Jharsuguda became the second city in Odisha to have an airport, which was named in honour of Sai.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh launched India’s first Virtual Science Lab for Children under CSIR Jigyasa Programme, which will also connect students with scientists across the country.

• The main aim of the Virtual Lab is to provide quality research exposure and innovative pedagogy for school students based on an online interactive medium.
• The new facility will immensely benefit students from Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, and Government Schools and will help in catching them young.
• The target audience for the Virtual Lab platform is students of Standard six to 12 who would like to explore science using different activities, experienced researchers, and faculties on the subjects of Science, Mathematics, Biology, and IT.
• Initially the content will be available in English, but has been planned to be made available in Hindi and other regional languages. This Virtual Lab will provide a virtual tour of CSIR laboratories and expose students to research infrastructure

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Union Government has notified uniform goods and services tax rate at 12 percent on Man-Made Fibre (MMF), MMF yarn, MMF fabrics, and apparel.

• The changed rates will come into effect from 1st January of next year. This will help the MMF segment grow and emerge as a big job provider in the country.
• The textiles and apparel industry was having long-pending demand for removal of inverted tax structure on MMF value chain. The GST on MMF, MMF yarn and MMF fabrics were 18 percent, 12 per cent and 5 percent respectively.
• Textiles Ministry has said, differential rates for garments create problems in compliance with tax regime.
• It said the uniform rate of 12 percent for entire value chain of MMF textiles sector will benefit and save a lot of working capital. It will reduce the compliance burden of the industry players.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched two customer-centric initiatives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — the RBI Retail Direct Scheme and the Integrated Ombudsman Scheme.

RBI Retail Direct Scheme

The scheme allows retail investors to buy and sell government securities (G-Sec) online, both in the primary and secondary markets. According to details provided by RBI, these small investors can now invest in G-Secs by opening a gilt securities account with the RBI. The account opened will be called Retail Direct Gilt (RDG) Account.

RBI Integrated Ombudsman Scheme

This will help in improving the grievance redress mechanism for resolving customer complaints against RBI’s regulated entities. According to the PMO, the scheme is based on “One Nation-One Ombudsman” with one portal, one email, and one address for the customers to lodge their complaints.

The redressal will continue to be cost-free for customers of banks and members of the public.

India’s current account in the balance of payments ended in a surplus to the extent of 0.9 per cent of GDP in FY ’21 for the first time in 17 years as trade deficit narrowed due to contraction in pandemic induced import demand. But as the economy opened up in the latter parts of the year, the fourth quarter ending March’21 ended in a deficit.

A depository is an organization which holds securities (like shares, debentures, bonds, government securities, mutual fund units etc.) of investors in electronic form at the request of the investors through a registered depository participant. It also provides services related to transactions in securities.

At present two Depositories viz. National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) are registered with SEBI.

TV show produced by Doordarshan and radio show by All India Radio received multiple awards at the recently held ABU - UNESCO Peace Media Awards-2021 at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

• The award presentation ceremony was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 17th of November. The awards were given by UNESCO in collaboration with Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union under ‘Together for Peace’ (T4P) initiative.
• The ABU-UNESCO T4P Media Awards highlight and promote crucial role of independent, ethical journalism and citizens’ media literacy for building positive peace in human minds.
• Positive peace is not just the absence of conflicts and war, but striving for equitable and fair societies having respectful and sustainable relations with the environment.
• The Awards honour innovative and creative content, which informs and educates audiences on best practices of building positive peace that have increasing urgency in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Union Government has notified uniform goods and services tax rate at 12 percent on Man-Made Fibre (MMF), MMF yarn, MMF fabrics, and apparel.

• The changed rates will come into effect from 1st January of next year. This will help the MMF segment grow and emerge as a big job provider in the country.
• The textiles and apparel industry was having long-pending demand for removal of inverted tax structure on MMF value chain. The GST on MMF, MMF yarn and MMF fabrics were 18 percent, 12 per cent and 5 percent respectively.
• Textiles Ministry has said, differential rates for garments create problems in compliance with tax regime.
• It said the uniform rate of 12 percent for entire value chain of MMF textiles sector will benefit and save a lot of working capital. It will reduce the compliance burden of the industry players.
• Hence both statements are correct.