Daily Current Affairs MCQ - November 9, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

On November 8, 2021, Google celebrated 104th birthday of Kamal Ranadive with a Google Doodle.

• Kamal Ranadive (8 November 1917 – 2001) was an Indian biomedical researcher who is known for her research in cancer about the links between cancers and viruses.
• She was a founder member of the Indian Women Scientists' Association (IWSA).
• In the 1960s, she established India's first tissue culture research laboratory at the Indian Cancer Research Centre in Mumbai.
• Kamal was awarded the Padma Bhusan (the third highest civilian award) for Medicine, in 1982.
• She was an Emeritus Medical Scientist of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Last week, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation released data showing its world Food Price Index (FPI) averaging 133.2 points in October, the highest since July 2011.

• No less significant, though, is the way the FPI has oscillated since the outbreak of Covid-19.
• In May 2020, when the global economy was in the doldrums, it had collapsed to a four-year low of 91.1 points. From there to a ten-and-a-quarter-year-high now has been quite a climb.
• Much of this roller-coaster has had to do with oil.

Fuel and food

• One reason why petroleum and agri-commodity prices move in tandem is the bio-fuels link.
• When crude prices rise, blending ethanol from sugarcane and corn (maize) with petrol or diverting palm and soyabean oil for biodiesel production becomes that much more attractive.
• Cotton, likewise, turns relatively affordable vis-à-vis petrochemicals-based synthetic fibres.
• Also, since corn is primarily an animal feed, its diversion to ethanol leads to substitution by other grains, including wheat, for livestock use. That, then, pushes up prices of foodgrains as well.
• The same happens to sugar, as mills step up the proportion of cane crushed for fermenting into alcohol.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Before the Cretaceous mass extinction known for wiping out non-avian dinosaurs, the Earth had witnessed four other great mass extinctions.

• A paper published last week in the journal, Nature Geoscience, has come up with a new reason behind the first mass extinction, also known as the Late Ordovician mass extinction.
• The article notes that the cooling climate likely changed the ocean circulation pattern.
• This caused a disruption in the flow of oxygen-rich water from the shallow seas to deeper oceans, leading to a mass extinction of marine creatures.
• The Ordovician mass extinction that occurred about 445 million years ago killed about 85% of all species.

The other big extinction events were:

• The Devonian mass extinction (about 375 million years ago) wiped out about 75% of the world’s species.
• The Permian mass extinction (about 250 million years ago) also known as the Great Dying caused the extinction of over 95% of all species.
• The Triassic mass extinction (200 million years ago) eliminated about 80% of Earth’s species, including some dinosaurs.
• Some researchers have pointed out that we are currently experiencing a sixth mass extinction as the result of human-induced climate change.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Scientists studying the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) – which surrounds the only black hole to have been imaged so far – have come up with a theoretical model of the jets of material emanating from M87.

• The calculated images published in Nature Astronomy resemble closely what is observed, and help confirm Einstein’s theory of relativity.
• Messier 87 (also known as Virgo A or NGC 4486, generally abbreviated to M87) is a supergiant elliptical galaxy with several trillion stars in the constellation Virgo.
• One of the most massive galaxies in the local universe, it has a large population of globular clusters—about 15,000 compared with the 150–200 orbiting the Milky Way—and a jet of energetic plasma that originates at the core and extends at least 1,500 parsecs (4,900 light-years), traveling at a relativistic speed.
• It is one of the brightest radio sources in the sky and a popular target for both amateur and professional astronomers.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Sustainable development and conservation strategies for the Northeast and its contiguous biodiversity zones, a round table of forest ministers of the region, besides green art and green music events are on the agenda of the three-day Northeast Green Summit beginning here from November 16.

• The focus area of the sixth edition of the summit is “Greening after Covid: Regional Cooperation, Innovation & Entrepreneurship”.
• It will be held at Silchar (Assam).
• Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Chaubey is expected to attend the summit, where delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar will also brainstorm on various issues.
• It will be organised by Vibgyor NE Foundation and supported by the United Nations Environment.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

UNESCO announced that the city of Srinagar has joined the UNESCO Network of Creative Cities (UCCN). It has been designated aa a Creative City of Craft and Folk Arts.

• Srinagar joins Chennai and Varanasi - UNESCO Cities of music, Jaipur - UNESCO City of crafts and folk arts; Mumbai – UNESCO city of film and Hyderabad – UNESCO City of gastronomy.
• Worldwide, 49 new cities have joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) following their designation by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, in recognition of their commitment to placing culture and creativity at the heart of their development and to sharing knowledge and good practices.
• The Network now numbers 295 cities reaching 90 countries that invest in culture and creativity – crafts and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts, and music – to advance sustainable urban development.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh today launched the first-ever Mentorship Programme for Young Innovators to mark the 75th Year of India’s independence.

• This is a pan India Scheme that envisages Star College in every district of the country supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
• The DBT-Star College Mentorship Programme will help towards the concept of networking, hand holding and outreach.
• The plan envisages organizing workshops, meetings per month; handhold at colleges particularly in the rural areas or lesser endowed areas and conduct outreach activities with government schools.
• The Star Status Colleges will help in incorporating the vision of DBT towards strengthening of UG Science Courses throughout the country by mentoring the newer colleges through hand-holding and peer learning and bringing them under the aegis of Star College Scheme.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Department of Justice kicked-off the week- long “Tele-Law on Wheels” campaign from 8th to 14th November, 2021.

• As part of this campaign, a series of activities are being undertaken to empower people through pre-litigation advice for rightfully claiming their entitlements and for timely redressal of their difficulties.
• A special Login week is being organized throughout the country for encouraging those in need to seek legal advice and consultation through tele-and video conferencing facilities by urging them to visit their nearest Common Service Centers(CSCs) offering Tele-Law services.
• These CSCs have been branded as Kanooni Salah Sahahyak Kendra for this purpose.
• The Tele-Law on Wheels Campaign is being conducted with aid of CSC e-Governance which has a network of 4 Lakh + digitally enabled CSCs across the country.

Citizens’ Tele-Law Mobile App

• The key highlight of the week-long Campaign would be the launch of the Citizens’ Tele-Law Mobile App by Minister of Law and Justice and Minister of State for Law and Justice on 13th November, 2021.
• This App would connect the beneficiaries directly with Panel Lawyers offering legal advice and consultation.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Last week, the CBI filed two chargesheets against serving and retired naval officers, and some others, for allegedly sharing details of the ongoing modernisation project of India’s Kilo Class submarines. The Kilo Class comprises imported submarines that are being retrofitted.

• Currently, India has 15 conventional diesel-electric submarines, classified as SSKs, and one nuclear ballistic submarine, classified as SSBN.
• Of the SSKs,
  • four are Shishumar Class, which were bought and then built in India in collaboration with the Germans starting 1980s;
  • eight are Kilo Class or Sindhughosh Class bought from Russia (including erstwhile USSR) between 1984 and 2000; and
  • three are Kalvari Class Scorpene submarines built at India’s Mazagon Dock in partnership with France’s Naval Group, earlier called DCNS.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

India is now ahead of China in financial inclusion metrics, with mobile and Internet banking transactions rising to 13,615 per 1,000 adults in 2020 from 183 in 2015 and the number of bank branches inching up to 14.7 per 1 lakh adults in 2020 from 13.6 in 2015, which is higher than in Germany, China and South Africa, as per a report.

• States with higher financial inclusion / more bank accounts have also seen a perceptible decline in crime along with a meaningful drop in consumption of alcohol and tobaccos.
• Under the no-frills accounts scheme, the number of persons with deposit accounts at banks has significantly increased, becoming comparable with emerging economy peers and even some of the advanced economies
• In the use of digital payments also, there has been noteworthy progress.
• The number of no-frills bank accounts opened has reached 43.7 crore with ₹1.46 lakh crore in deposits as of October 20, 2021.
• Of these, almost two-thirds are operational in rural and semi-urban areas and more than 78% of these accounts are with state-owned banks, 18.2% with regional rural banks, and 3% are opened by private sector banks.
• The number of banking outlets in villages / banking correspondent (BCs) had risen from 34,174 in March 2010 to 12.4 lakh in December 2020, the report showed.
• Hence both statements are correct.