Daily Current Affairs MCQ- October 3, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

India recently participates at 3rd G20 Sherpa meeting in Indonesia.

• A Sherpa is a personal representative of the leader of a member country at an international Summit meeting such as the G8, G20, the Nuclear Security Summit etc.
• The Sherpa engages in planning, negotiation and implementation tasks through the Summit.
• They coordinate the agenda, seek consensus at the highest political levels, and participate in a series of pre-Summit consultations to help negotiate their leaders’ positions.
• Sherpas are career diplomats or senior government officials appointed by the leaders of their countries.
• The term is derived from the Nepalese Sherpa people, who serve as guides for mountaineers in the Himalayas.
• There is only one Sherpa per Summit for each member country; he/she is assisted by several sous Sherpas.

Hence both statements are correct.

The central government has extended for another six months the application of the disturbed area under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, AFSPA in 12 districts of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. 

• The AFSPA will be extended for six months in nine districts -- Dimapur, Niuland, Chumoukedima, Mon, Kiphire, Noklak, Phek, Peren, and Zunheboto -- and 16 police stations areas in four other districts -- Kohima, Mokokchung, Longleng, and Wokha of Nagaland.
• It has been extended in certain parts of five other districts of the two northeastern states to facilitate the armed forces to continue the anti-insurgency operations. 

AFSPA: 

• It is a law which gives armed forces (Army, the Air Force and Central paramilitary forces) the special powers and immunity to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”. 
• When is it applied? It can be applied only after an area has been declared “disturbed” under section 2 of the act. 
• What is a Disturbed area? An area can be considered to be disturbed due to differences or disputes among different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities. 
• Who declares an area as disturbed? Section (3) of AFSPA empowers the governor of the state/Union territory to issue an official notification declaring the state or a region within as a “disturbed area”, after which the centre can decide whether to send in armed forces. 
• The ‘special powers’ of armed forces under Section 4 are: 
  • ‘Power to use force, including open fire’ at an individual if he violates laws which prohibit (a) the assembly of five or more persons; or (b) carrying of weapons. 
  • ‘power to arrest’ without a warrant; (Under section 5 the Armed Forces have to hand over the arrested person to the nearest Police Station “with the least possible delay”. 
  • ‘power to seize and search’ without any warrant any premise. 
• These armed forces are immune from prosecution unless Union Government provides sanction to the prosecuting agencies. 

Hence both statements are correct.

Output growth in India’s eight core infrastructure sectors slowed to 3.3% in August 2022 from 4.5% in the previous month.

• This is the slowest pace seen since November 2021, with crude oil and natural gas continuing to report contractions while electricity and steel production clocked sharply lower expansions than in the previous month.
• Overall output levels in the eight sectors were 1.5% lower than in July 2022, marking the third successive month of sequential contraction.

Core Industries

• The core sector is an aggregate of 8 core sectors that are fundamental to the Indian economy.
• These are Coal, Crude oil, Natural gas, Refinery products, Fertilisers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.
• These 8 sectors constituting the core sector are important because they account for nearly 40.27% of the overall IIP and hence have long term repercussions for corporate profit growth as well as for the overall GDP growth.
• The growth of the country’s eight core sectors is a lead indicator of the monthly industrial performance.
• The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in the Commerce and Industry Ministry releases the Index of Eight Core Industries.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

General Anil Chauhan recently assumed charge as the country’s second Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

• General Anil Chauhan was commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in 1981 and has served a range of staff and operational appointments including that of Director General of Military Operations.
• The CDS post has been vacant for over nine months since the death of the first CDS Gen Bipin Rawat in a chopper crash in December 2021.
• This is the first instance since independence, of a three-star Lieutenant General rank officer taking over as a four-star General after retirement.
• The Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces (CDS) is the military head and permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) of the Indian Armed Forces.
• The Chief of Defence Staff is the highest-ranking uniformed officer on active duty in the Indian military and chief military adviser to the Minister of Defence.
• The Chief also heads the Department of Military Affairs.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) recently raised the policy repo rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.9%.

• It raised the repo rate (or the rate at which it lends money to the banking system) by 50 basis points (or 0.5 percentage points). 
• It has cut India’s GDP growth rate for the current financial year (2022-23) from 7.2% to 7%.
• The MPC retained the retail inflation projection for the current fiscal year at 6.7%.

Monetary Policy Committee

• The Monetary Policy Committee of India is responsible for fixing the policy interest rate, to achieve the objectives of monetary policy.
• Composition:
  • Three officials of the Reserve Bank of India, with Governor of RBI as Chairperson, ex officio
  • Three external members appointed by the Government of India
  • The external members hold office for a period of four years.
• Decisions of the MPC are taken on the basis of majority, with Governor having the casting vote in case of a tie.
• The MPC meets least 4 times a year and it publishes its decisions after each such meeting.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) recently launched Telecom Technology Development Fund scheme.

• Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) aims to fund R&D in rural-specific communication technology applications and form synergies among academia, start-ups, research institutes, and the industry to build and develop the telecom ecosystem.
• Additionally, the Scheme aims to promote technology ownership and indigenous manufacturing, create a culture of technology co-innovation, reduce imports, boost export opportunities and creation of Intellectual Property.
• Under the scheme, USOF is also targeting to develop standards to meet countrywide requirements and create the ecosystem for research, design, prototyping, use cases, pilots, and proof of concept testing, among others.
• The scheme entails grants to Indian entities to encourage and induct indigenous technologies tailor-made to meet domestic needs.

Hence both statements are correct.

President Droupadi Murmu presents awards as part of Azadi@75 Swachh Survekshan 2022.

• Indore has been adjudged the cleanest city of India for the sixth year in a row, while Madhya Pradesh is the cleanest state in the country.
• Surat is the second cleanest city and Navi Mumbai comes a close third in the category of cities with a population more than a lakh.
• Visakhapatnam was adjudged the fourth cleanest city in the country (In over 10 lakh population category).
• In the population category of less than one lakh, Panchgani and Karad from Maharashtra bagged the first and third positions respectively, while Patan from Chhattisgarh bagged the second position.
• Tirupati received the best city award in Safai Mitra Suraksha category, while Haridwar in Uttarakhand received the award for the best Ganga town in more than one lakh population cities.
• Bijnor ranked first among Ganga towns with less than one lakh population, followed by Kannauj and Garhmukhteshwar.
• Maharashtra’s Deolali was adjudged the country’s cleanest Cantonment Board.
• Shivamogga in Karnataka received the fast mover city award.
• Tripura got the cleanest State award in the “less than 100 urban local bodies category”.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Indian Army is inducting the M777 Ultra Light Howitzer on the northern borders.

• In the next five years, the Army’s Regiment of Artillery will see major force accretion with the induction of several guns, including indigenous ones. 
• It includes the Dhanush, Sharang, M777 Ultra Light Howitzer (ULH), additional K9-Vajra howitzers and the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS).

M777 Ultra Light Howitzer

• The M777s are a key component of the army’s field artillery rationalisation plan (FARP), cleared in 1999.
• The 155 mm/39-caliber M777 howitzers have a range of up to 30km, but it is capable of striking targets at ranges of more than 40 km in some areas where the geography allows the shells to fly in rarefied air.
• Built with titanium and aluminum alloys, the howitzers weigh 4,218 kg.
• In contrast, 155mm towed guns weigh twice as much.
• The Indian Air Force’s CH-47F Chinook helicopters can carry the howitzers as underslung load for swift deployment in high-altitude areas.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Recently it has been discovered the fourth leak in the two damaged offshore pipelines that comprise the crucial Nord Stream pipelines (Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2).

• Nord Stream 1 is a 1,224 km underwater gas pipeline running from Vyborg in northwest Russia to Lubmin in northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea.
• The majority owned by the Russian energy giant Gazprom, it is the primary network through which gas reaches Germany.
• Most of the gas goes directly to Germany, while the rest travels west and southwards through onshore links to other countries and into storage caverns.
• The 1,200-km Nord Stream 2 pipeline was to run from Ust-Luga in Russia to Greifswald in Germany through the Baltic Sea and carry 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year.
• It was meant to run along with the Nord Stream 1 system. Germany is Russia’s biggest European gas consumer, and most of it comes through the Nord Stream.

Hence both statements are correct.

The higher education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued new guidelines under which higher education institutes can create a new teaching position called Professor of Practice to hire experts from various sectors, in line with provisions that already exist in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

• No formal educational qualification such as a PhD is needed to apply for a position.
• To be eligible for appointment, an individual will have to be a “distinguished expert” who has “made remarkable contributions in their professions”, and has at least 15 years of service or experience.
• The idea is to bring practical experience into classroom teaching.
• It is open to the institutions themselves to decide the sector from which they want to rope in professionals.
• A professor of practice can be anyone with a background in a diverse range of areas from technology, science, social sciences, media, literature, armed forces, law, fine arts, etc.
• However, the position is not open for those in the teaching profession — either serving or retired.
• Currently, under the UGC’s minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff, an individual needs a PhD to be recruited as a professor or associate professor, and also needs to have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET).
• It can be either a full-time or a part-time engagement for at least four years. Initially, the hiring will be for one year. Based on performance, extensions may be given.
• The remuneration will be decided at the level of the institutes and the experts being hired.

Hence both statements are correct.