Daily Current Affairs MCQ - September 21, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

In an endeavour to make women independent and employment-ready, the National Commission for Women has launched a country-wide capacity building and personality development program for women Undergraduate and Post graduate students.

• The Commission is collaborating with Central and State universities for organizing sessions on Personal Capacity Building, Professional Career Skills and Digital Literacy and Effective Use of Social Media to prep women students for entering the job market.
• NCW launched its first program in collaboration with the Central University of Haryana.
• The course will focus on learning and applying the use of intuitive, logical and critical thinking, communication and interpersonal skills to enhance employability. The course has been divided into three categories; Personal Capacity Building, Professional Career Skills and Digital Literacy and Effective Use of Social Media.
• Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh flagged-in, in New Delhi on September 20, 2021, a team of National Institute of Mountaineering & Allied Sports (NIMAS) Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh, which completed a mountaineering expedition to Mount Kun (7,077 metres).

• The team, led by Institute Director Colonel Sarfraz Singh, conducted the expedition to the Nun-Kun Mountain Massif which is the highest feature of Zanskar ranges located in Kargil.
• The Nun Kun mountain massif consists of a pair of Himalayan peaks: Nun, 7,135 m (23,409 ft) and its neighbor peak Kun Peak, 7,077 m (23,218 ft).
• Nun is one of the highest peaks in the part of the Himalayan range lying on the Indian side of the Line of Control in Ladakh. The massif is located near Sankoo in the Suru valley, Kargil district
• The Nun Kun massif is bounded to the north by the Suru valley and the Zanskar range. To the South lies the Kishtwar National Park and the Krash Nai river.
• Kun Peak is located north of Nun Peak and is separated from it by a snowy plateau.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt arrived at Jakarta, Indonesia on 18 September 2021 to participate in the 3rd edition of Bilateral Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’ with the Indonesian Navy scheduled off the approaches to Sunda Strait from 20 Sep to 22 September, 2021.

• The exercise aims to strengthen the bilateral relationship, enhance mutual understanding and interoperability in maritime operations between the two navies.
• The exercise will also provide an appropriate platform to share best practices and develop a common understanding of Maritime Security Operations.
• In pursuance of India’s Act East Policy, Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’ was conceived in 2018 as a bilateral IN-IDN exercise.
• The exercise has matured in complexity over the last two editions and will involve conduct of complex maritime operations including Military Interdiction Operations (MIO), Cross Deck Landings, Air Defence serials, Practice Weapon Firings, Replenishment Approaches and Tactical Manoeuvres.
• Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Between 12.5 million and 14 million years ago, members of a genus of otters called Vishnuonyx lived in the major rivers of southern Asia.

• Fossils of these now extinct otters were first discovered in sediments found in the foothills of the Himalayas. Now, a newly found fossil indicates it had travelled as far as Germany. The discovery has been described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
• Researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Zaragoza have discovered the fossil of a previously unknown species, which they have named Vishnuonyx neptuni, meaning ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’.
• The species was discovered from a 11.4-million-year-old strata in the area of Hammerschmiede, which is a fossil site in Bavaria, Germany that has been studied for about 50 years.
• This is the first discovery of any member of the Vishnuonyx genus in Europe; it is also its most northern and western record till date.
• Vishnuonyx were mid-sized predators that weighed, on average, 10-15 kg. Before this, the genus was known only in Asia and Africa (recent findings show that Vishnuonyx reached East Africa about 12 million years ago.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Nothern Coalfields Ltd (NCL), a Singrauli based Coal India arm under the Ministry of Coal is all set to start 75 “Fulwari Centers” in the Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.

• Currently 25 centers are being run successfully with the strength of around 220 kids of the age between 6 months to 3 years.
• Under the direction of the Ministry of Coal, NCL management conceived and operationalized the Project Fulwari as a part of the Company’s sustainable business practices.
• Considering the facts found during the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) regarding malnutrition in Singrauli district, NCL has signed an MoU with the District Administration, to start Project Fulwari.
• The mission aims to address the problem of malnutrition and associated physical and mental development issues of infants. At Fulwari Centers, the identified malnourished children are getting special attention to ensure that their weight, physical and mental progress meets the normal standards.
• Apart from this, age-appropriate safe toys, early child care education training modules and other confidence-building measures are also arranged for the kids to ensure their cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development.
• ASHA workers of the villages provide Health care services to the kids. Timely vaccination of these targeted children is also arranged with the help of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) of the village at the Fulwari centers.

Hence both statements are correct.

A Glacial Lake Outburst Flood, or GLOF, is sudden release of water from a lake fed by glacier melt that has formed at the side, in front, within, beneath, or on the surface of a glacier.

According to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), glacial retreat due to climate change occurring in most parts of the Hindu Kush Himalaya has given rise to the formation of numerous new glacial lakes, which are the major cause of GLOFs. 

NDMA has recommended use of Synthetic-Aperture Radar imagery to automatically detect changes in water bodies, including new lake formations, during the monsoon months.

The helicopter-launched Nag Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM), Helina, being developed indigenously, has completed all trials.

Helina is a third-generation fire and forget class ATGM mounted on an indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and has a minimum range of 500 m and a maximum range of 7 km. 

Methane, a greenhouse gas, is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of its global warming capacity. Approximately 40% of methane emitted is from natural sources and about 60% comes from human-influenced sources, including livestock farming, rice agriculture, biomass burning and so forth.

The passage is about role of 4^th IR in human development.

• It is completely in positive tone about 4^th IR and so we can easily conclude that A is irrelevant
• It is about merging of three worlds but it nowhere tells that is for the first time
• D is relevant but not most crucial
• Therefore B is the correct and most significant inference.

Thus B is the answer.

India is a part of the G33, which is a group of 47 developing and least developed countries.
The G33 Virtual informal meeting concluded with the adoption of the G-33 Joint Ministerial Statement reaffirming commitment for expeditious resolution of the WTO’s mandated issues in agriculture.