Daily Current Affairs MCQ- September 29, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Elections for Vice-President are scheduled for August 6, with the last date for filing nominations July 19.

Vice-President on India

• The office of the Vice-president is a unique feature of India, which follows a parliamentary system, and has no exact parallel in other democratic countries, including the Commonwealth.
• The second-highest constitutional authority after the President, the Vice-President draws his or her powers from Article 63 of the Constitution.
• Article 63 states that there shall be a Vice-President of India.
• Role & responsibilities
  • Article 64 confers upon the post the power to be ex-officio Chairman of the Council of States (the Rajya Sabha).
  • In effect, the Vice-President discharges duties of both the Vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairperson.
  • Under Article 64 (2), the Vice-President(VP) also discharges presidential functions when the President is unable to do so owing to absence, illness or any other cause.
  • As per Article 65, the VP can act as the President, in the event of the occurrence of any vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation or removal or “until the date on which a new President enters upon his office.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Customers will have to pay a 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on pre-packed, labelled food items such as atta, paneer and curd, besides hospital rooms with rents above ₹5,000, starting from 18 July 2022.

• Hotel rooms with tariffs of up to ₹1,000 a day, maps and charts, including atlases, will attract a 12% GST, while cartons and fees charged by banks for the issue of cheques (loose or in book form) will attract 18%.
• Tax rates on products such as printing, writing or drawing ink; knives with cutting blades, pencil sharpeners; LED lamps; and drawing instruments will be hiked to 18% on July 18, 2022, from 12% currently, to correct the inverted duty anomaly.
• Solar water heaters will now attract a 12% GST from the 5% earlier.
• The tax on services such as work contracts for roads, bridges, railways, metro facilities, effluent treatment plants and crematoriums will go up to 18% from the current 12%.
• Renting of trucks and goods carriages where the cost of fuel is included will now attract a lower 12% rate as against 18%.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Only about half of the intended beneficiaries of farm loan waivers announced by nine States since 2014 have actually received debt write-offs, shows a study by State Bank of India researchers.

• As of March 2022, the poorest implementation of farm loan waiver schemes in terms of proportion of eligible farmers who had received the announced benefits was in Telangana (5%), Madhya Pradesh (12%), Jharkhand (13%), Punjab (24%), Karnataka (38%) and Uttar Pradesh (52%).
• By contrast, farm loan waivers implemented by Chhattisgarh in 2018 and Maharashtra in 2020 were received by 100% and 91% of the eligible farmers, respectively.
• A similar waiver announced by Maharashtra in 2017 worth ₹34,000 crore for 67 lakh farmers has been implemented for 68% of beneficiaries, SBI researchers reckoned.
• The SBI study was based on the outcomes of 10 farm loan write-offs worth about ₹2.53 lakh crore announced by nine States, starting with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2014.
• The report identified rejection of farmers’ claims by State governments, limited or low fiscal space to meet promises, and change in governments in subsequent years, as the possible reasons for the low implementation rate of these loan waivers.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Europe is battling intense wildfires with countries like Spain, Greece and France struggling to stamp out fires and contain the damage.

• Wildfires require right climatic conditions, burnable fuel and a spark.
• Rising temperatures suck moisture out of plants, creating an abundance of dry fuel.
• Drought and high heat can kill plants and dry out dead grass, and other material on the forest floor that fuel the fire once it starts sweeping through a patch.
• While dry vegetation is the burnable fuel that serves as kindling for fires, the spark is sometimes caused by lightning, at other times by accident or recklessness of the local population.
• As for Europe, the region has been hit by an early fire season due to an unusually dry, hot spring that left the soil parched. Authorities attribute this to climate change.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Women tend to live longer than men, but typically have higher rates of illness.

• Now, research from University of Georgia (UGA) suggests these higher rates of illness can be improved by a better diet — one that is high in pigmented carotenoids such as yams, kale, spinach, watermelon, bell peppers, tomatoes, oranges and carrots.
• These bright-coloured fruits and vegetables are particularly important in preventing visual and cognitive loss.
• Women have, on average, more body fat than men. Body fat serves as a significant sink for many dietary vitamins and minerals, which creates a useful reservoir for women during pregnancy.
• This availability, however, means less is available for the retina and the brain, putting women at more risk for degenerative problems.
• Dietary intake of pigmented carotenoids act as antioxidants. Two specific carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, are found in specific tissues of the eye and brain and have been shown to directly improve central nervous system degeneration.

Hence both statements are correct.

Eleven districts of Bengal reported at least 65 cases of black fever or ‘Kala-Azar disease in the last couple of weeks.

• Kala-azar or Visceral Leishmaniasis is a protozoan parasitic disease, spread by sandfly bites. Sandflies are brown in colour and have hairs on their bodies.
• The flies are infected with the parasite called ‘leishmania donovani’.
• The vector sandfly is known to live in cracks and crevices of muddy houses, especially in dark and humid corners. According to the WHO, there are 3 main forms of leishmaniases of which kala-azar is the most serious form.
• The disease affects some of the poorest people and is linked to malnutrition, population displacement, poor housing, a weak immune system and a lack of financial resources.
• Leishmaniasis is also linked to environmental changes such as deforestation, and urbanisation, according to WHO.
• In 2020, more than 90 per cent of new cases reported to WHO occurred in 10 countries: Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.
• In India, the disease is endemic in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Hence both statements are correct.

Just like coughing, sneezing, talking and singing, playing wind instruments — particularly brass ones — can spread respiratory particles that may carry the virus that causes Covid-19, according to a study from Colorado State University (CSU).

• Brass instruments, on average, produced 191 per cent more aerosols than woodwinds, the release said.
• Being male was associated with a 70 per cent increase in emissions from instrument-playing, probably due to lung size and capacity, the researchers think.
• Louder playing of brass instruments was associated with higher particle counts, but louder playing of woodwinds didn’t increase emissions.

Hence both statements are correct.

Every person in India can be a minority in one State or the other. Minority status of religious and linguistic communities is “State-dependent”, the Supreme Court said.

• A Marathi can be a minority outside his home State e.g. Maharashtra. Similarly, a Kannada-speaking person may be in minority in States other than Karnataka.
• The court was hearing a petition complaining that followers of Judaism, Bahaism and Hinduism, who are the real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur, cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice because of non-identification of ‘minority’ at the State level.
• But the court indicated that a religious or linguistic community which is a minority in a particular State, can inherently claim protection and the right to administer and run its own educational institutions under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution.
• The petition has argued that the recognition of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis nationally by the Centre as ‘minorities’ ignored the fact that religious communities such as Hindus were “socially, economically, politically non-dominant and numerically inferior” in several States.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The first two cases of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious Ebola-like disease, have been confirmed officially by Ghana after test results were verified by a Senegal laboratory. This outbreak is only the second time that the disease has been detected in West Africa.

• Marburg virus disease (MVD), earlier known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal hemorrhagic fever.
• Marburg, like Ebola, is a filovirus; and both diseases are clinically similar.
• Rousettus fruit-bats are considered the natural hosts for Marburg virus. However, African green monkeys imported from Uganda were the source of the first human infection.
• It was first detected in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany; and in Belgrade, Serbia.
• After the onset of symptoms, which can begin anytime between 2 to 21 days, MVD can manifest itself in the form of high fever, muscle aches and severe headache. The disease has an average fatality rate of around 50%.
• There is no approved antiviral treatment or vaccine for MVD as of now.
• It can be managed with supportive care. According to the WHO, rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids, and treatment of specific symptoms can help prevent death.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Government said 818 Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs) have been allocated across the country to promote model training.

• In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar said out of total 818 allocated PMKKs, 722 PMKKs have been established covering 707 districts in 36 States and Union Territories.
• He said over 71 lakh candidates have been trained during the last three years under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana in the country.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.