Test: Monthly Current Affairs August 2021- 1 - UPSC MCQ

Statement 1 is not correct: The permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (also known as the Permanent Five, Big Five, or P5) are the five sovereign states to whom the UN Charter of 1945 grants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Statement 2 is correct: Only the Security Council has the power to make decisions that member states are then obligated to implement under the Charter.

Statement 1 is not correct: North-Eastern Council (NEC) is the statutory body established after amending the North-Eastern Council Act, 1971 in the year 2002. It is the nodal agency for economic and social development of 8 North Eastern Region States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura including the four states having Schedule six areas. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
Statement 2 is not correct: The Home Minister is the ex-officio chairperson of the Council. The DoNER Minister is the Vice-Chairman. The council has Governors and Chief Ministers of all eight northeastern states as its members.

Recently, Delhi University researchers discovered a new frog species in the Western Ghats and named it after former DU Vice-Chancellor and plant geneticist Deepak Pental. The new frog species, Minervarya Pentali, was discovered from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, extending along the southwest coast of the Indian Peninsula.
• It is endemic to the southern Western Ghats.

Statement 1 is not correct: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India is a regulatory body under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
Statement 2 is correct: The Government of India was the regulator for the insurance industry until 2000. However, to institute a stand-alone apex body, the IRDA was established in 2000 following the recommendation of the Malhotra Committee report in 1999. The main objective of the IRDA is to protect the interests of the policyholder and regulate the insurance industry.

AIRAWAT (AI Research. Analytics and Knowledge Assimilation platform)
• In an attempt to achieve the goal of becoming a $5 Tn economy, the Indian government’s think- tank NITI Aayog recently released an approach paper to set up India’s first Al-specific cloud computing infrastructure called ‘AIRAWAT’ (AI Research, Analytics and Knowledge Assimilation platform).
• The platform aims to guide the research and development of new and emerging technologies.
• AIRAWAT will be established based on the recommendations made by the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (NSAI).
• Under AIRAWAT, the Indian government plans to tackle the challenges associated with lack of access to computing resources. Going ahead, the government will be building Al-specific compute infrastructure that will help the computing needs of Centres of Research Excellence (COREs), International Centers Transformational AI (ICRAIs) and Innovation Hubs.

Statement 1 is not correct: The governor is neither directly elected by the people nor indirectly elected by a specially constituted electoral college as is the case with the president. He is appointed by the president by warrant under his hand and seal. In a way, he is a nominee of the Central government. But, as held by the Supreme Court in 1979, the office of governor of a state is not an employment under the Central government. It is an independent constitutional office and is not under the control of or subordinate to the Central government.
Statement 2 is correct: The Governor shall not hold any other office of profit.
• The Governor shall be entitled without payment of rent to the use of his official residences and shall be also entitled to such emoluments, allowances and privileges as may be determined by Parliament by law and, until provision in that behalf is so made, such emoluments, allowances and privileges as are specified in the Second Schedule.
• Where the same person is appointed as Governor of two or more States, the emoluments and allowances payable to the Governor shall be allocated among the States in such proportion as the President may by order determine.
• The emoluments and allowances of the Governor shall not be diminished during his term of office.

Exercise Talisman Sabre is the largest bilateral combined training activity between the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the U.S. military. It is a biennial exercise incorporating activities on land, air and sea. After the invitation of India to Australia in the Malabar exercise in 2020, Australia keen India joins Exercise Talisman Sabre.

Pingali Venkayya was a freedom fighter and the designer and architect of the national flag of India. He had designed a flag, known as the Swaraj Flag, that now forms the basis of India’s present-day national flag. It consisted of red and green bands to symbolize the two major communities in the country- Hindus and Muslims. He met Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) when he was posted there as part of the British Indian Army. On the advice of Mahatma Gandhi, Pingali Venkayya added a white band over red over green with a charkha design onto Khadi bunting. The white represented peace and the rest of the communities living in India, and the spinning wheel symbolized the progress of the country. Gandhiji’s approval had made it sufficiently popular and it was in use till 1931. The flag, however, had raised communal concerns after which a Flag Committee was set up in 1931.

Option C is correct: Strait of Hormuz is the waterway separating Iran and Oman, linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. On the north coast lies Iran, and on the south are the UAE and Musandam, an enclave of Oman. The Strait is 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just two miles wide in either direction. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most strategically important choke points. Two-thirds of the oil and half the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Indian imports come through the strait between Iran and Oman.

In News: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for continuation of the revised Samagra Shiksha Scheme for a period of five years.
Statement 1 is correct: Samagra Shiksha Scheme is an integrated scheme for school education covering complete pre-primary to senior secondary (upto class 12th).
• Union Budget 2018-19 announced to create a holistic education system from pre-primary to class XII.
Statement 2 is not correct: Samagra Shiksha Scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
Objectives of Samagra Shiksha Scheme as follows:
• To universalize access to school education;
• To promote equity through the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and weaker sections, and
• To improve the quality of education across all levels of school education.
• To implement SDG 4, Right to Education and New Education Policy in an inclusive way by emphasising on pre primary school and vocational education.
• It will also help fulfill the goals of AtmaNirbhar Bharat.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is chaired by the Prime Minister.
One of the standing committees of the cabinet. It comprises 11 ministers and 3 special invitees.
Major functions:
• Take major economic decisions like disinvestments, MSP, etc
• CCEA handles the functions of the cabinet committee on prices, cabinet committee on UIDAI, Cabinet committee on WTO, after they were scrapped

Recently, Karnataka Chief Minister reiterated that there would be no compromise on implementing the Mekedatu drinking water project
• The Mekedatu drinking water project is being constructed by the Karnataka govem-ment across the Cauvery River.
• It is aimed at providing drinking water facilities to the Bengaluru Metropolitan region and its surrounding areas (4.75 TMC) and generates 400 MW of power as an addi-tional benefit.
• The project cost is estimated at Rs 9,000 crore.

In News: Parliament recently passed Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill 2021 to bury retrospective taxation.
Statement 1 is not correct: Article 20 bans retrospective legislation for criminal cases not civil cases. And taxation is a civil pursuit.
Statement 2 is not correct: It is used to tax companies which are indulged in tax avoidance not evasion. Evasion of taxes is already an offence but avoidance is finding legal loopholes and avoiding taxation in a legal way.

Option c is correct: A total of 26.79 lakh artisans have been registered so far under the Pahchan initiative. Pahchan initiative was launched in 2016 by the then Union Minister of Textiles. It is an initiative of the Ministry of Textiles to register and provide Identity (ID) cards to handicraft artisans and link them to a national database. Pahchan cards scheme is a newly upgraded ID card for artisans that will be linked with their Aadhaar numbers and bank accounts so that they can receive direct cash-transfer benefits. It has the information of handicrafts artisans viz. name & address, Aadhaar Card number, mobile number and craft practised.

In News: Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of RBI has kept Repo Rate unchanged at 4% for the seventh time in a row.
Statements 1 and 2 are incorrect. While repo rate is used to regulate liquidity in the economy, reverse repo rate is used to control cash flow in the market. Please note that the order has been reversed.
Statement 3 is incorrect. Marginal Standing Facility was introduced as a provision for banks to avail overnight (1 day) funds, not fortnight (14 days) funds.

In News: Recently, the Government of India signed a $250 million loan agreement with the World Bank for the Second Phase of Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP Phase II). The Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) is a State sector scheme.
It was formulated to bridge the funding gap and provide urgent finance to States for the repair and maintenance of Dams. It was launched by the Central Water Commission (CWC) with assistance from the World Bank in 2012. Under the scheme, financial assistance is being provided by the World Bank (WB), and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). It aims to improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams and associated appurtenances in a sustainable manner and to strengthen the dam safety institutional setup of participating States / Implementing Agencies. Water Resources Departments and State Electricity Boards in the participating States and Central Water Commission at Central Level.

In News: The conservationists and veterinary experts along with global partners are making efforts to save the world’s most endangered turtle, Swinhoe's softshell turtle from the brink of extinction. These turtles are grey with light grey or yellow spots.
Significance: They are important to the seafloor biosystem, where they contribute by enriching soil nutrients and facilitating seed dispersion. The natural habitat for these turtles are wetlands and large lakes. Native to China and Vietnam. Habitat destruction due to water pollution to riverbed abrasion, and overexploitation for food and illegal trade. Listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ on the Red List maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Statement 1 is not correct: E Prisons Project aims at computerization of the functioning of prisons in the country and has been operationalised in all States and Union Territories.
• The e-Prisons application suite integrates all the activities related to prison and prisoner management.
Statement 2 is not correct: The E-Prisons application suite has been developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY). It provides vital information about the inmates lodged in the prisons in a real-time environment to the courts, prison officials and other entities involved in the Criminal Justice System. It facilitates online visit requests and grievance redressal.

In News: Chief Justice of India while addressing a NALSA event said that threats to human rights and bodily integrity are the highest in police stations.
• He was pointing out that custodial torture and other police atrocities are problems that still prevail in society.
• He flagged the issues of human rights and dignity, saying these are “sacrosanct”.
Statement 1 is not correct. Custodial death means death during arrest or jail but not during encounters by police.
Statement 2 is correct. The Constitution in Article 20 prohibits self incrimination which means Police can not use brutal force to make an alleged person confess his crime.

In News: Oil Ministry launches sixth bid round of Open Acreage Licensing Programme.
Statement 1 is not correct. Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP) has been brought by the Oil Ministry to replace New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP). (The statement in question is the reverse.) Statement 2 is correct. The HELP policy is based on Revenue Sharing and Single- Uniform License for all Hydrocarbons and freedom to the producer to market and price the produce.