Daily Current Affairs MCQ- February 11, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

Recently 4 snow leopards were spotted in a rare sighting in Himachal Pradesh.

• It is found in the mountainous regions of central and southern Asia.
• In India, it is seen in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Hemis National Park has a good presence of Snow Leopard.
• They play a key role as a top predator, an indicator of the health of their high-altitude habitat, and, increasingly, an important indicator of the impacts of climate change on mountain environments. 

What is the Conservation status?

• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• Under CITES: It is listed in Appendix I 
• Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule I

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Recently the GST authorities found that exporters are misusing the government’s duty drawback scheme (DDS) by claiming it along with refunds of integrated goods and services tax (GST).

• Over 100 such exporters mainly in apparel, drugs, and leather have been “illegally” drawing benefits from two routes.

What is the Duty drawback scheme?

• Under this scheme, exporters are provided with a refund of customs duty paid on unused imported goods, or goods that will be treated, processed or incorporated into other goods for export.
• Claims must be lodged within 4 years from the date the goods were exported.
• Duty drawback can be only claimed for compensating unrebated taxes and duties, not for GST.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

A research team from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has recently identified and reported the solitary waves in the Martian magnetosphere.

Key facts about the Solitary wave

• Solitary waves are distinct electric field fluctuations (bipolar or monopolar) that follow constant amplitude-phase relations.
• Their shape and size are less affected during their propagation.
• The magnitude and duration of these pulses are found to be 1-25 milivolt/meter and 0.2–1.7 milliseconds, respectively.
• These pulses are dominantly seen in the dawn and afternoon dusk sectors at an altitude of 1000–3500 km around Mars.
• Through simulations, it is found that the spatial extent of these structures is very small (30-330 meters). As these waves are known to be responsible for the plasma energization and its transport in Earth’s magnetosphere.

Hence both statements are correct.

An advisor to the space science programme recently said that the Indian Space Research Organisation is yet to receive approval from the Indian government for the Venus mission and that the mission could as a result be postponed to 2031.

Key facts about Venus

• Venus is often called "Earth’s twin" because they’re similar in size and structure, but Venus has extreme surface heat and a dense, toxic atmosphere.
• It rotates very slowly on its axis – one day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days.
• The thick atmosphere of Venus traps heat creating a runaway greenhouse effect – making it the hottest planet in our solar system.
• Phosphine, a possible indicator of microbial life, has been observed in the clouds of Venus.
• Unlike the other planets in our solar system, Venus spins clockwise on its axis.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Recent, the Supreme Court said that grant of default bail will not operate as an absolute bar to canceling it once the charge sheet is filed and the same can be considered if a strong case is made out

What is a Default bail?

• Also known as statutory bail, this is a right to bail that accrues when the police fail to complete investigation within a specified period in respect of a person in judicial custody.
• It is a right, regardless of the nature of the crime.
• The stipulated period within which the charge sheet has to be filed begins from the day the accused is remanded for the first time.
• It includes days undergone in both police and judicial custody, but not days spent in house-arrest.
• A requirement for the grant of statutory bail is that the right should be claimed by the person in custody.
• If the charge sheet is not filed within the stipulated period, but there is no application for bail under Section 167(2), there is no automatic bail.
• Once the accused files an application for bail under Section 167(2), it is considered that he/she has enforced the right to be released on default bail.
• This right only comes into place after the stipulated time limit for investigation has expired.
• If the accused fails to apply for default bail after the investigation time period has expired, and the investigating agency files a charge-sheet or seeks more time before the accused makes such an application for default bail, then the right of default bail is no longer applicable.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, researchers have discovered the ruins of a large Mayan town buried beneath the rainforest while surveying northern Guatemala from the air.

About Mayan Civilization

• The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica.
• Originating in the Yucatán peninsula around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras.
• Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing.
• The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools.
• They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater.
• The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.
• The Maya made paper from the inner bark of wild fig trees and wrote their hieroglyphs on books made from this paper. Those books are called codices.
• Their society consisted of many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites built around ceremonial centers. It started to decline around A.D. 900.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Both black boxes from the crashed Yeti Airlines flight in Nepal have been discovered, Kathmandu airport officials said recently.

What is a Black Box?

• A flight recorder, byname black box, is an instrument that records the performance and condition of an aircraft in flight.
• Governmental regulatory agencies require these devices on commercial aircraft to make possible the analysis of crashes or other unusual occurrences.
• A black box refers to two pieces of equipment together – the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR).
• Flight recorders are commonly carried in the tail of the aircraft, which is usually the structure that is subject to the least impact in the event of a crash.
• In spite of the popular name black box, flight recorders are painted a highly visible vermilion color known as “international orange.”

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Contributions to mutual fund schemes through systematic investment plans, or SIPs, remain unfazed from the market volatility in 2022 with inflow growing to ₹1.5 lakh crore in 2022, a surge of 31% from a year earlier, due to higher retail participation.

What is a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)?

• SIP is an investment methodology offered by mutual funds wherein an individual saver can invest a fixed amount in a chosen scheme periodically at fixed intervals - say once a month, instead of making a lump sum investment.
• The SIP installment amount can be as small as ₹500 per month and is similar to a recurring deposit.

Benefits of SIP:

• SIPs are done in open-ended funds where the investors can invest and take out the money anytime.
• There is no fixed tenor for running SIP. Once the SIP tenor is fixed, it can BE stopped in between or could be continued even after the tenor by placing the request with the respective mutual fund company.
• Full and partial withdrawal is possible during or after the SIP tenor.
• The SIP amount can be increased or decreased.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Recently, Coal Ministry Offered relaxation in the Revision of the Performance Bank Guarantee and extended Bid due date for the Commercial Coal Block auction up to January 30.

• The National Coal Index is a price index which reflects the change in the price level of coal on a particular month relative to the fixed base year.
• This price index combines the prices of coal from all the sales channels- Notified Prices, Auction Prices and Import Prices.
• It has been rolled out on 4th June 2020 and the aim is to have an index that will truly reflect the market price. 
• The base year is FY 2017-18.
• The concept and design of the Index as well as the Representative Prices have been developed by the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship will attend the felicitation ceremony of over 200 tribal women who have completed training under Phase 3 of the Grameen Udyami Scheme in Jharkhand. 

• It was launched to augment skill training in tribal communities for inclusive and sustainable growth.
• It is funded by the National Skill Development Corporation.
• The project is being implemented in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Gujarat.
• It is implemented under the Sansadiya Sankul Pariyojana to expand the rural/local economy, enhance employment opportunities, reduce forced migration and also lead to the conservation of natural resources.

Hence both statements are correct.