Daily Current Affairs MCQ- November 22, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

The number of farmers who received the 11th instalment of funds from the Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) has fallen by 67%, according to the Agriculture Ministry’s response to a Right to Information query.

• PM Kisan is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India.
• Objective: The scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.
• Benefits and Eligibility conditions:
  • Under the scheme an income support of 6,000/- per year in three equal instalments will be provided to all land holding farmer families.
    • Definition of family for the scheme is husband, wife and minor children.
  • State Government and UT administration will identify the farmer families which are eligible for support as per scheme guidelines.
  • The fund will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

Exclusion Categories:

The following categories of beneficiaries shall not be eligible for benefits under the scheme:

• All Institutional Land holders.
• Farmer families which belong to one or more of the following categories:.
  • Former and present holders of constitutional posts
  • Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers and former/present Members of LokSabha/ RajyaSabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils,former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations, former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
  • All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments and its field units Central or State PSEs and Attached offices /Autonomous Institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff /Class IV/Group D employees)
  • All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs.10,000/-or more (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees) of above category
  • All Persons who paid Income Tax in last assessment year
  • Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, an Australian parliamentary committee on treaties has recommended to its government to ratify the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA).

• AI-ECTA needs ratification by the Australian parliament before its implementation. In India, such pacts are approved by the Union Cabinet.
• The agreement, once implemented, will provide duty-free access to the Australian market for over 6,000 broad sectors of India, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery.
• Under the pact, Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96.4% of exports (by value) from day one. This covers many products that currently attract 4-5% customs duty in Australia.
• India’s goods exports stood at USD 8.3 billion and imports aggregated to USD 16.75 billion in 2021-22. The agreement would help in taking bilateral trade from USD 27.5 billion at present to USD 45-50 billion in the next five years.
• The Agreement inter-alia covers areas like Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures.

Rules of origin

• Rules of origin are the criteria needed to determine the national source of a product. Their importance is derived from the fact that duties and restrictions in several cases depend upon the source of imports.
• The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has no specific rules governing the determination of the country of origin of goods in international commerce. Each contracting party was free to determine its own origin rules, and could even maintain several different rules of origin depending on the purpose of the particular regulation.

Hence both statements are correct.

Sangeet Natak Akademi organized a variety of cultural programmes at the India Gate Lawns in New Delhi as part of a campaign named, Kalanjali.

• Under Kalanjali , cultural programmes are to be organised at Central Vista every week. The programmes organised included Chenda Melam, Kathak Dance, Puppet Show, Manipuri Dance.
  • Panchari Melam is a percussion ensemble, performed during temple festivals in Kerala, India. Panchari Melam (or simply panchari), is one of the major forms of Chenda Melam (ethnic drum ensemble), and is the best-known and most popular in the kshetramvadyam (temple percussion) genre.
  • Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance form of Uttar Pradesh.
  • Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer.
  • Manipuri Dance: Manipuri dances encompasses both classical and folk dance forms. The Raas Leela is one of the major Indian classical dance forms.

Important points

• Sangeet Natak Akademi – The national Academy of Music, Dance and Drama was created by a resolution of the (then) Ministry of Education dated 31 May 1952. The Akademi became functional the following year, with the appointment of its first Chairman, Dr P.V. Rajamannar.
• Financed by the government of India, the Akademi functions as an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, and is registered under the Societies Registration Act.
• The scheme of Financial Assistance to Cultural Institution is one of several schemes formulated by the Akademi to further its objectives.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi paid tributes to Rani Lakshmibai, the Jhansi queen known for her role in the 1857 Mutiny, on her 187th birth anniversary.

• Rani Lakshmibai, one of the warriors of India's struggle for Independence, was born as Manikarnika Tambe in Varanasi.
• Lakshmibai got married to Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, the Maharaja of Jhansi and got the name of Rani Lakshmibai.
• Then Lakshmibai and Gangadhar Rao adopted Rao's cousin's son, Anand Rao, who was later renamed as Damodar. Soon after they adopted Anand, Maharaja died due to an illness.
• The East India Company took advantage of the Maharaja's death and applied the Doctrine of Lapse.

What was the Doctrine of Lapse?

• It was an annexation policy followed widely by Lord Dalhousie when he was India's Governor-General from 1848 to 1856.
  • According to this, any princely state under the direct or indirect (as a vassal) control of the East India Company where the ruler did not have a legal male heir would be annexed by the company
  • As per this, any adopted son of the Indian ruler could not be proclaimed as heir to the kingdom. This challenged the Indian ruler's long-held authority to appoint an heir of their choice.
• So, due to the Doctrine of Lapse, Britishers did not accept Damodar Rao as the legal heir. The plan of the Britishers was to annex Jhansi. They seized the state jewels, granted her an annual pension of Rs 60,000 and asked her to leave the fort forever.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first Greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh -- the Donyi Polo Airport at Itanagar.

• With Donyi Polo Airport, all eight northeastern state capitals will now have airports. This will be the third operational airport in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The name of the airport reflects the traditions and rich cultural heritage of Arunachal Pradesh and its age-old indigenous reverence to the Sun (Donyi) and Moon (Polo).
• This is the seventh airport to have been built in the Northeast in the last eight years. This rapid development of airports in the region is in keeping with the government's emphasis on increasing connectivity.
• This is also the first greenfield project in northeast India.

What are greenfield projects?

• A Greenfield project is a project built from scratch or from ground up and it lacks constraints of prior work. In a greenfield project there are no existing buildings or infrastructure, everything is built from scratch ,and in such projects, there is no need to demolish or remodel any existing project.

Hence both statements are correct.

For the first time since joining the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) in 1976, India did not vote against a proposal seeking to re-open the ivory trade.

• The proposal, to allow a regular form of controlled trade in ivory from Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, was defeated at the 19th meeting of the CITES (CoP19) in Panama City.
• India’s abstention — a break from its past stand — was in tune with what Namibia had asked for when it agreed to transfer cheetahs this summer.

Ivory trade Ban

• The ivory trade was globally banned in 1989 when all African elephant populations were put in CITES Appendix I.
• No trade is allowed in species listed in CITES Appendix I while trade is strictly regulated in those under Appendix II.

What is CITES?

• It is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organizations adhere voluntarily.
• It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN (The World Conservation Union). It entered into force in July 1975.
• Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.
• Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties – in other words they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the place of national laws.
• The CITES Secretariat is administered by UNEP and is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The Conference of the Parties to CITES is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention and comprises all its parties.

Hence both statements are correct.

According to data furnished by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in the last 5 years, Rs 10 lakh crore in write-offs has enabled banks to reduce their non-performing assets (NPAs).

• A non-performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.
• Banks are required to classify NPAs further into Substandard, Doubtful and Loss assets.
• Substandard assets: Assets which has remained NPA for a period less than or equal to 12 months.
• Doubtful assets: An asset would be classified as doubtful if it has remained in the substandard category for a period of 12 months.
• Loss assets: As per RBI, loss asset is considered uncollectible and of such little value that its continuance as a bankable asset is not warranted, although there may be some salvage or recovery value.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The 14th Dalai Lama was recently conferred the Gandhi Mandela Award 2022 at Thekchen Choeling in Dharamshala’s McleodGanj by Himachal Pradesh governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar.

• A government of India registered Trust, the Gandhi Mandela Foundation is a non-profit organisation, formed with the motive to promote Mahatma Gandhi’s and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela’s values of non-violence.
• It has constituted an international prize, the Gandhi Mandela Award.
• The foundation instituted the award on the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, MK Gandhi.
• The award is given to personalities who have carried forward the legacies of Gandhi and Mandela by making significant contributions in the fields of Peace, Social Welfare, Culture, Environment, Education, Healthcare, Sports and Innovation.

Hence both statements are correct.

A great knot from Russia, belonging to the endangered Calidris tenuirostris (Horsfield, 1821), has found its way to Kerala’s coast, flying over 9,000 km for a winter sojourn. Recently many juvenile great knots have been tagged with MOSKVA rings in the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia.

• The Great Knot is an international migratory wading bird that travels vast distances between the northern hemisphere breeding grounds and southern hemisphere summer feeding grounds.
• The Great Knot is a medium-sized shorebird with a straight, slender bill of medium length and a heavily streaked head and neck.

Scientific name: Calidris tenuirostris

Species author: (Horsfield, 1821)

Distribution:

• Great Knots occur around coastal areas in many parts of Australia during the southern summer.
• They breed in eastern Siberia, and when on migration they occur throughout coastal regions of eastern and South East Asia.

Habitat:

• In Australia, Great Knots inhabit intertidal mudflats and sandflats in sheltered coasts, including bays harbours and estuaries.
• They forage on the moist mud, and they often roost on beaches or in nearby low vegetation, such as mangroves or dune vegetation.

Conservation:

• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Endangered

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah while addressing a session on Global Trends in Terrorist Financing and Terrorism’ at ‘No Money for Terror’ Ministerial Conference on Counter-Terrorism Financing in New Delhi, has stressed on the need for coordinated efforts to deal with the challenges posed by the use of dark net and virtual currencies like cryptocurrency by the terrorists.

• Dark Net (or Darknet), also known as the dark web, refers to the deep hidden internet platform that is used for narcotics sale, exchange of pornographic content and other illegal activities by using the secret alleys of the onion router (ToR) to stay away from the surveillance of law enforcement agencies.
• Darknet is the part of the Internet below the private deep web that uses custom software and hidden networks superimposed on the architecture of the Internet.
• Owing to its end-to-end encryption, darknet is considered very tough to crack when it comes to investigating criminal activities being rendered over it. 

How it operates?

• The darkweb operates in secrecy using specialized browsers, that prevent eavesdropping and traffic analysis attacks.
• It is very tough to penetrate owing to its end-to-end encryption.
• The access to darknet is possible only through specialized browsers like Tor, Freenet, I2P and Tails to surf the darknet anonymously.
• Tor (The Onion Router) is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication.
• The privacy-centric browser like Tor routes the web page requests through proxy servers thus making your IP address untraceable.

The dark web vs. the deep web:

• Both the dark and deep web share one thing in common: Neither can be found in search engine results.
• The difference between them primarily lies in how their content is accessed.
  • Deep web pages can be accessed by anyone with a standard web browser who knows the URL.
  • Dark web pages, in contrast, require special software with the correct decryption key, as well as access rights and knowledge of where to find the content.

Hence both statements are correct.