Daily Current Affairs MCQ- September 12, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS)

• The ECLGS was unveiled as part of the comprehensive package announced by Finance Ministry.
  • ECLGS was launched in different phases - ECLGS 1.0, ECLGS 2.0, ECLGS 3.0, ECLGS 4.0.
• This scheme was launched to aid Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in view of the economic distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In different phases, the scope of this scheme was increased to include multiple sectors.
• The scheme is under the operational domain of Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services (DFS).
  • National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd (NCGTC) has been set up as a company by the Union Ministry of Finance to manage and provide guarantees to these loans.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Union Environment Ministry has for the third time extended the deadline by which coal plants must install pollution-control technologies to reduce emissions, drawing criticism from environment and clean-energy activists.

• The Ministry first specified emission norms for the control of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and mercury (Hg) from coal-fired power plants.
• However, non-compliance and limited progress by the plants led to a new extension following the recent notification pushing it to 2025.
• According to the latest notification, power plants within a 10-km radius of the NCR and in the vicinity of cities with a population of more than one million have until December 31, 2024, to meet the deadline.
• For power plants within a 10-km radius of “critically polluted” areas (as designated by the Environment Ministry), the deadline has been extended to December 31, 2025. Finally, for all other power plants across the country, the deadline stands at December 31, 2026.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

The Finance Ministry was scheduled to meet with stakeholders including banks and the Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce to discuss ways to promote international trade in rupee instead of the United States dollar.

• On July 11 this year, the RBI issued a circular saying it had decided “to put in place an additional arrangement for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports/ imports in INR”.
• The idea, the RBI said, was to “promote growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of global trading community in INR”.
• While the move to allow trade settlements between India and other countries in rupees was seen to primarily benefit trading with Russia, it was also expected to help check dollar outflow and slow the depreciation of the rupee to a “very limited extent”.

Way it would work

• To settle trade transactions with any country, banks in India would open Vostro accounts of correspondent bank/s of the partner country for trading. Indian importers can pay for their imports in INR into these accounts.
• These earnings from imports can then be used to pay Indian exporters in INR.
• A Vostro account is an account that a correspondent bank holds on behalf of another bank — for example, HSBC Vostro account is held by SBI in India.

Hence both statements are correct.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Plenary Session of 7th Eastern Economic Forum being held in Vladivostok through video conferencing.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India is keen to strengthen its partnership with Russia on Arctic subjects. 
• He said, along with energy, India has also made significant investments in the Russian Far East in the fields of pharma and diamonds.
• The Prime Minister said, in 2019, he had a chance to participate in this forum face-to-face and at that time he had announced the Act Far-East policy of India.
• Eastern Economic Forum is an international forum held each year in Vladivostok, Russia, for the purpose of encouraging foreign investment in the Russian Far East.
• It is held each year since 2015 in September, at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

India-US 2+2 Inter-sessional meeting was held in New Delhi where the senior officials vowed to further strengthen the strategic partnership between both nations.

• The officials also reviewed the outcomes of the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue which was held in April 2022. The India-US 2+2 Inter-sessional meeting was led by senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defence and the US Departments of State and Defence.
• This is the sixth India-US 2+2 Intersessional Dialogue.
• Through these dialogues, the United States and India will advance an ambitious set of initiatives across the defence partnership ahead of the 2+2 ministerial next year, including in support of information-sharing, logistics, technology, and high-end navy cooperation.
• Notably, India is the centrepiece of the Joe Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy – Indian Foreign and Defence Ministers recently held the ‘2+2’ meeting with their American counterparts.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

• The Rs 100 lakh crore national master plan includes 11 industrial corridors, achieving a Rs 1.7 lakh crore turnover in defence production and having 38 electronics manufacturing clusters and 109 pharma clusters by 2024-25.
• It fixes targets up to 2024-25 for all infrastructure ministries.
• Implementing Agency: National Networking Group
  • National Networking Group will consist of experts or officials from all the stakeholder departments.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Nano urea is a patented and indigenously made liquid that contains nanoparticles of urea (an inorganic compound), the most crucial chemical fertiliser for farmers in India.

• Plants require nitrogen to produce protein and they get practically all of it from soil bacteria that dwell in the roots.
• These bacteria break down atmospheric nitrogen or nitrogen from compounds like urea into a form that plants can use.
• Currently, conventional granular urea is one of the most important nitrogenous fertilisers in the country, with a high nitrogen content (46%).
• This new product is expected to replace the usage of urea granules.
• It was developed at IFFCO’s Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) in Kalol, Gujarat.
• IFFCO is a multi-state cooperative society (based in New Delhi).
• The society works in the fertiliser manufacturing and marketing sector.

Hence both statements are correct.

The expert committee formed by the Uttarakhand government to examine ways for the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has launched a website, seeking public opinion on the plan.

• Headed by retired Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (who is also the head of the Delimitation Commission), the committee has sought suggestions and recommendations from residents.
• The Committee will also prepare a report on implementing a UCC in Uttarakhand.
• Article 44 of the Constitution, lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for the citizens throughout the territory of India. The code would be applicable to all religious communities in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Supreme Court has said the problem of storing spent nuclear fuel from the Kudankulam nuclear power plant has to be “worked out”, possibly with the help of experts from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and officials at the highest level in the Tamil Nadu government.

• The Supreme Court asked Tamil Nadu government to come clear on the time schedule for the completion of public hearings by the State regarding the construction of an Away From Reactor (AFR) facility at the Kudankulam plant.
• The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) had sought an extension till July 2026 for the construction of the AFR facility. In 2018, the court had given the Corporation time till April 30, 2022.
• The AFR repository was supposed to be built in five years' time, but this has not been done. In 2013, the Supreme Court had granted five years’ time to the NPCIL, till July 2018. In 2018, the court gave an extension till 2022 and said this was the final extension of time to create the AFR storage. Now, they are again asking for an extension.
• Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant).
• It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and depending on its point along the nuclear fuel cycle, it may have considerably different isotopic constituents.

Hence both statements are correct.

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK's longest-serving monarch, has passed away after reigning for 70 years.

• The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change.
• Queen Elizabeth II's tenure as head of state spanned post-war austerity, the transition from empire to Commonwealth, the end of the Cold War and the UK's entry into - and withdrawal from - the European Union.
• Her reign spanned 15 Prime Ministers starting with Winston Churchill and including Ms Truss. She held weekly audiences with her Prime Minister throughout her reign.
• The Queen was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, in Mayfair, London, on 21 April 1926.
• Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II and served as the consort of the British monarch from her accession as queen on 6 February 1952 until his death in 2021.

Hence both statements are correct.