Daily Current Affairs MCQ- May 30, 2024 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, a study revealed that a gene called SASS6 and its variants have been implicated in a developmental process that causes microcephaly.

• It is a rare neurological condition in which an infant's head is much smaller than the heads of other children of the same age and sex.
• Sometimes detected at birth, microcephaly often occurs when there is a problem with brain development in the womb or when the brain stops growing after birth.
• It can be caused by a variety of genetic and environmental factors. Children with microcephaly often have developmental issues.
• Most children with microcephaly also have a small brain, poor motor function, poor speech, and abnormal facial features, and are intellectually disabled.
• The most common causes include:
• Infections during pregnancy: toxoplasmosis (caused by a parasite found in undercooked meat), Campylobacter pylori, rubella, herpes, syphilis, cytomegalovirus, HIV and Zika;
• Exposure to toxic chemicals: Maternal exposure to heavy metals like arsenic and mercury, alcohol, radiation, and smoking;
• Pre- and perinatal injuries to the developing brain (hypoxia-ischemia, trauma);
• Genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome; and severe malnutrition during fetal life.
• Symptoms: Many babies born with microcephaly may demonstrate no other symptoms at birth but go on to develop epilepsy, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, hearing loss and vision problems.
• Treatment: There is no specific treatment for microcephaly.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is entered into between Ministry External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Common Service Centre eGovernance Services India Limited to create a synergy between CSC SPV & MEA to provide the eMigrate services through CSCs in the country.

• It is undertaken to assist mainly the blue-collar workers going to Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries.
• The project was conceptualized to address issues faced by the migrant workers by making emigration process online seamless and also to bring foreign employers and registered recruitment agents and insurance companies on one common platform aimed at promoting safe and legal migration.
• Under this MoU, eMigrate Portal of MEA would be integrated with CSC’s portal, to provide following eMigrate services to the citizens through CSCs
• Facilitate registration of applicants on eMigrate portal through CSCs.
• Facilitation of uploading and processing the required documents for the applicants on eMigrate portal through CSCs.
• Facilitate and supporting booking for medical and other services required by migrant workers or applicants registered on eMigrate portal through CSC.
• Creating awareness about eMigrate services amongst citizens across India.

Key facts about Common Service Centre

• These are an integral part of the Digital India mission.
• The CSCs are frontend services delivery points for the delivery of digital services to the citizens, especially in the rural and remote areas across the country.
• This helps in contributing towards the fulfilment of the vision of Digital India and the Government’s mandate for a digitally and financially inclusive society.
• Apart from delivering essential government and public utility services, CSCs also deliver a range of social welfare schemes, financial services, educational courses, skill development courses, healthcare, agriculture services, digital literacy, etc.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Recently, the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested the RudraM-II from Su-30 MK-I platform of the Indian Air Force (IAF) off the coast of Odisha.

• It is an indigenously-developed solid-propelled air-launched missile system.
• It is meant for Air-to-Surface role to neutralise many types of enemy assets.
• It is designed to have a strike range of almost 350-km, from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter of the IAF.
• It involves a number of state-of-the-art indigenous technologies developed by various DRDO laboratories have been incorporated in the missile system.

RudraM series missiles

• These are being developed by the DRDO as new-generation anti-radiation missiles (NGARMs) for destroying a variety of enemy surveillance, communication, radars, and command and control centers on the ground.
• The 150-km range RudraM-I missile, with INS-GPS navigation with a passive homing head for the final attack, was first tested in Oct 2020.
• The missiles are meant for suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) from long stand-off ranges, which in turn will enable IAF strike aircraft to carry out bombing missions without hindrance.

What is an anti-radiation missile?

• These are designed to detect, track and neutralise the adversary’s radar, communication assets and other radio frequency sources, which are generally part of their air defence systems.
• Such a missile’s navigation mechanism comprises
• Inertial navigation system: A computerised mechanism that uses changes in the object’s own position — coupled with GPS, which is satellite-based.
• Passive homing head: A system that can detect, classify and engage targets (radio frequency sources in this case) over a wide band of frequencies as programmed.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Naik Dhananjay Kumar Singh will be honoured posthumously with the Dag Hammarskjold medal during a solemn ceremony when the UN commemorates the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.

• It was established in 1997 and it is the highest honour awarded to UN peacekeepers.
• It is a posthumous award given to members of peacekeeping operations who lost their lives during service with a peacekeeping operation under the operational control and authority of the United Nations.
• Each year on Peacekeeper's Day, this medal is awarded to any Member State who has lost one or more military or police peacekeepers at a ceremony at United Nation’s headquarters.
• It is named after the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold.

Other UN Awards

• Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage : It is awarded to those military, police, civilian United Nations personnel and associated personnel who demonstrate exceptional courage, in the face of extreme danger, while fulfilling the mandate of their missions or their functions, in the service of humanity and the United Nations.
• UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award: It was started in 2016 to recognises the dedication and effort of an individual peacekeeper in promoting the principles within the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.

India and UN Peacekeeping

• India is the second largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping.
• It currently deploys more than 6,000 military and police personnel to the UN operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan, and Western Sahara.

Hence both statements are correct.

For the first time, a long-distance migratory bird, the Eurasian or common whimbrel, tagged with a Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitter, was captured on camera in the state of Chhattisgarh.

About Eurasian Whimbrel:

• It is a wading bird in the large family Scolopacidae.
• Scientific Name: Numenius phaeopus
• Distribution:
• They have an extensive range that spans across five continents: North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
• They breed in the subarctic regions of Siberia and Alaska during the summer months before migrating south to wintering grounds in southern USA, Central America, South America, Africa, and South Asia, including Nepal.
• Habitat: Winters mainly along the coastline, coastal wetlands, mangroves, marshes, and larger rivers.
• Features:
• A fairly large greyish-brown bird with a long, decurved bill with a kink.
• It has a distinct head pattern with dark eye-stripes and crown-sides.
• It is mottled dark brown above, pale below, with much brown streaking on the throat and breast. 
• Generally solitary when nesting, the Whimbrel tends to become gregarious outside of the breeding season. 
• Whimbrels are known for their high-pitched call consisting of a repetitive series of seven notes.
• Conservation Status: 
• IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Hence both statements are not correct.

Department of Telecom (DoT) recently introduced a new tool to identify genuine calls from those made by fraudsters. 

About New System to Identify Scam/Fraud Calls:

• Dedicated Phone Number Series:  The DoT has allocated a dedicated 10-digit numbering series starting with 160 for service and transactional calls made by the government, regulators, and financial entities.
• These 10-digit numbers will include additional information to help you recognize the caller.
• The 10-digit number series has been designed by the DoT in such a manner that citizens will get an idea about calling entities as well as the telecom operator and the place from where it has originated.
• This new system aims to give you more information about incoming calls, empowering you to identify potential scams.
• Incoming calls from banks, government departments to display 160 Prefix:
• The 10-digit number will have a 160 prefix and will be issued in 1600ABCXXX format for government, financial institutions, and telecom regulators.
• The AB will show the code of the telecom circle, like 11 for Delhi and 22 for Mumbai.
• While the digit at C place will show the code of the telecom operator.
• The XXX will be digits between 000-999.
• Numbers for financial institutions to be issued in 1601ABCXXX format:
• For financial entities regulated by the RBI, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority), and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the 10-digit number will be issued in 1601ABCXXX format.
• Verification and Transparency:
• Telecom service providers (TSPs) are responsible for verifying each entity requesting a 160 series number.
• They will also obtain a commitment that the number will only be used for legitimate service and transactional calls.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Several key 'Made in India' defence projects, including proposals for acquiring more K-9 Vajra self-propelled howitzers and fighter aircraft engines, are awaiting final approval by the Centre after the elections. 

About K-9 Vajra:

• It is a 155 mm, 52-caliber tracked self-propelled artillery system.
• It can fire shells at great elevation angles to hit targets far away.
• It is built by Larsen & Toubro with technology transferred from South Korean defence major Hanwha Défense based on its K9 Thunder platform.
• It can perform a variety of missions due to its capacity to fire a wide range of artillery ammunition, including high explosive, smoke, and illumination shells.
• Features:
• It has all-welded steel armour up to 19mm thick.
• The main weapon is the 155mm / 52 calibre gun.
• The gun weighs 50 tonnes and can fire 47kg bombs.
• It has a burst rate of fire of three rounds per 15 seconds and a maximum rate of fire of six to eight rounds per minute for three minutes.
• It can strike enemy targets at around 50 kilometres.
• It can also turn around at zero radius, basically at the same place where they are standing.
• The K9 uses a digital fire control system, by which it can fire multiple rounds that can impact a given area at the same time.

Hence option c is the correct answer.

The Eco-Niwas Samhita (ENS) introduced the Residential Envelope Transmittance Value (RETV), a metric measuring heat transfer through a building’s envelope. 

• It is a Residential Energy Conservation Building code developed by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
• The code sets standards to limit heat gain and loss and ensure adequate natural ventilation and day lighting potential.
• It was launched in two parts:
  • ENS 2018 (Part 1) sets minimum standards for building envelope designs for energy-efficient residential buildings.
  • ENS Part 2 launched by the Bureau as ENS 2021 focuses on the building’s code compliance and electromechanical systems. It also addresses other aspects such as Energy Efficiency in Electro-Mechanical Equipment for Building Operation, Renewable Energy Generation, Embodied Energy of Walling Materials and Structural Systems.

What is the Residential Envelope Transmittance Value?

• It is a metric measuring heat transfer through a building’s envelope. 
• Lower RETV values lead to cooler indoor environments and decreased energy usage. For optimal efficiency, improved occupant comfort, and lower utility expenses, it’s recommended to maintain an RETV of 15W/m2 or less.

Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

The Decision Support System (DSS), which identifies sources of pollution in Delhi’s air, will resume functioning from September this year with some new features.

• It is developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune.
• It is a numerical model-based framework to forecast Delhi’s air quality and sources of local and regional pollution which can impact the air.
• DSS provides quantitative information about
• The contribution of emissions from Delhi and the surrounding 19 districts to the air quality in Delhi.
• The contribution of emissions from 8 different emission sectors in Delhi to the air quality Delhi.
• The contribution from biomass-burning activities in the neighboring states to the degradation of air quality in Delhi, and
• The effects of possible emission source-level interventions on the forecast severe air-quality event in Delhi.
• The system, which works only in winter and is stopped from March to August.
• Now, the system will also forecast how Delhi’s emissions impact the air of eight surrounding districts in NCR.
• The two models — System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (Safar) and DSS — had temporarily stopped sharing data on air pollution for the country as there were differences between their forecasts and source contribution.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Department of Telecom has asked telecom operators to deactivate USSD-based call forwarding with effect from April 15 and move to alternative methods to re-activate it.

• It is a communications protocol used in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks for sending short text messages.
• It is an instant messaging service and messages are not stored on the operator side or on the subscriber’s device.
• USSD format: It generally exist as one of two types, depending on their origin:
• A USSD Pull is an outgoing request from the user in the form of an MMI command.
• A USSD Push is a message from the operator that is displayed on the user’s screen.
• The user can send the operator a request in the form of a USSD command. Commands consist of the * and # characters and numeric codes.
• The chain begins with * or # (which can occur more than once, separating commands from subcommands) and usually ends with #.
• The maximum length of a USSD message is 182 characters, but in practice even the longest requests rarely exceed 20.
• Mobile subscribers use the USSD service just by dialling any active code on their phone screens.
• It is used to display balance deduction in mobile phones where a message pops-up on the device screen after a call or outgoing SMS.
• It is also used for checking IMEI numbers of mobiles.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.