Test: Monthly Current Affairs August 2021- 3 - UPSC MCQ

• Drip irrigation can be defined as the method in which water drips slowly via a pipe system to the roots of the plants either from above or below the soil surface.
• It is also known as micro-irrigation by which both water and soil nutrients can be saved.
• A set up of valves, tubes, pipes, and emitters is used for drip irrigation.
• The best part about drip irrigation is that valves and pumps can be operated both manually and automatically with the help of a controller.
• Drip irrigation is suitable for most soils. On clay soils water must be applied slowly to avoid surface water ponding and runoff. On sandy soils higher emitter discharge rates will be needed to ensure adequate lateral wetting of the soil.

Statement 1 is correct: A Government Security (G-Sec) is a tradable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments. It acknowledges the Government’s debt obligation. Such securities are short term (usually called treasury bills, with original maturities of less than one year) or long term (usually called Government bonds or dated securities with an original maturity of one year or more).
Statement 2 is not correct: In India, the Central Government issues both, treasury bills and bonds or dated securities while the State Governments issue only bonds or dated securities, which are called the State Development Loans (SDLs). G-Secs carry practically no risk of default and, hence, are called risk-free gilt-edged instruments.

In News: PM launched new projects at Somnath Temple highlighting the history of its plunder and reconstruction time and again.

• He, making a reference to the Taliban, reminded the world that the reign of terror is always temporary and cannot be permanent.
Somnath Temple:

• It is the first among the 12 Jyotirlingas which are symbolic representations of Lord Shiva.

• Located at the Veraval Port or Prabhas Pattan in Saurashtra, Gujrat, the present temple is built in the Chalukyan style.

• This Architecture is also known as the “Kailash Mahameru Prasad” style, o It reflects the skill of the SompuraSalats, one of Gujarat’s master masons.

• Raids

• In AD 1026, Mahmud of Ghazni first looted the temple,and then came Afzal Khan, the commander of Ala-ud-din Khilji and later Aurangzeb.
• It is said that the temple was looted and destroyed as many as seventeen times.
• Post Modern History
• The Iron man of India, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was instrumental in the construction of the present temple.
• The first President of India Dr Rajendra Prasad installed the Jyotirling in the new temple on May 11, 1951.

A special water harvesting structure called surangam.

• It is a horizontal well mostly excavated in hard laterite rock formations.
• The excavation continues until a good amount of water is struck.
• Water seeps out of the hard rock and flows out of the tunnel. o This water is usually collected in an open pit constructed outside the surangam
• Surangams are similar to qanats which once existed in Mesopotamia and Babylon around 700 Before Common Era.

By 714 BCE, this technology had spread to Egypt, Persia and India

• It resembles karez both in structure and spread.
• This system has been very effectively used for domestic and agriculture purposes in dry areas of northern Malabar.
• It is usually found in northern Kerala and southern Karnataka.

In News : Recently The Drug Controller General has granted emergency approval to the Zycov-D making it the first vaccine in India that can be administered to adults as well as those 12 and above.
Statement 1 is correct: ZyCoV-D is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Ahmedabad based Zydus Cadilla group.

• ZyCoV-D is a plasmid DNA vaccine that produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 and elicits an immune response mediated by the cellular (T lymphocytes immunity) and humoral (antibody-mediated immunity) arms of the human immune system.
• It's also the only DNA-based vaccine in the world.

Statement 2 is not correct: It is an intradermal vaccine, applied using a ‘needle-free injector’,

• Zydus claims the needle-free system can lead to asignificant reduction in side effects.

Project Sunrise was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2016) to tackle the rising HIV prevalence in northeastern states.

In News: Recently, The Prime Minister of India has paid tributes to Sree Narayana Guru on his Jayanti.

• Shree Narayana Guru was bom in 1856, in the village of Chempazhanthi near Thiruvananthapuram as the son of Madan Asan, a farmer, and Kutti Amma.
• He was bom into an Ezhava family, in an era when people from backward communities faced social injustice in the caste-ridden Kerala society.
• He led the Reform movement in Kerala, revolted against the caste system and worked on propagating new values of freedom in spirituality and social equality which transformed Kerala society.
• He became a ‘Parivrajaka’ (one who wanders from place to place in quest of Truth)after the demise of the father and wife.
• After the famous Sivalinga Prathishtta at Aruvippuramin 1888, he consecrated idols and founded many temples all over Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
• In 1903, He established Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam to unite the masses through organization and make them a self-confident and self-respecting community of people.
• In 1913, he founded the Advaita Ashram at Aluva. This Ashram was dedicated to a great principle - Om Sahodaryam Sarvatra (all men are equal in the eyes of God).

In 1921, a Conference of Universal Brotherhood was held at Aluva.

• The Sivagiri pilgrimage was established in 1924 to promote the virtues of cleanliness, education, devotion, agriculture, handicrafts, and trade.
• He took up other campaigns to enlighten the people, giving the mantra “Enlightenment through Education, Strength through Organization, Economiclndependence through Industries”.

In News: A 4 year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) has been unveiled by the Finance Minister.

• This monetisation will create further value for infrastructure creation in the country
• It will explore innovative ways of private participation without transfer of government ownership.

Statement 1 is correct. It will target Brownfield projects only. This step will quicken implementation.
Statement 2 is not correct. It will not transfer the ownership of infrastructure projects to Private Firms.
Statement 3 is correct. The sector which will have the largest share in NMP is Road. Road sector will be followed by Railways and Power

Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve is situated in Uttarakhand. It spans over an extent of 520 square km. The whole area comprises hills, marshy depressions, riverine belts, grasslands and a large lake. Established in 1936 as Hailey National Park, Corbett has the glory of being India's oldest and most prestigious National Park. It is a part of the larger Corbett Tiger Reserve, a Project Tiger Reserve. It is honoured as the place where Project Tiger was first launched in 1973. According to the Botanical Survey of India, Corbett has 600 species of plants comprising trees, shrubs, ferns, grass, climbers, herbs and bamboo.
More than 75% of the total area of Corbett is dominated by Sal forests. Apart from Royal Bengal Tiger, it is also home to a sizable population of the endangered Asiatic elephant and other critically endangered species including the Gharial.

In News: Recently, The Ministry of Labour & Employment launched the e-Shram portal.
Statement 1 is not correct: The portal will maintain a database of workers in the country’s unorganised sector.

• Workers will be provided with an e-SHRAM card which will have a 12 digit unique number,

• The details of workers will also be shared by the state government and departments.

Statement 2 is correct: The Ministry of Labour & Employment launched the National Database for Unorganised Workers (NDUW) or e-Shram portal. This will be a single-point reference to help authorities reach out to and track workers in the informal sector, and offer welfare in times of crisis.

• The database will include construction workers, migrant workers, gig and platform workers, street vendors, domestic workers, agriculture workers, migrant workers and similar other sub-groups of unorganised workers.
• It will be available in public for open access where workers can self-enrol through Aadhaar and mobile numbers.

In News: The Tamil Nadu government would implement the Kalaignar Urban Development Scheme at a cost of ? 1,000 crores. Under the Scheme, Infrastructure including a community hall, markets, and modem libraries will be created in municipalities and town panchayats.

In News, Recently, the Consultation Workshop of Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) ended. It is the flagship program of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

• It is a programme of multi interventions through different modes and media designed to educate citizens, electors and voters about the electoral process in order to increase their awareness and participation in the electoral processes.
• It is designed according to the socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of elections and learning thereof. To increase voter education and promote voter literacy in India.

The Chagos Archipelago, an island group in the central Indian Ocean, is located about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) south of the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. It is coterminous with British Indian Ocean Territory.

The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait is a 100-mile strait located south- southeast of Florida, and is generally accepted to be the area between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between the Florida Keys and Cuba.

The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait is a 100-mile strait located south- southeast of Florida, and is generally accepted to be the area between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between the Florida Keys and Cuba.

In News: Recently, The centenary celebration of the discovery of the Bacillus CalmetteGuerin (BCG) vaccine was observed.
The Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is a live attenuated strain derived from an isolate of Mycobacterium Bovis. It has been used widely across the world as a vaccine for tuberculosis.

• BCG was developed by two Frenchmen, Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin.
• It was first used in humans in 1921.
• Currently, BCG is the only licensed vaccine available for the prevention of TB.
• It is the world’s most widely used vaccine with about 120 million doses every year and has an excellent safety record.

In News: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has started pre-bid meetings with various stakeholders to implement the public-private partnership model for BharatNet.

• These meetings will help to understand the needs of the projects before releasing the final bids, senior government officials said.
• States which took lead on PPP model under BharatNet Phase 2 are being consulted for potential hindrances and way outs.

Statement 1 is not correct. It is a flagship scheme to provide broadband connection to each Gram Panchayat (not household) in India.
Statement 2 is not correct. It is implemented by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. (BBNL) under the supervision of Department of Telecommunication under the Ministry of Communications.
Statement 3 is correct. It has been covered under the viability gap funding scheme to enable the private sector to complete the projects.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919, when Acting Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered troops of the British Indian Army to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed Indian civilians in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, Punjab, killing at least 379 people and injuring over 1,200

• The crowd had assembled peacefully at the venue to condemn the arrest of two national leaders - Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew as they were a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity, organising a peaceful protest against the Rowlatt Act in Amritsar.

In News: Recently, Hurricane Ida struck the Louisiana coast in the USA.

• Hurricanes are enormous storms that come with a rotating wind speed of 74 miles per hour. The rotating wind swirls across the warm water of the tropics and comes with terrifying force.
• The term “hurricane” is usually used for the large storms that are formed over the Atlantic Ocean or the eastern Pacific Ocean.
• They are given many names in different regions of the world:
• Typhoons: tropical cyclones are known as Typhoons in the China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
• Hurricanes: In the West Indian islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
• Tornados: In the Guinea lands of West Africa and southern USA.
• Willy-willies: In north-western Australia and
• Tropical Cyclones: In the Indian Ocean Region.

Statement 1 is correct: The objectives of the G20 are: • Policy coordination between its members in order to achieve global economic stability, sustainable growth;

• To promote financial regulations that reduce risks and prevent future financial crises; and
• To create a new international financial architecture

Statement 2 is correct: India has never hosted a G20 Summit. India will host the G20 summit in 2023 — a year later than what was decided earlier. The next G20 meetings are: Italy in 2021, Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024. The first Summit was held in Washington in November 2008 and the last - held digitally under the Saudi Presidency - in November 2020.
Statement 3 is not correct: The G20 does not have a permanent secretariat: its agenda and activities are established by the rotating Presidencies, in cooperation with the membership. A “Troika”, represented by the country that holds the Presidency, its predecessor and its successor, works to ensure continuity within the G20. The Troika countries are currently Saudi Arabia, Italy and Indonesia.