Daily Current Affairs MCQ - January 14, 2022 - CLAT MCQ

Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)

• It is an informal and voluntary partnership among 35 countries to prevent the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying greater than 500 kg payload for more than 300 km.
  • The members are thus prohibited from supplying such missiles and UAV systems that are controlled by the MTCR to non-members. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The decisions are taken by consensus of all the members.
• This is a non–treaty association of member countries with certain guidelines about the information sharing, national control laws and export policies for missile systems and a rule-based regulation mechanism to limit the transfer of such critical technologies of these missile systems. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
• It was established in April 1987 by G-7 countries – USA, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, and Japan. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• It is not a legally-binding treaty. Hence, no punitive measures could be taken against non-compliance to the guidelines of the regime.
• India was inducted into the Missile Technology Control Regime in 2016 as the 35th member.
  • India can procure high-end missile technology and run joint programmes for development of unmanned aerial vehicles with other countries. eg. Procurement of theater missile interceptor “Arrow II '' from Israel, military drones like “Avenger” from the USA etc.

• The Henley Passport Index is the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • Originally created by Dr. Christian H. Kaelin (chairman of Henley & Partners), the ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information.
  • It was launched in 2006 and includes 199 different passports.
  • It is updated in real time throughout the year as and when visa policy changes come into effect.
• Global Rankings:
  • Japan and Singapore top the index
  • Germany and South Korea held onto the joint second spot on the latest ranking, while Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, and Spain shared third place.
  • Afghanistan and Iraq continue to be in the 'worst passports to hold' category.
• India’s Performance:
  • In 2020, India stood at 84 while in 2016, India was ranked 85th along with Mali and Uzbekistan.
  • India (83^rd in 2022) shares the position with Sao Tome and Principe in Central Africa, behind Rwanda and Uganda.
  • India now has visa-free access to 60 destinations worldwide with Oman and Armenia being the latest additions. India has added 35 more destinations since 2006.
  • Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

National Youth Day 2022

• National Youth Day (NYD) is held every year on 12^th January to observe the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Hence statement 1 is correct.
  • In 1999, the United Nations decided to commemorate International Youth Day every year on 12^th August.
• In 1984, the Indian Government first declared to celebrate the birthday of Swami Vivekananda as National Youth Day. Since then the day has been celebrated as National Youth Day all over the country.
  • The day is celebrated to highlight the youths who are the future of our country and to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda who always motivated the youth of the country and spoke about the right use of the youth in the development of the country.
• Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Datta on 12^th January, 1863.
  • He introduced Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world and is credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the world stage during the late 19^th century. Hence statement 2 is correct.

The Mekong begins on the Tibetan Plateau and runs for more than 2,600 miles through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea.

The capital of Laos, and the capital of Cambodia both stand on its banks.

In simplest terms, edge computing moves some portion of storage and compute resources out of the central data center and closer to the source of the data itself. Edge computing brings data processing closer to the data source.

It involves placing computational power closer to the user in the network and have high applicability in IoT-based applications, which require processing of the data in less time.

Given that the processing happens locally at the ‘edge’ the latency (time taken to input, process and output the data) is low compared to cloud based services.

Given the data is locally collected in edge computing environment it is not suitable for Big Data Analytics

which require large volumes of data.

The WTO has not defined ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries and therefore member countries are free to announce whether they are ‘developed’ or ‘developing’.

It is WTO’s duty to review and propagate the national trade policies and to ensure the coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic policy-making. Another priority of the WTO is the assistance of developing, least-developed and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines through technical cooperation and training.

What are the benefits of ‘developing country’ tag?

Certain WTO agreements give developing countries special rights through ‘special and differential treatment’ (S&DT) provisions, which can grant developing countries longer timeframes to implement the agreements and even commitments to raise trading opportunities for such countries.

WTO pacts are often aimed at reduction in government support to certain industries over time and set more lenient target for developing nations and grant them more time to achieve these targets compared to developed ones.

The classification also allows other countries to offer preferential treatment.

LDCs are often exempted from certain provisions of WTO pacts. Bangladesh, currently classified as an LDC, receives zero duty, zero quota access for almost all exports to the EU.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has written to all States to ensure separate accommodation for transgender persons in prisons.

• It also advised the States and the Union Territories that the prison admission register may be suitably revised to include “transgender” as a category other than male and female gender.
• It also asked that similar provision may be made in the Prison Management System in maintaining electronic records.
• The government enacted the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act in 2019 and the advisory was sent to ensure their safety and to protect them against any form of exploitation in the context of prisons and correctional facilities.
• However, while making provision for a separate enclosure for transgender prisoners, due care may be taken by the prison authorities that this may not result in their complete isolation or propagate social stigma among such prisoners.
• There should also be adequate preservation of right to privacy and dignity in regard to separate toilets for transmen and transwomen as well as shower facilities.
• It said the physical search of a transgender person may be conducted by a person of their preferred gender or by a trained medical professional or a paramedic.
• The person conducting the search must ensure the safety, privacy and dignity of the person being searched. At the stage where the search procedure requires stripping, it must be done in a private room or partition.
• Hence both statements are correct.

India successfully tested advanced sea to sea variant of BrahMos Supersonic Cruise missile from INS Visakhapatnam.

• BrahMos, deployed by the Navy on its warships first in 2005, has the capability to hit sea-based targets beyond radar horizon.
• The naval variant was originally tested in October and December 2020 from the Navy’s indigenously-built stealth destroyer INS Chennai and Rajput-class destroyer INS Ranvijay, respectively.
• This version of the missile has been designed to launch either in a vertical or a horizontal mode from moving/stationary assets to target both land and sea targets.
• The missiles, fired at a speed of 2.8 Mach or nearly three times the speed of sound, significantly increase the capability of the ships in engaging long-range targets.
• BrahMos missiles are designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture company set up by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Mashinostroyenia of Russia.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

India has got the approval of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for export of Indian mangoes to USA.

• Consumers in the United States would now have access to quality mangoes from India.
• Over one thousand metric tonnes of mangoes were exported to USA in 2019-20. Exporters have expressed hope that the export of mangoes this year will surpass the figures of 2019-20.
• USDA approval would pave the way for exports of mangoes from mango production belts situated in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) said that this would also provide an opportunity for the export of other delicious varieties of mangoes from North and East India such as Langra, Chausa, Dushehri, Fazli.
• The export of Indian mangoes has been restricted by the USA since 2020 due to restrictions imposed on international travel during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Hence both statements are correct.