Daily Current Affairs MCQ - January 19, 2022 - CLAT MCQ

• They are a set of seventeen metallic elements.
• These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table in addition to scandium and yttrium that show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides.
• These minerals have unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties and thus are used in many modern technologies, including consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, health care, national defense, etc. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• They are a set of seventeen metallic elements.
  • The 17 Rare Earths are cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and yttrium (Y). Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Thiruvalluvar

• Thiruvalluvar, also called Valluvar, was a Tamil poet-saint. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The period when he lived is debated, as is his religious identity.
  • He is believed to have lived between the 3rd-4th century or 8th-9th century.
  • He is thought to be linked to Jainism. However, Hindus have also claimed that Thiruvalluvar belonged to hinduism.
• Dravidian groups also count him as a saint, as he dismissed the caste system.
• He had contributed the Tirukkural or ‘Kural’ to the Sangam literature. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Tirukkural is comprised of 133 sections of 10 couplets each is divided into three books:
  • Aram (virtue),
  • Porul (government and society), and
  • Kamam (love).
• The Tirukkural has been compared to the great books of the world’s major religions.

The Supreme Court clarified the position of law on the interplay of vertical and horizontal reservations. The decision in Saurav Yadav versus State of Uttar Pradesh dealt with issues arising from the way different classes of reservation were to be applied in the selection process to fill posts of constables in the state.

• Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes is referred to as vertical reservation. It applies separately for each of the groups specified under the law.
• Horizontal reservation refers to the equal opportunity provided to other categories of beneficiaries such as women, veterans, the transgender community, and individuals with disabilities, cutting through the vertical categories.
• The horizontal quota is applied separately to each vertical category, and not across the board.
• The interlocking of the two types of reservation throws up a host of questions on how certain groups are to be identified. For example would an SC woman be put in the category of women or SC?

Saurav Yadav case:

• The court ruled that if a person belonging to an intersection of vertical-horizontal reserved category had secured scores high enough to qualify without the vertical reservation, the person would be counted as qualifying without the vertical reservation, and cannot be excluded from the horizontal quota in the general category.
• It argued that if both vertical and horizontal quotas were to be applied together then the overall selection would have candidates with lower scores.
• Hence both statements are incorrect.

A geophysical survey, namely, Magneto-telluric (MT) is being conducted over the Delhi region.

• The National Capital Region of Delhi experienced 4 small earthquakes during April – August 2020. These earthquakes were followed by a dozen of micro-events (M<3.0) including, a few aftershocks.
• All these events were located by the National Seismological Network (NSN), being operated and maintained by National Seismological Centre (NCS), Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Subsequently, NCS initiated the Magneto-telluric (MT), a geophysical survey over the Delhi region. This survey is carried out in collaboration with Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun.
• Magneto-telluric (MT) is a geophysical method which uses natural time variation of the Earth’s magnetic and electric fields to understand geological (underground) structure and processes.
• These measurements are conducted across three major seismic sources, namely Mahendragarh-Dehradun Fault (MDF), Sohna Fault (SF) and Mathura Fault (MF).
• These measurements will ascertain the presence of fluid, which generally enhances the possibility of triggering of earthquakes,

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India is organizing ‘Udyog Manthan’ in association with Quality Council of India, National Productivity Council, and Industry bodies.

• Udyog Manthan is a marathon of focused sector-specific webinars for promoting Quality and Productivity in Indian Industry.
• It is being held from January 4, 2021 to March 2, 2021.
• The webinar series comprising 45 sessions will cover various major sectors in manufacturing and services. Udyog Manthan will identify challenges, opportunities; draw upon solutions and best practices.
• Participants will include representatives from industry, testing and standardization bodies. The discussions will be live streamed on YouTube for all those interested in following the sessions.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Prime Minister Modi will dedicate to the nation the 306 Km New Rewari - New Madar Section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) on 7th January 2021.

• The New Rewari - New Madar section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor is situated in Haryana (approx. 79 Km, in Mahendragarh and Rewari districts) and Rajasthan (approx. 227 Km, in Jaipur, Ajmer, Sikar, Nagaur and Alwar districts).
• It consists of nine newly built DFC stations in which six are crossing stations viz. New Dabla, New Bhagega, New Sri Madhopur, New Pachar Malikpur, New Sakun and New Kishangarh while the other three in New Rewari, New Ateli and New Phulera are junction stations.

Significance:

• The opening of this stretch will benefit various industries in Rewari – Manesar, Narnaul, Phulera and Kishangarh areas of Rajasthan & Haryana and will also enable better usage of the container depot of CONCOR at Kathuwas.
• This section will also ensure seamless connectivity with the western ports of Kandla, Pipavav, Mundhra, and Dahej situated in Gujarat.
• With the inauguration of this section, seamless connectivity between the WDFC and EDFC will be achieved. Earlier the 351-km New Bhaupur- New Khurja section of the EDFC was dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister on 29th December 2020.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention is being organized on 9th January in virtual format in the backdrop of COVID pandemic.

Hence Statement 2 is incorrect:The theme of the Convention this year is “Contributing to Atma Nirbhar Bharat”,

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will feature a keynote address by the Chief Guest Chandrikapersad Santokhi, President of Suriname. The winners of the online “Bharat ko Janiye Quiz” for the youth will also be announced. The names of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awardees for 2020-21 will also be announced.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a celebratory day observed (starting in 2015) on 9 January by the Republic of India to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community towards the development of India.

Hence Statement 1 is correct: The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on 9 January 1915.

The Spices Board of India and DBT-SABC Biotech Kisan Hub in collaboration with ICAR-NRCSS, RSAMB and Kota Agriculture University organized the World of Coriander webinar ‘Accelerating Quality Production, Post-Harvesting, Value Addition & Export of Coriander from India’.

• The Hadoti region of South-East Rajasthan and Guna district of Madhya Pradesh are known for coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) production and contributes major share in coriander export from the country.
• Ramganj APMC Mandi located at Kota district is the largest coriander mandi in Asia, and thus Ramganj is also known as the ‘Coriander city’.
• Recently, GOI’s Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MOFPI) has assigned ‘Coriander’ to the district of Kota in the list of One District One Product (ODOP).
• Coriander is a spice produced from the round, tan-colored seeds of the coriander plant (Coriandrum sativum).
• All parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds (as a spice) are the parts most traditionally used in cooking.
• It is also known as Chinese parsley, dhania or cilantro.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said on January 6 that auctions for 4G spectrum in the 700, 800, 900, 1,800, 2,100, 2,300, and 2,500 MHz bands will begin from March 1.

• Devices such as cell-phones and wireline telephones require signals to connect from one end to another. These signals are carried on airwaves, which must be sent at designated frequencies to avoid any kind of interference.
• The Union government owns all the publicly available assets within the geographical boundaries of the country, which also include airwaves.
• With the expansion in the number of cell-phone, wireline telephone and internet users, the need to provide more space for the signals arises from time to time.
• To sell these assets to companies willing to set up the required infrastructure to transport these waves from one end to another, the central government through the DoT auctions these airwaves from time to time.
• These airwaves are called spectrum, which is subdivided into bands which have varying frequencies. All these airwaves are sold for a certain period of time, after which their validity lapses, which is generally set at 20 years.
• The last spectrum auctions were held in 2016, when the government offered 2,354.55 MHz at a reserve price of Rs 5.60 lakh crore.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Union Health Minister released India report on Longitudinal Ageing Study of India (LASI) Wave-1.

• LASI is a full-scale national survey of scientific investigation of the health, economic, and social determinants and consequences of population ageing in India.
• In the 2011 census, the 60 plus population accounted for 8.6 per cent of India’s population, accounting for 103 million elderly people.
• Growing at around three per cent annually, the number of elderly people will rise to 319 million in 2050.
• About 75 per cent of the elderly people suffer from some chronic diseases.
• About 40 per cent of the elderly people have one or the other disability and 20 per cent have issues related to mental health.
• The National Programme for Health Care of Elderly, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has undertaken the LASI, through International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai in collaboration with Harvard School of Public Health, University of Southern California, USA, United Nations Population Fund and National Institute on Ageing.
• The LASI, Wave - 1 covered a baseline sample of over 72,000 individuals aged 45 and above and their spouses including over 31,000 elderly persons aged 60 and above and over 6,700 oldest-old persons aged 75 and above from all States and Union Territories of the country excluding Sikkim.
• Hence both statements are correct.