Daily Current Affairs MCQ - January 15, 2022 - CLAT MCQ

WHO is celebrating the world hearing day.

• World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.
• Theme for 2021: Hearing Care for ALL! Screen, Rehabilitate, Communicate.
• World Hearing Day 2021 will mark the launch of the first-ever World Report on Hearing (WRH).
• The Report has been developed in response to the World Health Assembly resolution (WHA70.13), adopted in 2017 as a means of providing guidance for Member States to integrate ear and hearing care into their national health plans.
• The report proposes a set of key H.E.A.R.I.N.G. interventions that must be delivered through a strengthened health system to realize the vision of ‘Integrated people-centered ear and hearing care’ (IPC-EHC).
• According to a 2018 WHO report, 2% of India's population, mainly children, suffer from the condition of Otitis Media.
• The disabling hearing loss affected 2.9% of the population and was noted to effect communication, education and work.
• The prevalence of total hearing loss, unilateral &bilateral was found to be as high as 9.93%.
• National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness will target over 6% of India’s population with Disabling Hearing Loss. The program was launched in 2006.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Army will begin inducting the first lot of 6,000 new Light Machine Guns (LMG) from Israel, with frontline troops on the borders set to receive them later this month.

• These are part of the 16,497 Negev LMGs contracted from Israeli Weapons Industry (IWI) in March 2020 under fast track procurement to meet the immediate requirement. The remaining guns in the order will be delivered by March 2022.
• The contracted Negev 7.62X51 mm LMG is a combat proven weapon and currently used by several countries around the globe.
• This LMG will greatly enhance the lethality and range of a soldier vis-a-vis the presently used weapon.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Himalayan serow was spotted in the Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam. It was spotted close to the border with Bhutan in Manas’s Bansbari-Mathanguri forest.

• The Himalayan serow is a subspecies of the mainland serow native to the Himalayas.
• An appearance of a goat with long, donkey like ears, and a habit of standing with forelegs astraddle, make the Serow an ungainly goat antelope. Its coarse coat(long hair length than the Goral) varies from black to red.
• IUCN status: Near threatened.
• It is listed in CITES Appendix I.
• In February 2021, birders had sighted the colourful Mandarin duck in the Maguri-Motapung wetland near eastern Assam’s Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. This duck was last spotted in Assam 118 years ago.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The telecom spectrum auctions concluded after bidding for a day and a half, with the Centre garnering ₹77,814.8 crore in revenues.

• The amount exceeded the expectations of the government as well as analysts, as telcos focused on renewing expiring spectrum and consolidating holdings in select bands.
• The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio was the biggest bidder, acquiring 488.35 MHz of spectrum for ₹57,122.65 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel, which bid for 355.45 MHz of spectrum for ₹18,698.75 crore. Vodafone Idea bid for only 11.8 MHz of airwaves for ₹1,993.4 crore.
• The spectrum will be assigned to bidders for a period of 20 years.
• In the auction — the first in nearly five years and among the shortest, with participation from only three players — a total of 2308.80 MHz of spectrum across seven bands and worth about ₹3.92 lakh crore was put up for sale.
• Bids were received for 855.60 MHz, or 37%, of the spectrum. No bids were received for the premium 700 MHz and 2500 MHz bands. The 700 MHz band remained unsold during the 2016 auctions as well due to the high prices.
• Reliance Jio acquired spectrum in all 22 telecom circles, across 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands, and its owned spectrum footprint had increased by 55% to 1,717 MHz.
• Hence both statements are correct.

SEBI asked stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories to put in place a code of conduct and institutional mechanism to prevent fraud or market abuse by them and their designated persons.

• Under this, the managing director (MD) or chief executive officer (CEO) of market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) will be obligated to frame a code of conduct and put in place an institutional mechanism.
• Further, the board of directors needs to ensure compliance by the MD/CEO in this regard.
• MIIs will have to formulate a code of conduct to regulate, monitor and report trading by their designated persons and immediate relative of designated persons towards achieving compliance with the prohibition of insider trading regulations.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, CSIR Floriculture Mission has been approved for implementation in 21 States/UTs wherein available knowledgebase in CSIR Institutes will be utilized and leveraged to help Indian farmers and industry re-position itself to meet the import requirements.

• Floriculture, or flower farming, is a discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry.
• This Mission is being implemented in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Directorate of Floriculture; KVIC; APEDA, TRIFED; Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC), Kannauj, Ministry of MSME and Universities.
• Despite the fact that India has diverse agro-climatic and edaphic conditions, and rich plant diversity, it shares only 0.6 % of global floriculture market.
• At least 1200 million USD worth of floriculture products are being imported by India every year from different countries”.
• Dr. Harsh Vardhan also launched CSIR’s Societal Portal along with the Android App.This portal has been developed by CSIR Team with the help of MyGov Team. The Portal is to facilitate the public to submit the societal problems that can be resolved using S&T interventions.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways reviewed the progress of India’s First Grade Separated Urban Expressway, Dwarka Expressway (NH – 248BB).

• The Minister expressed hope that the 29-kilometre long Expressway, being constructed under the Bharatmala Project and with a cost of Rs.8,662 crore, would be completed before the Independence Day next year.
• Being built in four packages, total length of the Expressway is 29 kilometres out of which 18.9 kilometre length falls in Haryana while remaining 10.1 kilometre length is in Delhi. It starts from Shiv-Murti on National Highway-8 and ends near KherkiDaula Toll Plaza.
• Delhi-Gurugram section of National Highway-8, a part of Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai arm of Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), is presently carrying traffic of over three lakh Passenger Car Units (PCUs). With the construction of the present project, 50 to 60 per cent traffic on National Highway-8 will be reduced.

Key highlights:

• It will be the first-ever elevated Urban Expressway in India and will immensely help reducing the air pollution in Delhi-NCR.
• The Dwarka Expressway would also be the first instance of a project where Tree Plantation of approximately 12,000 trees has been undertaken, keeping protection of the environment in view.
• This will have longest (3.6 kilometre) and widest (8 lane) Urban Road Tunnel in India.
• It will also comprise India’s first 9-kilometre long 8-lane flyover (34-metre wide) on single pier with 6-lane service roads.
• The entire project will be equipped with Intelligent Transportation System (ITS).
• Hence both statements are correct.

Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs announced the release of the final rankings of Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020.

• In the Million+ category, Indore has emerged as the highest ranked municipality, followed by Surat and Bhopal.
• In the Less than Million category, New Delhi Municipal Council has emerged as the leader, followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar.
• The MPI examined the sectoral performance of 111 municipalities (with Delhi being assessed separately for NDMC, and the three Municipal Corporations) across five verticals which comprise of 20 sectors and 100 indicators in all totality.
• The five verticals under MPI are Services, Finance, Policy, Technology and Governance.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Union Education Minister announced opening of two new Kendriya Vidyalayas, one each in the state of Karnataka and Punjab.

• KV Sadalaga, Belagavi, Karnataka and KV IIT Ropar, Punjab will be two new addition to the family of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
• With this the total number of KVs across the Country will raise to 1247.
• The Scheme of Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVS) (Central Schools) was approved in 1962 to provide uninterrupted education to the wards of transferrable central government employees.
• The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act in 1965 to manage the Kendriya Vidyalayas located all over India and abroad. The Government of India wholly finances the Sangathan.
• Hence both statements are correct.

As many as 25 courses by Indian universities have figured in the top 100 globally, according to QS World University Rankings by Subject.

• Three Indian Institutes of Technology have entered the top 100 engineering institutes with IIT-Bombay grabbing the best-ever 49th position in the engineering and technology category followed by IIT Delhi (54) and IIT Madras (94). MIT, USA has retained its top position.
• Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore — that secured number one position in the NIRF 2020 — is placed at the 92nd spot for natural sciences, followed by IIT Bombay (114), IIT Madras (187), and IIT Delhi (210).
• Similarly, IIT-Madras is at number 30 for its petroleum engineering programme, IIT-Bombay and IIT-Kharagpur have grabbed 41 and 44 positions, respectively, in the subject ranking for mineral and mining engineering.
• In the life sciences and medicine category, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) bagged 248th spot.
• Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been ranked 159th for arts and humanities, followed by the University of Delhi (252).
• Also, Delhi University bagged 208th spot worldwide in the social sciences and management category.
• QS World University Rankings by subject calculate performance based on four parameters — academic reputation, employer reputation, research impact (citations per paper) and the productivity of an institution’s research faculty.
• The QS rankings offer independent data on the performance of 253 programmes at 52 Indian higher education institutions, across 51 academic disciplines.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.