MCQ - Current Affairs (April - 2020) - UPSC MCQ

The United States Space Force has launched an Advanced Extremely High-Frequency satellite (AEHF-6) for its military communications. With the launch of the satellite, the United States has begun its first National Security Mission.

The Himalayan Ibex (Capra sibirica hemalayanus) is regarded as a subspecies of the Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica). They are found in mountain ranges of central and northeastern Afghanistan, China, north India (Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh), eastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, northeastern Uzbekistan, northern Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan. An adult ibex weighs about 90 kgs, and stands around 40 inches tall, with huge curved horns. The horns have notches on the front, and grow each year. Their coat is thick and woolly in winter, and shed in early summer. Colour ranges from pale brown to dark brown, with a darker dorsal stripe. They are usually found in small herds and sometimes around 50 together. They normally feed on grass, moss and small shrubs. In winter, they come down to lower elevations in search of food as the mountains get covered in snow. In summer they move back upward as the snow melts. According to IUCN Red list it is least Concern species.

Ways and means advances (WMA) is a mechanism used by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under its credit policy to provide to States, banking with it, to help them tide over temporary mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments. These are temporary advances (overdrafts) extended by RBI to the govt.
 In general, while WMA were charged not above the Bank Rate, the interest rate on OD usually exceeded the Bank Rate.

Provisions under Disaster Management Act include punishment with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both, and if such obstruction or refusal to comply with directions results in loss of lives or imminent danger thereof, shall on conviction be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two

 under the Disaster Management Act of 2005, containing varying restrictions on public activity and commerce which the States are expected to enforce. The Centre directs the State governments to scrupulously enforce every new set of guidelines, with the States only being allowed to increase and not dilute the restrictions.

Natural Gas, Coal, Crude Oil, Fertilizers, Petroleum Refinery Products, Steel, Cement and Electricity. It is compiled and released by the Office of Economic Adviser (OEA), Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

To tackle suspicions of whether the novel coronavirus has spread into the community (for which the Union government has now announced that it will expand testing) and if not prevent such a scenario, the Kerala government has announced ‘rapid tests’ that will ensure speedy results within half an hour. The government has received approval of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in this regard.

The WTO agreements contain special provisions which give developing countries special rights and allow other members to treat them more favourably. These are “special and differential treatment provisions” (abbreviated as S&D or SDT).

Jai Singh II (3 November 1688 – 21 September 1743) was the Hindu Rajput ruler of the kingdom of Amber, he later founded the fortified city of Jaipur and made it his capital.

The city is also home to two prominent UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India - Amber Fort and Jantar Mantar. It was founded in 1727 by Jai Singh II, the King of Amer. With its inclusion in the UNESCO listing, Jaipur is further expected to attract more tourists from around the world and the country.

It is the primary function of the press to provide comprehensive and objective information on all aspects of the country is social, economic and political life. In India, freedom of press is implied from the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.
19(2), the state may make a law imposing 'reasonable restrictions 'on the exercise of the right to freedom of speech and expression 'in the interests of', the security of the State, friendly relations with the foreign States, public order, decency, morality, sovereignty and integrity of India.

The PSA allows for detention of a person without a formal charge and without trial. It can be slapped on a person already in police custody;

Habeas corpus is a writ petition requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, especially to secure the person's release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.

The Natuna Islands are a 272-island archipelago of Indonesia, located in the Natuna Sea between Peninsular Malaysia to the west and Borneo to the east. They extend in a NNW direction for 300 km from Tanjung Api, the northwest extremity of Kalimantan/Borneo. The Natuna Sea itself is a section of the South China Sea.

A team of scientists from the US and Australia has named a new plant species from the northern Australia as Solanum Plastisexum.

First discovered in 1977, it is also known as the Dungowan bush tomato.
For decades, the plant remained unnamed and no scientists could understand the functionality of the plant. The sex of its flowers kept changing every time it was studied.
The species name ‘Solanum Plastisexum’ comes from the Greek root meaning ‘moldable’ or ‘changeble’ combined with the Latin word for sex.

National Health Authority (NHA) is the apex body responsible for implementing India’s flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme called “Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.” National Health Authority is the successor of the National Health Agency, which was functioning as a registered society since 23rd May, 2018. Pursuant to Cabinet decision for full functional autonomy, National Health Agency was reconstituted as the National Health Authority on 2nd January 2019, under Gazette Notification Registered No. DL –(N) 04/0007/2003-18.

NHA has been set-up to implement PM-JAY, as it is popularly known, at the national level. An attached office of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with full functional autonomy, NHA is governed by a Governing Board chaired by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare. It is headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), an officer of the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, who manages its affairs. The CEO is the Ex-Office Member Secretary of the Governing Board.

On the occurrence of any public emergency, or in the interest of the public safety, the Central Government or a State Government or any officer specially authorized in this behalf by the Central Government or a State Government may, if satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do, take temporary possession (for so long as the public emergency exists or the interest of the public safety requires the taking of such action) of any telegraph established, maintained or worked by any person licensed under this Act.
On the occurrence of any public emergency, or in the interest of the public safety, the Central Government or a State Government or any officer specially authorized in this behalf by the Central Government or a State Government may, if satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence, for reasons to be recorded in writing, by order, direct that any message or class of messages to or from any person or class of persons, or relating to any particular subject, brought for transmission by or transmitted or received by any telegraph, shall not be transmitted, or shall be intercepted or detained, or shall be disclosed to the Government making the order or an officer thereof mentioned in the order:
Provided that press messages intended to be published in India of correspondents accredited to the Central Government or a State Government shall not be intercepted or detained, unless their transmission has been prohibited under this subsection.

N95 respirators made by different companies were found to have different filtration efficiencies for the most penetrating particle size (0.1 to 0.3 micron), but all were at least 95% efficient at that size for NaCl particles. Above the most penetrating particle size the filtration efficiency increases with size; it reaches approximately 99.5% or higher at about 0.75 micron. Tests with bacteria of size and shape similar to Mycobacterium tuberculosis also showed filtration efficiencies of 99.5% or higher. 

N95 respirators and surgical masks (face masks) are examples of personal protective equipment that are used to protect the wearer from airborne particles and from liquid contaminating the face.

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) was constituted vide Government of India Resolution dated 29th August, 1997 as an attached office of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers as an independent Regulator for pricing of drugs and to ensure availability and accessibility..

The Government of India today launched a mobile app developed in public-private partnership to bring the people of India together in a resolute fight against COVID-19.
The App, called ‘AarogyaSetu’ joins Digital India for the health and well-being of every Indian. It will enable people to assess themselves the risk of catching the Corona Virus infection. It will calculate this based on their interaction with others, using cutting edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence.
Once installed in a smart phone through an easy and user-friendly process, the app detects other devices with AarogyaSetu installed that come in the proximity of that phone. The app can then calculate the risk of infection based on sophisticated parameters if any of these contacts is tested positive.
The App will help the Government take necessary timely steps for assessing risk of spread of COVID-19 infection, and ensuring isolation where required.

The App’s design ensures privacy-first. The personal data collected by the App is encrypted using state-of-the-art technology and stays secure on the phone till it is needed for facilitating medical intervention.

Available in 11 languages, the App is ready for pan-India use from day-1 and has highly scalable architecture.

Statement 1 is incorrect. National Security Act 1980 provides for legal enforcement of preventive detention.
Statement 2 is correct. The act empowers both center and state governments to detain a person before they commit a crime prejudicial to national security.
Statement 3 is correct. Under the act if the government is satisfied with respect to any foreigner that with a view to regulating his continued presence in India or with a view to making arrangements for his expulsion from India, they can be detained.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India is a statutory organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change established under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974.
Statement 2 is correct. It has been entrusted with responsibilities for planning various programs to control and prevent Air & Water pollution.

tatement 1 is incorrect. It is released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The report mentions that eastern offshore has higher reserves of Natural Gas than Western Offshore.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130J transport aircraft on Thursday delivered 6.2 tonne of essential medicines and hospital consumables to Maldives under Operation Sanjeevani. These medicines and consumables were procured from eight suppliers in India but couldn’t be transported through any other means due to the 21-day lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19. “At the request of the government of Maldives, the IAF aircraft activated Operation Sanjeevani and lifted these medicines from airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Madurai before flying to the Maldives,” the statement said adding the Army facilitated the transport of these medicines and consumables from warehouses across India to the respective airports.

Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 authorizes State or Centre to access information of a user’s phone data in case of occurrence of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety.

Statement 1 is correct. Paris Principles were defined at the first International Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights held in Paris on 7–9 October 1991. NHRC India complies with these principles.
Statement 2 is correct. The GANHRI Bureau consists of sixteen, 'A' status NHRIs, four from each region, namely, Americas, Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific. Besides the Annual General Meetings, the NHRC, India has been regularly taking part in its activities as an active Member of the GANHRI. Statement 3 is correct. It has the powers of a civil court and can grant interim relief.
Statement 4 is correct. It can take suo-moto cognizance of any matter concerning Human Rights violation.

Statement 1 is incorrect. WHO declared H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009. Statement 2 is incorrect. COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus. Statement 3 is correct. The Ministry of Home Affairs decided to treat Covid-19 as a "notified disaster". It will enable the states to spend a larger chunk of funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to fight the pandemic.

Under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) a political party has a constitutional right to issue a whip to its legislators. 

The concept of the whip was inherited from colonial British rule. It is used in parliamentary parlance often for floor management by political parties in the legislature.

A whip is a written order that a political party issues to its members for being present for an important vote, or that they vote only in a particular way. The term is derived from the old British practice of “whipping in” lawmakers to follow the party line.

They are vital in maintaining the links between the internal organisation of the party inside the Parliament. A whip is also an important office-bearer of the party in the Parliament.

In India, all parties can issue a whip to their members. Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips. This member is called a Chief Whip, and he/she is assisted by additional Whips.