Daily Current Affairs MCQ - Feb 13, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Earlier this week, the prototype of a new rail travel class, AC-III Economy, was finalised for oscillation trails at the Indian Railways’ Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in Lucknow.

• This class is meant to be an affordable, air-conditioned version of the non-AC Sleeper class.

• The job of creating this was given last year to state-owned Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, the maker of the Linke Hoffmann Busche coaches in India.

• The design philosophy was to take a non-AC Sleeper coach as a reference and try and turn that into an AC coach.

• AC-III tier is the only travel class that makes a clear profit for Railways and is also said to be the most popular. AC-III Economy is expected to maintain that — and provide AC travel to the masses while keeping it affordable.

• The Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO) is an ISO 9001 research and development organisation under the Ministry of Railways of India, which functions as a technical adviser and consultant to the Railway Board.

• It was founded in 1921 and is Headquartered in Lucknow.

The disappearance of three established international mountaineers while attempting to scale the world’s second-highest peak, K2, in winter has spotlighted the extreme version of the sport – winter climbing.

• ‘Alpine-style’ mountaineering involves ascending with only the minimum number of breaks, and without the assistance of porters.

• The Mountaineer carries all of his/her load, including food, equipment, tents, etc. There is no scope for acclimatisation – which may take several days at high altitudes – as climbers make a dash for the summit.

• The alpine-style contrasts with the ‘expedition’ or ‘siege’ style of climbing, in which climbers go from one camp to another to acclimatise.

• Winter climbing is always tougher than pre-monsoon, post-monsoon and summer climbing.

• Many consider alpine style to be the most aesthetically "pure" form of mountaineering.

• The benefits of alpine-style include spending much less time on the route, thereby reducing objective dangers such as avalanches or blizzards.

• The problems encountered while alpine-style climbing is related to lack of support and potentially the lack of acclimatization associated with spending less time at very high altitudes.

It has been reported that an old project to facilitate the movement of hilsa upstream along the Ganga to its spawning grounds of yore may come to fruition this year.

• In scientific parlance, the hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) is an anadromous fish.

• That is, it lives most of its life in the ocean, but during the rainy season, when it is time to spawn, the hilsa moves towards the estuary, where the rivers of India and Bangladesh meet the Bay of Bengal.

• A large part of the shoal travels upstream in the Padma and the Ganga — some are known to move towards the Godavari, and there are records of hilsa migration to the Cauvery.

Farakka Barrage Lock

• Historical records also show that until the 1970s, the hilsa would swim the Ganga upstream to Allahabad — and even to Agra.

• But the Farakka Barrage, which became operational on the Ganga in 1975, disrupted the westward movement of the hilsa.

• The barrage had a navigation lock that stopped the fish from swimming upstream beyond Farakka. In Buxar on the border of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the last recorded catch of the hilsa was made 32 years ago.

Fish ladders/fishways/fish passes

• In 2016, Union Water Resources Minister told Lok Sabha about plans to create “fish ladders” to help the fish navigate the obstacle posed by the barrage.

• In February 2019, the government had unveiled a project to redesign the navigation lock at the Farakka Barrage at a cost of Rs 360 crore to create a “fish pass” for the hilsa.

• Fish passes — also known as fish ladders or fishways — aim to assist fish in crossing obstacles presented by dams and barrages.

• They usually consist of small steps that allow the fish to climb over the obstacles and enable them to reach the open waters on the other side.

For the first time, Tholpavakkoothu, the famous shadow leather puppets will tell stories of the epic Ramayana with the help of robots.

• Tholpavakoothu is a form of shadow puppetry that is practiced in Kerala, India.

• It is performed using leather puppets as a ritual dedicated to Bhadrakali and is performed in Devi temples in specially built theatres called koothumadams.

• This art form is especially popular in the Palakkad, Thrissur and Malappuram districts of Kerala.

• It is believed to have originated in the ninth century AD and uses Kamba Ramayana as its basic text.

• The puppets used in Tholpavakoothu used to be made out of deerskin but are now typically made from goatskin.

• The puppets are painted in vegetable dyes, as these dyes last long.

A study by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru has debunked the assumption that damage to health from excessive consumption of alcohol can be reversed if one stops drinking.

• Excessive alcohol consumption can cause irreversible changes to the DNA and these can persist even when alcohol is no longer consumed, revealed a study conducted by a team of researchers at NIMHANS.

• The study has been published online in the American Journal of Medical Genetics.

• The study tracked patients at NIMHANS’ Centre for Addiction Medicine outpatient clinic from March 2015 to April 2016.

• Although we inherit genes from our parents, their expression is regulated in a unique manner in each person, and maybe influenced by their lifestyle. Exposure to alcohol affects the pattern of gene expression and may explain some of the systemic complications.

• Researchers analysed the DNA chemistry of individuals who had been drinking on an average of 10 drinks/day.

Educated youngsters are showing the way forward to reduce caste and community tensions in India by tying the knot in inter-marriages, the Supreme Court said in a recent judgment.

• Educated younger boys and girls are choosing their life partners, which, in turn, is a departure from the earlier norms of society where caste and community play a major role.

• Possibly, this is the way forward where caste and community tensions will reduce by such inter-marriages

• Justice Kaul quoted B.R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste, in which the Father of the Constitution said, “I am convinced that the real remedy is intermarriage. The fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin and will vanish the separatist feeling created by caste.

• Consent of the family or community or clan is not necessary once the two adult individuals agree to enter into wedlock and that their consent has to be piously given primacy.

Only 5.8% of Indian marriages were inter-caste, according to Census 2011. Marrying a person of choice is a fundamental right. It is the fundamental right of any adult in India to marry the person of his or her choice, irrespective of caste and religion, and that right cannot be encroached upon by anybody.

World Radio Day (WRD) is being observed on February 13.

• The day was proclaimed by the member states of UNESCO in 2011 and subsequently adopted by the United Nations General Assembly as an International Day.

• According to UNESCO, radio is a powerful medium for celebrating humanity and constitutes a platform for democratic discourse.

• According to UNESCO, On the occasion of World Radio Day 2021 (WRD 2021), UNESCO calls on radio stations to celebrate this event’s 10th anniversary and the more than 110 years of radio.

• The theme of World Radio Day 2021, "New World, New Radio", will highlight the services rendered by the radio medium throughout the crisis.

• United Nations Radio was created on 13 February 1946.

• In 2017, United Nations Radio and the UN News Centre merged to form UN News, producing daily news and multimedia content in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Swahili, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Hindi.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar paid tributes to Swami Dayanand Saraswati on his birth anniversary on February 12, 2021.

• Dayananda Saraswati (12 February 1824 – 30 October 1883) was an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a reform movement of the Vedic dharma.

• He was the first to give the call for Swaraj as "India for Indians" in 1876, a call later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak.

• Denouncing the idolatry and ritualistic worship, he worked towards reviving Vedic ideologies.

• Subsequently, the philosopher and President of India, S. Radhakrishnan called him one of the "makers of Modern India", as did Sri Aurobindo.

• Those who were influenced by and followed Dayananda included Madam Cama, Swami Shraddhanand, Shyamji Krishna Varma, Bhagat Singh, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Lala Lajpat Rai etc.

• He was a sanyasi (ascetic) from boyhood and a scholar. He believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda advocated the doctrine of Karma and Reincarnation.

• Among Dayananda's contributions were his promoting of the equal rights for women, such as the right to education and reading of Indian scriptures, and his commentary on the Vedas from Vedic Sanskrit in Sanskrit as well as in Hindi.

Lok Sabha today gave its nod to Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill 2021.

• The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced in Lok Sabha on February 4, 2021.

• It seeks to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. The Act contains provisions to deal with domestic and international arbitration and defines the law for conducting conciliation proceedings.

• The Bill replaces an Ordinance with same provisions promulgated on November 4, 2020.

• Automatic stay on awards: The Bill specifies that a stay on the arbitral award can be provided (even during the pendency of the setting aside of the application) if the court is satisfied that:

  • the relevant arbitration agreement or contract, or

  • the making of the award, was induced, or effected by fraud or corruption.

  • This change will be effective from October 23, 2015.

• Qualifications of arbitrators: The Bill removes the Schedule for arbitrators and states that the qualifications, experience, and norms for accreditation of arbitrations will be specified under the regulations.

Union Minister of Women and Child Development informed Lok Sabha about the steps related to Child Beggars.

• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act) is the primary law for children in the country.

  • As per Section 2 (14) (ii) of the JJ Act,2015, a child who is found working in contravention of labour laws or is found begging is included as a “child in need of care and protection”, among others.

  • As per Section 76 of JJ Act, whoever employs any child for the purpose of begging shall be punishable with imprisonment up to five years and a fine of one lakh rupees.

• The Ministry implements a centrally sponsored scheme i.e. Child Protection Services (CPS) under the umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme, for supporting the children in difficult circumstances including child beggars and destitute children.

  • Under the scheme, institutional care is provided through Child Care Institutions (CCIs), as a rehabilitative measure.

  • The scheme supports 24x7 emergency outreach/ helpline service for children in distress conditions. The service is accessible through a dedicated toll-free number, 1098 from anywhere in India.

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has undertaken a pilot project for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Persons engaged in the act of begging in ten (10) cities. It includes education of children engaged in begging/children of persons engaged in the begging.