Daily Current Affairs MCQ - Feb 18, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Prime Minister will inaugurate the 320 KV Pugalur (Tamil Nadu) - Thrissur (Kerala) power transmission project.

• It is a Voltage Source Converter (VSC) based High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Project and has India's first HVDC link featuring state-of-the-art VSC technology.

• Built at a cost of Rs 5070 crores, it will facilitate the transfer of 2000 MW power from the western region and help meet the growth in load for the people of Kerala.

• This VSC based system features integration of HVDC XLPE (cross-linked polyethene) cable with overhead lines which saves right-of-way as well as has 35-40% less land footprint compared to conventional HVDC system.

Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation the 50 MW Kasaragod Solar Power Project in Kerala.

• It has been developed under the National Solar Energy Mission.

• Set up over 250 acres of land spread across Paivalike, Meenja and Chippar villages of Kasaragod district, it has been built with Central Government's investment of around Rs. 280 crores.

Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the Integrated Command and Control Centre at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

• Projected to be built at a cost of Rs 94 crores, it is being set up to host Smart Solutions for Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation and will act as a common point of action during emergency situations to facilitate coordinated action.

• The control rooms or War Room at the ICCC would act as a single point of coordinated action and decision making among various agencies like police, civil supplies, revenue, health and fire fighting.

Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the Smart Roads Project in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

• The project, to be undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 427 crores, envisages converting 37 Kms of existing roads in Thiruvananthapuram to world-class smart roads by bringing all overhead utilities underneath and undertaking road and junction improvements.

• The project envisages development of urban roads as smart roads. It will have features like pedestrian footpath/safe pathways, junction improvements, stormwater drains, utility conduits and underground ducts for electrical, KWA and communication lines.

• Besides landscaping, streetscaping, provision of smart street furniture, creating and developing basic conveniences along the roads are also included under the scope of work.

Prime Minister will inaugurate the 75 MLD (million litres per day) Water Treatment Plant at Aruvikkara in Kerala.

• It is being built under the AMRUT Mission.

• It will boost the supply of drinking water to people of Thiruvananthapuram and help avoid disruption of drinking water supply to the city in the event of maintenance work in the existing treatment plants in Aruvikkara.

• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched in 2015 with the aim of providing basic civic amenities like water supply, sewerage, urban transport, parks to improve the quality of life for all especially the poor and the disadvantaged.

The Union Cabinet has approved signing of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) between India and Mauritius.

• The India-Mauritius CECPA will be the first trade agreement to be signed by India with a country in Africa.

• The Agreement is a limited agreement, which will cover Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Financial Services, Customs Procedures and Cooperation in other Areas

• CECPA provides for an institutional mechanism to encourage and improve trade between the two countries.

• Both sides have also agreed to negotiate an Automatic Trigger Safeguard Mechanism (ATSM) for a limited number of highly sensitive products within two years of the Signing of the Agreement.

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Women and Child Development to amend the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 to introduce measures for strengthening Child Protection set-up to ensure the best interest of children.

• The amendments include authorizing District Magistrate including Additional District Magistrate to issue adoption orders under Section 61 of the JJ Act, in order to ensure speedy disposal of cases and enhance accountability.

• The District Magistrates have been further empowered under the Act, to ensure its smooth implementation, as well as garner synergized efforts in favour of children in distress conditions.

• Defining eligibility parameters for the appointment of CWC members, and categorizing previously undefined offences as 'serious offence' are some of the other aspects of the proposal.

• Several difficulties faced in the implementation of various provisions of the Act have also been addressed.

The Union Cabinet has approved Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Telecom and Networking Products with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 12,195 crore.

• The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme intends to promote the manufacture of Telecom and Networking Products in India and proposes a financial incentive to boost domestic manufacturing and attract investments in the target segments of telecom and networking products in order to encourage Make in India.

• The scheme will also encourage exports of telecom and networking products 'Made in India'.

• Support under the Scheme will be provided to companies/entities engaged in manufacturing of specified telecom and networking products in India.

• Eligibility will be further subject to achievement of a minimum threshold of cumulative incremental investment over a period of four years and incremental sales of manufactured goods net of taxes (as distinct from traded goods) over the Base Year 2019-2020.

• There will be a minimum investment threshold of Rs.10 crore for MSME with incentives from 7% to 4 % and Rs. 100 crore for others with incentives from 6% to 4 % over 5 years above Base Year.

• The applicants with higher investments than specified threshold under MSME and Non-MSME categories will be selected through a transparent process.

India has announced a National Hydrogen Mission. The proposal in the Budget will be followed up with a mission draft over the next couple of months.

• And while proposed end-use sectors include steel and chemicals, the major industry that hydrogen has the potential of transforming is transportation — which contributes a third of all greenhouse gas emissions.

• In October, Delhi became the first Indian city to operate buses running on hydrogen spiked compressed natural gas (H-CNG) in a six-month pilot project.

• The buses will run on a new technology patented by Indian Oil Corp for producing H-CNG — 18 per cent hydrogen in CNG — directly from natural gas, without resorting to conventional blending.

• IOC is also planning to set up a dedicated unit to produce hydrogen to run buses at its R&D centre in Faridabad.

• As a supporting regulatory framework, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways late last year issued a notification proposing amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, to include safety evaluation standards for hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles.

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted transit anticipatory bail to Shantanu Shivlal Muluk in the Greta Thunberg toolkit case registered by the Delhi Police in connection with the ongoing protests against the three farm laws.

• According to Article 22 of the Constitution of India, every person who is "arrested and detained in custody" has to be produced before the nearest magistrate within a period of 24 hours of the arrest — the period excludes the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the court. No person can be kept in custody beyond the period of 24 hours without an order of a magistrate. Section 56 of the CrPC states that the person arrested has to be taken before the magistrate without unnecessary delay.

• When does a person apply for anticipatory transit bail? When a person is apprehending arrest by the police of a state other than where they are at present, they approach the nearest competent court for a transit anticipatory or pre-arrest bail.