Daily Current Affairs MCQ - Feb 20, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted a conditional exemption for Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) usage to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoAFW).

• The permission allows drone deployment by the MoAFW for remote sensing data collection in agricultural areas of 100 districts of the country, for Gram Panchayat level yield estimation, under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

• The exemption shall be valid from the one year from the date of issue of the permission letter or until the operationalisation of the Digital Sky Platform, whichever is earlier.

• However, this exemption shall be valid only if all conditions and limitations are strictly adhered to.

• In case of violation of any condition, this exemption shall become null & void and action may be initiated as per Para 18 of the above-mentioned CAR.

Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff presided over the debrief of TROPEX-21 (Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise) at Kochi.

• The exercise had commenced in January 2021 involving all three Commands of the Indian Navy, the Tri-Services Command at Port Blair, and elements of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard.

• The Biennial exercise is the largest exercise conducted by the Indian Navy aimed to validate its concepts of war-fighting across the entire spectrum of warfare.

• The exercise was spread over the vast geographical expanse of the Indian Ocean and its adjunct waters, with exercise scenarios centred around the extant geopolitical situation in IOR.

• As a prelude to this Theatre Level exercise, a coastal defence exercise – Sea Vigil was conducted in mid-Jan 2021 which witnessed all stakeholder Ministries of Govt of India, State Governments of all coastal states and UTs, the Coast Guard, Port Authorities, shipping and fishing communities, with the Indian Navy as the lead agency.

• This was followed by an amphibious exercise (AMPHEX- 21) in which Indian naval amphibious ships, units of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force undertook a joint exercise in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, with an aim to validate India’s capabilities to safeguard the territorial integrity of its Island territories.

Indian Naval Ship Pralaya arrived at Abu Dhabi, UAE to participate in the NAVDEX 21 (Naval Defence Exhibition) and IDEX 21 (International Defence Exhibition), scheduled from 20 to 25 February 2021.

• INS Pralaya, the second ship of the indigenously built Prabal Class Missile Vessels, was commissioned in the Indian Navy on 18 December 2002.

• The 56 m longship, displacing about 560 T is capable of speeds in excess of 35 knots and is fitted with an impressive array of weapons and sensors.

• These include a 76.2 mm medium range gun, 30 mm close-range guns, chaff launchers and long-range surface to surface missiles.

• The ship was built indigenously at Goa Shipyard Limited.

Defence relations between India and UAE:

• Towards enhancing interactions between the two navies, the inaugural edition of Indian Navy – UAE Navy bilateral exercise GULF STAR - 1 was conducted in March 2018. The next edition of the exercise is likely to be conducted in 2021.

Joint User Trials for the helicopter-launched version of the Nag anti-tank guided missile, ‘Helina’, and its Air Force variant ‘Dhruvastra’ have been carried out from Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) platform in desert ranges.

• Helina, which is the helicopter-launched version of the Nag missile system, is a third-generation, Lock on Before Launch (LOBL) fire and forget class anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system mounted on the ALH.

• The system has all-weather day and night operational capabilities and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as explosive reactive armour (ERA). The Helina missile can engage targets in both indirect hit mode as well as top attack mode.

• While the Helina weapon systems have been developed for the Indian Army, its IAF variant Dhruvastra has also been developed by the DRDO and now both variants are ready for induction into services.

The Union Home Minister attended the 'Shauryanjali' programme, organized to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

• He also flagged off a cycle rally.

• Three teams, namely Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Rasbehari Bose and Khudiram Bose, are participating in the rally which will create awareness in different parts of West Bengal about the great sacrifices made by the revolutionaries of Bengal in the freedom movement.

• Rash Behari Bose (1886 – 1945) was an Indian revolutionary leader against the British Raj.

• He was born in West Bengal.

• Following the attempt to assassinate Lord Hardinge on 23 December 1912 in Delhi, Rash Behari was forced to go into hiding.

• He was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar Mutiny, and later the Indian National Army.

• Rash Behari Bose handed over Indian National Army to Subhas Chandra Bose.

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways launched the “Go Electric” Campaign to spread awareness on the benefits of e-mobility and EV Charging Infrastructure as well as electric cooking in India.

• Go Electric Campaign is an important initiative that would help in reducing the import dependence of our country in the coming years and would be an important step towards a cleaner and greener future.

• The campaign is aimed at creating awareness at the PAN-India level and is expected to boost the confidence of Electric Vehicle manufacturers.

• To implement the ‘Go Electric’ campaign at the National and State level, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will extend technical support to the State Designated Agencies (SDAs).

• As a Central Nodal Agency, BEE will provide content and details to State Designated Agencies and other partners to ensure uniformity of information.

• Electric fuel is a major alternative for fossil fuels which have an import bill of Rs. 8 lakh Crore.

• When compared to conventional fuels the electric fuel has low cost, reduced emissions and is also indigenous.

Union Minister of Railways, dedicated to the Nation series of Projects for the development of Railway Infrastructure in West Bengal.

• He inaugurated 2nd Foot Over Bridge at Santragachi, Freight Terminal at Sankrail (Phase-I) & Vivekananda Meditation Centre at Howrah and dedicated to the Nation an Executive Lounge at Sealdah station, 2 Escalators at Sealdah station and 2 lifts at Sealdah station.

• Santragachi station is one of the busiest stations in the Howrah-Kharagpur section. It is being developed with all modern amenities.

• Sankrail Freight Terminal (Phase-I) has been developed with modern facilities for freight rake handling. This Freight Terminal will serve around 40 sq. km. industrial belt spreading over Kolkata and Howrah in West Bengal.

• Executive Lounge at Sealdah Station is another novel initiative of Railways to provide more comfort for passengers.

• In order to augment the security of passengers & railway property, an Integrated Security System has been commissioned at Barddhaman station.

Mon District Administration in collaboration with Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) completed the electrification of Shinnyu village under Mon district in Nagaland using solar power.

• A total of 60 households, Churches and community hall was electrified using solar power. The entire cost for the project stood at Rs. 23 Lacs was borne through CSR funding and executed by the GHE.

• Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) works towards providing clean energy access through solar power to remote communities and has also won the United Nation Global Climate Action Award 2020.

• Shinnyu was set up in 1977 and recognised by the State government in 2002 but it has virtually remained cut off in the absence of proper road infrastructure. The Power Department tried to electrify the village in 2013-14 but the project was abandoned due to logistical problems.

After 15 months, Anand Fernandes, a Mumbai sailor returned home. He was a crew member on the cargo ship Anastasia, which was stranded at a Chinese port due to the coronavirus pandemic.

• Mr Fernandes started his journey on Anastasia before the pandemic in November 2019 and the ship travelled to the U.S., Netherlands, South Africa, India, China, and Australia.

• However, the second trip to China resulted in the ship being stranded in Chinese waters as the pandemic scare prevented the unloading of Australian coal. China also had new regulations on imports.

• After the successful negotiations with Chinese officials, the ship was then taken to Japan from where the crew flew to Dubai and then to the respective cities of residence.

The shadow of NASA’s Perseverance rover was seen on the surface of Mars as it landed on the planet. With this, NASA is set to become the first space agency to fly a drone in the atmosphere of another planet.

• Mission Name: Mars 2020

• Rover Name: Perseverance

• Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for a possible return to Earth.

• Launch: July 30, 2020

• Landing: Feb. 18, 2021

• Landing Site: Jezero Crater, Mars