Daily Current Affairs MCQ - March 5, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Department of ENT, Command Hospital, Southern Command, Pune celebrated the World Hearing Week from 24 February 2021 to 03 March 2021 to commemorate the World Hearing Day at ‘SHRAVAN’

• ‘SHRAVAN’ is the only Centre for “Early Intervention & Rehabilitation of Hearing Loss” for entire Southern Command Zone of Indian Army.

• ‘SHRAVAN’ is being run as a centre of excellence for providing seamless, organized and effective intervention for the hearing impaired.

• The centre has rehabilitated over 280 children till date and presently 90 children are undergoing auditory verbal therapy at the centre.

• 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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will receive the CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates Week (CERAWeek) 2021 on 5th March via video conferencing.

• CERAWeek was founded in 1983 by Dr. Daniel Yergin.

• It has been organized in Houston in March every year since 1983 and is considered the world’s premier annual energy platform.

• CERAWeek 2021 is being convened virtually from 1st March to 5th March, 2021.

• CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award was instituted in 2016.

• It recognizes the commitment of leadership on the future of global energy & environment and for offering solutions and policies for energy access, affordability & environmental stewardship.

In a major boost to India’s rice exports potential, the first consignment of ‘red rice’ was flagged off to the USA.

• Iron rich ‘red rice’ is grown in Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilizer.

• The rice variety is referred as ‘Bao-dhaan’, which is an integral part of the Assamese food.

• As the exports of ‘red rice’ grow, it would bring enhance incomes of farming families of the Brahmaputra flood plains.

• APEDA has promoting rice exports through collaborations with various stakeholders in the value chains. The government had set up the Rice Export Promotion Forum (REPF), under the aegis of the APEDA.

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.

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.

Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs announced the release of the final rankings of Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020.

• The EoLI aims to measure the well-being of Indian citizens in 111 cities, across the pillars of Quality of Life, Economic-ability, and Sustainability, with 49 indicators under 13 categories.

• The EoLI 2020 strengthens its scope by consolidating the framework with the addition of a Citizen Perception Survey in the index, holding a weightage of 30%.

• The rankings under Ease of Living Index 2020 were announced for cities with a population of more than a million, and cities with less than a million people.

• Bengaluru emerged as the top performer in the Million+ category.

• In the Less than Million category, Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living

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.

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).

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.

The Simlipal forest reserve area frequently witnesses forest fires during dry weather conditions. A fire that started in the biosphere reserve area in February and has been raging for nearly a week now was finally brought under control.

• Similipal, which derives its name from the ‘Simul’ (silk cotton) tree, is a national park and a tiger reserve situated in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.

• Similipal and the adjoining areas, comprising 5,569 sq km, was declared a biosphere reserve by the Government of India on June 22, 1994, and lies in the eastern end of the eastern ghat.

• This protected area is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2009.