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

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his respects to Ayya Vaikunda Swamikal - a great thinker and social reformer of the 19th century - on his birth anniversary.

• He was the pioneer of the social revolutionaries of south India and Kerala.

• Research scholars regard Vaikundar as a teacher, healer and also a miracle worker.

• His teachings also effected many social changes in southern India, resulting in the emergence of a series of social and self-respect movements such as Upper cloth agitation, Temple entry agitation and other movements including those of Narayana Guru, Chattampi Swamikal, Vallalar and Ayyankali.

The BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) leads held their first meeting under India's Chairship from 9-11 March 2021.

• The theme of BRICS this year is -"BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus".

• India, under its Chairship in 2021, presented the calendar of events for BRICS CGETI 2021.

• The deliverables proposed are on (i) BRICS Cooperation on Multilateral Trading system including cooperation for the TRIPS Waiver proposal at WTO; (ii) Framework for Consumer Protection in E-Commerce; (iii) Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) Resolution Mechanism; (iv) Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) etc.

• BRICS is the acronym coined to associate five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

• Originally the first four were grouped as "BRIC" (or "the BRICs") before the induction of South Africa in 2010.

• The term "BRIC" is believed to be coined by Goldman Sachs.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution launched Mera Ration Mobile App for the benefit of those ration card holders who move to new places in search of livelihood.

• At present 32 States and Union Territories are covered under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) and integration of remaining four States and UTs is expected to be completed in next few months.

• At present, the system covers nearly 69 Crore National Food Security Act- NFSA beneficiaries in the country.

• The ONORC scheme is being implemented by the Department of Food & Public Distribution under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution for the nation-wide portability of ration cards under National Food Security Act (NFSA).

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi flagged off the 'Padyatra' (Freedom March) from Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad and inaugurated the curtain raiser activities of the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' (India@75).

• The launch of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' 75 weeks before 15 August 2022 will continue till 15 August, 2023.

• The Prime Minister reiterated five pillars i.e. Freedom Struggle, Ideas at 75, Achievements at 75, Actions at 75 and Resolves at 75 as guiding force for moving forward keeping dreams and duties as inspiration.

• The Prime Minister launched the website of India@75 on the occasion.

• He also launched the 'Atmanirbhar Incubator' programme of Ministry of Culture in partnership with Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust to preserve the skills and arts of artisans/crafts persons on the verge of extinction.

• A Charkha has been installed near Magan Niwas at Sabarmati Ashram. It will rotate full circle with each Tweet related to Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

The Indian Army is in the process of procuring Mobile Integrated Network Terminal (MINT) systems under Make II Category of DAP 2020.

• The system is envisaged as a lightweight, portable, state of art integrated communication solution with satellite backhaul and wireless access system to support voice, video and data.

• Post evaluation of response submitted by the Indian Industry, a total of 11 (eleven) firms have been issued with the Project Sanction Order on 12 March 2021 for development of prototype.

• The Contract will subsequently be placed with one of the firms on successful development of prototype as per provisions of Buy (Indian-IDDM) of DAP 2020.

• Development of MINT systems will enhance the operational communication capability of the field army.

The Supreme Court held that independent persons and not bureaucrats should be appointed State Election Commissioners.

• It said that giving government employees the additional charge of State Election Commissioners is a "mockery of the Constitution".

• The top court directed that the States should appoint independent persons as Election Commissioners all along the length and breadth of the country.

• The judgment criticized the Goa government for giving its Law Secretary the additional charge of State Election Commissioner.

• Article 243K deals with the Elections to the Panchayats. 

• It states that The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to the Panchayats shall be vested in a State Election Commission. 

• It shall consist of a State Election Commissioner to be appointed by the Governor. 

• Subject to the provisions of any law made by the State Legislature, the conditions of service and tenure of office of the State Election Commissioner shall be such as the Governor may by rule determine. However, 

  • The State Election Commissioner shall not be removed from his office except in like manner and on the like ground as a Judge of a High Court. 

  • The conditions of service of the State Election Commissioner shall not be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment. 

On the 91st anniversary of the historic salt march led by Mahatma Gandhi from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off a symbolic 386-kilometre 'Dandi march', following the same route.

• The 24-day march from March 12 to April 5, 1930 was a tax resistance campaign against the British salt monopoly.

• The march marked the inauguration of the civil disobedience movement.

• Gandhi reached Dandi on April 5. The following day, early morning he proceeded along with the other marchers to the sea, where he picked up lumps of natural salt lying in a small pit.

• The following month Gandhi proceeded to Dharasana salt works from where he was arrested and taken to the Yerawada Central Jail.

• The 1882 Salt Act gave the British a monopoly in the manufacture and sale of salt.

• Even though salt was freely available on the coasts of India, Indians were forced to buy it from the colonizers.

• Gandhi decided that if there was any one product through which the civil disobedience could be inaugurated, then it was salt.

The Champaran agitation in Bihar in 1917 was Gandhi's first active involvement into Indian freedom politics. The Champaran farmers were being forced to grow Indigo and were being tortured if they protested.

The farmers sought Gandhi's help and through a calculated non-violent protest, Gandhi managed to win concessions from the authority.

Noncooperation movement in 1920–22, organized by Gandhiji, to induce the British government of India to grant self-government, or swaraj, to India.

The Quit India Movement also known as the August Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 9 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in India.

In a resolution adopted, the European Parliament symbolically declared European Union, the entire 27-member bloc as an "LGBTIQ Freedom Zone" – the acronym meaning lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex and queer.

• The resolution reads, "LGBTIQ persons everywhere in the EU should enjoy the freedom to live and publicly show their sexual orientation and gender identity without fear of intolerance, discrimination or persecution.

• The move comes as a response against member state Poland's controversial move to create more than 100 "LGBTIQ ideology-free zones" around the country since 2019, and more generally against the backsliding of LGBTIQ rights in some EU countries, particularly in Poland and Hungary.

• A majority of countries in the EU (23/27) recognizes same-sex unions, with 16 of them legally recognizing same-sex marriage.

• Poland is part of the small minority that does not acknowledge such relationships.

• Like Poland, Hungary has also been pushing forward a conservative Catholic social agenda. In November 2020, the town of Nagykáta adopted a resolution banning the "dissemination and promotion of LGBTIQ propaganda".

On March 21, the largest asteroid predicted to pass by Earth in 2021 will be at its closest. It is called 2001 FO32.

• It is a near-Earth asteroid classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group.

• With an estimated diameter of 440–680 m (1,400–2,200 ft), it was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at Socorro, New Mexico on 23 March 2001.

• The asteroid will safely pass by Earth on 21 March 2021.

• It won't come closer than 2 million km to Earth, but still, that distance is close in astronomical terms, which is why 2001 FO32 has been designated a "potentially hazardous asteroid".

• During this approach, 2001 FO32 will pass by at about 124,000 kph – faster than the speed at which most asteroids encounter Earth.

• The reason for the asteroid's unusually speedy close approach is its highly eccentric orbit around the Sun, an orbit that is tilted 39° to Earth's orbital plane. This orbit takes the asteroid closer to the Sun than Mercury, and twice as far from the Sun as Mars.

World Health Assembly endorses the 1st ever resolution on meningitis prevention and control.

• Meningitis is a serious infection of the meninges, the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

• The disease can be caused by many different pathogens including bacteria, fungi or viruses, but the highest global burden is seen with bacterial meningitis.

• Several different bacteria can cause meningitis. Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis are the most frequent ones. N. meningitidis, causing meningococcal meningitis, is the one with the potential to produce large epidemics.

• The bacteria that cause meningitis are transmitted from person-to-person through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions from carriers.

• Despite successful efforts to control meningitis in several regions of the world, meningitis continues to be a major global public health issue causing up to 5 million cases each year.

• The meningitis belt in Africa is the most vulnerable to recurrent outbreaks, but meningitis kills people of all ages in all countries.

• The Defeating Meningitis Roadmap addresses all types of meningitis, regardless of the cause, but particularly targets the main causes of acute bacterial meningitis (meningococcus, pneumococcus, Haemophilus influenzae, and group B streptococcus).