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

• US crude oil exports to India jumped to 2.11 million metric tonnes in February, helping it dislodge Saudi Arabia as the second-largest supplier to India, the world's third largest oil importer.

• This comes in India's backdrop increasing its oil imports from the US, with the Indian government working on diversifying the country's energy basket with crude oil supplies from non-Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) sources.

• India's dramatic surge in US crude inflows has helped the exporter to displace Saudi Arabia for the first time.

• Global crude oil prices have surged after the Opec-plus grouping decided to retain supply curbs.

• OPEC+ is an alliance of crude producers, who have been undertaking corrections in supply in the oil markets.

• OPEC membership is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and shares the organization's ideals.

AI's exponential growth

It is embedded in the recommendations we get on our favourite streaming or shopping site; in GPS mapping technology, in the predictive text that completes our sentences when we try to send an email or complete a web search.

AI in E-Commerce

Personalized Shopping

Artificial Intelligence technology is used to create recommendation engines to engage better with your customers.

Fraud Prevention

Credit card frauds and fake reviews are two of the most significant issues that E-Commerce companies deal with. By considering the usage patterns, AI can help reduce the possibility of credit card frauds taking place.

AI in Agriculture

Artificial Intelligence is used to identify defects and nutrient deficiencies in the soil. This is done using computer vision, robotics, and machine learning. AI can analyze where weeds are growing.

AI in Automobiles

Artificial Intelligence is used to build self-driving vehicles. AI can be used along with the vehicle's camera, radar, cloud services, GPS, and control signals to operate the vehicle.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the passing away of Geeta Press President Radheshyam Khemka. Mr. Modi said Radheshyam Khemka took Sanatan literature to the masses.

• Sanātanī is a term used to describe Hindu movements that incorporate various teachings from the Vedas, Upanishads, and other Hindu texts such as the Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita.

• Sanatana Dharma (meaning "eternal dharma") denotes duties (righteousness) performed according to one's spiritual identity as Ātman. Sanatana Dharma is presently a large facet of the collective synthesis of Hinduism beliefs.

• Foreign exchange reserves are assets held on reserve by a central bank in foreign currencies, including bonds, treasury bills and other government securities.

• India’s Forex Reserve include:

  • Foreign Currency Assets

  • Gold reserves

  • Special Drawing Rights

  • Reserve position with the IMF.

• Foreign Currency Assets are valued assets based on a currency other than the country's own currency.

  • FCA is the largest component of the forex reserve. It is expressed in dollar terms. 

  • The FCAs also include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves

• Odia is the oldest language of the eastern group of the Indo-Aryan family. 

• It is derived from Ardha Magadhi Prakrit. 

• Odia is one of the six languages that got Classical Status in India.

• It is one of the officially “scheduled” languages of the Indian constitution.

• It is also the main official language of the Indian state of Odisha.

• Adikabi Sarala Das was one of the great scholars of Odia literature and the first one to write his works in Odia in 15th century A.D.

  • He was best known for three Odia books, Mahabharata, Vilanka Ramayana and Chandi Purana. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

  • He also wrote the book Laxmi Narayana Vachanika.

In a marked flare-up in tensions within Jordan’s royal household, Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein, the former crown prince and half-brother of ruling monarch Abdullah, has reportedly been placed under house arrest as part of a crackdown on critics.

• Jordan is an Arab country in Western Asia's Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River.

• Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Israel and Palestine (West Bank).

• The Dead Sea is located along its western borders and the country has a 26-kilometre coastline on the Red Sea in its extreme south-west.

• Its capital city is Amman.

• The sovereign state is a constitutional monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers.

• Sunni Islam, practised by around 95% of the population, is the dominant religion and coexists with an indigenous Christian minority.

In another major success for the US space agency NASA, its Mars helicopter Ingenuity has been dropped on the surface of the Red Planet ahead of its historic first flight scheduled for April 11.

• Ingenuity is a small robotic helicopter located on Mars since February 18, 2021 that is intended to make the first powered atmospheric flight on a planet beyond Earth.

• Part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, the small coaxial, drone rotorcraft will serve as a technology demonstrator for the potential use of flying probes on other worlds, with the potential to scout locations of interest and support the future planning of driving routes for Mars rovers.

• Ingenuity, now on the Martian surface, was attached to the Perseverance rover's underside.

• A rare disease is a health condition of low prevalence that affects a small number of people compared with other prevalent diseases in the general population.

• There is no universally accepted definition of rare diseases and the definitions usually vary across different countries.

• Rare diseases have low prevalence and life-threatening or chronically debilitating diseases.

• About 80% of the rare diseases are of genetic origin and a large chunk of rare diseases patients are children. 

• About 95% rare diseases have no approved treatment. However, less than 1 in 10 patients receive disease-specific treatment. 

• All United Nations members agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. While other United Nations organs make recommendations to member states, only the Security Council has the power to make decisions that member states are then obligated to implement under the Charter.

• The Council's presidency is held by each of the members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the Member States names.

• It was established in 1945 and headquartered in New York.

The Godavari is the largest Peninsular river system. It is also called the Dakshin Ganga.

• It rises from Trimbakeshwar near Nasik in Maharashtra and flows for a length of about 1465 km before outfalling into the Bay of Bengal. 

• The Godavari basin extends over states of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, and smaller parts in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Union territory of Puducherry. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

• Tributaries: Pravara, Purna, Manjra, Penganga, Wardha, Wainganga, Pranhita (combined flow of Wainganga, Penganga, Wardha), Indravati, Maner and the Sabri.