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

• Article 311 (1) says that no government employee either of an all India service or a state government shall be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to the own that appointed him/her.
• Article 311 (2) says that no civil servant shall be dismissed or removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which s/he has been informed of the charges and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.
  • People Protected under Article 311: The members of
    • Civil service of the Union,
    • All India Service, and
    • Civil service of any State,
    • People who hold a civil post under the Union or any State.
    • The protective safeguards given under Article 311 are applicable only to civil servants, i.e. public officers. They are not available to defence personnel. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Article 309 empowers the Parliament and the State legislature to regulate the recruitment, and conditions of service of persons appointed, to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State respectively.
• According to Article 310, except for the provisions provided by the Constitution, a civil servant of the Union works at the pleasure of the President and a civil servant under a State works at the pleasure of the Governor of that State (English doctrine of Pleasure). Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • But this power of the Government is not absolute.
• Article 311 puts certain restrictions on the absolute power of the President or Governor for dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of an officer.

• The Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for the holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root & tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and bamboo.
  • The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has provided an enhanced allocation of Rs. 2250 Crore for the year 2021-22 for ‘Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture’ (MIDH).
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is implementing MIDH with effect from 2014-15. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Under MIDH, Government of India (GoI) contributes 60% of total outlay for developmental programmes in all the states except states in North East and Himalayas, 40% share is contributed by State Governments.
  • In the case of North Eastern States and Himalayan States, GoI contributes 90%. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
• MIDH is implemented under Green Revolution - Krishonnati Yojana (and not National Horticulture Mission). Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • National Horticulture Mission (NHM) is a sub-scheme under MIDH and is being implemented by State Horticulture Missions (SHM) in selected districts of 18 States and 6 Union Territories.

• The Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) scheme was launched in November 2015 with an objective to reduce the demand for physical gold and shift a part of the domestic savings - used for the purchase of gold - into financial savings. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The Gold Bonds are issued as Government of India Stock under the Government Securities (GS) Act, 2006.
• These are issued by the RBI on behalf of the Government of India. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The bonds are restricted for sale to resident individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), trusts, universities and charitable institutions. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

The Van Dhan Scheme is an initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED.  It was launched on 14th April, 2018 and seeks to improve tribal incomes through value addition of tribal products.

At State level, the State Nodal Agency for MFPs and the District collectors are envisaged to play a pivot role in scheme implementation at grassroot level. Locally the Kendras are proposed to be managed by a Managing Committee (an SHG) consisting of representatives of Van Dhan SHGs in the cluster.

At unit level, aggregation of produce would be done by SHGs having about 30 members each forming Van Dhan Vikas ‘Samuh’. The SHGs would also undertake primary value addition of the MFPs.

Article 323B {Tribunals for other matters}

The appropriate Legislature may, by law, provide for the adjudication or trial by tribunals of any disputes, complaints, or offences with respect to all or any of the matters specified in clause (2) with respect to which such Legislature has power to make laws.

(2) The matters referred to in clause (1) are the following, namely: —

(a) levy, assessment, collection and enforcement of any tax;

(b) foreign exchange, import and export across customs frontiers;

(c) industrial and labour disputes;

(d) land reforms by way of acquisition by the State of any estate as defined in article 31A or of any rights therein or the extinguishment or modification of any such rights or by way of ceiling on agricultural land or in any other way;

(e) ceiling on urban property;

(f) elections to either House of Parliament or the House or either House of the Legislature of a State, but excluding the matters referred to in article 329 and article 329A;

(g) production, procurement, supply and distribution of food-stuffs (including edible oilseeds and oils) and such other goods as the President may, by public notification, declare to be essential goods for the purpose of this article and control of prices of such goods;

(h) rent, its regulation and control and tenancy issues including the right, title and interest of landlords and tenants;

(i) offences against laws with respect to any of the matters specified in sub-clauses (a) to (h) and fees in respect of any of those matters;

(j) any matter incidental to any of the matters specified in sub-clauses (a) to (i).

With 65 individuals recorded in 2018, the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh also won the TX2 award for doubling its population of wild tigers since 2010. The reserve is a source site for tigers and important for connectivity across the vast Terai Arc Landscape of India and Nepal.

TX2 stands for “Tigers times two”, signalling the goal to double the population of wild tigers by 2022.

The Supreme Court held that “the final say in regard to inclusion or exclusion (or modification of lists) of SEBCs is firstly with the President, and thereafter, in case of modification or exclusion from the lists initially published, with the Parliament”.

In the task of identification of SEBCs, the President shall be guided by the Commission set up under Article 338B; its advice shall also be sought by the state in regard to policies that might be framed by it. If the commission prepares a report concerning matters of identification, such a report has to be shared with the state government, which is bound to deal with it, in accordance with provisions of Article 338B. However, the final determination culminates in the exercise undertaken by the President

• Recently, Israeli armed forces attacked Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Haram esh-Sharif in Jerusalem, ahead of a march by Zionist nationalists commemorating Israel’s capture of the eastern half of the city in 1967. Hence, option B is correct.
• Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of the holiest structures in the Islamic faith. It sits inside a 35-acre site known by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and by Jews as the Temple Mount.
  • The site is part of the Old City of Jerusalem, sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims.
  • It is believed to have been completed early in the eighth century and faces the Dome of the Rock, the golden-domed Islamic shrine that is a widely recognized symbol of Jerusalem.
  • The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has classified the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls as a World Heritage Site.

• India has S-400 TRIUMF is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system (SAM) designed by Russia. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • It has an air defence bubble to knock off threats.
  • The system can engage all types of aerial targets within the range of 400km, at an altitude of up to 30km.
    • The system can track 100 airborne targets and engage six of them simultaneously.
• Ashwin Advanced Air Defence Interceptor Missile is an indigenously produced Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
  • It is the advanced version of the low altitude supersonic ballistic interceptor missile. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • The missile also has its own mobile launcher, secure data link for interception, independent tracking and homing capabilities and sophisticated radars.
  • It uses an endo-spheric (within the Earth’s atmosphere) interceptor that knocks out ballistic missiles at a maximum altitude of 60,000 to 100,000 feet, and across a range between 90 and 125 miles.

Aditya – L1 First Indian mission to study the Sun:

• The Aditya-1 mission was conceived as a 400kg class satellite carrying one payload, the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) and was planned to launch in a 800 km low earth orbit.
• A Satellite placed in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/ eclipses.
• Therefore, the Aditya-1 mission has now been revised to “Aditya-L1 mission” and will be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1, which is 1.5 million km from the Earth.
• The satellite carries additional six payloads with enhanced science scope and objectives.
• It is planned to be launched on the PSLV-C56 in December 2021 or January 2022.