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

Government takes historic pro-farmer decision of hiking fertiliser subsidy.

• PM Narendra Modi chaired a high level meeting on the issue of fertiliser prices. It was discussed that the price of fertilisers is undergoing an increase due to the rising prices of phosphoric acid, ammonia etc internationally.
• A historic decision was taken to increase the subsidy for DAP fertiliser from Rs. 500 per bag to Rs. 1200 per bag, which is an increase of 140%.
• Thus, despite the rise in international market prices of DAP, it has been decided to continue selling it at the older price of Rs.1200 and the central government has decided to bear all the burden of price hike. The amount of subsidy per bag has never been increased so much at once.
• Recently, the international prices of phosphoric acid, ammonia etc. used in DAP have gone up by 60% to 70%. So the actual price of a DAP bag is now Rs 2400, which could be sold by Fertilizer companies at Rs 1900 after considering a subsidy of Rs 500. With recent decision, farmers will continue to get a DAP bag for Rs 1200.

DAP is manufactured by reacting Ammonia with Phosphoric acid under controlled conditions in fertilizer plants. Hence both statements are correct.

The Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal approved the setting up of a Legislative Council in the state.

• The West Bengal Legislative Council remained in existence till 1969. it was abolished 50 years ago by a coalition government of Left parties.
• Currently, six states — Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka — have a Legislative Council.
• The setting up of a second chamber is not exclusively in the hands of the state government. The central government also has to pilot a Bill in Parliament.
• Article 168 of the Constitution empowers the Legislative Assembly to create or abolish a Legislative Council by passing a resolution. The resolution has to be passed by two-thirds of the Assembly members. Then a Bill to this effect has to be passed by Parliament.

Hence both statements are incorrect.

New AIIMS started under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana are providing advanced COVID Care in States.

• Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), a Central Sector Scheme, was announced in 2003 to address imbalances in availability of tertiary care hospitals and improve medical education in the country.
• The scheme received a fresh impetus to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of quality medical education in the underserved States, and many new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences are being set up under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.
• So far setting up of 22 new AIIMS has been approved under the scheme, out of which six AIIMS at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh are already fully functional.
• In another seven AIIMS, OPD facility and MBBS classes have started while in five more institutes only MBBS classes has started.
• These regional AIIMS, set up or being set up under PMSSY, have played a very significant role in management of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic early last year.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar in Punjab and Monash University, Australia have developed a unique detector named ‘FakeBuster’ to identify imposters attending a virtual conference without anybody’s knowledge.

• FakeBuster is a DeepFakes Detection Tool for Video Conferencing Scenarios
• In the present pandemic scenario when most of the official meetings and work is being done online, this standalone solution enables a user (organizer) to detect if another person's video is manipulated or spoofed during a video conferencing.
• That means the technique will find out if some imposter is attending a Webinar or virtual meeting on behalf of one of your colleagues by morphing his image with his own.
• It can also find out faces manipulated on social media to defame or make a joke of someone.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

The Finance Ministry has granted ‘Infrastructure’ status for exhibition and convention centres, a move that is expected to ease bank financing for such projects.

• ‘Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre is included in the Harmonised Master List of Infrastructure sub-sectors by insertion of a new item in the category of Social and Commercial Infrastructure,’ the Department of Economic Affairs said.
• However, the benefits would only be available for projects with a minimum built-up floor area of 1,00,000 sq. m. of exclusive exhibition space or convention space or both combined.
• As of now, the major projects under way in the sector are backed by the government – the International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centres at Dwarka and Pragati Maidan in the capital.
• The infrastructure tag does not involve significant tax breaks but would help such projects get easier financing from banks, said experts. However, restrictions on size may be a dampener.
• India doesn’t have large convention centres or single halls with capacities to hold 7,000 to 10,000 people, unlike countries like Thailand that is a major global MICE destination.
• Becoming a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) destination can generate significant revenue with several global firms active in India but it will take time to become a preferred destination.
• Last August, the government had granted infrastructure status to affordable rental housing projects.
• Medical Colleges, Para Medical Training Institutes and Diagnostics Centres also received infrastructure status.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

In a move to counter China’s dominance of supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region, trade ministers of India, Japan and Australia on Tuesday formally launched the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI).

• The Supply Chain Resilience Initiative aims to create a virtuous cycle of enhancing supply chain resilience with a view to eventually attaining strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth in the Indo-pacific region.

The French National Assembly on Saturday approved the creation of an “ecocide” offence as part of a battery of measures aimed at protecting the environment and tackling climate change.

Ecocide is “the massive contamination of air, land and water,” or “any action capable of producing an ecological disaster.

Hydrogen is the lightest element in the periodic table. Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe.

Currently, India consumes around 5.5 million tonnes of hydrogen, primarily produced from imported fossil fuels.

The US administration has appointed Indian-American Neera Tanden as a Senior Adviser to President Joe Biden at the White House on May 17, 2021.

The World Bee Day is celebrated every year on May 20 to acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators for the ecosystem.