Daily Current Affairs MCQ - May 25, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Discontent is simmering in the Lakshadweep group of islands over the creation of a Lakshadweep Development Authority (LDA) by the new administrator Praful Khoda Patel.

• Mr Patel, a BJP leader and former Home Minister of Gujarat, is the first political appointee as Administrator, a post mostly held by retired civil servants.
• Islanders have pointed out that the legislation are out of sync with the social and environmental realities of the archipelago.
• The creation of the Lakshadweep Development Authority (LDA), with extensive powers, including eviction of land owners, is widely read as having been pushed by the real estate lobby and against the interest of the islanders.
• Hundreds of islanders have written to the administrator demanding the withdrawal of the proposed regulation, which makes provision for the
  • orderly and progressive development of land in both urban and rural areas and to preserve and improve the amenities thereof;
  • grant of permission to develop land and for other powers of control over the use of land;
  • conferring additional powers in respect of the acquisition and development of land for planning.
• The regulation empowers the government, identified as the administrator, to constitute Planning and Development Authorities under it to plan the development of any area identified as having “bad layout or obsolete development”. Only cantonment areas are exempted from this. An authority thus created would be a body corporate with a government-appointed chairman, a town planning officer and three ‘expert’ government nominees besides two local authority representatives.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Users of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, WazirX and CoinDCX, had a tough time due to outages as Bitcoin plunged over 30%, wiping out over $500 billion in value from the coin’s peak market value.

• Several cryptocurrency exchanges have now come up in the country that enable buying, selling and trading in several cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency exchanges offer ease in trading by offering functionality through user-friendly applications or websites.
• Some of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in India are WazirX, CoinDCX, Zebpay and UnoCoin.
• Hence, option (c) is the correct answer.

In a major step towards harnessing exports potential of agricultural and processed food products from north-eastern region, a shipment of 1.2 metric tonne (MT) of fresh jackfruit was exported from Tripura to London.

• Jackfruit is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae).
• It is a multiple fruit, composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals are eaten.
• Scientific Name: Artocarpus heterophyllus.
• Local Names in India: Katahal (Hindi), Phanas (Marathi), Phannasa (Gujarati), Panasa (Telugu), Palaa/ Varukkai (Tamil), Halasu (Kannada), Chakka (Malayalam), Panasa (Oriya).
• Major producers in world: India, Thailand, Indonesia and Nepal.
• Major Production States: Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Utter Pradesh, Orissa and Assam. Kerala is the largest producer of jackfruit in the world. It is the state fruit of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Recently, the first consignment of ‘red rice’ was sent to the USA from Assam. 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.

Hence only statement 2 is correct

The Centre further extended the deadline for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts by a fortnight till June 15 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• In November 2019, the government had announced that hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts would be made mandatory across the country from January 15, 2021. However, the deadline was extended for four months till June 1 after jewellers sought more time in view of the pandemic.
• Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and is voluntary in nature at present. The hallmarking of jewellery/artefacts is required to enhance the credibility of gold jewellery and customer satisfaction through third party assurance for the marked purity/fineness of gold.
• According to BIS, the mandatory hallmarking will protect the public against lower caratage and ensure consumers do not get cheated while buying gold ornaments and get the purity as marked on the ornaments.
• A committee, headed by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Director General Pramod Tewari, has been formed to ensure proper coordination and resolve the implementation issues.
• From June 15, jewellers will be allowed to sell only 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold jewellery.
• The BIS has been running a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000. Around 40 per cent of gold jewellery is being hallmarked currently.
• Hence both statements are correct.

India and Israel signed a three-year work program for cooperation in Agriculture, while recognizing the centrality of agriculture and water sectors in the bilateral relationship.

• India and Israel are implementing the “INDO-ISRAEL Agricultural Project Centres of Excellence” and “INDO-ISRAEL Villages of Excellence”.
• The minister said that India and Israel have had bilateral relations since 1993 in the agricultural sector. This is the 5th Indo-Israel Agriculture Action Plan (IIAP).
• The three-year work program (2021-2023) will aim to grow existing Centres of Excellence, establish new centers, increase CoE’s value chain, bring the Centres of Excellence into the self-sufficient mode, and encourage private sector companies and collaboration.
• As for the “INDO-ISRAEL Villages of Excellence”, this is a new concept aimed at creating a model ecosystem in agriculture across eight states, alongside 13 Centers of Excellence within 75 villages. The IIVOE program will focus on: (1) Modern Agriculture infrastructure, (2) Capacity Building, (3) Market linkage.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a COVID-19 antibody detection kit called DIPCOVAN.

China successfully launched a new ocean-monitoring satellite Haiyang-2D (HY-2D) into orbit on May 19, 2021, on Long March-4B rocket, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China.

In Bihar, Nitish Kumar Government has launched an innovative mobile application called ‘Home Isolation Tracking (HIT)’ COVID, to keep an eye on the condition of COVID-19 patients recovering at their residence

Renowned music director Raamlaxman, or the “Laxman” of the famous duo composers “Raam-Laxman”, has passed away due to heart attack. He was 78. His real name was Vijay Patil, but was better known as Raamlaxman and was most famous for his work with Rajshri Productions of Hindi films.

India is all set to host the “2022 FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup” from October 11 to 30, 2022. It will be the 2nd FIFA tournament to be hosted by India. India had also hosted the FIFA under-17 World Cup in 2017. FIFA Women’s World Cup: It is a soccer competition that is contested Internationally by senior women’s national teams of members of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA).  It was started in 1991, and it has been held every 4 years since then.