Daily Current Affairs MCQ - May 27, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) crossed the milestone of Rs 6 lakh crore (Rs 6 trillion) of Assets Under Management (AUM) under the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY), after 13 years.

• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is the statutory authority established by an enactment of the Parliament, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the National Pension System (NPS) and pension schemes to which this Act applies.
• NPS was initially notified for central government employees recruits w.e.f. 1st January 2004 and subsequently adopted by almost all State Governments for its employees.
• NPS was extended to all Indian citizens (resident/non-resident/overseas) on a voluntary basis and to corporates for its employees.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Compared to a decade ago, Indian youth are now marrying later in life.

• Lokniti-CSDS Youth Studies in 2016 and 2007 show the proportion of married youth decreased by eight percentage points from 55% In 2007 to 47% in 2016 .
• a much higher share of young men were unmarried (61%) compared to women (41%).
• Educational attainment too is an important factor associated with marriage. One observes a decline in the proportion of married youth with successive levels of education.
• In an age of online dating, growth of social networking and matrimonial sites, arranged marriages are still a preferred choice: 84% of the married youth in 2016 said their marriage was decided by families and only 6% reported self-choice.
• Around 31% of the youth said their parents will have or had a lot of influence on their marriage decision. This influence was greater for women (35%) than men (28%).
• The Youth Study 2016 shows that marriage across caste and religion is still not accepted in an arranged marriage set-up. Among the married youth, very few had opted for inter-caste (4%) or marriage outside their religion (3%). These were more prominent among love marriages (inter-caste 34%; inter-religious 12 %).
• To sum up, the youth are marrying late; the institution of arranged marriage is still intact; marrying across caste or religion is still not much accepted; and overall, attitudes to marriage remain within the boundaries of traditional thinking.
• Hence both statements are correct.

On May 26 — Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, or Vesak — India’s largest statue of the Reclining Buddha was to have been installed at the Buddha International Welfare Mission temple in Bodh Gaya. The ceremony has been put off due to Covid-19 restrictions.

• A reclining Buddha statue or image represents The Buddha during his last illness, about to enter Parinirvana, the stage of great salvation after death that can only be attained by enlightened souls.
• Statues and images of the Reclining Buddha show him lying on his right side, his head resting on a cushion or on his right elbow.
• The Reclining Buddha was first depicted in Gandhara art, which began in the period between 50 BC and 75 AD, and peaked during the Kushana period from the first to the fifth centuries AD.
• The largest Reclining Buddha in the world is the 600-foot Winsein Tawya Buddha built in 1992 in Mawlamyine, Myanmar.
• Cave No. 26 of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ajanta contains a 24-foot-long and nine-foot-tall sculpture of the Reclining Buddha, believed to have been carved in the 5th century AD.

Other depictions of the Buddha

• At the Mahabodhi temple, the Buddha is sitting in the bhoomi-sparsha mudra, where his hand is pointing towards the ground. It symbolises earth as being witness to his enlightenment.
• At Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, the stone statue has a hand gesture called the dharma-chakra mudra, which signifies preaching. This is also the most popular depiction in India, along with the Bodhi tree depiction.
• While the Sitting Buddha — most common depiction — is believed to be teaching or meditating, the Standing Buddha signifies rising to teach after reaching nirvana.
• The Walking Buddha is either beginning his journey toward enlightenment or returning after giving a sermon. This is the least common of the Buddha postures, and is seen mostly in Thailand.

Hence both statements are incorrect.

Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, a 1985-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, took charge as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director.

• The Maharashtra cadre officer has served the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) for 10 years. He was also on deputation with the elite Special Protection Group (SPG) for six years.
• In July 2018, Mr. Jaiswal was appointed the Mumbai Police Commissioner. He became the Maharashtra Director-General of Police (DGP) in March 2019.
• He took over as the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) chief on January 8, 2021, following which he was empanelled as one of the candidates for selection as Director, CBI.
• The CBI is headed by a Director, an IPS officer with a rank of Director General of Police.
• The director is selected by a high-profile committee constituted under The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 as amended through The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and has a two-year term.

A high-powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising Chief Justice of India Justice N.V. Ramana and Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary.

Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

The number of smokers worldwide has increased to 1.1 billion in 2019, with tobacco smoking causing 7.7 million deaths – including 1 in 5 deaths in males worldwide.

• Of particular concern are the persistently high rates of smoking among young people, with over half of countries worldwide showing no progress in reducing smoking among 15-24 year olds. 89% of new smokers become addicted by age 25.
• China (26·5 million), India (19·8 million), and Indonesia (9·91 million) are among the top three countries with the largest numbers of current tobacco smokers aged 15–24 years in 2019 and accounted for 55·9% of total tobacco smokers in this age group.
• In 2019, global prevalence of smoking tobacco use among males aged 15-24 years was 20.1 %% and among females was 4.95% . In 2019, an estimated 155 million individuals aged 15–24 years globally were tobacco smokers.
• In 2019, smoking was associated with 1.7 million deaths from ischaemic heart disease, 1.6 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 1.3 million deaths from tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer, and nearly 1 million deaths from stroke.
• The study have been published in The Lancet and The Lancet Public Health journals by the Global Burden of Disease collaboration.
• Hence both statements are correct.

As of August 31, 2020, installed renewable energy capacity stood at 88.79 GW, of which solar and wind comprised 35.73 GW and 37.99 GW, respectively. Biomass and small hydro power constituted 10.14 GW and 4.73 GW, respectively.

Gujarat’s total renewable capacity crossed the 10,000 MW mark in FY20, making it the third State after Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to have more than 10 GW of installed capacity, according to a Crisil Research report.

Mucormycosis is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes. These molds live throughout the environment. It is caused by exposure to mucor mould which is commonly found in soil, plants, manure, and decaying fruits and vegetables.

It affects the sinuses, the brain and the lungs and can be life-threatening in diabetic or severely immunocompromised individuals, such as cancer patients or people with HIV/AIDS.

What is Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)?

• Here, the pre-germinated seeds are directly drilled into the field by a tractor-powered machine.
• There is no nursery preparation or transplantation involved in this method. Farmers have to only level their land and give one pre-sowing irrigation.

How is it different from conventional method?

• In transplanting paddy, farmers prepare nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown and raised into young plants.
• The nursery seed bed is 5-10% of the area to be transplanted. These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the puddled field.

Advantage of DSR:

• Water savings. The first irrigation (apart from the pre-sowing rauni) under DSR is necessary only 21 days after sowing. This is unlike in transplanted paddy, where watering has to be done practically daily to ensure submerged/flooded conditions in the first three weeks.
• Less Labour. About three labourers are required to transplant one acre of paddy at almost Rs 2,400 per acre.
• Reduce methane emissionsdue to a shorter flooding period and decreased soil disturbance compared to transplanting rice seedlings.

Limitations:

• Non-availability of herbicides.
• The seed requirement for DSR is also high,8-10 kg/acre, compared to 4-5 kg/acre in transplanting.
• Further, laser land levelling is compulsory in DSR. This is not so in transplanting.
• The sowing needs to be done timely so that the plants have come out properly before the monsoon rains arrive.

• Van Gujjars are the forest-dwelling nomadic community inhabiting the foothills of Himalayan States such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • Usually, they migrate to the bugyals (grasslands) located in the upper Himalayas with their buffaloes and return only at the end of monsoons to their makeshift huts, deras, in the foothills.
  • They traditionally practice buffalo husbandry; a family owns up to 25 heads of buffaloes. They rely on buffaloes for milk, which gets them a good price in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh markets.
• The Van Gujjars pursue seasonal migration from the Terai-Bhabar and Siwalik region of Uttarakhand to the higher bugyals in the Western Himalayas in summer and vice versa in winter. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• The Central Government has introduced the National Pension System (NPS) with effect from January 2004 (except for armed forces).
• NPS is being implemented and regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) in the country.
  • It works under the Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance (and not Ministry of Personnel, Public grievances and Pensions). Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • National Pension System Trust (NPST) established by PFRDA is the registered owner of all assets under NPS
• NPS was made available to all Citizens of India from May 2009.
  • Any individual citizen of India (both resident and Non-resident) in the age group of 18-65 years can join NPS. hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • However, OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) and PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card holders and Hindu Undivided