Daily Current Affairs MCQ - June 2, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas presided over a virtual ceremony in which a number of initiatives were launched to provide major fillip to the SATAT initiative.

• This included signing of a Cooperation Agreement by Oil and Gas majors including IndianOil, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL and IGL, for the promotion and development of the SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) scheme.
• The SATAT scheme aims to set up Compressed Bio-Gas production plants and make CBG available in the market for use as a green fuel.
• 'SATAT’, launched on 1.10.2018, envisages to target production of 15 MMT of CBG from 5000 plants by 2023.
• Besides the potential to boost availability of more affordable transport fuels, better use of agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste, the 5000 CBG plants will provide an investment of 1.75 lakh crore, an additional revenue source to farmers, and 75,000 direct job opportunities and lakhs of indirect jobs.
• The minister also laid the foundation stones of 5 upcoming CBG Plants.
• He also inaugurated the first injection of CBG into the CGD pipeline network at Govardhannathji Energies into Gujarat Gas CGD network at NadiadKhedaDistt., Gujarat.
• Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.

Union Minister of Health launched the revamped Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and the Umbrella schemes of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) and Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant (HMDG) on National Health Authority (NHA)’s IT platform for providing cashless, paperless and citizen-centric services.

Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN)

• Dr. Harsh Vardhan informed that under RAN, financial assistance up to Rs 15 lakhs is provided to poor patients suffering from major life-threatening diseases/cancer/rare diseases, for medical treatment at Government hospitals.
• The eligibility criteria to avail services under RAN had been based on State/UT-wise BPL threshold. But getting a state specific BPL certificate from competent authority has remained a time-consuming process.

Value Addition:

Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant (HMDG)

• Similarly, under HMDG a maximum amount of Rs.1,25,000/- is provided to patients whose annual income does not exceed Rs.1,25,000/-, to defray a part of the expenditure on hospitalization/treatment in Government Hospitals.
• Beneficiaries can apply for financial assistance under both schemes by providing their Ration card number and undergoing beneficiary verification process at any of the empanelled Govt. hospital.

Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS):

• The CGHS is a comprehensive Health Scheme for Serving Employees, Pensioners, Members of Parliament, ex-MPs, etc., and their dependent family members.
• During last 7 years it has expanded to 72 Cities with more than 38 lakh beneficiaries are covered under the scheme. Although CGHS started in 1954 in New Delhi, wherein till 2014 only 25 cities were covered.
• CGHS retired pensioners are provided Cashless treatment at empanelled centres which will now be made seamless in the new platform.
• e-referral module developed by NIC has enabled CGHS dispensaries and wellness centres to issue online referral to empanelled hospitals.

Hence both statements are correct.

Indian Army celebrated the 100th anniversary of the raising of Army Educational Corps (AEC) on 01 June 2021.

• The Army Education Corps of India is a program run by the Indian Army that develops soldiers and officers of all ranks in a variety of disciplines.
• The centre provides education in both combat and non-combat operations.
• The Corps' facilities are located in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh
• History of the AEC dates back to 1921 when the mass scale of illiteracy amongst the Indian soldiers were prevalent.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying chaired a virtual program organised on the occasion of World Milk Day. Every year, the first day of June is observed as World Milk Day.

Gopal Ratna Awards

• On the occasion, the Minister announced the launch of the National Awards for the Cattle and Dairy sector, the Gopal Ratna Awards.
• The award has three categories –
  • Best Dairy farmer,
  • Best Artificial Insemination Technician (AIT) and
  • Best Dairy Cooperative/ Milk producer Company/ FPO.
• Eligible farmers/dairy cooperative societies/ AI technicians can apply for award online and portal for award will open from 15th July 2021. Winners for the award will be announced on 31st October 2021.

e-GOPALA app

• He also announced integration of e Gopala App with UMANG platform so that 3.1 Crore users of Umang platform will get access to App.
• e-GOPALA app (Generation of wealth through Productive Livestock), a comprehensive breed improvement marketplace and information portal for direct use of farmers, had been launched by Hon’ble PM on 10th September 2020.

Milk sector in India

• India is the world’s largest milk producer. India accounts for over one-fifth of the global milk production. This is followed by the US, China, Pakistan and Brazil.
• India produced 198.4 million tonnes of milk during 2019-20.
• Value of output of milk is more than Rs 7.72 lakh crore during 2018-19 at current prices which is more than the value of output of wheat and paddy together.
• Milk Production has grown at an average annual growth rate of 6.3% per year during last 6 years whereas world milk production is growing at the rate of 1.5% per year.
• Percapita availability of milk has increased from 307 grams per person per day in 2013-14 to 406 grams per person per day in 2019-2020 that is y 32.24%.

World Milk Day

• World Milk Day is a day established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to recognize the importance of milk as a global food.
• It has been observed on June 1 each year since 2001.
• The date, 1 June was chosen because many countries were observing the milk day during that time of the year. Since then, the benefits of milk and dairy products have been active through campaigns, events, and programs across the world.
• Hence, option (c) is the correct answer.

Government of India issued Operational guidelines for Production Linked Incentive Scheme of Pharmaceuticals. The scheme is now open to applications from the industry.

• With an aim to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities by increasing investment and production in the sector and to contribute to product diversification to high value goods in the pharmaceutical sector, Department of Pharmaceuticals notified the 'Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Pharmaceuticals' 3rd March, 2021.
• The approved outlay of the scheme is Rs 15000 crore.
• The applications are invited in three groups based on the Global Manufacturing Revenue of FY 2019-20 of the applicants. A special carve out for MSMEs has been kept under the scheme.
• All the applications will be submitted through an online portal maintained by SIDBI, the Project Management Agency for the scheme.
• The eligible products have been categorized into three categories. The products covered under the scheme are formulations, biopharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, key starting material, drug intermediates, in-vitro diagnostic medical devices, etc.
• The category-1 and category-2 products attract 10% incentive and category-3 products attract 5% incentive on the incremental sales. Incremental sales of a product mean sales of that product in a year over and above the sales of that product in FY 2019-2020.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

A species of frog lives in the rainforests of New Guinea that appears to be made from chocolate.

• The cocoa-coloured frogs have turned out to be a new species.
• It is called Litoria mira, inspired by the Latin adjective mirum, which means surprised or strange, stemming from the scientist’s surprise in discovering an undescribed member of the predominately Australian Litoria genus of tree frogs.
• The Litoria mira has a well-known relative — the common green tree frog of Australia called Litoria cerulean. Except for the colour of their skins, the two seem alike — until you study them closely.
• Litoria mira can be distinguished from all other Litoria by its unique combination of moderately large size, webbing on hand, relatively short and robust limbs, and small violet patch of skin on the edge of its eyes.
• The reason that the chocolate frog from New Guinea and the Australian green tree frog are similar is that Australia and New Guinea used to be linked by land for much of the late Tertiary period (2.6 million years ago), and share many biotic elements.
• Today, the island of New Guinea is separated from the ‘horn’ of Queensland by the Torres Strait. New Guinea is dominated by rainforest, and northern Australia by the savannah.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has joined the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) as a Member on April 23, 2021.

Launched at the Paris One Planet Summit on December 12, 2017, the NGFS is a group of central banks and supervisors willing to share best practices and contribute to the development of environment and climate risk management in the financial sector, while mobilising mainstream finance to support the transition towards a sustainable economy.

The Reserve Bank expects to benefit from the membership of NGFS by learning from and contributing to global efforts on Green Finance which has assumed significance in the context of climate change.

About IRENA:

1. It is an intergovernmental organisation mandated to facilitate cooperation, advance knowledge, and promote the adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity.
2. It is the first international organisation to focus exclusively on renewable energy, addressing needs in both industrialized and developing countries.
3. It was founded in 2009 & its statute entered into force on 8 July 2010 and is headquartered in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi.
4. IRENA is an official United Nations observer. World Energy Outlook report is released by International Energy Agency (IEA).

The UN has an elaborate system of imposing sanctions on member countries for not complying with UN resolutions. The UN Security Council is authorised to take action under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Under Article 41, the sanctions cover a broad range from economic and trade sanctions to targeted measures like arms embargoes, travel bans, and financial or commodity restrictions.

According to the UN website, “The Security Council has applied sanctions to support peaceful transitions, deter non-constitutional changes, constrain terrorism, protect human rights and promote non-proliferation”. The time has come now to add public health to this list.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has organised three-part series of multilateral military exercises, dubbed as Steadfast Defender 2021, to test NATO’s readiness and military mobility. The exercise will be taking place in the Atlantic and Europe, and into the Black Sea region.