Daily Current Affairs MCQ - June 14, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Every year, the Indian Coast Guard’s “Operation Olivia”, initiated in the early 1980s, helps protect Olive Ridley turtles as they congregate along the Odisha coast for breeding and nesting from November to December.

• Round-the-clock surveillance is conducted from November till May utilising Coast Guard assets such as fast patrol vessels, air cushion vessels, interceptor craft and Dornier aircraft to enforce laws near the rookeries.
• The Orissa Marine Fisheries Act empowers the Coast Guard as one of its enforcement agencies.
• The Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is listed as vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red list.
• All five species of sea turtles found in India are included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and in the Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora which prohibits trade in turtle products by signatory countries.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

In the mid 20th century, researchers from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, carried out extensive studies on rocks of the Yerrapalli Formation in what is now Telangana, uncovering several fossils.

• By studying some of these specimens stored at the Institute, an international team has now thrown light on a carnivorous reptile that lived 240 million years ago.
• They named it Bharitalasuchus tapani.
• In the Telugu language, Bhari means huge, Tala means head, and Suchus is the name of the Egyptian crocodile-headed deity.
• The species is named after paleontologist Tapan Roy Chowdhury in honour of his extensive work on the Yerrapalli Formation tetrapod fauna.
• This reptile belonged to a family of extinct reptiles named Erythrosuchidae.
• Bharitalasuchus tapani were robust animals with big heads and large teeth, and these probably predated other smaller reptiles. They were approximately the size of an adult male lion and might have been the largest predators in their ecosystems.
• The Yerrapalli Formation is a Triassic rock formation consisting primarily of mudstones that outcrops in the Pranhita–Godavari Basin in Telangana.

Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

On the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour, Union MCD minister appealed to Citizens to report the instances of Child Labour on PENCIL Portal or by calling on Childline-1098.

World Day Against Child Labour

• The World Day Against Child Labour is observed on 12thJune every year around the world.
• The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it.
• The 2021 World Day Against Child Labour focuses on action taken for the 2021 International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour. It is the first World Day since the universal ratification of the ILO’s Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
• Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls for ending child labour in all its forms by 2025.

PENCIL PORTAL

• Full Name: Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour (PENCIL).
• Launched in: 2017.
• Launched by: The Ministry of Labour and Employment
• Objective: It is a separate online portal to ensure effective enforcement of the provisions of the Child Labour Act and smooth implementation of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme.
• Components: The PENCIL Portal (pencil.gov.in) has various components, namely Child Tracking System, Complaint Corner, State Government, National Child Labour Project and Convergence.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Raksha Mantri flagged off the first ever Solo Woman Motorcycle Expedition by Ms Kanchan Ugursandi to Umling La Pass, Ladakh and back.

• Umling La Pass, located at an altitude of 19,300ft, has overtaken Khardung La Pass to become the highest motorable road in the world.
• The construction of this road has been achieved by the BRO (Border Road Organization) as part of “Project Himank”
• Umling La Pass, stretching to a distance of almost 86km, connects Chisumle and Demchok villages. Both these villages lie in close proximity to the Indo-China border in the eastern sector.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh has approved the policy on archiving, declassification and compilation/publication of war/operations histories by the Ministry of Defence.

• Each organisation under the Ministry of Defence will transfer the records, including war diaries to the History Division of Ministry of Defence (MoD) for proper upkeep, archival and writing the histories.
• According to the policy, records should ordinarily be declassified in 25 years.
• Records older than 25 years should be appraised by archival experts and transferred to the National Archives of India once the war/operations histories have been compiled.
• Committee headed by Joint Secretary, MoD and comprising of representatives of the Services, MEA, MHA and other organisations and prominent military historians (if required) should be constituted for compilation of war/ operations histories.
• War/operations histories to be compiled within 5 years
  • The above-mentioned Committee should be formed within two years of completion of war/operations.
  • Thereafter, collection of records and compilation should be completed in three years and disseminated to all concerned.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Dormant “zombie fires” are scattered across the Arctic region. A zombie fire is a fire that continues to burn underground and then reignites on the surface after a period of time. Embers deep in organic soils such as peat lands can spark into flames weeks, months and even years later.

India and China have signed various agreements on border management— signed in September 1993, November 1996, April 2005 and October 2013.

1. 1993 Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in the Sino-Indian Border:

As per the agreement, both India and China agree to keep “military forces in the areas along the line of actual control to a minimum level” and “reduce troop levels” compatible with friendly and good relations between them.

1. 1996 Agreement on Confidence-Building Measures:

This agreement allows for “military disclosure when the parties are undertaking border exercises and for the reduction of troop levels in the border areas.

• It also allows the parties to observe and inspect troop movements in each other territory upon invitation.
• In this agreement too, the two sides agreed to reduce or limit their military forces within mutually-agreed geographical zones along the LAC.
• It also specifies the major categories of armaments to be reduced or limited: “combat tanks, infantry combat vehicles, guns etc.
• It also stipulates that “[n]either side shall open fire, cause bio-degradation, use hazardous chemicals, conduct blast operations or hunt with guns or explosives within two kilometers from the line of actual control.

• The Olive ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• These turtles are carnivores and get their name from their olive colored carapace. They migrate thousands of kilometers between feeding and mating grounds in the course of a year.
• They are best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• They are found in warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
• The Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is known as the world’s largest rookery of sea turtles.
• Protection Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
  • Hence, statement 3 is correct.

• The Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative was launched by the Prime Minister in April 2018.
• It aims to achieve self - reliance and foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Industries including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia. Hence, option 1 is correct.
• iDEX is funded and managed by the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), and functions as the executive arm of DIO. Hence, option 2 is incorrect.

Every year, on June 12, World Day Against Child Labour is held to raise awareness and activism to prevent child labour. Theme 2021 is - Act now: End child labour!. It presents an opportunity to drive actions, share experiences and propel momentum to end child labour by 2025, and forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery by 2030.