Daily Current Affairs MCQ - June 21, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

NTPC has been recognised as a 'Great Place to Work' for the 15th year in a row by the Great Place to Work Institute. NTPC is the only PSU to consistently feature in India's Top 50 Best Workplaces. This year NTPC ranked 38th, up from 47th position last year.

• NTPC Limited was formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited is India’s largest energy conglomerate.
• It is a company incorporated under the Companies Act 1956 and is under the ownership of Ministry of Power.
• The headquarters of the company is situated at New Delhi.
• It was founded by Government of India in 1975.
• In May 2010, NTPC was conferred Maharatna status by the Union Government of India.

Criteria for grant of Maharatna status to CPSEs

The CPSEs meeting the following criteria are eligible to be considered for grant of Maharatna status.

• Having Navratna status
• Listed on Indian stock exchange with minimum prescribed public shareholding under SEBI regulations
• An average annual turnover of more than Rs. 25,000 crore during the last 3 years
• An average annual net worth of more than Rs. 15,000 crore during the last 3 years
• An average annual net profit after tax of more than Rs. 5,000 crore during the last 3 years
• Should have significant global presence/international operations.

Maharatna CPSEs

• Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
• Coal India Limited
• GAIL (India) Limited
• Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
• Indian Oil Corporation Limited
• NTPC Limited
• Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited
• Power Grid Corporation of India Limited
• Steel Authority of India Limited

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Ministry of Tourism invites feedback on the draft National Strategy and Roadmap for promotion of MICE Industry in India.

• MICE is an acronym for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions.
• MICE is one of the important segments of business tourism, which also overlaps with leisure tourism.
• Despite having huge potential, India’s position is relatively low with just about 1% of global MICE business. 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.
• Ministry of Tourism has been actively working on promotion and development of this niche area of tourism and thus had accordingly formulated a Draft National Strategy and Roadmap for Promotion of MICE Industry in India
• Hence both statements are correct.

The National Disaster Response Fund was opened up for donation from individuals and institutions in June 2020, but according to information procured through Right to Information, it turns out that just about Rs 63,000 has been donated to the fund between July 13, 2020 and February 26, 2021.

• The National Disaster Response Fund is a fund managed by the Central Government and is used to “meet the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation” for any disaster situation.
• The NDRF supplements the State Disaster Response Fund in case sufficient funds are not available with the state funds to facilitate immediate relief in case of calamities of severe nature.
• It was earlier called the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) which had been operated as per the guidelines laid down by the 11th Finance Commission.
• In 2005, the Disaster Management Act (DMA) was enacted and this renamed the NCCF as the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). Accordingly, the funds of the NCCF were merged into the NDRF.
• The NDRF was set up in accordance with Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• The Finance Ministry has given approval to a proposal to allow individuals and institutions to contribute directly to the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) as per Section 46(1)(b) of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Hundreds of protesters thronged the streets of Budapest, demanding the reversal of a newly adopted law that effectively bans all content about homosexuality and gender change from Hungarian school curriculum and television shows for children under the age of 18.

• The latest Hungarian legislation outlaws disseminating information meant for children which is considered to promote homosexuality or gender change.
• The law also limits who can conduct sex education classes in schools. Now, only individuals and organisations listed in an official government registry can carry out these classes.
• The limitations placed on content is not limited to school curriculum alone. It also bans TV shows meant for children, which feature gay characters or LGBTQI+ themes.
• The law also bans companies and organisations from running advertisements in support of the LBTQI+ community, if they are targeted at minors.

Hungary

• Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe.
• It is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and Slovenia to the southwest, and Austria to the west.
• Budapest is the country's capital and largest city.
• Hungary's geography has traditionally been defined by its two main waterways, the Danube and Tisza rivers.
• Lake Hévíz is located in Hévíz, Hungary. It is the largest thermal lake in the world which is available for swimming.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

The Central Government has constituted an Expert Group under the Chairmanship of Professor Ajit Mishra, a renowned economist.

• Its mandate is to provide technical inputs and recommendations on fixation of Minimum Wages and National Floor Wages to the Government.
• The tenure of the Expert Group is three years.

Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

At the 12th Arctic Council Ministerial meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, foreign ministers from all eight Arctic States signed onto the 2021 joint declaration reaffirming the Council’s commitment to maintain peace, stability, and constructive cooperation in the Arctic region, emphasizing Arctic States’ unique position to promote responsible governance in the region, and asserting the importance of immediately addressing the climate crisis in the Arctic.

An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water.

The giant iceberg A68, the biggest block of free-floating ice from Antarctica with an area of about 5,800 sq. km, has been drifting in the Atlantic Ocean since 2017.

This year, due to an ocean current, the iceberg was propelled into the South Atlantic Ocean and since then it has been drifting towards the remote sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, prompting fears about the impact the iceberg could have on the island’s abundant wildlife.

Icebergs travel with ocean currents and either get caught up in shallow waters or ground themselves.

On the other hand, there are some positives of an iceberg being stuck in the open ocean, since icebergs carry dust which fertilises ocean plankton, which draws up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Under the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017, states are guaranteed compensation for loss of revenue on account of implementation of GST for a transition period of five years between 2017 and 2022.

The compensation is calculated based on the difference between the states current GST revenue and the protected revenue after estimating an annualised 14% growth rate from the base year of 2015-16.

• Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology.
• Recently, the Prime Minister dedicated 17 biofortified varieties of 8 crops to the nation. Some examples:
  • Rice- CR DHAN 315 has excess zinc. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • Wheat- HI 1633 rich in protein, iron and zinc.
  • Maize- Hybrid varieties 1, 2 and 3 are enriched with lysine and tryptophan.
  • Madhuban Gajar, a biofortified carrot variety, is benefitting more than 150 local farmers in Junagadh, Gujarat. It has higher β-carotene and iron content. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

• Recently, researchers from various institutes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya found depleting trends in grain density of zinc and iron in rice and wheat cultivated in India.
  • The researchers collected seeds of rice (16 varieties) and wheat (18 varieties) from the gene bank maintained at the ICAR’s Cultivar repositories.
• Concentrations in Rice: Zinc and iron concentrations in grains of rice cultivars released within the 1960s were 27.1 mg/kg and 59.8 mg/kg. This depleted to 20.6 mg/kg and 43.1 mg/kg, respectively within the 2000s.
• Concentrations in Wheat: The concentrations of zinc and iron were 33.3 mg/kg and 57.6 mg/kg in cultivars of the 1960s, dropped to 23.5 mg/kg and 46.4 mg/kg, respectively in cultivars released during the 2010s. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Reason for the Decrease:
  • Dilution effect' that is caused by decreased nutrient concentration in response to higher grain yield.
  • This means the rate of yield increase is not compensated by the rate of nutrient take-up by the plants. Also, the soils supporting plants could be low in plant-available nutrients. Hence, statement 2 is correct