Daily Current Affairs MCQ - August 7, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

The Geneva-based Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report, the periodic status check that has now become the most widely accepted scientific view of the state of the Earth’s climate.

• This part of the report will present the latest scientific understanding of the climate system, how and why is it changing, and the impact of human activities on this process.
• The second and third parts of the report, dealing with the expected impacts of climate change, and the actions required to prevent the worst impacts, are slated to come out next year.
• The five previous assessment reports that have come out since the IPCC was established in 1988 have formed the basis of international climate change negotiations.
• The fourth assessment report, which came out in 2007, won the IPCC the Nobel Peace Prize.

What will be new

• The Sixth Assessment Report will put much more emphasis on regional assessment.
• In the last few years, there has been significant advancement in attribution science, allowing scientists to say whether a particular event was a result of climate change. Attribution science is likely to get important space in the report.
• The Sixth Assessment Report is expected to present specific scenarios the climate change impacts on cities and large urban populations, and also implications for key infrastructure.

Hence both statements are correct.

India's highest sporting honour Khel Ratna Award, which was named after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was rechristened in the honour of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand following the admirable performance of both men's and women's hockey teams in the Tokyo Olympics.

• Major Dhyan Chand (29 August 1905 – 3 December 1979) was an Indian field hockey player widely regarded as one of the greatest in the history of the sport.
• He was known for his extraordinary goal-scoring feats, in addition to earning three Olympic gold medals, in 1928, 1932 and 1936.
• Popularly known as The Wizard or The Magician of hockey for his superb ball control, Chand played internationally from 1926 to 1949; he scored 570 goals in 185 matches according to his autobiography, Goal.
• The Government of India awarded him Padma Bhushan in 1956.
• His birthday, 29 August, is celebrated as National Sports Day in India every year.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Nearly 4 crore cases — over 1 crore civil and nearly 3 crore criminal — are pending in lower and subordinate courts across the country as of July 30 this year. This emerges from figures tabled in Parliament by Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju.

• As per the information available on National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), as on 30.07.2021 a total of 3,93,21,607 cases are pending in the lower and subordinate courts.
• While a bulk of the cases are up to three years old, 1,20,001 (0.26 per cent) have been pending for more than 30 years.
• No time frame has been prescribed for disposal of various kinds of cases by the respective courts.
• Of the 3.93 crore cases that are pending, 2.88 crore are criminal cases, while 1.05 crore are civil cases.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Thailand has banned sunscreens containing chemicals that damage coral from all of its marine national parks.

• Concerns are growing that lotions tourists use for sun protection are harming slow-growing corals.
• The Thai Department of Conservation said four ingredients commonly found in sun creams were shown to destroy coral larvae, obstruct coral reproduction and cause reef bleaching.
• The banned lotions are those containing oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor or butylparaben.
• Anyone flouting the ban can be fined up to 100,000 baht (£2,100).
• Similar bans have been introduced by the Pacific island of Palau and the US state of Hawaii. This is the latest attempt by the Thai government to protect its coral from the tourism industry.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Details of steps taken by the Government to stabilize population growth in last five years are given below:

• Mission Parivar Vikas has been introduced for substantially increasing access to contraceptives and family planning services in 146 high fertility districts in 7 high focus states.
• Expanded Contraceptive Choices: The current contraceptive basket has been expanded with inclusion of new contraceptives namely Injectable contraceptive (Antara programme) and Cent chroman (Chhaya).
• Post-partum Intrauterine contraceptive device (PPIUCD) incentive scheme under which PPIUCD services are provided post-delivery.
• Redesigned Contraceptive Packaging: The packaging for Condoms, OCPs and ECPs has now been improved and redesigned so as to augment the demand for these commodities.
• Family Planning Media Campaign: A holistic media campaign is in place to generate contraceptive demand.
• The WorldPopulation Day & fortnight (July 11 – July 24) is observed each year to boost Family Planning efforts all over the country.
• Scheme for Home Delivery of contraceptives by ASHAs at doorstep of beneficiaries has been taken up.
• Family Planning Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS) is being implemented to ensure last mile availability of FP commodities.

The Government has been implementing National Family Planning Programme which has been instrumental in controlling the population:

• The TFR of the country has declined from 2.9 in 2005 to 2.2 in 2018 (SRS)
• 28 out of 36 States/UTs have already achieved the replacement level fertility of 2.1 or less
• The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) has declined from 23.8 in 2005 to 20.0 in 2018 (SRS)
• The Decadal growth rate has declined from 21.54% in 1990-2000 to 17.64% during 2001-11
• The Wanted Fertility Rate has declined from 1.9 in NFHS III to 1.8 in NFHS IV

Hence both statements are correct.

Black carbon (BC) is a component of fine particulate matter. Black carbon consists of pure carbon in several linked forms. It is formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuel, and biomass, and is emitted in both anthropogenic and naturally occurring soot. Black carbon causes human morbidity and premature mortality.

In climatology, black carbon is a climate forcing agent. Black carbon warms the Earth by absorbing sunlight and heating the atmosphere and by reducing albedo when deposited on snow and ice.

In the tropics, black carbon in soils significantly contributes to fertility as it is able to absorb important plant nutrients.

Specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations.

Specialized agencies may or may not have been originally created by the United Nations, but they are incorporated into the United Nations System by the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

At present the UN has in total 15 specialized agencies that carry out various functions on behalf of the UN.

The specialized agencies are listed below:

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
• International Labour Organization (ILO).
• International Maritime Organization (IMO).
• International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
• United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
• Universal Postal Union (UPU).
• World Bank Group (WBG).
  • The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD),
  • The International Finance Corporation (IFC),
  • The International Development Association (IDA),
• World Health Organization (WHO).
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
• World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Former Specialized Agencies:

• The only UN specialized agency to go out of existence is the International Refugee Organization, which existed from 1946 to 1952.
• In 1952, it was replaced by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees which is a subsidiary organ of the United Nations General Assembly.

Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)

• Established in 1899.
• Headquartered at the Hague in Netherlands.
• It has Financial Assistance Fund which aims at helping developing countries meet part of the costs involved in international arbitration or other means of dispute settlement offered by the PCA.
• All decisions, called “awards” are binding on all the parties in the dispute and have to be carried out without delay.

Functions and jurisdiction:

It provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise out of international agreements between member states, international organizations or private parties.

• The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade.

The organization is not a United Nations agency, but the PCA is an official United Nations Observer.

India is an observer in the Indian Ocean Commission, an organization that handles maritime governance in the western Indian Ocean.

About IOC:

• It is an intergovernmental organization created in 1982.
• It was institutionalized in 1984 by the Victoria Agreement in Seychelles.
• It is composed of five African Indian Ocean nations: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion (an overseas region of France), and Seychelles.
• It’s principal mission is to strengthen the ties of friendship between the countries and to be a platform of solidarity for the entire population of the African Indian Ocean region.
• The Commission has a Secretariat which is located in Mauritius and headed by a Secretary General.
• The Commission has five observers — China, India, EU, Malta and International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF).

Missile Technology Control Regime

• It is an informal and voluntary partnership among 35 countries.
• Objective: to prevent the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of carrying greater than 500 kg payload for more than 300 km. The regime was formed in 1987 by the G-7 industrialized countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the United States).
• It is not a legally binding treaty on the members.

What is the purpose of the MTCR?

• The MTCR was initiated by like-minded countries to address the increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons by addressing the most destabilizing delivery system for such weapons.
• In 1992, the MTCR’s original focus on missiles for nuclear weapons delivery was extended to a focus on the proliferation of missiles for the delivery of all types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), i.e., nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Such proliferation has been identified as a threat to international peace and security.

India and the MTCR:

India was inducted into the Missile Technology Control Regime in 2016 as the 35thmember.

China is not a member of this regime but it had verbally pledged to adhere to its original guidelines but not to the subsequent additions.