Daily Current Affairs MCQ - September 10, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

In a first of its kind, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Railway, has joined hands with Cordelia Cruises, a private company, to provide luxury cruise services in India from September 18, 2021.

• IRCTC has joined its hands and signed the agreement with Cordelia Cruises being operated by Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt. Ltd for promotion and marketing of the first indigenous luxury Cruise in India
• The cruise will sail from Mumbai and visit Goa, Kerala, and Lakshadweep island.
• The IRCTC-Cordelia cruise will sail through Lakshadweep Island, Goa, Diu, Kochi, and Chennai.
• The cruise departs from the ports of Mumbai and Kochi and passengers have the opportunity to choose their destination of choice- Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai to Diu, Mumbai, and Kochi to Lakshadweep, or Mumbai to Kochi. IRCTC has also started bookings for the travel.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Batala, a town in Gurdaspur district of Majha in Punjab, has become the bone of contention among warring Congress leaders in the region. The government is considering declaring Batala as the 24th district of Punjab.

• Batala is considered an important city of Punjab thanks to its historical, religious, social and literary heritage.
• Batala was the oldest city of Punjab after Bathinda which was founded in 1465 and also the eighth-largest city in the state in terms of population.
• According to legend, Guru Nanak Dev, the first Guru of Sikhs, was married to Mata Sulakhni in this city in 1487. Gurdwara Dera Sahib and Gurdwara Kandh Sahib are adorned in his memory.
• Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru, also came to Batala to marry his son Baba Gurditta and in his memory Gurdwara Sat Kartaria is established in the middle of the city.
• Batala was an important city of the Sikh empire after Lahore and Amritsar during the rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri co-chaired a virtual Ministerial meeting with U.S. Secretary of Energy Ms. Jennifer Granholm to launch the revamped U.S.-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP).

• The SCEP is launched in accordance with U.S.-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden at the Leaders Summit on Climate held in April this year.
• The SCEP organizes inter-governmental engagement across five pillars of cooperation: (1) Power and Energy Efficiency; (2); Responsible Oil and Gas; (3) Renewable Energy; (4) Sustainable Growth and (5) Emerging Fuels.
• A new India-US Task Force on Biofuels was also announced to build on the scope of work on cooperation in biofuels sector.
• The two sides also announced rechristening of Gas Task Force to India-US Low Emissions Gas Task Force, which would continue to forge collaboration between U.S. and Indian companies on innovative projects to support India’s vision of gas-based economy.
• Both sides have initiated institutionalization of India Energy Modeling Forum with the constitution of Six Task Forces for carrying out research and modeling in different areas.
• Building on the success of the first phase, the two sides agreed to expand the scope of the work to include smart grid and grid storage as part of the second phase of the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE)-R initiative anchored on the Indian side by the Department of Science & Technology.
• Hence both statements are correct.

In a significant boost to India’s defence capabilities, the first deliverable Firing Unit (FU) of Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) System was handed over to Indian Air Force (IAF) in the presence of Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh at Air Force Station, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on September 09, 2021.

• The MRSAM (IAF) is an advanced network centric combat Air Defence System developed jointly by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in collaboration with the Indian industry comprising of private and public sectors including MSMEs.
• The MRSAM system provides point and area air defence for ground assets against a wide range of threats including fighter aircraft, UAVs, helicopters, guided and unguided munitions, sub-sonic & supersonic cruise missiles etc.
• It is capable of engaging multiple targets at ranges up to 70 kms in severe saturation scenarios.
• The missile is powered by indigenously developed rocket motor and control system for achieving high manoeuvrability during the terminal phase.
• The firing unit comprises of Missiles, Combat Management System (CMS), Mobile Launcher Systems (MLS), Advanced Long Range Radar, Mobile Power System (MPS), Radar Power System (RPS), Reloader Vehicle (RV) and Field Service Vehicle (FSV).
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Minister of Jal Shakti Ministry presided over the e-launch of Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2021 under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase -II at an event organized by Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS).

• The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) will undertake Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2021 countrywide to support acceleration of ODF Plus interventions and increase momentum for improving ODF Sustainability as well as Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) activities across the villages in the country.
• DDWS had commissioned Swachh Survekshan Grameen (SSG)on two occasions earlier in 2018 and 2019.
• As part of Swachh Survekshan Grameen 17,475 villages in 698 Districts across India will be covered. 87,250 public places namely schools, anganwadis, public health centres, haat/bazaars/religious places in these 17,475 villages will be visited for survey.
• In line with the Swachh Bharat Mission phase II program, SSG 2021 would focus on assessing ODF Sustainability & Implementation of ODF Plus in the villages.
• Many new elements have been added in the SSG 2021. These elements include - Assessment of Solid, Liquid, Plastic Waste & faecal Sludge Management Arrangements, Awareness on Menstrual Hygiene and Management & Disposal Arrangements for Menstrual Waste.

The weightage to different elements of the SSG 2021 are as below:

• Direct Observation of sanitation in villages including HHs/public places -30%
• Citizen’s Feedback including feedback from common citizens, key influencers at the village level and from citizens online using a mobile App -35%
• Service Level Progress on sanitation related parameters -35%
• Hence both statements are correct.

• Recently, the National Statistical Office (NSO) released the quarterly bulletin of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for October-December 2020.
  • This dataset differs from the Annual Report of Periodic Labour Force Survey, which covers both rural and urban areas. Unemployment data for urban areas is released quarterly. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
    • Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, National Statistical Office (NSO) launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in the labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work) in the population.
  • Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

• Recently, the Ministry of Education released the India Rankings 2021 instituted by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) (sixth edition).
• The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was approved by the Ministry of Education (Erstwhile Ministry of Human Resource Development) in September 2015.
  • It is the first-ever effort by the government to rank Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the country.
  • Participation in NIRF was made compulsory for all government-run educational institutions in 2018.
• The subjectivity in the ranking methodology developed by QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Ranking led India to start its own ranking system for Indian HEIs on the line of Shanghai Rankings.
  • NIRF is in its sixth year, but it continues to only rank Indian HEIs whereas Shanghai Rankings were international in character from the first year itself.
  • The long-term plan of NIRF is to make it an international league table.
  • Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengluru was ranked the best research institution, a category included for the first time in India Rankings 2021. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• The Sun is an extremely active object, spewing out vast quantities of gas and plasma in many violent events. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • A class of such eruptions are Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).
  • CMEs are the most powerful explosions happening in the solar system.
• When a really strong CME blows past the Earth, it can damage the electronics in satellites and disrupt radio communication networks on Earth. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • The research in the field of CMEs helps to understand Space Weather.
  • They can trigger intense light in the sky on Earth, called auroras.

Union Education Minister released the India Rankings 2021 instituted by the National Institutional Ranking Framework.

Key Highlights of India Rankings 2021:

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras retains 1st Position in Overall Category as well as in Engineering for the third consecutive year.
• Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru tops the University as well as Research Institution category introduced for the first time in India Rankings 2021.
• IIM Ahmedabad tops in Management subject and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi occupies the top slot in Medical for the fourth consecutive year.
• Jamia Hamdard tops the list in Pharmacy subject for the third consecutive year.
• Miranda College retains 1st position amongst colleges for the fifth consecutive year.
• IIT Roorkee takes the top slot for the first time in Architecture subject displacing IIT Kharagpur.
• National Law School of India University, Bangalore retains its first position for in Law for the fourth consecutive years.
• Colleges in Delhi dominate ranking of colleges with five colleges out of first 10 colleges from Delhi.
• Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal, secure 1st position in “Dental” category.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga organised Himalayan Diwas in association with Naula Foundation. This year’s theme is ‘Contribution of Himalayas and our responsibilities’.

• Himalaya Diwas is celebrated every year on 9th September in the state of Uttarakhand.
• It is celebrated with the aim to conserve Himalayan ecosystem and region. Himalaya plays an important role to save and sustain nature and protect the country from adverse weather conditions. The Himalayan range is also responsible for rain besides being a rich repository of floral and faunal biodiversity.
• Himalayan Day was first observed in Uttarakhand in 2010 as an initiative of a group of noted environmentalists including Sunderlal Bahuguna, Anil Prakash Joshi and Radha Behen. It was officially declared as Himalaya Day in 2015 by the then Chief Minister.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.