Test: Monthly Current Affairs August 2021- 2 - UPSC MCQ

Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple is dedicated to Lord Narasimha (half man-half lion). It is situated at Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh.
• It is one of the eight chief holy mahakshethram (holy temples) in the country and invites devotees from all over.
• There is a stone inscription by Sri Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagar and the footprints of Mahaprabhu Chaitanya are to be seen.

• An Inner Line Permit is a document that allows an Indian citizen to visit or stay in a state that is protected under the ILP system.
• The Inner Line Permits are required by Indians other than natives of ILP state for entering into any place in Arunachal Pradesh.
• All foreigners are required to have the Protection Area Permit or PAP for entering into ILP system state. They can obtain the Protected Area Permit.
• The system is in forced in four Northeastern states as of now — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram and Manipur and no Indian citizen can visit any of these states unless he or she belongs to that state, nor can he or she overstay beyond the period specified in the ILP.
• An ILP is issued by the state government concerned. It can be obtained after applying either online or physically.

In News: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the report, ‘Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis’. It is the first part of IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
Statement 1 is correct. India is the third largest emitter of Green-House Gases after China and USA.
Statement 2 is not correct. India has not declared its Net-Zero Emission target on the pretext of its povertystatement 3 is correct. China (nearly 87% by 2060) and the USA (nearly 27% by 2050) will release more carbon (87+27=114%) than the complete carbon budget available to keep Global temperature rise within 1.5 C despite achieving their Net Zero targets.

In News: Recently, ISRO's Earth Observation satellite (EOS-03) faced a setback minutes after it was launched.
• It is a state-of-the-art agile Earth observation satellite that will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by GSLV-F10.

• This was the 14th launch involving a GSLV rocket.

• It is being sent ahead of EOS-02, which has been delayed.

• EOS-02 is scheduled for a launch in September-October 2021.

• It is meant to provide almost real-time images of large parts of the country that could be used for monitoring natural disasters like floods and cyclones, water bodies, crops, vegetation and forest cover.

In News: A recent study has found Microplastics in samples of tap water supplied to Goa households.
Statements 1 and 2 are correct: Microplastics are plastics that are less than 5 millimetres in size but are a major source of marine pollution. It is non-degradable plastics that often entered the Ganga through industrial waste or packaging of religious offerings.
• They are insoluble in water.

In News: Recently, The sea phase of the three day long maiden bilateral exercise ‘ Al-Mohed A1 - Hindi’ between Indian Navy and Royal Saudi Naval Force commenced off the coast of A1 Jubail,Saudi Arabia. • The two navies undertake co-ordinated action against

• Asymmetric threat
• Replenishment at sea procedures
• Anti-piracy and boarding operations.
• Complex and collaborative exercises including weapon targeting drills beyond the horizon were also conducted to enhance synergy and interoperability between the two navies.

In News: Recently, the death anniversary of Khudiram Bose was observed. He was bom in 1889 at a small village in Midnapore district. He showed an inclination towards revolutionary activities after getting inspired by the public lectures of Sri Aurobindo and Sister Nivedita in Midnapore in the early 1900s .He joined a group named 'Anushilan Samiti' He became a volunteer at the age of 15, and was arrested for distributing pamphlets against British mle in India.He had learnt how to make bombs .
He actively participated in protests against the British in 1905 during partition of Bengal.
He is known for the attempt to assassinate the district magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Douglas Kingsford.

Statement 1 is not correct: Starred (marked with *) Question is one to which a member desires an oral answer from the Minister in the House and is required to be distinguished by him/her with an asterisk. Answers to such a question may be followed by supplementary questions by members.
Statement 2 is correct: Zero Hour is an Indian parliamentary innovation. The phrase does not find mention in the rules of procedure. During the initial days, Parliament used to break for lunch at 1 pm. Therefore, the opportunity for MPs to raise national issues without an advance notice became available at 12 pm and could last for an hour until the House adjourned for lunch. This led to the hour being popularly referred to as Zero Hour and the issues being raised during this time as Zero Hour submissions.

In News: Quality of Life for Elderly Index was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

• It has 4 pillars and 8 sub pillars.
• Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh are top-scoring regions in Aged and Relatively Aged States, respectively.
• Chandigarh and Mizoram are top-scoring regions in Union Territory and North-East States category.
• The Aged States refer to States with an elderly population of more than 5 million.
• Relatively Aged States refer to States with an Elderly population of less than 5 million.

Statement 1 is not correct: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana was launched on 13th January 2016, in line with the One Nation-One Scheme theme, covering over 5.5 crore farmer applications year on year. This scheme replaced two schemes called National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
The Scheme shall be implemented on an ‘Area Approach basis’ i.e., Defined Areas for each notified crop for widespread calamities. It aims to provide Insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crops as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases. The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very low and the balance premium is paid by the Government to provide the full insured amount to the farmers. The prescribed premium is 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all rabi crops.
In the case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium is 5%.

• Premium cost over and above the farmer share is equally subsidised by the States and the Center.
• However, the Centre’s share is 90% of the premium subsidy for the Northeastern States to promote the uptake in the region.

Statement 2 is correct: It shall be implemented through a multi-agency framework by selected insurance companies under the overall guidance & control of the Department of Agriculture and state government. There is no upper limit on Government subsidies.

In News: Recently the Prime Minister of India announced the launch of the National Hydrogen Mission on India’s 75th Independence Day.

• The government's aim is to make India a global hub for the production and export of green hydrogen.
• It was also proposed in the Union Budget 2021.

Statement 1 is not correct. Hydrogen fuel is nearly 2-3 times (not 500 times) more energy efficient than petrol.
Statement 2 is correct. Delhi is the first Indian city to run buses using hydrogen spiked compressed natural gas.
Statement 3 is not correct. The National Hydrogen Mission focuses on increasing the production of Green Hydrogen, not Grey Hydrogen.

In News: Ningbo-Zhoushan in eastern China is the world's third-busiest cargo port. It is China's second-largest container port by handling volume after Shanghai.
Exports: The biggest exports through Ningbo in the first half of this year were electronic goods, textiles and low and high-end manufactured goods.
Imports: Top imports included crude oil, electronics, raw chemicals and agricultural products.

Prime Minister of India announced Gati Shakti national master plan for infrastructure in the country

• The plan will be Rs 100 lakh crore worth of infrastructure schemes that will generate employment opportunities.
• It appeared as a version of the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) announced by the government earlier.
• This new master plan will keep the foundation of a holistic infrastructure plan that will not work in silos.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will flag-off ‘Operation Blue Freedom - Land World Record at Siachen Glacier.

• The Government of India has permitted a team of people with disabilities to scale Siachen Glacier.

• The selected people from across the country with disabilities are trained by a team of Armed Forces veterans: ‘Team CLAW’.

• It is aimed to harness the immense productive potential of people with disabilities.

• It will create a new World Record for the largest team of people with disabilities to reach the world’s highest battlefield.

• It will firmly place India on the global stage as a leader in empowering Divyangjans.
• It will set a benchmark for other nations to emulate

In News: The anti-drug law enforcement agencies are suspecting a steep surge in cross-border trafficking of heroin and crystal methamphetamine.

• It is due to the rapid Taliban takeover in Afghanistan where the economy has collapsed due to internal civil war and unrest.

Statement 1 is not correct. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) (not NCORD) coordinated with various international organisations for sharing information and intelligence to combat transnational drug trafficking.
Statement 2 is not correctL Launch of e-portal ‘SIMS’ (Seizure Information Management System) in 2019 was done for the digitisation of pan-India drug seizure data.

• Launched by the Min of Home Affairs for all the drug law enforcement agencies under the mandate of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

Article 47 deals with the Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.

In News: Atal Innovation Mission has launched Student Entrepreneurship Program 3.0 in Collaboration With Dassault Systemes Statement 1 is not correct. It has been launched by Atal Innovation Mission to boost Atal Tinkering Lab Students.
Statement 2 is Correct. The theme of SEP 3.0 is based on the ‘Made in 3D - Seed the Future Entrepreneurs Program’.

• It was conceptualized and rolled out in France by La Main a la Pate Foundation and La Fondation Dassault Systemes Europe in 2017.
• So it will focus on 3D printing-related startups.

The Slender Loris is a small, nocturnal primate. Scientific Name is Loris tardigradus. It prefers to inhabit thick, thorny bushes and bamboo clumps where it can evade predators and also find insects to eat. It is commonly found in the tropical scrub and deciduous forests as well as the dense hedgerow plantations bordering farmlands of Southern India and Sri Lanka. The slender loris has been listed as ‘Endangered’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. o It has been brought under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 in order to provide the highest level of legal protection.

Statement 1 is correct: The Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademarks (CGPDTM) supervises the working of the Patents Act, 1970, the Designs Act, 2000 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999. It also renders advice to the Government on matters relating to these subjects.
Statement 2 is not correct: It functions under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The Office is located in Mumbai.

Pobitora National Park is situated in the Morigaon district of the state of Assam. The national park is located about 48 km from Guwahati. It is a 1-hour drive through a road passing by the River Brahmaputra and a small portion of the village of Mayong. It has a dense population of the Great Indian one-horned rhinoceros. It covers 38.8 km2. Though the total notified area of the park is 38.80 square km, only 16 square km is the effective rhino habitat. Pobitora was declared a reserved forest in 1971 and a wildlife sanctuary in 1987. It covers flat floodplains and a hillock (Raja Mayong).