Daily Current Affairs MCQ - October 5, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Union Minister of Earth Sciences addressed the International Conference commemorating the signing of the Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

• India signed the Antarctic Treaty on 19th August 1983 and soon thereafter received consultative status on 12th September 1983.
• The Madrid Protocol was signed by India which came into force on 14th January, 1998.
  • The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was signed in Madrid on October 4, 1991 and entered into force in 1998.
  • It designates Antarctica as a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science”.
• India is one of the 29 Consultative Parties to the Antarctic Treaty.
• India is also a member of Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programme (COMNAP) and Scientific Committee of Antarctica Research (SCAR). All these representations show the significant position that India holds among the nations involved in Antarctic research.
• India has two active research stations; Maitri (commissioned in 1989) at Schirmacher Hills, and Bharati (commissioned in 2012) at Larsemann Hills in Antarctica. India has successfully launched 40 annual scientific expeditions to Antarctica till date.
• With Himadri station in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Arctic, India now belongs to the elite group of nations that have multiple research stations within the Polar Regions.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh felicitated the winners of ‘Dare to Dream 2.0’ Contest of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) in New Delhi on October 04, 2021.

• The Raksha Mantri gave away awards to 40 winners - 22 in Individual category and 18 in Startup category. He also launched ‘Dare to Dream 3.0’ to promote innovators & startups and provide a platform for the young ignited minds in the country.
• Dare to Dream is DRDO's pan-India contest to promote Indian academicians, individuals and startups to develop emerging defence and aerospace technologies/systems.
• DRDO provides technical and financial support to the winners for realisation of their ideas under the Technology Development Fund (TDF) scheme.

DRDO Young Scientists awards

• He also gave away DRDO Young Scientists awards for the year 2019.
• Sixteen DRDO scientists, under the age of 35 years, were awarded for their outstanding contribution in areas of their expertise.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh handed over to the Armed Forces three products/systems indigenously developed by DRDO.

1. ARINC818 Video Processing and Switching Module: The module, developed for the Indian Air Force is a state-of-the-art module with high bandwidth, low latency, channel bonding, easy networking and will cater to 5th generation aircraft development programmes.
2. Sonar Performance Modelling System: Developed for the Indian Navy, it is useful for Indian Naval ships, submarines and under water surveillance stations etc.
3. Bund Blasting Device Mk-II: The device, developed for Indian Army, is used to reduce the height of Ditch-cum-Bund obstacles to enhance the mobility of mechanised infantry during wartime.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.

David Julius

• Dr. Julius has been studying the different compounds in chili peppers and spider venom to understand how our bodies sense heat and chemical irritants. Decoding the neuroscience of pain can help develop new targets for pain therapy.
• In 1997, Dr. Julius and his team published a paper in Nature detailing how capsaicin, or the chemical compound in chilli peppers, causes the burning sensation.
• They created a library of DNA fragments to understand the corresponding genes and finally discovered a new capsaicin receptor and named it TRPV1. This discovery paved the way for the identification of many other temperature-sensing receptors.

Ardem Patapoutian

• Dr. Patapoutian helped discover a novel class of sensors in our skin and internal organs that respond to cold and other mechanical stimuli.
• Independently of one another, both David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian identified another new receptor called TRPM8, a receptor that is activated by cold. A paper published in Cell in 2002 by Dr. Patapoutian and team explains that this new receptor is specifically expressed in a subset of pain-and-temperature-sensing neurons.
• Ardem Patapoutian and his team identified a single gene, which when silenced made the cells insensitive to the poking. They named this new mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo1.
• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Union Health Minister launched the ICMR’s drone response and outreach in the north-east (i-Drone). The delivery model is aimed at ensuring that life-saving vaccines reach everyone.

• This is for the first time that a ‘Make in India’ drone has been used in South Asia to transport COVID vaccine over an aerial distance of 15 km in 12-15 minutes from the Bishnupur district hospital to Loktak lake, Karang island in Manipur for administration at the primary health centre.
• The actual road distance between these locations is 26 km.
• India is home to geographical diversities and drones can be used to deliver essentials to the last mile. This would facilitate vaccine delivery to tough and hard-to-reach terrains.
• Currently, the drone-based delivery project has been granted permission for implementation in Manipur and Nagaland, as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The ICMR conducted an initial study in collaboration with the IIT Kanpur to test the capacity of the drones to carry and transfer vaccines safely.
• These studies provided promising results on the basis of which the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and other regulatory authorities have granted permission to fly drones beyond the visual line of sight.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Foreign Secretary of India, Harsh Vardhan Shringla visited the Second World War-era oil storage facility in the strategically important port district of Trincomalee on Sri Lanka’s east coast, which has been a key bilateral economic partnership link for decades.

• The Trincomalee harbour, one of the deepest natural harbours in the world, was developed by the British during the War.
• Since 2003, the Lanka IOC, the Sri Lankan subsidiary of India’s oil major Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has the leasing rights to 99 tanks at the facility for a period of 35 years for an annual payment of $100,000.
• His visit to the site assumes significance as oil sector trade unions in Sri Lanka have demanded that tanks be brought under the control of the state fuel entity Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).
• As per the agreement, the IOC was also given a one-third share of the Sri Lankan government entity, Petroleum Storage Limited. However, the CPC trade unions had been pressing for the takeover of the tanks.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Gaming addiction, a disorder is quickly growing as the pandemic spurred an increased use of Internet devices.

• According to the All India Gaming Federation, India’s online gaming industry is expected to be worth ₹15,500 crore by 2023.
• A 2019 survey by the U.S.-based Limelight Networks found that India had the second largest number of gamers after South Korea.
• The World Health Organization categorised gaming disorder as a mental health condition in 2018.
• In September 2021, China limited gamers under 18 years to just three hours of online games per week, during specified times, and made the industry responsible for enforcing the restriction.

Legal status in India

• In India, legal focus has been on recent laws in the southern States seeking to ban online games such as rummy, poker or even fantasy sports which offer prize money or financial stakes.
• Last week, the Kerala High Court quashed such a law in the State, accepting the industry’s stance that, as games of skill rather than chance, they should not trigger bans on gambling.

Hence both statements are correct.

World's largest Khadi national flag was installed at Leh in Ladakh on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

• It was inaugurated by Ladakh Lieutenant Governor RK Mathur. The tricolor, which is 225-feet long and 150-feet wide, weighs around 1,000 kg.
• The flag has been made by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and was displayed by 57 Engineer Regiment of the Indian Army.
• The flag is the largest hand woven and hand spun Cotton Khadi Flag ever manufactured in India by the Khadi Village and Industries Commission affiliated Mumbai based Khadi Dyers and Printers.
• Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

There are at least 380 persons of Indian nationality in the Pandora Papers.

• The Pandora Papers investigation is the world’s largest-ever journalistic collaboration, involving more than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries.
• The investigation is based on a leak of confidential records of 14 offshore service providers that give professional services to wealthy individuals and corporations seeking to incorporate shell companies, trusts, foundations and other entities in low- or no-tax jurisdictions.
• The entities enable owners to conceal their identities from the public and sometimes from regulators. Often, the providers help them open bank accounts in countries with light financial regulation.

How is Pandora different from the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers?

• The Panama and Paradise Papers dealt largely with offshore entities set up by individuals and corporates respectively.
• The Pandora Papers investigation shows how businesses have created a new normal after countries have been forced to tighten the screws on such offshore entities with rising concerns of money laundering, terrorism funding, and tax evasion.

Is setting up a trust in India, or one offshore/ outside the country, illegal?

• No. The Indian Trusts Act, 1882, gives legal basis to the concept of trusts.
• While Indian laws do not see trusts as a legal person/ entity, they do recognise the trust as an obligation of the trustee to manage and use the assets settled in the trust for the benefit of ‘beneficiaries’. India also recognises offshore trusts i.e., trusts set up in other tax jurisdictions.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Union Ministry of Power has promulgated the Electricity (Transmission System Planning, Development and Recovery of Inter-State Transmission Charges) Rules 2021.

• The rules underpin a system of transmission access which is termed as a General Network Access in the inter-state transmission system.
• This provides flexibility to the States as well as the generating stations to acquire, hold and transfer transmission capacity as per their requirements. Thus, the rules will bring in rationality, responsibility and fairness in the process of transmission planning as well as its costs.
• In a major change from the present system of taking transmission access, power plants will not have to specify their target beneficiaries.
• The rules will also empower state power distribution and transmission companies to determine their transmission requirements and build them.
• Also, states will be able to purchase electricity from short term and medium term contracts and optimize their power purchase costs. Apart from introducing GNA, the rules also specify clear roles of various agencies involved in the transmission planning process.
• The Central Electricity Authority shall prepare a short-term plan every year on rolling basis for next 5 years and perspective plan every alternative year on rolling basis for next 10 years.
• The rules have enabled, for the first time, that the transmission capacity can be sold, shared or purchased by the States and generators.
• Hence both statements are correct.