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

The Centre will table the much awaited Mediation Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

• The Bill provides for establishment of the Mediation Council of India and for community mediation. The Bill intends to institutionalise the process of mediation by strengthening the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms.
• The Bill safeguards the interest of the litigants to approach the competent adjudicatory forums/ courts in case urgent relief is sought.
• The successful outcome of mediation in the form of a Mediation Settlement Agreement (MSA) has been made enforceable by law.
• Since the Mediation Settlement Agreement is out of the consensual agreement between the parties, the challenge to the same has been permitted on limited grounds.
• According to the Bill, the mediation process protects the confidentiality of the mediation undertaken and provides for immunity in certain cases against its disclosure.
• The registration of Mediation Settlement Agreement has also been provided for with State/ District/ Taluk Legal Authorities within 90 days to ensure maintenance of authenticated records of the settlement so arrived.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that seeks to link electoral rolls to Aadhaar number has been listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha.

• The Bill allows electoral registration officers to ask for Aadhaar numbers of applicants wanting to register as voters to establish the identity of the applicant.
• It also seeks to allow the officers to ask for the number from “persons already included in the electoral roll for the purposes of authentication of entries in electoral roll, and to identify registration of name of the same person in the electoral roll of more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency”.
• People who cannot furnish their Aadhaar numbers will be allowed to present other documents to establish identity.

Various Sections of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951 will be amended.

• Section 23 of the RP Act, 1950 will be amended to allow linking of the roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem “to curb the menace of multiple enrolment of the same person in different places”.
• Amendment to Section 14 of the RP Act, 1950 will allow to have four “qualifying” dates for eligible people to register as voters. As of now, January 1 of every year is the sole qualifying date.
• Now, “the January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 in a calendar year” will be the qualifying dates in relation to the preparation or revision of electoral rolls.
• Amendment to Section 20 of the RP Act, 1950 and Section 60 of the RP Act, 1951 will allow the elections become gender-neutral for service voters. It will also help replace the word “wife” with the word “spouse” making the statutes “gender neutral”.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), in collaboration with the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI), which comprises more than 12,000 private hospitals, has launched an accreditation programme that will enable hospitals to get a “breastfeeding-friendly” tag.

• This programme is called “Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI)”.
• The initiative is only for private hospitals and is based on the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s MAA programme for government hospitals launched in 2016.
• The certification process involves two stages — the first stage includes self-assessment by a hospital, followed by an external assessment by an authorised appraiser who interviews doctors, nurses and patients as well as reviews different practices and training of staff.
• The accreditation process costs ₹17,000 per hospital.
• The BFHI programme is a worldwide programme of the WHO and UNICEF. Though India adopted it in 1993, it fizzled out by 1998 and is now being revived after more than two decades.
• Chennai’s Bloom Healthcare has become the first hospital to be recognised as “breastfeeding-friendly” under this programme.

Early initiation of breastfeeding continues to be low in the country.

• According to the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021), while there were 88.6% institutional births, only 41.8% of infants were breastfed within the first one hour, which has improved only marginally from 41.6% during NFHS-4 (2015-2016).
• In fact, many States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have shown a decline in the proportion of children breastfed within the first hour.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

• The Panna Tiger Reserve was established in 1981 and is situated in the Vindhya mountain range in the northern part of Madhya Pradesh. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • Ken river (a tributary of the Yamuna River) flows through the reserve.
  • The region is also famous for Panna diamond mining. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Ken-Betwa river interlinking project will be located within the tiger reserve.

• As per the Mine and Minerals Development Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2015, in every district affected by mining-related operations, the state government shall, by notification, establish a trust as a non-profit body to be called the District Mineral Foundation. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Mining companies contribute 10-30% of the royalty amount that they pay to the government to DMF Trust in the district they are operating in.
  • The idea behind the contribution is that local mining-affected communities, mostly tribal and among the poorest in the country, also have the right to benefit from natural resources extracted from where they live.
• DMFs have been set-up in 572 districts of the country, with a cumulative accrual of more than Rs. 40,000 crore so far as per Ministry of Mines (MoM) data.
• The functioning of the DMF trusts and the fund use governed by states’ DMF Rules incorporate the mandates of a central guideline, Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) that specifies high priority areas of investments. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• Agni class of missiles are the mainstay of India’s nuclear launch capability, which also includes the Prithvi short-range ballistic missiles, submarine launched ballistic missiles and fighter aircraft.
  • Agni and Prithvi are India’s only two nuclear missiles, but beyond those, tactical nuclear weapons can be fired from some Indian Air Force fighter jets or from Army guns, which have a low range, around 50 km.
• Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise missiles currently operationally deployed with speed of Mach 2.8, which is 3 times more than the speed of sound.
  • It is a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India (DRDO) and the NPOM of Russia.
  • India does not call BrahMos nuclear.
• Rudram-1 is an air-to-surface missile, designed and developed by the DRDO. It is the first indigenous anti-radiation missile of the country.
• Hence, option A is correct.

AI’s exponential growth

It is embedded in the recommendations we get on our favourite streaming or shopping site; in GPS mapping technology; in the predictive text that completes our sentences when we try to send an email or complete a web search.

AI in E-Commerce

Personalized Shopping

Artificial Intelligence technology is used to create recommendation engines through which you can engage better with your customers.

Fraud Prevention

Credit card frauds and fake reviews are two of the most significant issues that E-Commerce companies deal with. By considering the usage patterns, AI can help reduce the possibility of credit card frauds taking place.

AI in Agriculture

Artificial Intelligence is used to identify defects and nutrient deficiencies in the soil. This is done using computer vision, robotics, and machine learning, AI can analyze where weeds are growing.

AI in Automobiles

Artificial Intelligence is used to build self-driving vehicles. AI can be used along with the vehicle’s camera, radar, cloud services, GPS, and control signals to operate the vehicle.

Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by the United States–based Miss Universe Organization. Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, Miss Universe is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants.

Miss Universe 2021 was the 70th Miss Universe pageant. The current Miss Universe is Harnaaz Sandhu of India. This is India’s first victory in 21 years, and its third in the history of the pageant.

India supported freedom of navigation and overflight, and unimpeded commerce based on the principles of international law, reflected notably in the UNCLOS 1982. As a State party to the UNCLOS, India promoted utmost respect for the UNCLOS, which established the international legal order of the seas and oceans.

A total of 82,893.61 ha of forest land has been approved for non-forestry use under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, from April 2016 to March 2021.

206 proposals involving 4,118.109067 ha area within Protected Areas, including national parks and sanctuaries, have been recommended by the Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife during 2020 and 2021.

Among the State/UT-wise approved areas for use of forest land for non-forestry purpose, Jammu and Kashmir had the least: 1.20 ha, all of which was approved in 2020-21. Madhya Pradesh had the highest, with 19638.41 ha being approved for diversion.