Daily Current Affairs MCQ - December 27, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

• Dumping is said to occur when the goods are exported by a country to another country at a price lower than the price it normally charges in its own home market.
  • This is an unfair trade practice which can have a distortive effect on international trade.
• Imposition of Anti-dumping duty is a measure to rectify the situation arising out of the dumping of goods and its trade distortive effect. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Different from Countervailing Duties:
  • ADD is a customs duty on imports providing a protection against the dumping of goods at prices substantially lower than the normal value whereas Countervailing duty is a customs duty on goods that have received government subsidies in the originating or exporting country.
• In the long-term, anti-dumping duties can reduce the international competition of domestic companies producing similar goods.
  • It is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value.
  • The use of anti-dumping measures as an instrument of fair competition is permitted by the World Trade Organisation. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

• About Chaudhary Charan Singh:
  • The 'Kisan Diwas' or National Farmers Day is observed across the country on 23rd December to celebrate the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India.
  • He was given the nickname ‘Champion of India’s Peasants’ for his work towards the upliftment of farmers and the development of agriculture throughout the country.
  • He took a leading part in formulation and finalisation of the Debt Redemption Bill 1939, in order to give relief to the peasantry from moneylenders.
    • He was instrumental in bringing about the Land Holding Act, 1960 which was aimed at lowering the ceiling on land holdings to make it uniform throughout the State.
  • He was the author of several books and pamphlets, including ‘Abolition of Zamindari’, ‘Co-operative Farming X-rayed’, ‘India’s Poverty and its Solution’, ‘Peasant Proprietorship or Land to the Workers’ and ‘Prevention of Division of Holdings Below a Certain Minimum’.
• Hence, option A is correct.

The GIS based ‘Automatic Water Supply System’ for citizens of Cantonment Boards, 1st of its kind in the country was recently launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the occasion of Defence Estates Day 2021.

• The module of GIS based Water Supply system for Cantonment Boards has been developed by Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo informatics under the guidance of Defence Secretary and Director General of Defence Estates, Delhi.
• It is completely automated which provides facility to its citizen to identify the location of water supply connection. It automatically determines nearest water pipeline.
• This GIS system is first of its kind in the country. It is based on 'minimum government and maximum governance' concept as there is no manual intervention for clearance or sanction of the water connection.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Director General of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) launched the NMCG-TERI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Water Reuse at the TERI Headquarters in New Delhi.

• The CoE on Water Reuse is the first of its kind to be established in the country through a collaboration between NMCG and TERI.
• The Centre is a quadripartite alliance between NMCG, TERI, industry partners and industry representative bodies, to come up at the TERI campus in Gwal Pahari, Gurugram.
• It will be meeting the objectives of the Ganga Knowledge Centre (GKC) to design and foster research and innovation for low-cost, effective and integrated treatment technologies, which could bridge the current treatment gaps, augment capacities and provide safe treated water for reuse.
• Hence this CoE is also the first of its kind that will match the activities envisaged under GKC.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi today chaired the first meeting of the High Level Committee (HLC) which has been constituted to commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo in a befitting manner.

• The notification of HLC was issued on 20th December, 2021. The Committee comprises 53 members from various walks of life.
• The Prime Minister said that the two aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of ‘Revolution’ and ‘Evolution’, are of key importance and should be emphasized as part of the commemoration.
• The youth should be encouraged towards the concept of greatness as embodied in the philosophy of Nar to Narayan to create a MahaManav as propounded by Sri Aurobindo.
• The Prime Minister proposed to launch the commemoration celebrations of Sri Aurobindo from Puducherry coinciding with the celebration of National Youth Day.
• This will encourage the youth to visit Puducherry and learn about his life and teachings, where Sri Aurobindo spent his life from 1910 to 1950.

Sri Aurobindo

• Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yoga guru, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist.
• He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as Bande Mataram.
• He joined the Indian movement for independence from British colonial rule, until 1910 and then became a spiritual reformer.
• At Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo developed a spiritual practice he called Integral Yoga.
• Hence both statements are correct.

Mission Indradhanush which was launched on 25th December 2014 as a special drive to expand full immunization coverage in India has completed seven years.

• Under the Mission, 701 districts across the country have been covered and 3 crore 86 lakh children have been vaccinated.
• Around 97 lakh pregnant women have also been immunized under the Mission.
• Full immunization coverage among children aged 12 to 23 months have increased to 76.4 per cent.

Timeline

• Immunization Programme in India was introduced in 1978 as ‘Expanded Programme of Immunization’ (EPI) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. In 1985, the programme was modified as ‘Universal Immunization Programme’ (UIP)
• To strengthen and re-energize the programme and achieve full immunization coverage for all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace, the Government of India launched “Mission Indradhanush” in December 2014.
• To further intensify the immunization programme, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) on October 8, 2017.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Poverty, education, and exposure to a community health worker are more important than age at marriage in determining whether a mother will be able to have a safe birth in a medical facility, according to a first-of-its-kind study on utilisation of institutional delivery in the country.

• Published in the peer-reviewed journal Global Health Action, the study analyses data on State-level maternal mortality ratio (2016 to 2018), as well as the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16).
• The study has been authored by Ria Saha, a public health consultant in the U.K., and Pintu Paul, a Ph.D. candidate in Jawaharlal Nehru University.
• It focuses on nine low-performing States (LPS) with high burden of maternal mortality — Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
• As far as socio-demographic factors are concerned, poverty (1.4 to 3.5) is responsible more than twice as much as age at marriage (.78) in determining whether a woman will seek institutional delivery. Education (1.2 to 3.8) is 1.5 times more important than age at marriage.
• Hence both statements are correct.

A Japanese professor has developed a prototype lickable TV screen that can imitate food flavours, another step towards creating a multi-sensory viewing experience.

• The device, called Taste the TV (TTTV), uses a carousel of 10 flavour canisters that spray in combination to create the taste of a particular food. The flavour sample then rolls on hygienic film over a flat TV screen for the viewer to try.
• In the COVID-19 era, this kind of technology can enhance the way people connect and interact with the outside world, said Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita.
• The goal is to make it possible for people to have the experience of something like eating at a restaurant on the other side of the world, even while staying at home.
• Potential applications include distance learning for sommeliers and cooks, and tasting games and quizzes.
• Hence both statements are correct.

• The Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme which is being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and infant mortality by promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) has been launched to focus on conducting special AnteNatal Check-ups (ANC) checkup on 9th of every month with the help of Medical officers to detect and treat cases of anaemia.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) is a maternity benefit programme being implemented in all districts of the country with effect from 1st January, 2017.
• LaQshya (Labor room Quality Improvement Initiative) intended to improve the quality of care in the labor room and maternity operation theatres in public health facilities. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The goal of Poshan Abhiyaan is to achieve improvement in the nutritional status of Children (0-6 years) and Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time-bound manner. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

In the sulfur-infused ponds of Tabasco state in Mexico lives a tiny silver slip of a fish, the sulphur molly.

• Every few seconds, thousands of these fish will repeat a quick diving motion to generate the wave, sometimes for up to two minutes.
• The mollies are prey for an array of winged predators, including egrets, kingfishers and kiskadees. When birds dive to attack, the mollies flash and swirl.
• It seems to be aimed at predators perched on the shore,
• The sulphur molly (Poecilia sulphuraria), locally known as molly del Teapa, is a critically endangered species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is endemic to Mexico, specifically to the Baños del Azufre (Grijalva River basin) near Teapa, Tabasco.
• The Baños del Azufre are sulfidic springs that contain high concentrations of toxic hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Poecilia sulphuraria has apparently evolved the ability to tolerate the toxic conditions. A few other Poecilia species are known from similar habitats in Mexico.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.