Daily Current Affairs MCQ- March 17, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Earlier this month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an investor alert, which was the first warning of sorts, when it came to or special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).

• An SPAC, or a blank-cheque company, is an entity specifically set up with the objective of acquiring a firm in a particular sector.
• The aim of this SPAC is to raise money in an initial public offering (IPO), and at this point in time, it does not have any operations or revenues.
• Once the money is raised from the public, it is kept in an escrow account, which can be accessed while making the acquisition. If the acquisition is not made within two years of the IPO, the SPAC is delisted and the money is returned to the investors.
• Certain market participants believe that, through an SPAC transaction, a private company can become a publicly-traded company “with more certainty as to pricing and control over deal terms as compared to traditional IPOs.
• In India, renewable energy producer ReNew Power last month announced an agreement to merge with RMG Acquisition Corp II, a blank-cheque company, in what became the first involving an Indian company during the latest boom in SPAC deals.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Suez Canal, a critical shipping artery that connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas through Egypt, has been blocked after a large cargo ship ran aground while passing through it, bringing traffic on the busy trade route to a halt.

• A human-made waterway, the Suez Canal is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes, carrying over 12% of world trade by volume.
• Built in 1869, it provides a major shortcut for ships moving between Europe and Asia, who before its construction had to sail around Africa to complete the same journey.
• The 150-year-old canal was controlled by British and French interests in its initial years, but was nationalised in 1956 by Egypt’s then leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Over the years, the canal has been widened and deepened.
• In 2015, Egypt announced plans to further expand the Suez Canal, aiming to reduce waiting times and double the number of ships that can use the canal daily by 2023.
• The vessel blocking Suez is the Ever Given – a Panama-registered container ship that is on its way to Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China. The 2018-built vessel, which is 400-m long and 59-m wide, got stuck here due to a mishap caused by bad weather.
• Egypt, which heavily depends on revenues from the canal, is now diverting ships to an older channel to minimise disruption to global trade.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Lok Sabha cleared the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professionals Bill, 2021. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha last week.

• The Bill seeks to regulate and standardise the education and practice of allied and healthcare professionals.
• The Bill defines ‘allied health professional’ as an associate, technician, or technologist trained to support the diagnosis and treatment of any illness, disease, injury, or impairment. Such a professional should have obtained a diploma or degree under this Bill.
• A ‘healthcare professional’ includes a scientist, therapist, or any other professional who studies, advises, researches, supervises, or provides preventive, curative, rehabilitative, therapeutic, or promotional health services. Such a professional should have obtained a degree under this Bill.
• The Bill specifies certain categories of allied and healthcare professions as recognised categories. These include life science professionals, trauma and burn care professionals, surgical and anaesthesia related technology professionals, physiotherapists, and nutrition science professionals.
• The Bill sets up the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions. It will
  • frame policies and standards for regulating education and practice,
  • create and maintain an online Central Register of all registered professionals, and
  • providing for a uniform entrance and exit examination, among others.
• The Commission will constitute a Professional Council for every recognised category of allied and healthcare professions.
• Within six months from the passage of the Bill, state governments will constitute State Allied and Healthcare Councils.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has rolled out a new assessment framework for Classes 6-10 in English, Maths and Science in collaboration with the British Council.

• Under the new system, teachers will be trained to create question papers and other assessment methods that test the actual competency of students in these subjects, rather than their ability to memorise chunks of text.
• The new framework was launched by Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
• It is aligned with the National Education Policy’s vision of achieving a global standard in assessments.
• In the first phase, the framework will be implemented in select Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas, CBSE schools in Chandigarh, and a few private schools.
• By 2024, it will be rolled out to 25,000 CBSE schools across the country, with 1.32 lakh teachers and two crore students.

Hence both statements are correct.

In 2020, there were 18.05 tuberculosis notifications, which was a fall of 24% from 2019 due to the disruptions caused by the pandemic, according to the India TB report released by the Health Ministry.

• Between January and February 2020, the notifications were on an upward trajectory, with 6% more cases reported in the same period in 2019.
• As a result of the lockdown, notifications in the public sector fell by 38% and 44% in the private sector in April and May.
• Of the reported 24.04 lakh TB cases in 2019, treatment success was 82%, mortality rate was 4%, 4% patients were lost to follow up and treatment failure and regimen change after initiation of treatment was about 3%.
• The approved budgets toward the programme have increased substantially, from ₹640 crore in 2016-17 to ₹3,333 crores in 2019-20, however, there was a fall in budget to ₹3,110 crore in 2020-21.
• Over 95% of all cases reported were initiated on treatment in 2020 and the treatment success rate for patients reported in 2019 was 82% (83% among patients in the public sector and 79% in the private).
• The report said 20,892 (42%) of patients were initiated on a shorter MDR-TB regimen at the time of diagnosis. This is a significant decline from 2019.

Hence both statements are correct.

A unique “double mutant” coronavirus variant — with a combination of mutations not seen anywhere else in the world — has been found in India, the Union Health Ministry said.

• However, it is still to be established if this has any role to play in increased infectivity or in making COVID-19 more severe.
• Genome sequencing of a section of virus samples by a consortium of 10 laboratories across the country, called the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG), revealed the presence of two mutations, E484Q and L452R together, in at least 200 virus samples.
• Mutations in the virus per se are not surprising but specific mutations that help the virus evolve to thwart vaccines or the immune system or are linked to a spike in cases or in disease severity are causes of concern.
• While the two mutations have been individually identified in other variants of SARS-CoV-2 globally and have been associated with a reduction in vaccine efficacy, their combined effect and biological implications have not yet been understood.
• In the days ahead, the INSACOG will submit details of this variant to a global repository called GISAID and, if it merits, classify it as a “variant of concern” (VOC).
• So far, only three global VOCs have been identified: the U.K. variant (B.1.1.7), the South African (B.1.351) and the Brazilian (P.1) lineage.
• After the new double variant has been submitted to GISAID, it will be categorised under a formal lineage, and will have its own name.

Hence both statements are correct.

Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde has recommended Justice N.V. Ramana, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, as the next top judge.

• Justice Ramana is now set to take over as the 48th Chief Justice of India from April 24.
• The Centre had recently asked Chief Justice Bobde, who is retiring on April 23, to initiate the transition process to the top judicial office.
• Justice Ramana will be the CJI till August 26, 2022.

Appointment of CJI:

• Article 124 of the Constitution of India provides for the manner of appointing judges to the Supreme Court (SC). But there is no specific provision in the Constitution for appointing the Chief Justice.
• CJI should be the senior most judge of the Supreme Court (SC). Law Minister has to seek recommendation of the outgoing CJI for appointment of new CJI at an appropriate time.
• In case of doubt about the fitness of the senior-most Judge to hold office of CJI consultation with other Judges under Article 124(2) to be made.
• Law Minister then puts up recommendation to Prime Minister (PM) who will advise the President on appointment.
• Seniority at the apex court is determined not by age, but by The date a judge was appointed to the SC.
• If two judges are elevated to the Supreme Court on the same day, (1) the one who was sworn in first as a judge would trump another; (2) if both were sworn in as judges on the same day, the one with more years of high court service would ‘win’ in the seniority stakes; (3) an appointment from the bench would ‘trump’ in seniority an appointee from the bar.
• Tenure:
  • Once appointed, the Chief Justice remains in office until the age of 65 years.
  • Article 124(4) of Constitution of India provides that a SC Judge including CJI can be moved only through a process of impeachment by Parliament

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

After a gap of more than two and half years Indian and Pakistani delegations began the 116th Meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission.

• The Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) is a bilateral commission consisting of officials from India and Pakistan.
• It was created to implement and manage the goals and objectives and outlines of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) which was signed in September 1960 with World Bank standing guarantee for any dispute resolution.
• The last meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission was held on August 29, 2018.
• The meeting which coincided with the National Day of Pakistan is being viewed as part of the broader process of normalisation of bilateral ties between the two neighbours.
• The two-day meeting of the Commission is being led on the Indian side by Indus Water Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Saxena. The Pakistani delegation is led by Pakistan's Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Mohammad Mehr Ali Shah.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha that “presently, there is no proposal to implement panchayat system in Sixth Schedule areas of Assam”.

• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution protects tribal populations and provides autonomy to the communities through creation of autonomous development councils that can frame laws on land, public health, agriculture and others.
• As of now, 10 autonomous councils exist in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
• The specified tribal areas are the North Cachar Hills, Karbi Anglong and the Bodoland Territorial Area in Assam, Khasi Hills, Jaintiya Hills and Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Tribal Areas in Tripura, and Chakma, Mara and Lai districts in Mizoram.
• On January 23, 2019, the Union Cabinet approved amendments to increase the financial and executive powers of the autonomous councils.
• The Constitution (125th Amendment) Bill, 2019, was subsequently introduced in the Rajya Sabha on February 6, 2019, that provides for elected village municipal councils.
• The Bill that is still active proposes that the State Election Commissions would hold elections to the autonomous councils, village and municipal councils.
• The Bill was introduced in the Upper House so that the legislation remains active even as the House was adjourned sine die before the 2019 general election.

Hence both statements are correct.

India abstained from a crucial vote on Sri Lanka’s rights record at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

• The resolution on ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ was, however, adopted after 22 states of the 47-member Council voted in its favour.
• Sri Lanka, which had earlier deemed the resolution “politically motivated”, was quick to reject the UN move to collect and preserve evidence of war crimes in the country, committed by the armed forces and the LTTE.
• The Sri Lanka resolution was the first to be voted on using the extraordinary e-voting procedures established for the UNHRC 46th Session, which has been held virtually.
• The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system.
• It meets at the UN Office at Geneva.
• It was founded in 2006. It replaced the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) that had been strongly criticised for allowing countries with poor human rights records to be members.
• It investigates allegations of breaches of human rights in UN member states.
• Membership:
  • The Council is made of 47 Member States, which are elected by the UN General Assembly. The Council's Membership is based on equitable geographical distribution.
  • Members of the Council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
  • India has been elected to the UNHRC for a period of three years beginning January 1, 2019. India had previously been elected to the UNHRC for the 2011-2014 and 2014-2017 terms.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.