Daily Current Affairs MCQ- March 19, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

The Orunudoi scheme, with women as its primary target group, is perhaps the most popular one announced by BJP ahead of the Assam Assembly elections.

• In December 2020, when the scheme was launched, Assam Chief Minister described it as the “largest DBT scheme in the history of Assam which will empower women and serve the needy”.
• Through Orunodoi — announced in the 2020-21 Budget — a monthly assistance of Rs 830 is transferred to women members of marginalised families of Assam.
• On account of being a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, the money is credited directly to the bank account of the woman head of a family because they are “primary caretakers of the household”.
• The applicant, a woman, has to be a permanent resident of Assam, whose composite household income should be less than Rs 2 lakh per annum.
• Families without any women members, MPs, MLAs (former and current), members of Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies, government officials and employees of cooperative societies are excluded from the scheme.
• Families owning four-wheelers, mechanised boats, tractors or refrigerators, ACs and washing machines, or more than 15 bighas of agricultural land, are not eligible either.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 that increases the time period within which an abortion may be carried out. The Bill was passed in March last year in the Lok Sabha.

• Currently, abortion requires the opinion of one doctor if it is done within 12 weeks of conception, and two doctors if it is done between 12 and 20 weeks.
• The Bill allows abortion to be done on the advice of one doctor up to 20 weeks, and two doctors in the case of certain categories of women, between 20 and 24 weeks.
• For a pregnancy to be terminated after 24 weeks in case of substantial foetal abnormalities, the opinion of the State-level medical board is essential.
• Opposition MPs said the Bill still did not give women the freedom to decide, since they would need a nod from a medical board in the case of pregnancies beyond 24 weeks.
• The original Bill was framed in 1971.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Union Cabinet has cleared a Bill to set up a government-owned development finance institution (DFI) with initial paid-up capital of Rs 20,000 crore.

• By setting it up, Government can leverage around Rs 3 trillion from the markets in a few years to provide long-term funds to infrastructure projects as well as for development needs of the country.
• Besides, the government will give Rs 5,000 crore as grant to the institution. The grant has been provided as tax-saving bonds.
• The amount will provide for the hedging cost if the DFI borrows from multilateral or bilateral institutions and it will subsidise the guarantee fee.
• The DFI will be fully government-owned initially and the promoter’s stake will be brought down to 26 per cent in the next few years. At all times, the government will continue to hold 26 per cent in the entity.
• The government will provide a 10-year tax exemption to funds invested in the DFI to attract long-term players such as insurance and pension funds.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of Comprehensive Scheme for Strengthening of Transmission & Distribution in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs. 9129 crore.

• The scheme is being implemented through POWERGRID, a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under Ministry of Power in association with Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• The scheme was initially approved in December, 2014 as a Central Sector Plan Scheme of Ministry of Power and the entire cost of the scheme will be borne by the Government of India through the Plan Scheme of Ministry of Power.
• It is targeted to be commissioned in phased manner by December 2021. After commissioning, the created transmission and distribution system will be owned and maintained by the respective State Utilities.
• It is a major step towards economic development of the States of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim through strengthening of Intra - State Transmission and Distribution systems.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Union Cabinet has approved the closure of Handicrafts and Handlooms Export Corporation of India Limited (HHEC), a Government of India undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles.

• The Corporation has been continuously incurring losses since financial year 2015-16 and not earning sufficient income to meet its running expenses.
• There is little scope for its revival, necessitating closure of the Company.
• The approval will benefit the Government exchequer in reducing recurring expenditure on salary/wages of sick CPSE which is not in operation and earning no income.
• All the permanent employees and Management Trainees serving in the Corporation will be given an opportunity to avail the benefit of a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) as per norms laid down by the Department of Public Enterprises.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The provisional data for the latest Census and National Population Register (NPR) will be available before the Lok Sabha election in 2024, according to information provided by the Union Home Ministry to a parliamentary committee.

• The previous Census was conducted in 2011 and the NPR, which has a database of 119 crore residents, was last updated in 2015.
• The first phase of Census House-listing and Housing Census that was to be conducted along with the NPR from April 1, 2020, was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Provisional Census results will be released in the financial year 2023-24 and the primary Census abstracts (PCA) will provide village-level data on important indicators.
• A mobile application has been developed for collecting the Census details and NPR and residents can also self-enumerate. The mobile app through which Census will be conducted will be available in 16 languages.

Aadhaar

• NPR database had been created by collecting family-wise data and it can be strengthened by linking Aadhaar to each member.
• “Consolidated details of a family” are not available through Aadhaar and based on it “a family structure” cannot be created without visiting each household and collecting information such as relationship among family members.

Hence both statements are correct.

A report on Global air pollution was released from IQ Air, a Swiss air quality technology company specialising in protection against airborne pollutants, and developing air quality monitoring and air cleaning products.

• Delhi remained the most polluted capital city in the world but India, on the whole, had improved its average annual PM2.5 (particulate matter) levels in 2020 than in 2019,
• India is the third most polluted country in 2020, unlike in 2019, when its air was the fifth most noxious.
• Bangladesh and Pakistan were the countries in 2020 with worse average PM2.5 levels than India.
• China ranked 11th in the latest report, a deterioration from the 14th in the previous edition of the report.
• When ranked by cities, Hotan in China was the most polluted, with an average concentration of 110.2 μg/m³, followed by Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh at 106. Of the 15 most polluted cities, 13 were in India.
• In the 2020 report, 106 countries were evaluated. The pollution levels are weighted averages, meaning that the population of a country influences the pollution values reported.
• In 2020, 84% of all monitored countries observed air quality improvements.
• However, of the 106 monitored countries, only 24 met the World Health Organization annual guidelines for PM 2.5.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Supreme Court intervened on behalf of the critically endangered Great Indian Bustards over the birds falling dead after colliding with power lines running through their dwindling natural habitats in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

• Black crown on the forehead contrasting with the pale neck and head. The body is brownish and the wings are marked with black, brown and grey.
• They feed on grass seeds, insects like grasshoppers and beetles, and sometimes even small rodents and reptiles.
• Distribution:
  • India, effectively the only home of the bustards, now harbours less than 150 individuals in five States.
  • Today, its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small population also occur in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
  • It is the State bird of Rajasthan.
• Habitat:
  • Bustards generally favour flat open landscapes with minimal visual obstruction and disturbance, therefore adapt well in grasslands.
  • They avoid grasses taller than themselves and dense scrub like thickets.
• Conservation status:
  • Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972,
  • Listed in Appendix I of CITES,
  • Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Recent development:

• A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde will examine on a priority basis whether overhead power cables can be replaced with underground ones to save one of the heaviest flying birds on the planet.
• The court found further that an alternative mechanism — to install flight bird divertors — to guide the birds away from the power lines would be expensive.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Supreme Court asked the Centre and the Election Commission of India to respond to a plea that fresh elections should be conducted in constituencies where the highest number of votes polled are NOTA (None Of The Above).

• The petition said candidates ‘rejected’ by voters should not be fielded again in the fresh polls.
• Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde expressed doubts initially about the feasibility of the petition to arm the electorate with the “right to reject” and nudge political parties to present voters with a better choice of candidates to pick from.
• Chief Justice Bobde said if voters kept rejecting candidates, Parliament/Assembly seats would continue to remain vacant, affecting legislative functioning.
• But the petition argued that “if voters are given the power to reject, political parties will take care to field worthy candidates in the first place.”
• Supreme Court, in the PUCL v Union of India (2013) directed the ECI to introduce NOTA in direct elections to allow voters to register their protest if none of the candidates is acceptable to them.
• NOTA has only symbolic value in a direct election. Regardless of NOTA numbers, candidate polling most votes is elected.
• However, it is a step towards encouraging political parties to field candidates with integrity.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Rajya Sabha passed the National Institutes of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2019.

• The Bill declares certain institutes of food technology, entrepreneurship, and management as institutions of national importance.
• These institutes are the
  • National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management Kundli, in Haryana
  • Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology, Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu.
• The Bill declares these institutes as National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management.

Hence, option (b) is the correct answer.