Daily Current Affairs MCQ- March 23, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

A medical flight made an emergency belly landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai after a wheel of the aircraft separated from its body. Mumbai airport officials sprayed foam on the runway to prevent fire as the Beechcraft VT-JIL aircraft made a belly landing.

• A foam path is an aviation safety practice of spreading a layer of fire suppression foam on an airport runway prior to an emergency landing.
• Following a crash-landing, liquids leaking from the aircraft, which are not yet burning, start evaporating, thereby resulting in forming an air-vapour mixture that is flammable or even highly explosive.
• In such cases, extinguishing foam is used preventively and the liquid is covered with a foam carpet as a vapor barrier.
• Airport fire brigades create a foam carpet in order to secure an emergency landing if the landing gear of an aircraft is not extended or is unstable. This is done in order to suppress sparking and burning of any aircraft metals due to friction with the runway surface.

The concerns surrounding use of foam paths

• Although originally it was thought that foam paths would prevent fires, the practice is now discouraged.
• The International Civil Aviation Organization does not recommend foaming the runway in its Airport Services Manual, stating that the effectiveness of runway foaming is not fully substantiated by the real evidence of operational incident studies.

Hence both statements are correct.

During a match in Indian Premier League (IPL), the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Anti-Corruption Unit nabbed two individuals for allegedly pitch-siding, or court-siding.

• Pitch or court-siding is having somebody inside a sports venue and passing on immediate match-related updates to a bookie, who can use that information to change the odds and accept or reject bets.
• The few seconds of lag it takes to be aired on television gives them the window of opportunity.
• Though pitch-siding doesn’t necessarily count as ‘match fixing’ as none of the action is rigged, it is a side-effect of competitive betting that sports organisers have been aiming to quell.
• Not in all countries. Court-siding is not illegal in the UK, nor in New Zealand.
• However, tickets to most sporting events have it mentioned that it is illegal in the ‘terms and conditions’ section. Therefore, an individual caught has breached a condition of entry at the venue and can be evicted and banned.
• In India, betting is banned, therefore, any act of pitch-siding would be considered illegal.

Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

ACT Grants, Swasth Alliance and Feeding India to donate 50,000 oxygen concentrators nationally in May.

• India, in the middle of the second wave of COVID-19, needs to rapidly augment oxygen supply to hospitals.
• In order to save as many lives as possible, ACT Grants (a not-for-profit movement created by the VC and start-up community in India), Swasth Alliance (a not-for-profit alliance of over 150+ healthcare organisations) and Feeding India (a not-for-profit run by Zomato) are working towards the goal of sourcing and distributing 50,000 oxygen concentrators.
• These oxygen concentrators will be donated across India free of cost, largely to various public health institutions and NGOs working for public health.
• These oxygen concentrators will be donated within the month of May.
• ACT Grants, a coalition of Indian startup founders and VC firms first came together in March 2020 to battle the pandemic.
• Swasth is an alliance of over 150+ healthcare organisations in the country, including hospitals, rural health NGOs, insurers, health tech, med-tech, and others.
• Feeding India, is a not-for-profit organization by Zomato, which aims to reduce the problem of hunger within underserved communities in India.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has prepared a provisional database of companies and auditors.

• The National Financial Reporting Authority is a regulatory body set up under Section 132 of the Companies Act to oversee compliance with Accounting and Auditing Standards by companies that can be described as Public Interest Entities (PIEs).
• This group includes all listed companies, and large unlisted companies.
• To discharge this mandate, NFRA is in the process of creating a verified and accurate database of companies and auditors that come under the regulatory ambit of NFRA.
• Establishment of this data base involves critical steps like identification and verification of the primary data source, and reconciliation of data (such as Company Identification Number (CIN) which is dynamic) from different sources.
• In this regard the NFRA has been engaging with the Corporate Data Management (CDM) division of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and three recognised stock exchanges in India.
• A provisional data base of companies and their auditors as of 31st March 2019 has been compiled by the NFRA which has been published on the website of the NFRA.
• This provisional data will be updated/revised going forward based on the collection of further data and information. Similar exercise for compilation of the data base as of 31st March 2020 will be undertaken shortly.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) & Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have granted conditional exemption to the Government of Telangana for conducting experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for delivery of vaccines.

• Exemption from Unmanned Aircraft System {UAS) Rules, 2021 has been granted as part of government’s constant endeavour to enhance the scope of drone usage in the country and assist the nation to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Last month, the Government of Telangana was granted conditional exemption for conducting experimental delivery of Covid-19 vaccines within Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) Range using drones.
• To accelerate the drone deployment process to formulate application-based models, the grant has been extended to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS). The trials may commence by end of May 2021.
• This exemption shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of approval of the SOP or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• Earlier this month, 20 consortia were also granted permission to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) experimental flights of drones. BVLOS trials will help create the regulatory framework for drone deliveries and other major applications.

Hence both statements are correct.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated N. Rangasamy on taking oath as Puducherry CM.

• Puducherry is a Union Territory of India rather than a state, which implies that governance and administration fall directly under federal authority.
• However, Puducherry is one of the three union territories in India (the other being National Capital Territory of Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir) that is entitled by a special constitutional amendment to have an elected legislative assembly and a cabinet of ministers, thereby conveying partial statehood.
• The Pondicherry Representative Assembly was converted into the Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry on 1 July 1963 as per Section 54(3) of The Union Territories Act, 1963.
• The elections for the Puducherry Vidhan Sabha are held since 1964.

Hence none of the statement is correct.

An attempt by instant messaging app Signal to use Instagram ads to demonstrate how Facebook collects and sells user data resulted in Signal’s Instagram account getting blocked.

• Signal is a cross-platform centralized encrypted messaging service developed by the Signal Technology Foundation and Signal Messenger LLC. It uses the Internet to send one-to-one and group messages, which can include files, voice notes, images and videos. It can also be used to make one-to-one and group voice and video calls.
• Signal, which is owned by a nonprofit corporation, competes with WhatsApp. Both WhatsApp and Instagram are owned by social media giant Facebook.
• Signal, which has a specific focus on privacy (its tagline is ‘Say hello to privacy’), claims companies like Facebook collect user data from their bouquet of apps “in order to sell visibility into people and their lives”.

Hence both statements are correct.

As the second wave of Covid-19 sweeps through the country with deadly consequences, doctors across the state have started advocating proning exercises to improve oxygen levels in Covid positive patients — both in home isolation as well as in hospital.

• Proning a medically approved position — which is also being promoted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare — in which patients are made to lie on their abdomen to boost their oxygen levels.
• Proning as an exercise is being advised to Covid patients in hospitals, so that they may not require additional oxygen support.
• While proned, the patient is made to lie on his/her belly using pillows. One can also lie on their right side( right lateral), left side ( left lateral) or sit at a 60-90 degree angle in the ‘fowler position’.
• Medically, doctors suggest that a patient remain prone for a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 2 hours. This helps improve ventilation to the lungs and hence oxygen levels start improving.

Hence both statements are correct.

Indian Railways inducts 100th 12000 HP WAG 12 B Locomotive.

• The loco is named WAG 12 B with number 60100.
• The locomotive is manufactured by Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL).
• These locomotives are state of the art IGBT based, 3 phase drive and 12000 horse power electric locomotive. These high horse power locomotives will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving average speed and loading capacity of freight trains.
• These locomotive are proving to be a game changer for further movement of coal trains for Dedicated Freight Corridor.
• First 12000 HP Made in India Locomotive, manufactured by Madhepura Electric Loco Factory situated in Bihar, was put into operation by Indian Railways from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn Station on 18.05.2020.
• The Electric Locomotive Factory, Madhepura is a joint venture of Alstom SA of France with Indian Railways for the production of 800 high-power locomotives over a period of 11 years designed to run on Indian tracks at 120 km per hour.
• Madhepura district is one of the districts of Bihar and Madhepura town is the administrative headquarters of this district.

Hence both statements are correct.

MOUs were signed between the Oil and Gas PSUs-IndianOil, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and GAIL, and Shri Badrinath Utthan Charitable Trust for Construction and Redevelopment of Shri Badrinath Dham as a Spiritual Smart hill Town.

As per the MoUs, the Oil & Gas PSUs will be contributing Rs. 99.60 crore in the first phase of the developmental activities, including river embankment work, building all-terrain vehicular path, building bridges, beautifying existing bridges, establishing gurukul facilities with accommodation, creating toilet and drinking water facilities, installing streetlights, mural paintings etc. Badrinath is a holy town and a nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand. It is one of the four sites in India’s Char Dham pilgrimage and gets its name from the Badrinath Temple. It was re-established as a major pilgrimage site by Adi Shankara in the 8th century. It is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu which is situated along the banks of Alaknanda River. 

Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.