Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 6, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Near-field communication is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that allows NFC-enabled devices to communicate with each other and transfer information quickly and easily with a single touch.

• NFC tech has a wide range of applications besides driving payment services like Google Wallet and Apple Pay. It is used in contactless banking cards to perform money transactions or to generate contact-less tickets for public transport. Contactless cards and readers use NFC in several applications from securing networks and buildings to monitoring inventory and sales, preventing auto theft, keeping tabs on library books, and running unmanned toll booths.
• It also has an application in healthcare, to monitor patient stats through NFC-enabled wristbands. NFC is used in wireless charging too.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

The ‘Annual Frontier Report, 2022’ published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It highlighted that millions across the world may be exposed to the risk of hearing loss. Three cities in South Asia have filled the top three spots in the list - Bangladesh's Dhaka, Moradabad in India's Uttar Pradesh, and Pakistan's Islamabad.

The report - 'Frontiers 2022: Noise, Blazes and Mismatches' - draws attention to noise pollution and its long-term physical and mental health impacts, along with measures that can be implemented to create positive and restorative soundscapes in urban areas.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is mandated to track noise levels, set standards as well as ensure, via their State units, that sources of excessive noise are controlled.

The agency has a manual monitoring system where sensors are installed in major cities and few cities have the facility to track noise levels in real time. The CPCB also measures noise levels before and after Diwali in major cities, to publicise the impact of firecrackers.

Hence both statements are correct.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee has expressed its displeasure at the Central Government’s delay in categorising Denotified and Nomadic Tribes as Dalits, Tribals or Backwards.

• DNTs are the tribes which were notified as criminal tribes under Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, by the British colonial government.
• Under this Act, millions of nomadic and semi-nomadic communities were declared criminals and put under continuous surveillance.
• After decades of facing horrors of this racial Act, they were denotified by the Government of independent India on August 31, 1952.
• Every year this day is celebrated as Vimukti Diwas or Liberation Day by DNTs across the country.
• After denotification in 1952, some of these communities were included in Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Caste lists because they come from diverse social backgrounds.
• The DNTs are a heterogenous group engaged in various occupations such as transport, key-making, salt trading, entertaining — acrobats, dancers, snake charmers, jugglers — and pastoralists.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has issued summons to a senior official at ICICI Bank as four children stare at the possibility of losing their home over repayment of a loan taken by their parents, both of whom died during the second wave of the pandemic last year.

• The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is an Indian statutory body established by an Act of Parliament, the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005.
• The Commission works under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development, GoI.
• The Commission began operational on 5 March 2007.
• The Commission is mandated under section 13 of CPCR Act, 2005 "to ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child."
• As defined by the commission, child includes person up to the age of 18 years.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Border Security Force to offer special benefits to the serving and retired BSF personnel and family pensioners through the Central Armed Police Salary Package (CAPSP) Scheme.

• The MoU will ensure extensive benefits to the security forces including complimentary Personal and Air Accidental Insurance (Death) cover, additional cover in case of on-duty death, and Permanent Total Disability/ Partial Disability cover.
• The MoU will support child education and the marriage of girl children of deceased BSF personnel.
• The retired personnel will be eligible for complimentary Personal Accidental (Death) Insurance, irrespective of age, whereas family pensioners will be eligible for a bouquet of benefits.
• Bank will offer zero-balance savings bank accounts with a host of complimentary benefits and waiver of service charges to BSF personnel.
• Bank will also provide attractive interest rates and concession on processing charges for serving personnel on Home, Car, Education, and Xpress Credit Personal loans.

Hence both statements are correct.

In a fresh impetus to its flagship ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, the Central Government will soon start indigenous production of 108 military equipment, including complex defence systems.

Salient Features of DAP 2020:

• Notification of positive indigenisation lists in respect of weapons/platforms to ensure that equipment as mentioned in the list is not procured ex-import post prescribed timelines.
• Highest priority to procurement under Buy (Indian-Indigenous Design, Development & Manufacture[IDDM]) category.
• Reservation for MSMEs and small shipyards for orders up to Rs 100 crore/year.
• Increased Indigenous Content (IC) in various categories of procurement under DAP-2020.
• Introduction of new category of Buy (Global-Manufacture in India) to give push to 'Make in India' initiative of the Government.
• Indigenisation of imported spares through Make-III Process introduced with the aim of enhancing self-reliance through import substitution.

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

As per the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for India, India’s manufacturing activity grew at a slower pace in the country in March 2022 compared to February.

• The India Manufacturing PMI, compiled by S&P Global, is based on data compiled from monthly survey responses by purchasing managers in more than 400 manufacturing companies, on various factors that represent demand conditions. It is commonly referred to as S&P Global India Manufacturing PMI.
• PMI measures activity at the purchasing or input stage. It is very different from industrial production which is indicative of actual production. For example, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) measures output.
  The PMI is constructed separately for manufacturing and services sector, but the manufacturing sector holds more importance.
• PMI does not capture informal sector activity.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Nearly 40 years after India first signed the Antarctic Treaty, the government has brought in a draft Indian Antarctic Bill, 2020. Earth Sciences Minister Dr Jitender Singh tabled the draft Bill in Lok Sabha.

• The draft bill is the first domestic legislation with regard to Antarctica in India.
• The Bill puts into place a comprehensive list of regulations related to Antarctica, for such scientific expeditions, as well as for individuals, companies and tourists.
• A domestic legislation will further provide more validity to the Antarctic Treaty, and subsequent protocols, of which India is a signatory.
• It extends the jurisdiction of Indian courts to Antarctica, for crimes on the continent by Indian citizens, or foreign citizens who are a part of Indian expeditions.
• The Bill introduces an elaborate permit system for any expedition or individual who wishes to visit the continent.
• The Bill further enlists elaborate standards for environmental protection as well as waste management.
• The Bill prohibits drilling, dredging, excavation or collection of mineral resources or even doing anything to identify where such mineral deposits occur — the only exception is for scientific research with a granted permit.

Hence both statements are correct.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Larsen & Toubro (L&T), and ReNew Power (ReNew) have signed a binding term sheet to set up a Joint Venture (JV) company to develop the green hydrogen sector in India.

• The IndianOil-L&T-ReNew JV will focus on developing green hydrogen projects in a time-bound manner to supply it at an industrial scale.

Green hydrogen

• Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis of water using renewable energy.
• Nearly all of the hydrogen currently produced in India is grey hydrogen using natural gas and ammonia.
• The government is aiming to use green hydrogen as a substitute for grey hydrogen which is used by oil refiners and fertiliser manufacturers.

Steps by Government

• The Centre has released draft guidelines on the National Hydrogen Mission which aims to increase production to 5 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2030 to meet about 40 per cent of domestic requirements.
• Recently, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari travelled to the Parliament in a Hydrogen-based Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

A standing committee report of Parliament has criticised the functioning of the development programme for de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes.

• De-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes are communities who are the most vulnerable and deprived.
• Denotified tribes (DNTs) are communities that were ‘notified’ as being ‘born criminal’ during the British regime under a series of laws starting with the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871.
• Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities are defined as those who move from one place to another rather than living at one place all the time.
• A National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) was constituted in 2006 by the then government.
• It was headed by Balkrishna Sidram Renke and submitted its report in June 2008. The Renke commission estimated their population at around 10.74 crore based on Census 2001.
• A new Commission constituted in February 2014 to prepare a state-wise list, which submitted its report on January 8, 2018, identified 1,262 communities as de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic.
• While a number of these tribes are categorised under SC, ST and OBC, many are not. According to Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, 269 DNT communities are not covered under any reserved categories. These communities are frequently left out because they are less visible and difficult to reach.

Hence both statements are correct.