Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 26, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

The All-India Household Consumer Expenditure Survey, usually conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) every five years, is set to resume this year after a prolonged break.

• Typically, the Survey is conducted between July and June and this year’s exercise is expected to be completed by June 2023.
• Estimates of household monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) and the distribution of households and persons over different MPCE classes, based on the Survey, may only become available about a year after the field work is completed.
• The results will include separate data sets for rural and urban parts, and also splice spending patterns for each State and Union Territory, as well as different socio-economic groups.

Background

• Fresh one-off surveys on consumer expenditure and employment and unemployment were commissioned over 2011-12 after the usually scheduled Surveys conducted in 2009-10 had coincided with a worldwide slowdown following the 2008 global financial crisis and a drought year in India.
• India has not had any official estimates on per capita household spending, used to arrive at estimates of poverty levels in different parts of the country and to review economic indicators such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), since 2011-12.
• The government had junked the findings of the last Survey, conducted in 2017-18, citing “data quality” issues.
• The Survey could not be launched in the past two years due to the pandemic.

Hence both statements are correct.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma have decided to form district-level committees for settling their inter-state boundary disputes.

• The issue started with a 1951 report which transferred 3,648 sq. km of the “plain” area of Balipara and Sadiya foothills to the Darrang and Lakhimpur districts of Assam.
• Arunachal Pradesh claims the transfer was done without consulting its tribes who had customary rights over these lands.
• The two States have decided to form 12 committees involving the districts sharing the boundary in order to come up with a solution.
• Assam has had boundary disputes with all the north-eastern States that were carved out of it.
• While Nagaland became a State in 1963, Meghalaya first became an Autonomous State in 1970 and a full-fledged State in 1972.
• Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram were separated from Assam as Union Territories in 1972 and as States in 1987.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The European Parliament and European Union (EU) Member States have reached a political agreement on the Digital Services Act (DSA).

• The Act, which is yet to become law, was proposed by the EU Commission (anti-trust) in December 2020. The DSA will tightly regulate the way intermediaries, especially large platforms such as Google, Facebook, and YouTube, function when it comes to moderating user content.
• The DSA is “a set of common rules on intermediaries’ obligations and accountability across the single market”, and ensures higher protection to all EU users, irrespective of their country.
• It will be a landmark legislation to force big Internet companies to act against disinformation and illegal and harmful content, and to “provide better protection for Internet users and their fundamental rights”.
• The proposed Act will work in conjunction with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which was approved last month.
• The DSA is likely to be adopted by the EU Parliament in the next few months. Once adopted, “it will apply from fifteen months or from January 1, 2024, whichever is later”.

Hence both statements are correct.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the seventh edition of Raisina Dialogue on April 25, 2022.

• President of the European Union Ursula Von Der Leyen is the chief guest at the Dialogue.
• The three-day Dialogue is based on the theme - Terranova, impassioned, impatient, imperiled.
• There are six broad thematic pillars of the Dialogue including Rethinking Democracy, End of Multilateralism, Water Caucuses, and Achieving Green Transitions.
• Raisina Dialogue will have around 100 sessions with over 210 speakers from 90 countries.
• The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media, and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters.
• The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

• EPCG Scheme was launched in the 1990s to facilitate import of capital goods with the aim to enhance the production quality of goods and services, thereby, increasing India’s international manufacturing competitiveness. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Under the scheme, manufacturers can import capital goods for pre-production, production and post-production goods without attracting any customs duty on them. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • Second-hand capital goods may also be imported without any restriction on age under the EPCG Scheme.
• The exemption from paying the obligation of customs duty on the import of capital goods is subject to fulfilment of an export value equivalent to 6 times of duty saved on the importation of such capital goods within 6 years from the date of issuance of the authorization.

• Parboiled rice refers to rice that has been partially boiled at the paddy stage, before milling. Parboiling of rice is not a new practice, and has been followed in India since ancient times.
  • However, there is no specific definition of parboiled rice of the Food Corporation of India or the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• Advantages:
  • Parboiling makes rice tougher which reduces the chances of the rice kernel breaking during milling. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • Parboiling also increases the nutrient value of the rice. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • Parboiled rice has a higher resistance to insects and fungi. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.
• Disadvantages:
  • The rice becomes darker and may smell unpleasant due to prolonged soaking.
  • Besides, setting up a parboiling rice milling unit requires a higher investment than a raw rice milling unit.

• The CSC was formed in 2011 as a trilateral maritime security grouping of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
• It welcomed Mauritius as a fourth member at the fifth meeting of national security advisers.
• Bangladesh and Seychelles attended as observers and have been invited to join the group. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The fifth meeting of national security advisers of the CSC identified key areas of cooperation to enhance and strengthen regional security in the following five pillars:
  • Maritime Safety and Security
  • Countering Terrorism and Radicalization
  • Combating Trafficking and Transnational Organized Crime
  • Cyber Security, Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Technology
  • Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief
• Hence, statement 2 is correct.

Nitrogen

• Nitrogen is one of the primary nutrients critical for the survival of all living organisms.
• Nitrogen gas makes up 78% of our atmosphere and nitrogen is also a part of many molecules essential to life like proteins, nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and some vitamins.
• Although nitrogen is abundant in the atmosphere as Nitrogen gas (N₂), it is largely inaccessible in this form to most organisms, making nitrogen a scarce resource and often limiting primary productivity in many ecosystems.
• Only when nitrogen is converted from Nitrogen gas into ammonia (NH₃) does it become available to primary producers, such as plants.
• The major transformations of nitrogen gas are through the process of:
• Nitrogen fixation (nitrogen gas to ammonia),
• Nitrification (ammonia to nitrite and nitrate). Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Denitrification (nitrate to nitrogen gases). Hence statement 2 is not correct.

Seaweeds

• They are the primitive, marine non-flowering marine algae without root, stem and leaves, play a major role in marine ecosystems. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• Large seaweeds form dense underwater forests known as kelp forests, which act as underwater nurseries for fish, snails and sea urchins.
• Seaweeds, found mostly in the intertidal region, in shallow and deep waters of the sea and also in estuaries and backwaters. Hence statement 2 is not correct.
• The southern Gulf of Mannar’s rocky intertidal and lower intertidal regions have rich populations of several seaweed species.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India 

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous statutory body established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act). Hence statement 1 is correct.
• Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the administrative Ministry of FSSAI
• Its major functions are:
  • Framing of regulations to lay down the standards and guidelines of food safety.
  • Granting FSSAI food safety license and certification for food businesses.
  • Laying down procedure and guidelines for laboratories in food businesses.
  • To provide suggestions to the government in framing the policies. Hence statement 2 is correct.
  • To collect data regarding contaminants in foods products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of a rapid alert system.
  • Creating an information network across the country about food safety.
  • Promote general awareness about food safety and food standards.