Daily Current Affairs MCQ- June 20, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has unveiled the Payments Vision 2025

• The document proposes a host of innovative payment systems and regulation of BigTechs, fintechs, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) systems, introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), etc.
• The vision document has five key themes - 5Is - integrity, inclusion, innovation, institutionalisation and internationalisation.
• It is based on the core theme of E-Payments for Everyone, Everywhere, Everytime (4 Es).
• The document envisages to provide users with safe, secure, fast, convenient, accessible and affordable e-payment options.
• The Vision 2025 document also includes a provision that calls for developing a framework for an internet of things (IoT)-based payments systems.
• It would enable customers to pay via connected devices apart from users’ phones and tablets.
• The RBI also intends to create a new system for processing payments done via internet and mobile banking services.
• Currently, these services are routed through payment gateways and other aggregators.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

China blocked a joint India-US proposal to list Pakistan-based top LeT militant Abdul Rehman Makki as a ‘global terrorist’ under a UNSC sanctions committee.

Sanctions of the UN Security Council

• Under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the UN Security Council can take action to maintain or restore international peace and security.
• The application of sanctions is one of the possibilities the Council has in this respect.
• Sanctions measures, under Article 41 of the UN Charter, encompass a broad range of enforcement options that do not involve the use of armed force.
• The measures can range from economic and trade embargoes to more targeted measures against specific individuals, companies or entities, such as the freezing of funds and travel bans.

Sanctions committee

• Each sanctions regime is administered by a sanctions committee that consists of all 15 members of the Security Council.
• 15 members include – 5 permanent member and 10 non-permanent members of UNSC.
• These sanctions committees ensure the implementation of the sanctions and can decide by consensus to adopt targeted sanctions against specific individuals, enterprises or entities.
• UNSC Al-Qaeda and ISIL Sanctions Committee or 1267 sanctions committee is one of them.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for signing of an agreement between the Government of India and the United Nations on a ‘Way Finding Application’ to be used in the Palais des Nations, United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).

• The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), consisting of five buildings and 21 floors, is housed at the historic Palais des Nations. Large number of delegates, members of civil society and general public visit UNOG to participate in various meetings and conventions.
• Keeping in view the complexity of buildings and huge participation, there was a requirement of a navigational application which can help the visitors and other delegates in finding their way inside the premises while adhering to all security perspectives.
• While the Global Positioning System (GPS) based Apps function in open space, a more precise in-building navigational App will assist the visitors in locating the room and offices.
• The project of development of ‘Way Finding Application’ has been conceptualized as donation from the Government of India to UN on the occasion of its 75th anniversary in 2020.
• The project consists of development deployment and maintenance of a software-based ‘Way Finding Application’ to facilitate navigation in the Palais des Nations premises of UNLG.
• The development of the App has been entrusted to Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), an autonomous telecom Research & Development centre of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Haryana government has planned to set up fuel stations in outer premises of 11 jails in Haryana on the pattern of similar fuel stations in Telangana.

• The state will set up these jail filling stations in association with the Indian Oil Corporation Limited. As a pilot project, a fuel station at the Kurukshetra jail started functioning from May 31.
• After Kurukshetra, similar fuel stations will be operated from the jails of Ambala (two fuel stations), Yamunanagar, Karnal, Jhajjar, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Bhiwani, Jind and Hisar.
• Only convicted prisoners with good conduct who have already spent a considerable period in the jails in proportionate to their jail term will be allowed to work at the fuel stations. Undertrials are not allowed to work here.
• For working at the fuel stations, the prisoners will get wages in accordance with the jail manual.
• The profit from these fuel stations will be deposited in the Prison Welfare Industrial Fund to use the same for the welfare of prisoners.
• The objective of the scheme is to make prisoners a part of the society.

Hence both statements are correct.

In a medical trial, 12 patients in the United States were completely cured of rectal cancer without requiring any surgery or chemotherapy.

• The trial used a monoclonal antibody called dostarlimab every three weeks for six months for the treatment of a particular kind of stage two or three rectal cancer.
• The trial showed that immunotherapy alone – without any chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgery that have been staples of cancer treatment – could completely cure the patients with a particular kind of rectal cancer called ‘mismatch repair deficient’ cancer.
• ‘Mismatch repair deficient’ cancer is most common among colorectal, gastrointestinal, and endometrial cancers. Patients suffering from this condition lack the genes to correct typos in the DNA that occur naturally while cells make copies.

PD1 blockades

• The immunotherapy belongs to a category called PD1 blockades that are now recommended for the treatment of such cancers rather than chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
• PD1 is a type of protein that regulates certain functions of the immune system, including by suppressing T cell activity, and PD1 blockade therapy looks to release the T cells from this suppression.

Hence both statements are correct.

6G Technology

• 6G (sixth-generation wireless) is the successor to 5G cellular technology.
• It will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency (delay).
• One of the goals of 6G internet will be to support one microsecond-latency communication (delay of one-microsecond in communication). Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • This is 1,000 times faster - or 1/1000^th the latency - than one millisecond throughput.
• It seeks to utilize the terahertz band of frequency which is currently unutilized. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • Terahertz waves fall between infrared waves and microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum.

• Merchant Discount Rate is the cost paid by a merchant to a bank for accepting payment from their customers via digital means. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • The merchant discount rate is expressed in percentage of the transaction amount. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • Presently, it is applicable for online transactions and QR-based transactions. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• The amount that the merchant pays for every transaction gets distributed among three stakeholders-the bank that enables the transaction, vendor that installs the point of sale (PoS) machine and the card network provider such as Visa, MasterCard, RuPay.

• Type-1 Diabetes is also known as juvenile diabetes (as it mostly affects children of age 14-16 years), this type occurs when the body fails to produce sufficient insulin. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Type-1 Diabetes is rarer than Type-2. Only 2% of all hospital cases of diabetes in the country are Type-1 whereas Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed in about 95% of all people with diabetes. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

• It is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
  • It is a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act 2013), with an intention to provide infrastructure to the entire Banking system in India for physical as well as electronic payment and settlement systems.
• Unified Payment Interface (UPI) is currently the biggest among the NPCI operated systems including National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), RuPay etc. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

India is, for the first time, going to import a substantial quantity of urea from the US.

State of India’s Fertilizer Industry:

• Among the various types, NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) fertilizers are the most common ones, and Urea stands as the most highly consumed fertilizer.
• Apart from importing crude and manufactured fertilizers, India is heavily dependent on importing raw materials such as rock phosphate, ammonia, and phosphoric acid.
• India is the second-largest consumer of fertilizers globally, with an annual consumption of more than 55.0 million metric ton.
• In India, the market for purchasing fertilizers (through tenders) is split between the Government and private buying companies.
• The value of India's fertilizer imports was over 500 billion Indian rupees during fiscal year 2019.

Hence both statements are correct.