Daily Current Affairs MCQ- July 7, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

With rising consumer complaints, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has barred hotels and restaurants from levying service charges automatically or by default on food bills.

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA): 

• The CCPA is a statutory body constituted under Section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
• Mandate: To protect the rights of the consumer by cracking down on unfair trade practices, and false and misleading advertisements that are detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers.
• Concerned Ministry: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska, chair of Number Theory at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, was named as one of four recipients of the 2022 Fields Medal, an honour that is often described the Nobel Prize in mathematics.

• The other winners were French mathematician Hugo Duminil-Copin of the University of Geneva; Korean-American June Huh of Princeton; and Briton James Maynard of the University of Oxford.
• Viazovska, 37, is only the second female Fields Medalist, after the Iranian Maryam Mirzakhani in 2014.

Fields Medal

• The Fields Medal is awarded by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organisation that aims to promote international cooperation in mathematics.
• The Fields Medal is awarded every four years to one or more mathematicians under the age of 40 in recognition of “outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement”.
• The honour carries a physical medal of 14K gold. There is also a cash award of CAD 15,000.
• Indian-origin winners: Among the more than 60 mathematicians who have been awarded the Fields Medal since 1936, there are two of Indian origin — Akshay Venkatesh of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, who won in 2018, the last time the honour was announced, and Manjul Bhargava of the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University, in 2014.
• Hence only statement 2 is correct.

India and Australia decided to strengthen their partnership in the field of projects and supply chains for critical minerals.

• Critical minerals are elements that are the building blocks of essential modern-day technologies, and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
• These minerals are now used everywhere from making mobile phones, computers to batteries, electric vehicles and green technologies like solar panels and wind turbines. Based on their individual needs and strategic considerations, different countries create their own lists.
• However, such lists mostly include graphite, lithium and cobalt, which are used for making EV batteries; rare earths that are used for making magnets and silicon which is a key mineral for making computer chips and solar panels.
• Aerospace, communications and defence industries also rely on several such minerals as they are used in manufacturing fighter jets, drones, radio sets and other critical equipment.
• As countries around the world scale up their transition towards clean energy and digital economy, these critical resources are key to the ecosystem that fuels this change.

Hence both statements are correct.

Around 100 students of an engineering college in East Sikkim have reported skin infections after coming in contact with Nairobi flies.

• Nairobi flies, also called Kenyan flies or dragon bugs, are small, beetle-like insects that belong to two species, Paederus eximius and Paederus sabaeus.
• They are orange and black in colour, and thrive in areas with high rainfall, as has been witnessed in Sikkim in the past few weeks. Like most insects, the beetles are attracted by bright light.
• Usually, the insects attack pests that consume crops and are beneficial for humans — but at times, they come in contact with humans directly are cause harm.
• These flies do not bite, but if disturbed while sitting on anyone’s skin, they release a potent acidic substance that causes burns.
• This substance is called pederin, and can cause irritation if it comes in contact with the skin, leading to lesions or unusual marks or colouring on the skin. The skin begins to heal in a week or two, but some secondary infections can occur, especially if the victim scratches the irritated skin.
• Nairobi flies is a species of insect native to East Africa. Major outbreaks have happened in Kenya and other parts of eastern Africa. Outside Africa, outbreaks have happened in India, Japan, Israel, and Paraguay in the past.

Hence both statements are correct.

• The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri Hills, are well known for their rich and unique assemblage of flora and fauna.
• It is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• The mountains of the Western Ghats are Block Mountains formed due to the down warping of a part of land into the Arabian Sea. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The peak of Anamudi in Kerala is the highest peak in the Western Ghats, as well as the highest peak in India outside the Himalayas. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

• Nairobi Flies is a species of insect native to East Africa. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• Nairobi flies, also known as Kenyan flies or dragon bugs, are small, beetle-like insects of two species:
  • Paederus Eximius.
  • Paederus sabaeus.
• They are orange and black in colour and thrive in areas with high rainfall, as has been seen in Sikkim in recent weeks. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• Like most insects, they are attracted to Bright lights.
• These insects usually don't bite but if they are disturbed during their stay on human skin, they could release a potent acidic substance that can cause burns on human skin. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
  • The released substance is called Pederin and it can cause irritation on the skin, which leads to lesions or unusual marks or coloring of the skin.

• Australian authorities have killed millions of honeybees over the past two weeks in an effort to stop a potentially catastrophic parasite plague named Varroa mite.
• Its parasitic insect infects and feeds on honeybees. The small pests, which are reddish-brown in colour, have been capable of eradicating entire colonies of honeybees. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Although Varroa mites can feed and live on adult honey bees, they primarily feed and reproduce on larvae and pupae in developing brood, causing malformation and weakening as well as virus transmission. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• It is often known as the varroa destructor. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

African Union

• The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent.
• The African Union is celebrating its 20th Anniversary on 9th of July 2022.
• In 1963, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was founded by the independent states of Africa. The organisation aimed to promote cooperation between African states.
• The 1980 Lagos Plan of Action was adopted by the Organisation of African Unity. The plan suggested that Africa should minimise reliance upon the West by promoting intra-African trade.
• In 2002, the Organisation of African Unity was succeeded by the African Union, which had as one of its goals to accelerate the "economic integration of the continent”. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The AU is made up of 55 Member States which represent all the countries on the African continent. AU Member States are divided into five geographic regions. which were defined by the OAU in 1976. Hence statement 2 is correct.
  • Central Africa
  • Eastern Africa
  • Northern Africa
  • Southern Africa
  • Western Africa

The government slapped an export tax on petrol, diesel and jet fuel (ATF) shipped overseas, and imposed a windfall tax on crude oil produced locally.

Windfall tax        

• A windfall tax is a tax levied by governments against certain industries when economic conditions allow those industries to experience above-average profits.
• The idea is to target firms that were lucky enough to benefit from something they were not responsible for - in other words, a windfall.
• In other words, windfall tax is imposed on companies that have seen their profits extraordinarily not because of any clever investment decision or an increase in efficiency or innovation, but simply because of favourable market conditions.
• In May 2022, the UK levied a 25% tax on extraordinary profits from North Sea oil and gas production.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment — which is investigating the slight differences between matter and antimatter by studying a type of particle called the “beauty quark”, or “b quark” — has observed three never-before-seen particles, CERN announced on July 5.

• The three “exotic” additions — a new kind of “pentaquark” and the first-ever pair of “tetraquarks” — to the growing list of new hadrons found at the LHC will help physicists better understand how quarks bind together into these composite particles.
• CERN — Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire — is the original name of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, which runs the particle accelerator complex that houses the LHC, the world’s largest and most complex collider.
• The LHC, re-ignited after three years in April, was cranked up to unprecedented levels of energy on July 5, and has begun smashing together protons at almost the speed of light, which could throw up “new” physics beyond the Standard Model.
• Quarks are elementary particles that come in six “flavours”: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom. They usually combine together in groups of twos and threes to form hadrons such as the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei.
• But they can also combine into four-quark and five-quark particles, called tetraquarks and pentaquarks. These exotic hadrons were predicted by theorists about six decades ago — around the same time as conventional hadrons — but they have been observed by LHCb and other experiments only in the past 20 years.

Hence both statements are correct.