Daily Current Affairs MCQ- July 13, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 6.5-metre-tall National Emblem on the roof of the under-construction Parliament building.

National Emblem

• National Emblem of India is a representative seal of the Republic of India. It is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath.
• In the original, there are four lions, mounted back to back, on a circular abacus, which itself rests on a bell-shaped lotus.
• The frieze of the abacus has sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening Dharma Chakras.
• It was adopted on 26 January 1950.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Following two back-to-back bird strikes incidents, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in a directive to all airport operators has asked all airports to “review their wildlife hazard management plans” for “within and outside the airfield”.

• An analysis of 62,416 verified records by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Bird Strike Information System showed that most bird hits were in or near airports during the take-off and approach phases of flight.
• About 60% occurred at or below 30 metres or around 100 feet.
• A report says that in India in 2021, DGCA data has recorded over 1,400 suspected and confirmed wildlife incidents (for 20.5 lakh aircraft movements), up from nearly 840 cases in 2016 (for 22.9 lakh aircraft movements). Most of the incidents were reported from Delhi and Mumbai airports.
• In India’s National Aviation Safety Plan (2018-2022), one of the key safety priorities is looking at “wildlife and bird strikes”.
• Under Safety Performance Indicators of “Number of reported bird strikes at all Indian airports per 10,000 movements”, it lists a Safety Performance Target of 4.26 for the year 2022.

Hence both statements are correct.

India recorded a current account deficit (CAD) of 1.2% of GDP in 2021-22 against a surplus of 0.9% in 2020-21 as the trade deficit widened to $189.5 billion from $102.2 billion a year earlier, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

• Net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows at $38.6 billion in 2021-22 were lower than $44 billion in 2020-21. Net Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) recorded an outflow of $16.8 billion in 2021-22 as against an inflow of $36.1 billion a year earlier.
• For the January-March 2022 quarter, the CAD narrowed on a sequential basis to $13.4 billion, or 1.5% of GDP, against $22.2 billion, or 2.6% of GDP, in the December 2021 quarter.
• On a year-on-year basis, although gold imports halved, and the services trade surplus rose, this improvement was dwarfed by the widening of the merchandise trade deficit led by imports of commodity inputs such as crude oil, coal and fertilisers, as well as electronic goods.

Hence both statements are correct.

Scientists have recorded four species of corals for the first time from Indian waters. These new species of azooxanthellate corals were found from the waters off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

• All the four groups of corals are from the same family, Flabellidae.
• Truncatoflabellum crassum (Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848), T. incrustatum (Cairns, 1989), T. aculeatum (Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848), and T. irregulare (Semper, 1872) under the family Flabellidae were previously found in Japan, the Philippines and Australian waters, while only T. crassum was reported with the range of Indo-West Pacific distribution.

Azooxanthellate Corals

• The azooxanthellate corals are a group of corals that do not contain zooxanthellae and derive nourishment not from the sun but from capturing different forms of planktons.
• They are deep-sea representatives with the majority of species being reported from depths between 200 metres and 1,000 metres. They are also reported from shallow waters unlike zooxanthellate corals that are restricted to shallow waters.
• Azooxanthellate corals are a group of hard corals. Hard corals are the prime and intrinsic part of the coral reef ecosystem.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 was enacted for the protection of plants and animal species.
• It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• The WPA act provides for the constitution of bodies to be established under this act such as the National and State Board for Wildlife, Central Zoo Authority and National Tiger Conservation Authority. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The state governments are also entitled to appoint Wildlife Wardens in each district. 

Hence, statement 3 is correct.

• It's published by the United Nations’ World Population Prospects (WPP) in a biennial cycle since 1951 and not by the World Economic Forum. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• The report projected that India would surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• According to the report, India’s growth rate stood at 2.3 % in 1972, which has dropped down to less than 1% now.
• In this period, the number of children each Indian woman has during her lifetime has come down from about 5.4 to less than 2.1 now.
• This means that India has attained the Replacement Fertility Rate, at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next. Hence statement 3 is correct.

• There are only two different panda species in the world, the Giant Pandas and the Red Pandas.
• Red Pandas are also the state animal of Sikkim. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Red Pandas are shy, solitary and arboreal animals and considered an indicator species for ecological change.
• India is home to both the (sub) species:
  • Himalayan red panda (Ailurus fulgens)
  • Chinese red panda (Ailurus styani)
• Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh splits the two phylogenetic species.
• It is found in the forests of India, Nepal, Bhutan and the northern mountains of Myanmar and southern China.
• Protection Status:
  • Red Pandas: IUCN Red List: Endangered. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
  • CITES: Appendix I. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
  • Wildlife Protection Act 1972: Schedule I.

• It is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union (EU), founded in 1999, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Hence statement 1 is correct.
  • Its members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU. Hence statement 2 is correct.
  • The G-20 has no fixed headquarters, and the secretariat moves by rotation between the countries hosting or assuming Presidency of the grouping each year.
• India will steer the international body as its President from 1st December 2022 to 30th November 2023, which will lead to the G20 summit to be hosted here.
• Jammu and Kashmir will be hosting the 2023 meetings of G-20. Hence statement 3 is correct.
  • Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was appointed as India’s Sherpa for the G20. The Ministry of External Affairs had said that India will hold the G20 presidency from December 1, 2022 and will convene the G20 leaders’ summit in 2023 for the first time.

India has been elected to the Intergovernmental Committee of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) for the 2022-2026 cycle.

• India has served as a member of the ICH Committee twice — from 2006 to 2010 and from 2014 to 2018. India will now be a part of two prominent Committees of UNESCO — Intangible Cultural Heritage (2022-2026) and World Heritage (2021-2025).
• According to UNESCO, the core functions of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage are to promote the objectives of the convention, provide guidance on best practices and make recommendations on measures for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage.
• The Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention comprises 24 members and is elected in the General Assembly of the Convention according to the principles of equitable geographical representation and rotation.
• States Members to the Committee are elected for a term of four years.

Hence both statements are correct.

States of Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois in the US were hit by a storm system called a derecho.

• As the storm hit, it turned the skies green, with even many experienced storm chasers claiming to have never witnessed such atmospheric optics.
• A derecho, according to the US’s National Weather Service is “a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm” that is associated with a “band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms”. The name comes from the Spanish word ‘la derecha’ which means ‘straight’. Straight-line storms are those in which thunderstorm winds have no rotation unlike a tornado. These storms travel hundreds of miles and cover a vast area.
• Being a warm-weather phenomenon, a derecho generally – not always – occurs during summertime beginning May, with most hitting in June and July.
• For a storm to be classified as a derecho it must have wind gusts of at least 93 km per hour; wind damage swath extending more than 400 km. The time gap between successive wind damage events should not be more than three hours.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.