Daily Current Affairs MCQ- July 22, 2022 - UPSC MCQ

International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lauded India's food subsidy program which prevented the increased prevalence of extreme poverty in the country during Covid-19.

• In a report the IMF has said, the expansion of food transfers and subsidies make it an important instrument for poverty alleviation.
• Appreciating the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, the report demonstrated that the program provided insurance to the poor and prevented an increase in the prevalence of extreme poverty in the country.
• It stated that doubling of entitlements in 2020 during pandemic helped maintain extreme poverty at the low 0.8 percent level. It also said, without any food subsidies, extreme poverty in the pandemic years would have increased by 1.05 per cent.
• The report said that poverty in the country declined the fastest during the period 2014 to 2019.
• The report also stated that social safety net provided by the expansion of country's food subsidy program absorbed a major part of the pandemic shock. This illustrates the robustness of India's social safety architecture as it withstood one of the world’s biggest income shocks.

Key facts

• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is a food security welfare scheme announced by the Government of India on March 26 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
• The program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• PMGKAY provides 5 kg of rice or wheat per person and 1 kg of dal to each family holding a ration card.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Exports of agricultural products, including marine, for the year 2021-22 have crossed the 50 billion dollar mark, which is the highest level ever achieved in it.

• As per the provisional figures released by Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, DGCIS, the agricultural exports have grown by 19.92 percent during 2021-22.
• This achievement over the past two years will go a long way in realising the Prime Minister’s vision of improving farmers’ income.
• The highest ever exports have been achieved for staples like rice, wheat, sugar, other cereals and meat which resulted in benefiting farmers in many states.

Hence both statements are correct.

Ministry of Commerce and Industry informed Lok Sabha about the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

• So far, India has signed 13 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with its trading partners.
• This includes the 3 agreements, namely India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA), India-UAE Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA) signed during the last five years.

The list of FTAs signed by India is as under:

• India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
• Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA)
• India-Nepal Treaty of Trade
• India-Bhutan Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit
• India-Thailand FTA - Early Harvest Scheme (EHS)
• India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)
• India-ASEAN CECA - Trade in Goods, Services and Investment Agreement
• India-South Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
• India-Japan CEPA
• India-Malaysia CECA
• India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA)
• India-UAE CEPA
• India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA)

In addition, India has signed the following 6 limited coverage Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs):

• Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA)
• Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP)
• SAARC Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA)
• India-Afghanistan PTA
• India-MERCOSUR PTA
• India-Chile PTA

Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh has said that the Government has accorded In-Principle approval for five new sites for locating nuclear power plants in future.

• He informed Lok Sabha that the Government has accorded administrative approval and financial sanction for construction of 10 indigenous 700 Mega Watt Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors PHWRs to be set up in fleet mode.
• On progressive completion of the projects under construction and accorded sanction, the nuclear capacity is expected to reach 22,480 Mega Watt by 2031.
• There are presently 22 reactors with a total capacity of 6,780 Mega Watt in operation and one reactor, KAPP-3 (700 Mega Watt) has been connected to the grid in January last year.
• In addition, there are 10 reactors which are various stages of construction, which will add a total capacity of 8,000 Mega Watt.
• In order to produce fuel for all indigenous PHWRs, Fuel fabrication capacity is augmented in the facilities available at Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad and the upcoming facilities at Nuclear Fuel Complex, Kota, Rajasthan in order to match with the requirement of existing PHWRs and upcoming PHWRs.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

On the occasion of World Health Day, the Union Health Ministry has said that India has registered a significant decline in the maternal and infant mortality rate and it will achieve the target of Sustainable Development Goals before the deadline of 2030.

• The World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7 April, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Since 1950, the World Health Day is held annually on April 7.
• The date of April 7 marks the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948.
• The Theme for 2022 is 'Our planet, our health’.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 has been unanimously passed in Lok Sabha.

• While there is no single, authoritative definition of a “weapon of mass destruction” (WMD) in international law, the expression is usually understood to cover nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons.
• According to the United States Department of Homeland Security, “A weapon of mass destruction is a nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological, or other device that is intended to harm a large number of people.”
• The use of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons is regulated by a number of international treaties and agreements.
• Among them are the Geneva Protocol, 1925, that banned the use of chemical and biological weapons; and the Biological Weapons Convention, 1972, and Chemical Weapons Convention, 1992, which put comprehensive bans on the biological and chemical weapons respectively.
• India has signed and ratified both the 1972 and 1992 treaties.
• The use and proliferation of nuclear weapons is regulated by treaties such as Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
• The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005 prohibited the manufacturing, transport, and transfer of weapons of mass destruction, and their means of delivery.
• The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005 of India prohibited the manufacturing, transport, and transfer of weapons of mass destruction, and their means of delivery.

Hence both statements are correct.

Chief Justice of India N V Ramana has assured petitioners that the Supreme Court will take up for hearing a pending plea challenging the Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018.

• Electoral bonds are an instrument through which anyone can donate money to political parties.
• Such bonds, which are sold in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 1 crore, can be bought from authorised branches of the State Bank of India.
• As such, a donor is required to pay the amount — say Rs 10 lakh — via a cheque or a digital mechanism (cash is not allowed) to the authorised SBI branch.
• The donor can then give this bond (just one, if the denomination chosen is Rs 10 lakh, or 10, if the denomination is Rs 1 lakh) to the party or parties of their choice.
• The political parties can choose to encash such bonds within 15 days of receiving them and fund their electoral expenses. On the face of it, the process ensures that the name of the donor remains anonymous.

Criticism

• critics argue that the anonymity of electoral bonds is only for the broader public and opposition parties.
• The fact that such bonds are sold via a government-owned bank (SBI) leaves the door open for the government to know exactly who is funding its opponents.
• This, in turn, allows the possibility for the government of the day to either extort money, especially from the big companies, or victimise them for not funding the ruling party — either way providing an unfair advantage to the party in power.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Central government has told the Odisha government that its ordinance to bring the 11th-century Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar and its associated temples under a special law is outside the legislative competence of the state legislature.

• It also said the ordinance is in conflict with the rules laid down under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR Act).
• Lingaraj temple, the largest in Bhubaneswar, was constructed by King Jajati Keshari in the 10th Century and completed by King Lalatendu Keshari in the 11th Century.
• In December 2019, the Odisha Government had announced the “Ekamra Kshetra” development plan for the temple and its peripheral area in Bhubaneshwar.
• The Lingaraj Temple Ordinance of 2020 was introduced to manage the rituals and other activities of the temple and eight other associated temples.
• This was intended to be on similar lines of the special Act which manages the affairs of the Jagannath temple in Puri, one of the four dhams in India. At present, the Lingaraj temple is being governed under the Odisha Hindu Religious Endowment Act.
• The ordinance proposed the formation of Lingaraj Temple Managing Committee with a full-time administrator looking after day-to-day affairs of the shrine.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on April 6 announced that a 50-year-old woman with a travel history to South Africa may have been infected with the newly-discovered ‘XE’ variant of the coronavirus.

• XE, a sub-variant of Omicron, which caused the third wave of Covid-19 this winter, had not been found in India until now.
• The XE variant is what is called a ‘recombinant’. This means it contains the mutations found in BA.1 as well as BA.2 varieties of Omicron. This was first discovered in the United Kingdom in January, and so far more than 600 samples of XE have been found in different countries.
• Recombinant variants are not uncommon.
• The Omicron variant, which is responsible for over 90 per cent of the infections detected this year, has two prominent sub-variants, called BA.1 and BA.2. There is a BA.3 sub-variant as well, but that is less common.
• Hence both statements are correct.

The Budget session of Parliament concluded, with both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha registering impressive productivity numbers and fewer disruptions.

• In one of the most productive sessions, the Lok Sabha passed 13 Bills, including the Finance Bill, Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill and the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill.
• The Rajya Sabha passed 11 Bills, including six Appropriation Bills and Finance Bills that were returned.
• The total productivity of the eighth session of the 17th Lok Sabha was 129%.
• The Rajya Sabha too recorded impressive functioning, clocking 99.8% productivity.

Hence both statements are correct.