Daily Current Affairs MCQ- July 25, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology said that Jammu is going to pioneer India's first Cannabis Medicine Project.

About National Tele Mental Health Programme:

• Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele MANAS) has been launched during October 2022.
• Aims: It aims to provide free tele-mental health services all over the country round the clock, particularly catering to people in remote or under-served areas.
• There are 42 active Tele Manas cells across 31 states and Union Territories.
• The service is accessible through the toll-free numbers with options to choose preferred languages (20 languages included till now).
• Tele-MANAS will be organised in two tier system:
• Tier 1: It comprises of state Tele-MANAS cells which include trained counsellors and mental health specialists.
• Tier 2: It will comprise of specialists at District Mental Health Programme (DMHP)/Medical College resources for physical consultation and/or e-Sanjeevani for audio visual consultation.
• Services offered by Tele MANAS:
• Tele counselling by trained counsellors.
• Tele Consultation by Mental Health professionals when required.
• Referral Services to other Mental Health Establishments such as Medical Colleges, District Mental Health Program (DMHP) services and speciality institutes.

About National Mental Health Programme (NMHP):

• The Government of India has launched the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in 1982, with the following objectives:
• To ensure the availability and accessibility of minimum mental healthcare for all in the foreseeable future, particularly to the most vulnerable and underprivileged sections of the population;
• To encourage the application of mental health knowledge in general healthcare and in social development;
• To promote community participation in the mental health service development and to stimulate efforts towards self-help in the community.
• The District Mental Health Program (DMHP) was launched under NMHP in the year 1996. The DMHP was based on ‘Bellary Model’ with the following components:
• Early detection & treatment.
• Training: imparting short term training to general physicians for diagnosis and treatment of common mental illnesses with limited number of drugs under guidance of specialist. The Health workers are being trained in identifying mentally ill persons.
• IEC: Public awareness generation.
• Monitoring: the purpose is for simple Record Keeping.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology said that Jammu is going to pioneer India's first Cannabis Medicine Project.

About Cannabis Medicine Project:

• ‘Cannabis Research Project’ of CSIR-IIIM Jammu is a first of its kind in India initiated under the leadership of Science & Technology Ministry in Private Public Partnership with a Canadian firm, which has a great potential to put substance of abuse for the good of mankind especially for patients suffering from neuropathies, cancer and epilepsy, malignancies.
• This project of CSIR-IIIM is also important from the perspective of Atma- Nirbhar Bharat as it will be able to produce export quality drugs meant for different kinds of neuropathies, diabetic pains etc.
• This project will explore the therapeutic properties of Cannabis, a plant which is otherwise prohibited and known for abuse.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

Indian Navy has begun equipping its warships with 'Made in India' Software-Defined Radio. 

What is a Software Defined Radio (SDR)?

• SDR is a radio communication system that employs reconfigurable software-based components for the processing and conversion of digital signals.
• Unlike traditional radio communication systems, these radio devices are highly flexible and versatile.
• This is an emerging technology used to connect ever-increasing wireless world.

About Software-Defined Radio Tactical (SDR-Tac):

• Equipped with several multimedia capabilities, the indigenous SDR-Tac provides real-time voice, data and video information.
• It is built indigenously by the Navy’s Weapons and Electronics Systems Engineering Establishment (WESEE).
• What does SDR-Tac do?
• SDR-Tac is a four-channel multi-mode, multi-band, 19-inch rack-mountable, ship-borne software-defined radio system.
• It is intended to serve ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore, and ship-to-air voice-data communication for network-centric operations.
• It supports the simultaneous operation of all four channels covering V/UHF- and L-Band.
• This SDR system houses multiple types of waveforms for narrow-band and wide-band applications.
• Each ship will act as a relay wherein the data can jump from one ship to another. 
• To transfer voice, data or video, the link device picks up the best-suited available network. It ensures that data reaches its destination. 

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

NITI Aayog recently launched India Climate Energy Dashboard (ICED) 3.0.

About India Climate Energy Dashboard (ICED) 3.0:

• It is the country’s one-stop platform for near real-time data on the energy sector, climate, and related economic datasets based on government published sources.
• It was developed by NITI Aayog in collaboration with the energy and climate think-tank Vasudha Foundation.
• Features:
• Developed as a user-friendly platform, ICED 3.0 enables users to freely access and analyse datasets using an analytical engine.
• It will facilitate insights and enhance understanding about the energy and climate sectors while identifying the key challenges.
• The Portal will draw insights from the available data parameters and hence immensely useful in monitoring the progress of India's clean energy transition journey.
• This dashboard offers more than 500 parameters, over 2000 infographics, and a number of interactive visualizations, allowing users to gain a holistic understanding of India's energy sector.
• Besides energy and climate, the dashboard also offers information on economy and demography for comparative study and its combined analysis along with the energy and climate issues.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

A 76-year-old woman was recently mauled to death in the Kalagarh Tiger Reserve’s Adnala forest range.

About Kalagarh Tiger Reserve (KTR):

• Location: It is located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand.
• When Jim Corbett Park was established in 1974, the northern region of the park was renamed Kalagarh Tiger Reserve.
• It is named after the Kalagarh dam, which was constructed on the Ramganga River. 
• KTR is spread over an area of 301.18 sq km. which also includes Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary, along with Jim Corbett Park.
• Terrain: The reserve is located in the foothills of the Himalayas, and the terrain is varied, with forests, grasslands, and hills.
• Flora: It is home to several species of trees, such as sal, sheesham, semal, bakli, haladu, tun, sain, fig, bamboo, etc along with medicinal plants.
• Fauna:  
• It has a high density of tigers, leopards, elephants and others from the cats family.
• It carries a lustrous breed of deer -chital, barking deer, goral, sambar, and hog deer. 
• The park has more than 580 species of birds, which include kingfishers, wagtails, forktails, pheasants, hornbills etc.

Hence option d is the correct answer.

Months after the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) mission crashed into asteroid Dimorphos, the Hubble telescope recently observed boulders escaping out.

About DART Mission:

• NASA's DART mission was a spacecraft designed to test a method of deflecting an asteroid for planetary defense, using the "kinetic impactor" technique (in simplest terms means smashing a thing into another thing).
• DART was the first-ever space mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection by kinetic impactor.
• The target of the spacecraft was a 160-meter-wide asteroid known as Dimorphos, which is a moonlet in orbit around the larger asteroid, Didymos.
• It was launched in November 2021.
• DART spacecraft successfully collided with Dimorphos on 26 September 2022, altering the asteroid's orbit by 33 minutes.
• It is the first time humanity intentionally changed the motion of a celestial object in space.

Hence option b is the correct answer.

Recently, Prime minister of India meets with Pacific Island nation leaders on sidelines of FIPIC Summit in Papua New Guinea.

• The third forum for India-Pacific islands co-operation (FIPIC Summit), which was held today at Port Moresby was jointly hosted with Papua New Guinea.
• Prime minister of India co- chaired the summit with PM of Papua New Guinea.
• The discussions encompassed various areas of cooperation, including commerce, technology, healthcare, and climate change.

About FIPIC:

• Forum for India-Pacific Islands cooperation (FIPIC) is a multinational grouping for cooperation between India and 14 Pacific Islands nations.
• It include 14 islands named- Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
• All Head of state/head of government of the above countries met in Suva, Fiji in November 2014 for the first time where the annual summit was conceptualised.
• The FIPIC initiative marks a serious effort to expand India's engagement in the Pacific region.
• A major part of India's engagement with these countries is through development assistance under South-South Cooperation, mainly in capacity building (training, scholarships, grant-in-aid and loan assistance) and community development projects.
• In 2015, FIPIC Trade Office at Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to promote Trade & Investment opportunities between India & Pacific Island Countries.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting under India's G20 Presidency is underway in Mumbai. 

• The meeting is a critical step in fostering the efforts of the G20 countries, invitee countries, and international organizations towards a sustainable and resilient future.
• On the first day of the meeting, a beach clean-up campaign was organised at the Juhu Beach in Mumbai followed by the Ocean 20 Dialogue aimed at promoting a sustainable and climate-resilient Blue Economy.
• The Ocean 20 platform, launched during the Indonesia Presidency Dialogue is aimed to advance ideation and action for ocean solutions.
• It aims to facilitate sustainability in the maritime domain, ocean governance, building capacities to facilitate sustainable ocean practices and equitable distribution of benefits from traditional and new blue economy sectors.

Hence both statements are correct.

New Mega Textile Park at Dhar district will strengthen Make in India and will create new job opportunities: PM Modi

• The Parks will come up in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
• It is under PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme.
• It will offer the opportunity to create an Integrated Textiles Value Chain right from spinning, weaving, processing/dyeing and printing to garment manufacturing etc. at one location and will reduce the logistics cost of the Industry.
• A Special Purpose Vehicle owned by the Centre and State Government will be set up for each park which will oversee the implementation of the project.
• Funding:
  • The Central government’s budget outlay for the scheme, which is ₹4,445 crore, is to be spent till 2027-28.
  • Special purpose vehicles, with a 51% equity shareholding of the State government and 49% of the Centre, will be formed for each park.
  • The State governments will provide the land, be part of the SPV, and give the required clearances.
  • The Central government will disburse Development Capital Fund of ₹500 crore in two tranches for each of the seven facilities.
  • This is for the creation of core and support infrastructure.
  • It will also give a Competitive Incentive Support of ₹300 crore per park to be provided to the manufacturing units.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Textiles

Hence both statements are correct.

India Meteorological Department has issued a heat wave warning for Delhi and adjoining areas for May 22, 2023 after maximum temperatures in several parts of the capital were recorded above 45 degrees Celsius.

• A Heat Wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western parts of India.
• Duration: Heat Waves typically occur between March and June, and in some rare cases even extend till July.
• Criteria: According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), when actual maximum temperature remains 45*C or more irrespective of normal maximum temperature, heat waves should be declared.
• Reasons for heat waves:
  • Extreme weather conditions like Heat Waves in summer, Cold Waves in winter and extreme rainfall when it is least expected have almost become the norm due to climate change.
  • In India, some climatic reasons probably make heat waves on the east coast deadlier.
  • In May and June, the Bay of Bengal often witnesses Anti-Cyclonic Circulations which work towards trapping the heat in the lower atmosphere.
• Health Impacts: The health impacts of Heat Waves typically involve dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke. Heat Wave conditions can result in physiological strain, which could even result in death.

Hence both statements are correct.