Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 28, 2024 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, the Tamil Nadu Government issued an order to implement ‘Project Dolphin’ under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitat programme of the government of India.

• It is to strengthen the marine ecology and overall health of the marine environment.
• This project includes strengthening of patrolling and surveillance, improving habitat through restoration of coastal ecosystems, removing ghost nets, and encouraging involvement of locals with incentives.
• It will be implemented at a cost of 8.13 crore rupees during 2023-2024.
• Funding: While 60% of the amount will be given by the Union government, the State will bear the remaining cost.
• This will be helpful in improving the population of dolphin species and protection of their habitat at the same time improving livelihood of the local communities.
• More than nine species of marine dolphins are found in the coastal waters of Tamil Nadu.
• The major habitats of the dolphins found in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve.

What is Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitat programme?

• It is an on-going Centrally Sponsored Scheme which has been made operational by adding more components and activities to the erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Scheme - "Assistance for the Development of National Parks and Sanctuaries" during the 11th Plan Period.
• Components of the scheme
• Support to Protected Areas (National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves).
• Protection of Wildlife Outside Protected Areas.
• Recovery programmes for saving critically endangered species and habitats.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Recently, the MiG-21 fighter jets of the No. 4 squadron ‘OORIALS’ of the Indian Air Force (IAF) flew one last time over Uttarlai in Rajasthan. 

• It was the first supersonic fighter in service of the IAF and was inducted in 1963.
• It was designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau (OKB) of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
• More than 800 variants of the supersonic fighter have been inducted into service.
• The IAF now has two MiG-21 squadrons in service comprising the upgraded Bison variants, the No. 3 squadron ‘Cobras’ at Bikaner and No. 23 squadron ‘Panthers’ at Suratgarh, which will be phased out by 2025.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Recently, the Union Agriculture Ministry in collaboration with Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Wadhwani AI) developed Krishi 24/7.

• It is the first-ever AI-powered solution for automated agricultural news monitoring and analysis with support from Google.org.
• Features
• The tool scans news articles in multiple languages and translates them into English.
• It extracts essential information from news articles, such as headline, crop name, event type, date, location, severity, summary, and source link, ensuring that the ministry receives timely updates on relevant events published on the web.
• Significance
  • It addresses the need for an efficient mechanism to identify and manage agricultural news articles of interest to aid timely decision-making.
  • It will aid Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) to identify relevant news, generate timely alerts, and take prompt action to protect farmers' interests and promote sustainable agricultural growth through improved decision-making.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently released final guidelines on information technology (IT) governance for regulated entities (REs) like banks, non-bank financial companies, credit information companies and other financial entities. 

What are the new guidelines on Information Technology (IT) Governance for Regulated Entities (REs)?

• The REs have been mandated to put in place a robust IT governance framework to cover focus areas like strategic alignment, risk and resource management performance, and Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Management.
• This framework should specify the governance structure and processes necessary to meet the RE’s business/strategic objectives.
• The framework will specify the roles (including authority) and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, board-level Committee, and Senior Management. 
• It will also address the issue of adequate oversight mechanisms to ensure accountability and mitigation of IT and cyber/information security risks.
• The enterprise-wide risk management policy or operational risk management policy will incorporate periodic assessments of IT-related risks (both inherent and potential risks).
• The board of RE would approve the strategies and policies related to IT, Information Assets, Business Continuity, Information Security, and Cyber Security (including Incident Response and Recovery Management/Cyber Crisis Management). Theyshould review such strategies and policies at least annually.
• IT strategy committee (ITSC):
• The RE will establish a Board-level IT Strategy Committee (ITSC), which will comprise a minimum of three directors.
• Its chairman would be an independent director and carry substantial expertise in managing/guiding information technology initiatives.
• The ITSC should meet at least on a quarterly basis.
• The committee will ensure that the RE has put an effective IT strategic planning process in place and will guide in preparation of IT strategy and ensure that the IT strategy aligns with the overall strategy of the RE towards accomplishment of its business objectives.
• The guidelines mandate REs to establish an IT steering committee with representation at senior management level from IT and business functions.
• This committee will assist the ITSC in strategic IT planning, oversight of IT performance and aligning IT activities with business needs, and will oversee the processes put in place for business continuity and disaster recovery.
• It will also ensure the implementation of a robust IT architecture meeting statutory and regulatory compliance.
• Every IT application, which can access or affect critical or sensitive information, shall have necessary audit and system logging capability and should provide audit trails. 
• The audit trails shall satisfy a RE’s business requirements apart from regulatory and legal requirements.
• The audit trails must be detailed enough to facilitate the conduct of audit, serve as forensic evidence when required and assist in dispute resolution, including for non-repudiation purposes.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Supreme Court recently held that for admissibility under Section 27 of the Evidence Act, the fact discovered must be a direct consequence of information received from a person in custody.

About Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act:

• Section 27 of the Evidence Act highlights an interesting and complex feature related to the admission of confessions within its legal framework.
• Sections 25 and 26 establish protection against self-incrimination and abuse of power by the police authority, deeming confessions made in police custody without the presence of a magistrate as inadmissible before a court of law.
• Section 27 adds an exception by enabling the admission of confessions that result in the discovery of facts. 
• Section 27 states: "Provided that, when any fact is deposed to as discovered in consequence of information received from a person accused of any offence, in the custody of a police officer, so much of such information, whether it amounts to a confession or not, as relates distinctly to the fact thereby discovered, may be proved."
• In simpler terms, any confession made by a person while in police custody that leads to the revelation of a fact is considered admissible in court.
• The basic idea embedded in Section 27 of the Evidence Act is the doctrine of confirmation by subsequent events. This doctrine is founded on the principle that every part of the statement made at the instance of the accused, in a police custody should necessarily be confirmed by the subsequent events of discovery, to make it admissible in court. 
• In the case of Asar Mohd. v. State of U.P, the Supreme Court held that the concept of "fact" mentioned in Section 27 is not limited to physical objects alone but also includes essential psychological or mental facts that may be directly relevant to the case.

Hence option c is the correct answer.

Russia formally withdrew from the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) recently.

About Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE):

• Negotiated during the final years of the Cold War and signed a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, CFE placed limits on the deployment of military equipment to maintain military balance between North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the then-Warsaw Pact countries.
• Its purpose was to stop Cold War rivals from building up forces that could be used in a swift assault. 
• Twenty-two member states of the two military alliances, the NATO and the Warsaw Pact, came together in Paris on 19 November 1990 to sign the agreement.
• It finally entered into force on 9 November 1992. The Warsaw Pact by this time had disintegrated and its treaty obligations were consequently passed to the pact’s successor states.
• Specifically, the Treaty required NATO and Warsaw Pact states to have in total no more than 40,000 battle tanks, 60,000 armoured combat vehicles, 40,000 pieces of artillery, 13,600 combat aircraft and 4,000 attack helicopters on the whole territory of the respective alliance.
• To reach these targets, the CFE states parties destroyed in subsequent years more than 50,000 weapons systems. 
• These steps were supervised under a treaty compliance mechanism requiring information sharing and reciprocal inspections.
• Moreover, the scope of the treaty was soon widened to cover troop numbers. The 1992 follow-up agreement known as the CFE-1A arranged limits on the level of military personnel.
• Meeting at the Istanbul summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), CFE Treaty partners finally agreed, on 19 November 1999, on an updated and modified arrangement: the Adapted CFE Treaty. 
• A major change was that limitations on conventional weapon systems were no longer aligned to two “blocs” but to the territorial borders of individual states.
• Russia suspended its participation in the treaty in 2007 and halted active participation in 2015.

Hence both statements are correct.

According to a recent study during the July-September quarter (Q2) active equity funds witnessed net inflows of about Rs 74,000 crore with fund managers and on the other hand, passive equity funds saw Rs 9,000 crore of inflows.

• An equity fund is a mutual fund that invests principally in stocks.
• It can be actively or passively (index fund) managed. Equity funds are also known as stock funds.
• Stock mutual funds are principally categorized according to company size, the investment style of the holdings in the portfolio and geography.

What are Active equity funds?

• In this fund the fund manager is ‘Active’ in deciding whether to buy, hold, or sell the underlying securities and in stock selection.
• This fund relies on professional fund managers who manage investments.
• Active funds adopt different strategies and styles to create and manage the portfolio.
• They are expected to generate better returns (alpha) than the benchmark index.
• The risk and return in the fund will depend upon the strategy adopted.

What are Passive equity funds?

• These funds hold a portfolio that replicates a stated index or benchmark.
• In a passive fund, the fund manager has a passive role in the stock selection.
• Buy, hold or sell decisions are driven by the benchmark index and the fund manager/dealer merely needs to replicate the same with minimal tracking error.

Hence both statements are correct.

In a significant development global index provider MSCI has announced the inclusion of nine stocks in its MSCI Global Standard Index, effective as of the close of November 30, 2023.

• It is owned by the multinational investment management and financial services company Morgan Stanley.
• It is an investment research firm that provides stock indexes, portfolio risk and performance analytics, and governance tools to institutional investors and hedge funds.
• It is a leading provider of critical decision support tools, including stock indexes, and services for the global investment community.
• MSCI indices facilitate the construction and monitoring of portfolios in a cohesive and complete manner, avoiding benchmark misfit. It has over 160,000 indices in its portfolio.
• MSCI has indexes for countries, regions, emerging markets, developed markets, small cap, all cap and even Islamic indexes.
• It selects stocks for its equity indexes that are easily traded and have high liquidity, with companies having high free float getting more weightage.
• It prefers stocks that have active investor participation, and are without owner restrictions.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The 9th edition of the India International Science Festival (IISF) 2023 will be held at Faridabad, Haryana from January 17th-20th, 2024.

• It will be held at the Campus of Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) and Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB) of Department of Biotechnology in Faridabad.
• Theme: 'Science and Technology Public Outreach in Amrit Kaal'.
• IISF 2023 aims to provide a platform for inspiring public at large and individuals with diverse levels of interests like students, educators, scientists, researchers, industry professionals, entrepreneurs and science communicators.
• IISF 2023 will have a total of 17 themes to showcase scientific achievements offering diverse benefits to participants and the general public.
• The IISF is dedicated towards fostering creativity in Science, Technology and Innovation for the advancement of prosperous India.
• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Earth Sciences in association with Vijnana Bharati.
• Since 2015, the IISF has hosted eight editions in different geographical regions of India and expanded as a mega science festival.
• In 2021, the Department of Space and the Department of Atomic Energy became an integral part of IISF.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Prime Minister will launch the PM-PVTG Development Mission in a bid to empower the tribals on the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, which has been celebrated as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas.

Who are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)?

• PVTGs are a more vulnerable group among tribal groups in India.
• These groups have primitive traits, geographical isolation, low literacy, zero to negative population growth rate and backwardness.
• Moreover, they are largely dependent on hunting for food and a pre-agriculture level of technology.
• In 1973, the Dhebar Commission set up a separate category for Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs). In 1975, the Centre identified 52 tribal groups as PTGs. In 1993, 23 more groups were added to the list. Later, in 2006, these groups were named PVTGs.
• Currently, there are 2.8 million PVTGs belonging to 75 tribes across 22,544 villages in 220 districts across 18 states and Union Territories in India.
• According to the 2011 Census, Odisha has the largest population of PVTGs at 866,000. It is followed by Madhya Pradesh at 609,000 and Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) at 539,000.
• The largest PVTG is Odisha's Saura community, numbering 535,000.

About PM-PVTG Development Mission:

• The Rs 24,000-crore project is aimed at the development of the PVTGs. 
• It has been designed to bring critical infrastructure like power, water, road connectivity, housing, education, and healthcare to the PVTG communities living in remote villages.
• Under the scheme, about 11 interventions like the PM-Gram Sadak Yojana, PM-Gram Awaas Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, and others will be taken to these target villages through the coordinated work of nine ministries.
• In addition, saturation will be ensured for schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna, Sickle Cell Disease Elimination, TB Elimination, 100 percent immunisation, PM Surakshit Matritva Yojana, PM Matru Vandana Yojana, PM Poshan, and PM Jan Dhan Yojana.

Hence both statements are not correct.