Daily Current Affairs MCQ UPSC / IAS / 22-06-19

Table of Contents

MCQ 1
Specific characters attached with biodiversity hotspots

Endemism
Loss of Habitat
Biodiversity hotspots support 60% of world’s plant and animal species

(A) 1 & 2
(B) 3 only
(C) 2 & 3
(D) All

BIODIVERSITYHOTSPOT

A biodiversity hotspot is an area with unusual concentration of species, many of which are endemic.
It is marked by serious threat to its biodiversity by humans.
The concept was given in 1988 by Norman Myers.
To qualify as a hotspot, a region must meet two strict criteria:

Endemism: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (> 0.5 percent of the world’s total) as endemics, and
Loss of Habitat: it has to have lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat.
Accordingly, 34 biodiversity hotspots have been so far identified. Collectively, the Biodiversity hotspots support 60% of world’s plant and animal species with a high share of endemics and cover around 2.5% of Earth’s land surface.

MCQ 2

CBHI (central bureau of health intelligence) works under ministry of home
Annual publication is “national health profile”
In its national health resource repository (NHRR) project it maintains disease profile of all patients.

Choose correct
(A) 1 & 2
(B) 1 & 3
(C) 2 only
(D) 3 only

About Central Bureau of Health Intelligence

Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) is the National Nodal agency for Health Intelligence in the Directorate General of Health Services (Dte.GHS), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and Government of India. CBHI also functions as Collaborating Centre for World Health Organization, Family of International Classification (WHO FIC) in India & South East Asia Region (SEAR) countries. CBHI is committed to build an integrated health informatics platform which can provide reliable, accurate, and relevant national health information and enable evidence based policy formulation and decision making. The purpose of this website is to provide detailed information about CBHI along with its composition and activities.
Vision
Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), established in 1961 under the Directorate General of Health Services (Dte.G.H.S.) with the vision to have “A strong Health Management Information System (HMIS) in entire country”.

National Health Resource Repository (NHRR) Project activities

CBHI has initiated the work of National Health Resource Repository (NHRR) Project for nationwide roll-out.
Feasibility for nationwide rollout of NHRR Project was established based on the result of the project conducted by CBHI in collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for Geo-mapping of public as well as private health facilities and private doctors in 4 districts, namely, Dimapur (Nagaland), Dungarpur (Rajasthan), Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) and Vellore (Tamil Nadu).
The NHRR project aims to create a web-based and geo-mapping enabled single platform of all the health resources both government and private which inter-alia includes, hospitals, diagnostic labs, doctors and pharmacies, etc., and will comprise of the data on health infrastructure, human resource and the availability of medical facilities in each health establishment in the country.
MoU with NRSC/ISRO has been signed on 3rd May, 2017 in the presence of DGHS, Dte.GHS and Chief General Manager (CGM), NRSC/ISRO for Design & Development of Geo-web Portal & Mobile app for National Health Resources Repository and Capacity Building-Addressing Geo-tagging, Geo-Visualization & Spatial Analysis of Healthcare Assets of India on Bhuvan Platform

MCQ 3

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women was established in 1948
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an international treaty by UN Women

Choose correct
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Both
(D) None

United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) recently appointed Indian-origin Anita Bhatia as Deputy Executive Director of United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships.
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for the empowerment of women.
UN Women became operational in January 2011.
President of Chile Michelle Bachelet was the inaugural Executive Director, and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the current Executive Director.
As with UNIFEM previously, UN Women is a member of the United Nations Development Group United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) recently appointed Indian-origin Anita Bhatia as Deputy Executive Director of United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships.
It is the UN entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. It was established in 2010 to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.
It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system, which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment:

Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW).
International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW).
Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI).
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Described as an international bill of rights for women, it was instituted on 3 September 1981 and has been ratified by 189 states.
Over fifty countries that have ratified the Convention have done so subject to certain declarations, reservations, and objections, including 38 countries who rejected the enforcement article 29, which addresses means of settlement for disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention.
Australia’s declaration noted the limitations on central government power resulting from its federal constitutional system. The United States and Palau have signed, but not ratified the treaty. The Holy See, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, and Tonga are not signatories to CEDAW.

MCQ 4
World Competitiveness Rankings Is released by

WEF
IMF
IMD
WTO

The 2019 edition of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) Business School World Competitiveness Rankings has been released.
About IMD World Competitiveness Rankings:
started in 1989, the report ranks 63 economies on 235 indicators which are incorporated from each of these economies.
The indicators are used to evaluate country’s ability to foster an environment where enterprises can achieve desirable sustainable growth, generate employment and increase its citizen’s welfare.
IMD takes into account a wide range of statistics and hard data such as unemployment, GDP and government spending on health and education as well as soft data from an international business executive opinion survey on topics such as social cohesion, globalisation and corruption.
The economies are judged in four categories:

Economic Performance
Infrastructure
Government Efficiency
Business Efficiency.

Performance of India:
India has moved up one place to rank 43rd (Previously: 44th position in 2018, 45th in 2017 and 41st in 2016.)
This improved rank is result of India’s robust economic growth, a large labour force and its huge market size.
Global findings:
topped by Singapore. It has grabbed top position for the first time in nine years. In 2018 it stood at third rank.
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) has held onto its second position same as last year. • The US slipped to the third place.
Asia-Pacific region has emerged as a global beacon with 11 out of 14 economies either improved or holded onto their ground.

MCQ 5
National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), also known as One Nation One Card, is an inter-operable transport card conceived by the

Ministry of home affairs
Ministry of transport & Highways
Ministry of Housing & Urban affairs
NITI Aayog

National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), also known as One Nation One Card, is an interoperable transport card conceived by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Government of India. It was launched on the 4th of March 2019. The transport card enables the user to pay for travel, toll duties, retail shopping, and withdraw money. It is enabled through the RuPay card mechanism. The NCMC card is issuable as a prepaid, debit, or credit RuPay card from partnered banks such as the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, and others
The NCMC is an indigenously made product, and is a part of the Make In India project. It was first conceptualized in 2006 as part of the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP). A previous attempt to develop a similar national mobility card led to the development of the More Card. Given its lack of seamless functioning across the nation, Venkaiah Naidu, the then Minister of Urban Development, set up a committee to recommend a card which is inter-operable across different transport systems in the country.
The urban development ministry brought in the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) with the task of management, clearing and settlement of payments, simulating cards and terminals and maintenance of network. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has created the reader prototype National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), also known as One Nation One Card, is an interoperable transport card conceived by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Government of India. It was launched on the 4th of March 2019. The transport card enables the user to pay for travel, toll duties, retail shopping, and withdraw money. It is enabled through the RuPay card mechanism. The NCMC card is issuable as a prepaid, debit, or credit RuPay card from partnered banks such as the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, and others

MCQ 6

The union cabinet has approved the National Mineral Policy (NMP) 2019 that replaces NMP 2008, aims to ease merger and acquisition of mining entities
Private sector will not be allowed except in small mines
It Grant industry status to mining

Choose correct
(A) 1 & 2
(B) 2 & 3
(C) 1 & 3
(D) All

Objective:-
The aim of National Mineral Policy 2019 is to have a more effective, meaningful and implementable policy that brings in further transparency, better regulation and enforcement, balanced social and economic growth as well as sustainable mining practices.
Details:

The National Mineral Policy 2019 includes provisions which will give boost to mining sector such as
introduction of Right of First Refusal for RP/PL holders,
encouraging the private sector to take up exploration,
auctioning in virgin areas for composite RP cum PL cum ML on revenue share basis,
encouragement of merger and acquisition of mining entities and
transfer of mining leases and creation of dedicated mineral corridors to boost private sector mining areas.
The 2019 Policy proposes to grant status of industry to mining activity to boost financing of mining for private sector and for acquisitions of mineral assets in other countries by private sector
It also mentions that Long term import export policy for mineral will help private sector in better planning and stability in business
The Policy also mentions rationalize reserved areas given to PSUs which have not been used and to put these areas to auction, which will give more opportunity to private sector for participation
The Policy also mentions to make efforts to harmonize taxes, levies & royalty with world benchmarks to help private sector

Among the changes introduced in the National Mineral Policy, 2019 include the focus on make in India initiative and Gender sensitivity in terms of the vision. In so far as the regulation in Minerals is concerned, E-Governance, IT enabled systems, awareness and Information campaigns have been incorporated. Regarding the role of state in mineral development online public portal with provision for generating triggers at higher level in the event of delay of clearances has been put in place.
NMP 2019 aims to attract private investment through incentives while the efforts would be made to maintain a database of mineral resources and tenements under mining tenement systems. The new policy focusses on use coastal waterways and inland shipping for evacuation and transportation of minerals and encourages dedicated mineral corridors to facilitate the transportation of minerals. The utilization of the district mineral fund for equitable development of project affected persons and areas. NMP 2019 proposes a long term export import policy for the mineral sector to provide stability and as an incentive for investing in large scale commercial mining activity.
The 2019 Policy also introduces the concept of Inter-Generational Equity that deals with the wellbeing not only of the present generation but also of the generations to come and also proposes to constitute an inter-ministerial body to institutionalize the mechanism for ensuring sustainable development in mining.
Background:
National Mineral Policy 2019 replaces the extant National Mineral Policy 2008 (“NMP 2008”) which was announced in year 2008. The impetus to review NMP 2008 came about by way of a direction from the Supreme Court vide its judgment dated 02.08.2017 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 114/2014 entitled Common Cause v/s Union of India & Others.

MCQ 7
Initial Fund allocated in national software policy 2019 fr 7 years is

10000 cr
5000 cr
1000 cr
1500 cr

Cabinet approves National Policy on Software Products – 2019
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the National Policy on Software Products – 2019 to develop India as a Software Product Nation.

Major impact

The Software product ecosystem is characterized by innovations, Intellectual Property (IP) creation and large value addition increase in productivity, which has the potential to significantly boost revenues and exports in the sector, create substantive employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in emerging technologies and leverage opportunities available under the Digital India Programme, thus, leading to a boost in inclusive and sustainable growth.
Expenditure involved
Initially, an outlay of Rs.1500 Crore is involved to implement the programmes/ schemes envisaged under this policy over the period of 7 years.
Rs1500 Crore is divided into

Software Product Development Fund (SPDF) and
Research & Innovation fund.

Implementation strategy and targets
The Policy will lead to the formulation of several schemes, initiatives, projects and measures for the development of Software products sector in the country as per the roadmap envisaged therein.

To achieve the vision of NPSP-2019, the Policy has the following five Missions:

To promote the creation of a sustainable Indian software product industry, driven by intellectual property (IP), leading to a ten-fold increase in India share of the Global Software product market by 2025.
To nurture 10,000 technology startups in software product industry, including 1000 such technology startups in Tier-II and Tier-III towns & cities and generating direct and indirect employment for 3.5 million people by 2025.
To create a talent pool for software product industry through (i) up-skilling of 1,000,000 IT professionals, (ii) motivating 100,000 school and college students and (iii) generating 10,000 specialized professionals that can provide leadership.

To build a cluster-based innovation driven ecosystem by developing 20 sectoral and strategically located software product development clusters having integrated ICT infrastructure, marketing, incubation, R&D/testbeds and mentoring support.

In order to evolve and monitor scheme & programmes for the implementation of this policy, National Software Products Mission will be set up with participation from Government, Academia and Industry.
Further, the policy proposes to create a Rs.5,000 crore fund with industry participation to promote emerging technology such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Big Data, and robotics. Of this, government contribution will be Rs.1,000 crore.
National Policy on Software Products 2019 that aims to help the industry grow at CAGR of 40% to reach $70-80 billion by 2025 while creating employment opportunities for 3.5 million people.

MCQ 8

A new Ministry called ‘Jal Shakti’ has been created by merger of Ministries of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation along with ministry of environment & climate change
The ministry will roll out government’s ambitious plans to provide piped water connections to every household in India by 2022.

Choose correct
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Both
(D) None

The Centre has created a new Ministry called ‘Jal Shakti’.
It has been created by merger of Ministries of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation along with Drinking Water and Sanitation.
‘Nal se Jal’ scheme to provide piped drinking water to every household will be a component of government’s Jal Jivan Mission.
The ministry will roll out government’s ambitious plans to provide piped water connections to every household in India by 2024.
It will also address international and inter-states water disputes and the Namami Gange project which is the flagship initiative to clean the River Ganga, its tributaries and sub-tributaries.

MCQ 9

National Defence Fund was announced after Pulwama attack
The fund is administered by an Executive Committee with the Prime Minister as the Chairperson and the Defence, Finance and Home Ministers as Members.
Currently the fund is being used for the welfare of the members of the Armed Forces, Para Military forces and state police forces, and their dependents.

Choose correct
(A) 1 & 2
(B) 2 & 3
(C) All
(D) 2 only

The National Defence Fund (NDF) was set up in 1962 to take charge of the:
Voluntary donations in cash and kind received for promotion of the national
Defence effort, and to decide on their utilisation.
Currently the fund is being used for the welfare of the members of the Armed Forces, Para Military forces and Railway Protection Force, and their dependents.
The fund is administered by an Executive Committee with the Prime Minister as the Chairperson and the Defence, Finance and Home Ministers as Members.
Under National Defence Fund major scheme of ‘Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scheme (PMSS)’ is being implemented to encourage technical and post-graduate education for the widows and wards of the deceased/ex-service personnel.
Scholarships are available for education at technical institutions (medical, dental, veterinary, engineering, MBA, MCA and other equivalent technical professions with suitable AICTE/UGC approval).
The National Defence Fund accepts online voluntary contributions through the website.
A major change has been brought about in the ‘Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scheme’ under the National Defence Fund.
Key changes:
Scholarships increase from ₹2,000 to ₹2,500 a month for boys and from ₹2,250 to ₹3,000 a month for girls.
The ambit of the scheme was widened to cover the wards of State police officials martyred in terror or Naxal attacks.
new scholarships are given to 5,500 wards of armed forces personnel, 2,000 wards of paramilitary forces personnel and 150 wards of forces under the Railways Ministry every year.