Daily Current Affairs MCQ / UPSC / IAS / 27-06-19

Table of Contents

MCQ 1

The President makes an address to Lok Sabha at the start of the Budget session, which is prepared by the government and lists its achievements
Motion of thanks is brought by Opposition MPs to discuss Govt. Policies.

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

The President makes a special address to a joint sitting of both Houses, at the beginning of the first session after an election, and at the first session each year (usually the budget session). The address is a statement of government policy, which has to be approved by the Cabinet. The President highlights the legislative and policy activities and achievements during the preceding year and gives a broad indication of the agenda for the year ahead.
The address is followed by a motion of thanks moved in each House by ruling party MPs, followed by discussions that last up to three or four days and conclude with the Prime Minister replying to the points raised during the discussion. On an average, the discussion takes up to 12 hours in each House, and about 80 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 40 in the Rajya Sabha participate.
President’s Address and Motion of Thanks are governed by Articles 86 (1) and 87 (1) of the Constitution and Rules 16 to 24 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
Article 86(1) of the Constitution provides that the President may address either House of Parliament or both Houses assembled together, and for that purpose require the attendance of members.
Article 87 provides for the special address by the President. Clause (1) of that article provides that at the commencement of the first session after each general election to the House of the People and at the commencement of the first session of each year, the President shall address both Houses of Parliament assembled together and inform Parliament of the causes of its summons. No other business is transacted till the President has addressed both Houses of Parliament assembled together. President’s Address and Motion of Thanks are governed by Articles 86 (1) and 87 (1) of the Constitution and Rules 16 to 24 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.

Amendments to the “Motion of Thanks”:

Notices of amendments to Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address can be tabled after the President has delivered his Address. Amendments may refer to matters contained in the Address as well as to matters, in the opinion of the member, the Address has failed to mention. Amendments can be moved to the Motion of Thanks in such form as may be considered appropriate by the Speaker.

Limitations:

The only limitations are that members cannot refer to matters which are not the direct responsibility of the Central Government and that the name of the President cannot be brought in during the debate since the Government and not the President is responsible for the contents of the Address.
Members of Parliament vote on this motion of thanks. This motion must be passed in both of the houses.
A failure to get motion of thanks passed amounts to defeat of government and leads to collapse of government.
This is why, the Motion of Thanks is deemed to be a no-confidence motion.

MCQ 2

NITI Aayog has released the 1st edition of report titled “Healthy States, Progressive India: Report on Rank of States and UTs”.
Mizoram was ranked 1st followed by Manipur on overall performance in smaller state category

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

NITI Aayog has released the 2nd edition of report titled “Healthy States, Progressive India: Report on Rank of States and UTs”.
The report has been prepared in collaboration with Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with technical assistance from World Bank.
The current edition of health index accounts for period 2015-16 (base year) to 2017-18 (reference year).
Categories: The ranking was done under 3 categories so as to ensure comparison among similar entities. 1. Larger states– Kerala has emerged as top ranking state while Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra emerged as 2nd and 3rd best states in terms of overall health performance respectively. While Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand are top 3 ranking States in terms of annual incremental performance. UP and Bihar, finished at bottom of List. Bihar occupied 2nd last position in ranking of 21 large states while UP stayed static at bottom of rankings.

Smaller states– Mizoram was ranked 1st followed by Manipur on overall performance. While Tripura followed by Manipur were ranked top two states in terms of annual incremental performance. Sikkim and Arunchal Pradesh had biggest decrease in overall Health Index scores.
Union territories (UTs)- Chandigarh ranked 1st in overall performance of Health India, while Dadra and Nagar Haveli improved most among UT’s. Sikkim and Arunchal Pradesh had biggest decrease in overall Health Index scores.

Empowered Action Group– contains 5 states namely, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha which saw decline in overall Health Index score between base year and reference year due to deterioration of performances of several indicators.
Indicators: The decline is attributed to deterioration of performances of several indicators such as total fertility rate (TFR), low birth weight, sex ratio at birth, TB (tuberculosis) treatment success rate, quality accreditation of public health facilities, time taken for NHM (National Health Mission) fund transfer etc.
Positive Correlation: was found between Health Index scores and economic development levels of States and UTs as measured by percapita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP).
Wide Gap between Performances: Among large states, overall Health Index score of best-performing state is more than 2.5 times that of overall score of least-performing state.
States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have already reached 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target for neonatal mortality (NMR), which is 12 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births.
Suggestions: Centre should spend 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health and state governments should increase their spending on health from an an average of 4.7% to 8% of their budget (net state domestic product) on health.
Currently, India’s health spending is only 1.15-1.5% of GDP.
About NITI Aayog’s Healthy States: • Progressive India Report Background: The 1st edition of Health Index was released in February 2018. It measured annual and incremental performances of states and UTs for period 2014-15 (base year) to 2015-16 (reference year).
Methodology Adopted: Health Index is a weighted composite Index based on indicators in 3 domains – (1) Health Outcomes; (2) Governance and Information (3) Key Inputs/Processes.

Performance of various states:

Kerala has emerged as the top-ranking state in terms of overall health performance. • Uttar Pradesh is the worst when it comes to overall health performance.
Gujarat, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh stood at fourth, fifth and sixth spots.
Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have emerged as the top ranking states based on historical performance across health indicators.
Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand top the index based on incremental performance.
Among the UTs, Chandigarh jumped one spot to top the list with a score of (63.62), followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli (56.31), Lakshadweep (53.54), Puducherry (49.69), Delhi (49.42), Andaman and Nicobar (45.36) and Daman and Diu (41.66).
Only about half the States and UTs showed an improvement in the overall score between 2015-16 (base year) and 2017-18 (reference year).
Among the eight Empowered Action Group States, only three States — Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh — showed improvement in the overall performance

MCQ 3

Maize is the third-most important cereal crop in India after rice and wheat. It accounts for 9 per cent of the total food grain production in the country.
Fall army worm is a fungus native to Africa, now destroying crops in India

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

Until 2016, Fall Armyworm was constrained to its native region of origin — the Western Hemisphere (from the United States of America to Argentina). However, in January 2016, the pest was found in Nigeria and it has since spread at an alarming rate across Africa.
Entomologists CM Kalleshwara Swamy and Sharanabasappa first detected FAW in research fields of maize crop at the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga, Karnataka. Just before monsoon setting in last year, a few maize farmers from Chikballapur area of Karnataka reported a pest infestation to AN Shylesha, a scientist at the National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR) affiliated with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in Bengaluru. Analysing the farmers’ initial observations, Shylesha took it as the true armyworm infestation.
“The spread of Fall Armyworm is nothing like we have ever seen with any pest before. We have faced pestilences like wheat blast or the Maize Lethal Necrosis. But in all the previous cases, the incidents were mostly limited to a few countries and also limited to a single crop. With Fall Armyworm, the threat is much bigger, in terms of extent of damage caused to both the crop varieties and the area,” says BM Prasanna, director, CGIAR Research Program on MAIZE.
Fall Armyworm has already destroyed large areas of maize in Africa since it first landed there in early 2016 leading to economic losses of up to $5.5 million per year from 10 of the highest maize producing countries of Africa, according to an estimate by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN). In fact, FAO has already declared FAW as a food security threat in the African continent.
The Department has taken note of Fall Army Worm (FAW) infestation in the country. The infestation has been found primarily on maize and to a small extent on Ragi and Sorghum.
It was reported in India for the first-time last year, when it affected crops in Karnataka.
Within a span of only six months, almost 50 per cent of the country, including Mizoram, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, has reported FAW infestations.
In its 45-day-long lifecycle, the female moth of this pest lays around 1,500- 2,000 eggs on the top of leaves. In the roughly 30-day larval stage, the caterpillar goes through six stages of development or instars.
This is the most dangerous part of the lifecycle as the caterpillar feeds on leaves, whorls, stalks and flowers of crop plants. Once this stage is completed, the growing moth pupates in the soil — for 8-9 days in summer and 20-30 days in cold weather. The nocturnal egg-laying adults live for about 10 days, during which they migrate long distances.
What makes FAW dangerous?
It is the polyphagous (ability to feed on different kinds of food) nature of the caterpillar and the ability of the adult moth to fly more than 100 km per night.
Given its ability to feed on multiple crops — nearly 80 different crops ranging from maize to sugarcane — FAW can attack multiple crops.
Similarly, it can spread across large tracts of land as it can fly over large distances. This explains the quick spread of the pest across India.
Till date, India has reported FAW infestation on maize, sorghum (jowar) and sugarcane crops. Maize has been the worst affected as most maize-growing states in southern India have been affected by the pest.
FAW infestation and drought has led to a shortfall of nearly 5 lakh tonnes in output, prompting the central government to allow import of maize under concessional duty. Maize is the third most important cereal crop grown in the country and the infestation, if not checked in time, can wreck havoc.

MCQ 4

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is an autonomous org under ministry of Agriculture
Chairman is the union minister for agriculture

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

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act passed by the Parliament in December, 1985. The Act (2 of 1986) came into effect from 13th February, 1986 by a notification issued in the Gazette of India: Extraordinary: Part-II [Sec. 3(ii): 13.2.1986). The Authority replaced the Processed Food Export Promotion Council (PFEPC).
In accordance with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985, (2 of 1986) the following functions have been assigned to the Authority:

Development of industries relating to the scheduled products for export by way of providing financial assistance or otherwise for undertaking surveys and feasibility studies, participation in enquiry capital through joint ventures and other reliefs and subsidy schemes;
Registration of persons as exporters of the scheduled products on payment of such fees as may be prescribed;
Fixing of standards and specifications for the scheduled products for the purpose of exports;
Carrying out inspection of meat and meat products in slaughter houses, processing plants, storage premises, conveyances or other places where such products are kept or handled for the purpose of ensuring the quality of such products;
Improving of packaging of the Scheduled products;
Improving of marketing of the Scheduled products outside India;
Promotion of export oriented production and development of the Scheduled products;
Collection of statistics from the owners of factories or establishments engaged in the production, processing, packaging, marketing or export of the scheduled products or from such other persons as may be prescribed on any matter relating to the scheduled products and publication of the statistics so collected or of any portions thereof or extracts therefrom;
Training in various aspects of the industries connected with the scheduled products;
Such other matters as may be prescribed. APEDA is mandated with the responsibility of export promotion and development of the following scheduled products:
Fruits, Vegetables and their Products.
Meat and Meat Products.
Poultry and Poultry Products. 4. Dairy Products.
Confectionery, Biscuits and Bakery Products.
Honey, Jaggery and Sugar Products.
Cocoa and its products, chocolates of all kinds.
Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages.
Cereal and Cereal Products.
Groundnuts, Peanuts and Walnuts.
Pickles, Papads and Chutneys.
Guar Gum.
Floriculture and Floriculture Products.
Herbal and Medicinal Plants.

In addition to this, APEDA has been entrusted with the responsibility to monitor import of sugar.
As prescribed by the statute, the APEDA Authority consists of the following members namely:

A Chairman, appointed by the Central Government
The Agricultural Marketing Advisor to the Government of India, ex-offical.
One member appointed by the Central Government representing the Planning Commission
Three members of Parliament of whom two are elected by the House of People and one by the Council of States
Eight members appointed by the Central Government representing respectively; the Ministries of the Central Govt.

(i) Agriculture and Rural Development
(ii) Commerce
(iii) Finance
(iv) Industry
(v) Food
(vi) Civil Supplies
(vii) Civil Aviation
(viii) Shipping and transport

Five members appointed by the Central Government by rotation in the alphabetical order to represent the States and the Union Territories
Seven members appointed by the Central Govt. representing
(i) Indian Council of Agricultural Research

(ii) National Horticultural Board
(iii) National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation
(iv) Central Food Technological Research Institute
(v) Indian Institute of Packaging
(vi) Spices Export Promotion Council and
(vii) Cashew Export Promotion Council.

Twelve members appointed by the Central Government representing

Fruit and Vegetable Products Industries
Meat, Poultry and Dairy Products Industries
Other Scheduled Products Industries
Packaging Industry

Two members appointed by the Central Government from amongst specialists and scientists in the fields of agriculture, economics and marketing of the scheduled products.
MCQ 5
Consider the following statements

There was a split observed in Brahmo Samaj with Keshub Chandra Sen and Debendaranath Tagore heading the two branches
Keshub Chandra Sen and his followers later founded Brahmo Samaj of India
Debendranath founded Sadharan Brahmo Samaj

1 only
1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1,2 and 3

Raja Ram Mohun Roy was deeply influenced by the monotheism and anti-idolatry of Islam, Sufism, the ethical teachings of Christianity and the liberal and rationalist doctrines of the West.
He attacked idol worship as degrading and expounded the conception of “One God of all religions and humanity“.
To propagate the monotheistic doctrine of Hindu scriptures, he founded the Atmiya Sabha (1815-19).
In 1828, he established the Brahmo Sabha, later the Brahmo Samaj. The new faith did not lay down any definite rites and rituals. It was the society of the worshippers of one God. The principles of the Samaj were defined in the Trust Deed and in a pamphlet published about the same time. • Brahmo Samaj believed that God is the cause and source of all that exists; so that nature, earth and heaven are all His creations.
In the Brahmo conception of God, there is no place for such doctrines as incarnation and meditation.
It does not recognize any specially privileged priestly class as mediators between God and man.
In the Brahmo Samaj no sacrifice was permitted nor was any object of worship to be reviled.
Brahmo religion laid emphasis on the love of mankind, irrespective of colour, race or creed and upon the service of humanity as the highest rule of life
After death of Raja Ram Mohan Roy in 1833, there was a dearth of dynamic leadership in Brahmo Samaj for some time.
However, later true leadership was provided by Devendranath, eldest son of Dwarkanath Tagore. Before joining the Brahmo Samaj, Devendranath Tagore had organized the Tattvaranjini Sabha at Jorasanko (Calcutta), which was later renamed as Tattvabodhini Sabha.
Its inception “ushered in a new epoch not only in the Brahmo movement, but in the Bengal Renaissance“. Its main objectives were promotion of religious enquiry and dissemination of the knowledge of the Upanishads. Shortly, a sizable section of the elite became its members. As its programme was intimately connected with the Brahmo Samaj, the Tattvabodhini Sabha became its main organizational wing.
In 1840, the Tattvabodhini School was founded, where Akshay Kumar Datta was appointed as a teacher. Among its members were Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Rajendra Lal Mitra, Tara Chand Chakravarty, Peary Chand Mitra and others representing people of different shades of opinion and different walks of life. No other organization in the first half of the 19th century exercised so much influence on society as did the Tattvabodhini Sabha, which published a monthly journal called Tattvabodhini Patrika to propagate its social welfare programmes.
Devendranath and his 20 associated formally joined the Brahmo Samaj on December 21, 1843. He not only continued the religious mission of Ram Mohan Roy with renewed zeal, but also boldly stood against the ultra radical trend of missionary attacks on Indian culture.
He compiled a religious text called ‘Brahmo Dharma’ containing spiritual and moral texts from different Hindu scriptures and also introduced the Brahmo form of worship or Brahmopasana. For about two years he retired to Simla hills (1856-58).
When Debendranath was retired to Shimla, Keshav Chandra Sen joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1857 and became a full-time missionary. Under the combined influence of Devendranath and Keshab Chandra Sen, the Brahmo Samaj entered into a new phase of unusual activity.
Young Keshab drew around him a number of earnest enthusiasts, mostly young men with whom he established in 1859 a small society known as Sangat Sabha (‘Friendly Association’). Its main objective was to discuss the spiritual and social problems of the day.
In various meetings of the Sangat Sabha, members decided to give up their caste, to discard the sacred thread, to accept no invitation to any idolatrous festival, to give no countenance to the dancing of public women, to practice temperance, to give their wives and sisters the advantages of the light they had themselves received and to be strictly truthful, honest and just in all their dealings with their fellowmen.
In 1861, Keshab Chandra launched a fortnightly journal “Indian Mirror” which later became First Indian Daily in English in 1871.
Under Sangat Sabha, he also launched humanitarian and philanthropic activities, such as providing help during famines and epidemics.
He tried to make the Brahmo Samaj an all-India movement, for which he extensively toured various parts of the country.
As a result of his mission Ved Samaj was established in Madras and Prarthana Samaj in Maharashtra.
He strove for radical social changes and emerged as a staunch supporter of emancipation of women, female education, intercaste marriages and launched an organized campaign against child marriage.
In 1866, the radical reforms by keshab chandra sen led to a schism in brahmo sabha.
The debendranath tagore group calling itself as “adi brahmo samaj” separated from keshab’s group , which had now assumed the name “brahmo samaj of india” or nav vidhana.
While the slogan of adi brahmo samaj was “brahmoism is hinduism“,
The slogan of nav vidhana was “brahmoism is catholic and universal“. The key features of Nava Vidhana were as follows:
Emphasis on the mystic aspects of religion
An attempt to combine Christian and Hindu ideals and practices, marking a distinct break with Hinduism.
Keshab visited England in 1870 and returned with more vigor. He rallied for putting the Brahmo Marriage Act in statute book legalizing the marriage as per Brahmo rites. He also established the Indian Reform Association, which greatly worked for the spread of western education, emancipation of women, female education and social work.
However, Keshab Chandra Sen failed the organization in the end. He gave his daughter in marriage to Maharaja of Cooch Behar in 1878, but both the bride and groom were under-age. Not only this, the marriage was conducted as per Hindu rites and this violated the Brahmo Marriage Act of 1872.
Due to this, many of the Nav Vidhana members separated in a second schism from Keshab and established the Sadharana Brahmo Samaj.
The constitution of the Sadharana Brahmo Samaj, drafted by Anand Mohan Bose, was based on democratic principles and gave equal rights to all members in the management of the Samaj.
However, this schism gave a fatal blow to Brahmo Samaj as no leader of his stature rose later.