Daily Current Affairs MCQ / UPSC 2020 / IAS / 23-12-19 | Free PDF

Daily UPSC Current Affair 23^rd December 2019 By Mahipal Singh Rathore
MCQ 1

1. European Council was formalized as an institution in 2009 upon the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.
2. The European Council has no legislative power, but it is a strategic body that provides the union with general political directions and priorities, and acts as a collective presidency.

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

European Council

• The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collective body that defines the European Union’s overall political direction and priorities.
• Established as an informal summit in 1975, the European Council was formalized as an institution in 2009 upon the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.
• It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission.
• The President of the European Council is elected by the European Council by a qualified majority for a once renewable term of two and a half years.
• The European Council has no legislative power, but it is a strategic body that provides the union with general political directions and priorities, and acts as a collective presidency.
• The European Commission remains the sole initiator of legislation, but the European Council is able to provide an impetus to guide legislative policy.
• The meetings of the European Council, still commonly referred to as EU summits, are chaired by its president and take place at least twice every six months.

MCQ 2
 Spandana Initiative is related to

1. Skilling
2. Tribal education
3. Women’s role in organic agriculture
4. NOTA

• It is an initiative of Andhra Pradesh Government to make police stations more approachable for the public, especially women.
• Spandana (means response) centers have been established within the premises of all District Collector offices and police stations.
• These centers mostly have a female receptionist and other staff members who are trained, briefed and sensitized in handling women victims and complainants.
• Spandana centres spread across the district, and each have video conferencing facility, it is easier and cheaper for people to lodge complaints.
• They no longer have to travel to the district headquarters to follow up.

MCQ 3

1. The International Olympic Committee is a non-governmental sports organization based in Canada.
2. The IOC is the governing body of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), which are the national constituents of the worldwide Olympic Movement.

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

• The International Olympic Committee is a non-governmental sports organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
• Established in 1894, it is the authority responsible for organizing the modern summer and winter Olympic Games.
• The IOC is the governing body of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), which are the national constituents of the worldwide Olympic Movement.
• The IOC Session is the general meeting of the members of the IOC, held once a year in which each member has one vote.
• Indian Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee of India, located in New Delhi.

 8 TH OLYMPIC SUMMIT

• The Olympic Summit forms part of the ongoing consultation process on important issues of significance for the future of the Olympic Movement.
• The Summit also noted that Tokyo 2020 will be more youthful, more urban and more female than any previous Olympic Games.
• The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will see gender equality achieved, with women representing around 49 per cent of the participants.
• One of the biggest-ever reforms of the sports programme with five news sports – Skateboarding, Surfing, Sports Climbing, Karate and Baseball/Softball

MCQ 4

1. Peregrine falcon is one of the world’s most common predatory birds
2. It has the best vision in the animal kingdom

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

• The peregrine falcon is one of the world’s most common predatory birds, has the fastest vision in the animal kingdom,
• It can register nearly 130 frames per second, where humans see up to a maximum of 50 to 60 frames per second.
• This new discovery was published in Journal of Experimental Biology, it is the first time scientists have studied the speed of vision among birds of prey.
• The Peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making it the fastest bird in the world and the fastest member of the animal kingdom
• The speed at which different birds of prey process visual impressions is related to their hunting needs.
• For the peregrine falcon, which hunts fast-flying birds, the ability to spot ultra-speed movements helps them detect prey sufficiently early in order to have time to react.

 MCQ 5
The nodal loaning entity for the Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Fund (FIDF) is/are

1. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD),
2. National Cooperatives Development Corporation (NCDC) and
3. All scheduled Banks.

(A) 1 only
(B) 1 & 3
 (C) All
(D) None

Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Fund

• The first tripartite Memorandum of Agreement was signed for the implementation of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Fund (FIDF).
• It is signed between the Department of Fisheries Government of India, NABARD and the Government of Tamil Nadu.
• The nodal loaning entities for the fund are National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Developmentü (NABARD), National Cooperatives Development Corporation (NCDC) andü  All scheduled Banks.ü
• The fund would provide concessional finance to take up investment activities of fisheries development.
• The beneficiaries are State Governments / UTs and State entities, cooperatives, individuals and entrepreneurs etc.,
• The Department of Fisheries provides interest subvention up to 3% per annum for providing the concessional finance by the nodal loaning entities at the interest rate not lower than 5% per annum.
• NABARD provides concessional finance for development of fisheries infrastructure facilities through State Governments/State Entities under the FIDF.

MCQ 6

1. India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative prepared the first comprehensive estimates of disease burden attributable to mental health from 1990.
2. The contribution of mental disorders to the Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) has doubled between 1990 and 2017 increasing from 2.5% to 4.7%.

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

India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative

• India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative prepared the first comprehensive estimates of disease burden attributable to mental health from 1990.
• It states that Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh account for a higher prevalence of mental disorders.
• It manifests primarily during adulthood in depression and anxiety.
• It finds that roughly one in seven Indians, or 197 million persons, suffered from mental disorders of varying severity in 2017.
• These include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, idiopathic developmental intellectual disability, conduct disorders, and autism.
• The contribution of mental disorders to the Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) has doubled between 1990 and 2017 increasing from 2.5% to 4.7%.
• In accordance with socio-demographic index (SDI), prevalence of depressive disorders was highest in, 1. Tamil Nadu (loss of 836 years per 1 lakh population ), Kerala (loss of 641 years) in the high SDI state group and 2. Andhra Pradesh (loss of 793 years) in the middle SDI State group. DALY – the sum of total years of life lost and years lived with disability SDI – It is a composite measure of per-capita income, mean education, and fertility rate in women younger than 25 years and is calculated on a scale of one.

MCQ 7
 Zero-day Vulnerability is an issue related to

1. Infant Mortality
2. NCDs
3. Cyber attacks
4. None

• A zero-day exploit is a cyber-attack that occurs on the same day a weakness is discovered in software.
• At that point, it is exploited before a fix becomes available from its creator.
• Zero-day vulnerabilities are basically bugs in software, which leaves the doors open for cyber criminals to break into the system.
• Cyber security experts have found a zero-day vulnerability in Windows, allowing attackers to gain higher privileges on the target machine.

MCQ 8

1. 38th Constitutional Amendment Act 1975 prohibited president to proclaim national emergency on different grounds even though an emergency is already under operation.
2. 44th Constitutional Amendment 1978 was enacted to prevent the misuse of emergency power by the executive.

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

 Emergency Provisions in Indian Constitution

• The Indian Constitution gives President the authority to declare three types of emergencies: national emergency, state emergency, and financial emergency.
• Emergency provisions in India are borrowed from Weimar Constitution of Germany.
• Article 352- National Emergency
• Article 356-Emergency in state ( President’s rule)
• Article 360- Financial Emergency National Emergency
• Under article 352, if the president is satisfied that there exists a grave situation, wherein the security of the country is threatened on the grounds of wars, external aggression or armed rebellion, he can proclaim emergency to that effect.
• Emergency can be declared over the complete territory of India or any part thereof.
• President can declare emergency only on the written advice of the cabinet
• A special majority is required to approve an emergency resolution.
• Once approved, emergency shall operate for a maximum period of not more than six months.
• Lok Sabha has the power to disapprove the operation of national emergency at any time, if not less than 1/10th members of Lok Sabha in writing to the speaker, if house is in session, or to the president, then speaker or president as the case may be, shall convene a special session of Lok Sabha within 14 days and if such a resolution is passed, president shall revoke national emergency

Amendments

• 38th Constitutional Amendment Act 1975: It empowered president to proclaim national emergency on different grounds even though an emergency is already under operation
• 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act 1976: (i)It empowered president to modify or vary national emergency. Under the original constitution, only the imposition or revocations were possible. (ii) Under the original constitution, president could have imposed national emergency only over complete territory of India. This amendment enabled him over a part of the country.
• 44th Constitutional Amendment 1978: It was enacted to prevent the misuse of emergency power by the executive.
• On Executive- State governments are not dismissed, they continue to operate, but are brought under the effective control of the centre, which assumes the power to give instructions to state government, which shall abide by such directions.
• On Legislature- State legislatures continue to operate and legislate, but parliament assumes concurrent legislative power on state subjects and a law such enacted by parliament, shall cease to operate at the expiry of six months after the revocation of national emergency, to the extent of incompetency.
• On Financial relations- President can suspend the distribution of financial resources between centre and states and centre can make use of any national resource to fight the cost on the basis of which, emergency is declared.
• On Fundamental Rights- Article 358 deals with the suspension of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by Article 19, while Article 359 deals with the suspension of other Fundamental Rights (except those guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21).
• As per Article 358, when a proclamation of national emergency is made, the six fundamental rights under article 19 are suspended only when National Emergency is declared on the ground of ware or external aggression and not on the grounds of armed rebellion
• Article 359 authorizes the president to suspend the right to move any court for the enforcement of fundamental rights during a National Emergency except for article 20 and article 21

MCQ 9
Arrange north to south

1. Laccadive sea
2. Gulf of Aden
3. Celebes sea
4. Arafura sea

(A) 1,2,3,4
(B) 2,1,3,4
(C) 2,1,4,3
(D) 3,4,2,1
MCQ 10

1. Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), is released by the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) and INSEAD
2. The MPI captures both the incidence and intensity of poverty

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

• Global Multidimensional Poverty Index is developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
• MPI 2019 has revealed that there are vast inequalities across countries, and among the poorer segments of societies.
• The MPI captures both the incidence and intensity of poverty and tracks 101 countries on deprivations across ten indicators in health, education, and standard of living.
• Of the 5.7 billion people covered by the global MPI 2019 figures, 23% (1.3 billion) are identified as multidimensionally poor.
• As per report a single measure is not a sufficient guide to both inequality and multidimensional poverty, and studies such as the MPI, Human Development Index, and the Gini coefficient (which measures countries wealth- income distribution), can contribute important and distinctive information for policy action to effectively reduce poverty.
• Multidimensional Poverty Index The Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) defines poor not only on the basis of income but on other indicators, including poor health, poor quality of work and the threat of violence MPI is composed of ten indicators spread across: Education: years of schooling and child enrollment.q  Health: child mortality and nutrition.q  Standard of living: Electricity, flooring, drinking water, sanitation,q cooking fuel and assets Each education and health indicator has a 1/6 weight, each standard of living indicator a 1/18 weight. Goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to end poverty in all its forms and dimensions

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