Daily Current Affairs MCQ / UPSC 2020 / IAS / 25-12-19 | Free PDF

 
MCQ 1

1. NITI Aayog has constructed the SDG India Index spanning across 13 out of 17 SDGs (leaving out Goals 12, 13, 14 and 17).
2. The Index tracks the progress on a set of 62 National Indicators which are not related to the schemes of the Government of India.

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1. Only 1
2. Only 2
3. Both
4. None

NITI SDG Index

• NITI Aayog will publish the Sustainable Development Index – 2019 soon.
• The SDG India Index is intended to provide a holistic view on the social, economic and environmental status of the country and its States and UTs.
• The SDG India Index is an aggregate measure which can be understood and used by everyone—policymakers, businesses, civil society and the public.
• The Index tracks the progress of all the States and Union Territories (UTs) on a set of 62 National Indicators, measuring their progress on the outcomes of  the interventions and schemes of the Government of India.
• It has been designed to provide an aggregate assessment of the performance of all Indian States and UTs, and to help leaders and  change makers evaluate their performance on social, economic and  environmental parameters.
• It aims to measure India and its States’ progress towards the SDGs for
• NITI Aayog has constructed the SDG India Index spanning across 13 out of 17 SDGs (leaving out Goals 12, 13, 14 and 17).

MCQ 2

1. The annual flamingo festival will be conducted in Keoladeo Ghana National Park, in first week of January 2020.
2. Flamingos are critically endangered birds

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3. Both
4. None

• The annual flamingo festival will be conducted in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, in first week of January 2020.
• More than 40,000 flamingos can be seen in action at the Pulicat lake during the season.
• Other Bird species which can be spotted during the festival are Black-tailed godwit, Kentish plover, painted storks, large and little  egrets, grey pelicans, grey herons, and water birds like northern  pintails, black-winged stilts, northern shovellers, common teal,  seagulls, terns, sandpipers, and common coots.
• The lake supports a rich biodiversity and high biomass of fishes, prawns, crustaceans, coelenterates and planktons.
• Pulicat Lagoon is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, after Chilika Lake.
• Pulicat Lagoon is considered to be the second largest brackish water body in India measuring 759 square kilometres (293 sq mi).
• The Lagoon is one of the three important wetlands to attract North-East Monsoon rain clouds during October to December season to Tamil Nadu.
• The lagoon comprises the following regions, which adds up 759 square kilometres (293 sq mi) according to Andhra Pradesh Forest Department:
• Pulicat Lake (Tamil Nadu-TN & Andhra Pradesh-AP)
• Marshy/Wetland Land Region (AP)
• Venadu Reserve Forest (AP)
• Pernadu Reserve Forest (AP)
• The lagoon was cut across in the middle by the Sriharikota Link Road, which divided the water body into lake and marshy land.
• The lake encompasses the Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary.
• The barrier island of Sriharikota separates the lake from the Bay of Bengal and is home to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
• Major part of the lake comes under Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
• Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is one of the biggest habitats for some hundreds of pelicans and other birds.
• It is located about 20 km north of the Pulicat Lake on the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border.
• This sanctuary spread in an area about 459 hectares and plays important role in nesting of various birds especially migratory birds.
• Every year during winter season from October to March, different species of migratory birds, roosting migrants and some rare and  endangered species from various parts of the world visit the

MCQ 3

1. Nari Shakti Puraskar is India’s highest civilian award for recognizing the achievements and contributions of women.
2. The Nari Shakti Puraskar is conferred on individual women only

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3. Both
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Nari Shakti Puraskar

• Nari Shakti Puraskar is formerly known as Stree Shakti Puraskar, literally meaning “Woman Power Award”.
• It is India’s highest civilian award for recognizing the achievements and contributions of women.
• The awards are given away by the President of India every year on 8 March, International Women’s Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
• The Nari Shakti Puraskar is conferred on individual women, public and private institutions and public departments for their activism and/ or  their contributions to the cause of women’s empowerment.
• The award, instituted in the year 1999 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, is given in six  institutional categories and two individual categories.
• The award carries a cash prize of rupees one lakh (INR 100,000) and a

MCQ 4

1. Non-Performing Assets (NPA) – NPAs are recorded on a bank’s balance sheet after a prolonged period of non-payment by the borrower ( 90 days of non-  payment of interest or principle payment overdue in Indian context)
2. Gross Non-Performing Asset (GNPA) – is the total bad assets (actual) minus the provision left aside.
3. Net Non-Performing Asset (NNPA) – Sum of Total NPAs of a bank or banks under a central bank.

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2. Only 2
3. All
4. None

• Non-Performing Assets (NPA) – NPAs are recorded on a bank’s balance sheet after a prolonged period of non-payment by the  borrower ( 90 days of non-payment of interest or principle payment  overdue in Indian context)
• Gross Non-Performing Asset (GNPA) – Sum of Total NPAs of a bank or banks under a central bank.
• Net Non-Performing Asset (NNPA) – NNPA is the total bad assets (actual) minus the provision left aside.

MCQ 5

1. Provisioning Coverage Ratio (PCR) refers to the prescribed percentage of funds to be set aside by the banks for covering the  prospective losses due to bad loans.
2. Lower the PCR, better for the bank

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2. Only 2
3. Both
4. None

• Provision coverage ratio (PCR) – Provisioning Coverage Ratio (PCR) refers to the prescribed percentage of funds to be set aside by the  banks for covering the prospective losses due to bad loans.
• Capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) – The ratio of a bank’s capital to its risk, it ensure that the bank can absorb a reasonable  amount of loss and complies with statutory Capital requirements;
• Higher CRAR indicates a bank is better capitalized.
• RBI recently released Financial Stability Report.
• The report is biennial and reflects the collective assessment of the Sub-committee of Financial Stability and Development Council.
• The report said that the non-performing asset ratio of banks is It was 9.9% in September 2019 and may rise to 9.9% in  September 2020.
• The Provision Coverage Ratio of banks increased to 61.5% in September 2019 from 60.5% in March 2019.
• It is the ratio that gives an indication about the provisions made against bad loans. When the PCR is higher, the unexposed part of  bad loans is lower. Therefore, higher PCR is good for an economy.
• The report also stated that capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) improved to 15.1% in September 2019 from 14.3% in March  The credit losses have jumped by 7.33% as compared to June  2019.

MCQ 6

1. IIT Hyderabad researchers has discovered a protein that repairs a damaged DNA in humans and helps prevent diseases like cancer.
2. Mutations can damage DNAs permanently

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3. Both
4. None

DNA Repairing Protein

• IIT Hyderabad discovers a protein that repairs a damaged DNA in humans and helps prevent diseases like cancer.
• The research highlights Nature has evolved techniques not only to protect DNA, but also to repair a damaged one so that catastrophic  damage can be averted.
• The research was funded by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology.
• Any damage to the DNA can result in outcomes that can range from unperceivably mild changes, such as the sudden appearance of a  harmless mole, to diseases such as cancer.
• The retention of DNA integrity is therefore essential for proper function and survival of all organisms.

SERB

• Science and Engineering Research Board is a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, established  by an Act of the Parliament of India in 2009.
• The Board is chaired by the Secretary of Department of Science and Technology and shall have other senior government officials and eminent  scientists as members.
• The Board was set up for promoting basic research in science and engineering and to provide financial assistance to scientists, academic  institutions, R&D laboratories, industrial concerns and other agencies for  such research.
• The Board has schemes for funding extramural research, for providing grants for start-up research and for using the scientific expertise of retired  scientists
• Mutations result from errors during DNA replication, mitosis, and meiosis, or other types of damage to DNA (exposure to  radiation or carcinogens), which then may undergo error-prone  repair or cause an error during other forms of repair, or else may  cause an error during replication
• Mutations may also result from insertion or deletion of segments of DNA due to mobile genetic elements.
• Mutations may or may not produce discernible changes in the observable characteristics (phenotype) of an organism.
• Mutations play a part in both normal and abnormal biological processes including: evolution, cancer, and the development of  the immune system, including junctional diversity.

MCQ 7

1. Locusts are a collection of certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae
2. When they lay eggs in masses, its called swarming

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• Locusts are a collection of certain species of short- horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have  a swarming phase.
• These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they become more abundant and change their behaviour and  habits, becoming gregarious.
• No taxonomic distinction is made between locust and grasshopper species; the basis for the definition is whether a species forms  swarms under intermittently suitable conditions.
• These grasshoppers are innocuous, their numbers are low, and they do not pose a major economic threat to agriculture.
• Under suitable conditions of drought followed by rapid vegetation growth, serotonin in their brains triggers a dramatic set of changes:  they start to breed abundantly, becoming gregarious and nomadic  (loosely described as migratory) when their populations become  dense enough.
• They form bands of wingless nymphs which later become swarms of winged adults.
• Both the bands and the swarms move around and rapidly strip fields and cause damage to crops.
• The adults are powerful fliers; they can travel great distances, consuming most of the green vegetation wherever the swarm  settles

• Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited by entities, particularly animals, of similar size which aggregate  together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en  masse or migrating in some direction.
• It is a highly interdisciplinary
• As a term, swarming is applied particularly to insects, but can also be applied to any other entity or animal that exhibits swarm behaviour.
• The term flocking or murmuration can refer specifically to swarm behaviour in birds, herding to refer to swarm behaviour in tetrapods,  and shoaling or schooling to refer to swarm behaviour in fish.
• Phytoplankton also gather in huge swarms called blooms, although these organisms are algae and are not self-propelled the way animals

MCQ 8

1. Madan Mohan Malaviya never served as president of INC
2. He was the editor of a Hindi magazine, ‘Hindosthan’.

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3. Both
4. None

• The Prime Minister of India paid tribute to Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya on his 158th birth anniversary (25th December, 2019).

1. Madan Mohan Malaviya was a freedom fighter and social reformer.
2. He had served as the President of the INC on four occasions.
3. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 2014.
4. He was the editor of a Hindi magazine, ‘Hindosthan’.
5. He became the editor of the ‘Indian Opinion’ in 1889. He also started a Hindi weekly ‘Abhyudaya’, an English daily ‘Leader’, a Hindi newspaper  ‘Maryada’.
6. Pandit Malaviya was instrumental in founding the Benares Hindu University in 1916. He also became its Vice-Chancellor till 1939.
7. He was opposed to separate electorates to Muslims and the Lucknow
8. He was also against the INC’s participation in the Khilafat Movement. He was a participant in the Second Round Table Conference in 1931.
9. He started the Ganga Mahasabha to oppose construction of dams in the Ganga.
10. He was also a social reformer who opposed untouchability. He worked for the temple entry of Dalits at the Kalaram Temple at Nashik, 
11. He also founded the organization Shri Mathura Vrindavan Hasanand Gochar Bhoomi in Vrindavan.

MCQ 9
SnowEx campaign is started by

1. ISRO
2. IMO
3. NASA
4. ESA

Snow EX

• For a better understanding of how much water is contained in each winter’s snowfall and how much will be available when it melts in the  spring, NASA has launched a seasonal campaign as part of a five-year  programme called SnowEx, initiated in 2016-17.
• While the geographical focus of SnowEx is North America, NASA’s overall target is optimal strategies for mapping global snow water equivalent  (SWE) with remote sensing and models leading to a Decadal Survey “Earth  System Explorer” mission.
• Within its geographic range, SnowEx assesses where snow has fallen, how much there is and how its characteristics change as it melts.
• It uses airborne measurements, ground measurements and computer
• The airborne campaign will fly radar and lidar (light detection and ranging) to measure snow depth, microwave radar and radiometers to  measure SWE, optical cameras to photograph the surface, infrared  radiometers to measure surface temperature, and hyperspectral  imagers for snow cover and composition.
• Ground teams will measure snow depth, density, accumulation layers, temperature, wetness and snow grain size — the size of a typical
• NASA currently has no global satellite mission to track and study SWE.
• NASA acknowledges any future snow satellite mission will require observations from an international collection of satellites.
• What are the SnowEx outcomes and International Engagement?
• SnowEx will provide key insights into optimal strategies for mapping global SWE with remote sensing and models, which will enable a  competitive proposal for a Decadal Survey “Earth System Explorer”
• The systematic assessment of methods for mapping water and energy components of seasonal snow in SnowEx is fully aligned with the  objectives of the NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Program and the Earth  Science Division as well as the ESDS.

Why to have this campaign?

• More than one-sixth of the world’s population (~1.2 billion people) relies on seasonal snowpack and glaciers for their water supply.
• Snowmelt-generated water supply is likely to decrease this century. Snow is also a critical component of Earth’s cold regions ecosystems  where wildlife, vegetation and snow have strongly interconnected 
• Besides, to understand the time and space variation in the snow’s energy and mass balances along with the extensive feedbacks with  the Earth’s climate, water cycle, and carbon cycle, it is critical to  accurately measure snowpack.

MCQ 10

1. On December 27, 1911, the National song was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Congress.
2. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was adopted as the country’s National Anthem by the Constituent Assembly of India on January 24, 1950, the last  day of its last session.

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• On December 27, 1911, the National Anthem was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Congress.

Key facts:

• ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was adopted as the country’s National Anthem by the Constituent Assembly of India on January 24, 1950, the last day  of its last session.
• Reverence to the National Anthem is a Fundamental duty as per Article 51A (a) of the Constitution.
• Originally written in Bengali, it is the first of five stanzas of a poem written and later set to notations by Rabindranath Tagore.
• Sarla Devi Chowdhurani, Tagore’s niece intonated the song along with a few friends.
• The notation of the song was set by Tagore in 1919, which is abided by until today.

1942: First musical composition was performed

• The first-ever musical composition of ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was performed (not sung) on September 11, 1942 in Hamburg  (Germany).
• Subsequently, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose declared it as the national anthem of the ‘Free India’ (though at that time, the song did not  receive any formal status).
• 1950: ‘Jana Gana Mana’ gained the formal status of India’s National Anthem
• On January 24, 1950, the song was embraced in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly of India and officially declared as the  ‘National Anthem of India’.

It was not written in honour of the British monarch

• On December 11, 1911, the ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was written by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
• The very next day, Delhi Durbar was held, where the coronation ceremony of King George V and Queen Mary as the Emperor and Empress of India took place.
• And, because the song happen to be composed at the same time when George the Fifth visited India, the rumour that the song was an ode to the British monarch  was doing the rounds.
• This rumour was put to rest by composer Rabindranath Tagore in a letter on November 10, 1937. Tagore penned a letter to Pulin Bihari Sen, which read:
• “In response to that great mental turmoil, I pronounced the victory in Jana Gana Mana of that Bhagya Vidhata [ed. God of Destiny] of India who has from age  after age held steadfast the reins of India’s chariot through rise and fall, through  the straight path and the curved. That Lord of Destiny, that Reader of the  Collective Mind of India, that Perennial Guide, could never be George V, George  VI, or any other George..”

There’s no compulsion to sing the national anthem

• There is no law to state singing the national anthem is mandatory.
• Moreover, if a person just prefers to stand up in silence when the national anthem is sung, it isn’t considered to be rude or insulting in  any way.
• But, if someone intentionally causes any sort of disruption while it is being played, it obviously raises eyebrows and he/she is liable for  punishment, as stated in law.

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