Daily Current Affairs MCQ / UPSC / IAS / 09-11-19 | Free PDF

MCQ 1
1. SPG gives protection to President, PM and their families
2. It is given to Delhi police under the charge of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP)
Choose correct
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Both
(D) None

• The Union government is expected to take away the security cover by Special Protection Group (SPG) being provided at present to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. They will, however, continue to get a Z+ security cover, where they will be provided commandos belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
• The Indian Special Protection Group (SPG) is “an armed force of the Union for providing proximate security to the Prime Minister of India and former Prime Ministers of India and members of their immediate families wherever in the world they are.” It was formed in 1988 by an act of the Parliament of India.
•  Former PMs, their immediate family members, and family members of a serving Prime Minister may, if they choose, decline SPG security
• Before 1981, the security of the Prime Minister at the official residence was the responsibility of the Special Security District of the Delhi Police under the charge of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP). In October 1981, a Special Task Force (STF) was raised by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to provide ring-round and escort to the Prime Minister in and out of New Delhi.
•  After the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984, a review was undertaken by a Committee of Secretaries and it was decided to entrust security of the Prime Minister to a Special Group under unitary and direct control of a designated Officer and the STF to provide immediate security cover both in New Delhi and outside. These decisions were taken as short-term measures.
• Then on 18 February 1985, the Ministry of Home Affairs set up the Birbal Nath Committee to go into the issue in its entirety and submit its recommendation. In March 1985, the Birbal Nath Committee submitted its recommendations of raising a Special Protection Unit (SPU). On 30 March 1985, the President of India created 819 posts for the unit under the Cabinet Secretariat. The SPU was then rechristened Special Protection Group and the post of Inspector General of Police was re-designated as Director.
• The SPG came into being on 8 April 1985 when S. Subramaniam, then Joint Director (VIP Security) in the Intelligence Bureau assumed office. Creation of the SPG required an elaborate exercise in order to clearly delineate responsibility of various agencies concerned with the security of the Prime Minister. The provisions contained in the Blue Book, which lays down security guidelines for the protection of the Prime Minister, had to be harmoniously blended with this new concept of proximate security.
•  IB and the State/UT Police concerned were responsible for coordination, collection and dissemination of intelligence affecting VIP security. State/UT Police and the SPG were responsible for providing physical security arrangements for the Prime Minister, while the IB was to provide the required intelligence inputs to these operational agencies. The SPG functioned as a security group purely on the strength of an Executive Order for three years without a legislation, from April 1985 to June 1988.
•  The SPG was constituted and trained specially to provide protection to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in view of the threats to him from several sources. But, the organization created for the proximate security of Prime Minister Gandhi, did not contemplate provision of protection to him when he ceased to be Prime Minister, and faced magnified threats. SPG cover for Rajiv Gandhi was withdrawn once he ceased to be Prime Minister. After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991, the SPG Act was amended in 1991 to provide security to former Prime Ministers and their immediate families for a period of 10 years from the date on which the former Prime Minister ceased to hold office

 How are security levels decided?

• The Union Home Ministry takes this call after evaluating the inputs from all the intelligence agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
•  However, since none of the intelligence agencies is accountable to any external statutory body, barring internal oversight by ministries of Home and Foreign Affairs, the issue of security cover is open to manipulation.

Categories of security:

•  Besides the SPG, VIPs in India are protected by other security forces as well. The levels of security cover are determined by the threat perception around the individual.
•  The highest level of security cover is the Z-plus category, followed by Z, Y, and X categories.
•  The higher the level of cover, the larger the number of personnel protecting the individual.
•  Roughly 24-36 personnel with automatic weapons are deployed for Zplus category protectees and 16-20 personnel guard Z-category protectees.
•  The elite ‘Black Cat’ commandos of the NSG are deployed to protect VIPs for whom the threat perception is the highest.

MCQ 2
1. The cities of Indonesia, Ayutthaya and Yogyakarta, are named after Ayodhya.
2. Gimhae, South Korea & Janakpur, Nepal are sister cities of Ayodhya
Choose correct
(A)Only 1
(B)Only 2
(C)Both
(D)None

•  The present-day city is identified as the location of Saketa, which was an important city of the Kosala mahajanapada in the first millennium BCE, and later served as its capital. The early Buddhist and Jain canonical texts mention that the religious leaders Gautama Buddha and Mahavira visited and lived in the city. The Jain texts also describe it as the birthplace of five tirthankaras namely, Rishabhanatha, Ajitanatha, Abhinandananatha, Sumatinath and Anantnath, and associate it with the legendary chakravartins. From the Gupta period onwards, several sources mention Ayodhya and Saketa as the name of the same city.

Gimhae, South Korea

• The mayors of Ayodhya and Gimhae signed a sister city bond in March 2001, based on Ayodhya’s identification as the birthplace of the legendary queen Heo Hwang-ok.
•  Janakpur, Nepal
• Ayodhya and Janakpur became sister cities in November 2014. •Ayodhya is the birthplace of Rama and Janakpur is the birthplace of his consort, Sita.

MCQ 3
1. Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was first mooted by the Raghuram Rajan Committee in 2008
2. Governor Reserve Bank of India (RBl) is the chairperson of it
Choose correct
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Both
(D) None

• Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) is an apex-level body constituted by the government of India.
•  The idea to create such a super regulatory body was first mooted by the Raghuram Rajan Committee in 2008. Finally in 2010, the then Finance Minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee, decided to set up such an autonomous body dealing with macro prudential and financial regularities in the entire financial sector of India.
• An apex-level FSDC is not a statutory body. The recent global economic meltdown has put pressure on governments and institutions across the globe to regulate their economic assets. This council is seen as India’s initiative to be better conditioned to prevent such incidents in future.
•  The new body envisages to strengthen and institutionalize the mechanism of maintaining financial stability, financial sector development, inter-regulatory coordination along with monitoring macro-prudential regulation of economy. No funds are separately allocated to the council for undertaking its activities
•  Composition of the council
•  Chairperson: The Union Finance Minister of India
• Members:
• Governor Reserve Bank of India (RBl),
• Finance Secretary and/ or Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA),
• Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS),
•  Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs,
•  Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology,
•  Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance,
•  Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI),
•  Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA),
•  Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA),
•  Chairman, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI),
•  Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance, DEA, will be the Secretary of the Council,
• The Chairperson may invite any person whose presence is deemed necessary for any of its meeting(s).

Responsibilities

•  Financial Stability
• Financial Sector Development
•  Inter-Regulatory Coordination
•  Financial Literacy
• Financial Inclusion
•  Macro prudential supervision of the economy including the functioning of large financial conglomerates
•  Coordinating India’s international interface with financial sector bodies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Financial Stability Board (FSB)and any such body as may be decided by the Finance Minister from time to time.
•  The institutional structure for India’s Financial Inclusion/ Literacy programme is unique as it has an apex body in the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), headed by the Finance Minister of Government of India, mandated, inter alia, to focus on attaining financial inclusion/ literacy goals

MCQ 4
1. India justice report was recently released by Min of Law & Justice
2. Maharashtra has topped the over all score
Choose correct
(A)Only 1
(B)Only 2
(C)Both
(D)None

MCQ 5
1. The Kerala Cabinet has approved a Rs 1,548-crore fiber-optic network project for 100% coverage of internet service
2. It will be free for SC/ST & Women.
Choose correct

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

•  To be completed by December 2020, the project seeks to fulfil the government’s aim of making internet access a ‘citizen’s right’.

About the fiber- optic network project:

• Objective: To provide free high-speed internet connection to around 2 million families in the state.
• Aims to provide free high-speed internet to over 20 lakh below poverty line (BPL) households.
•  It is a collaborative initiative of the state’s power utility Kerala State Electricity Board and Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd.
•  Internet service providers and cable television operators can also join the optic-fibre network project to provide their services.
•  As many as 30,000 government offices and schools would be linked through the high-speed network, said the state government

MCQ 6
1. The ”No Money For Terror” conference is organised by FATF globally
2. India will host the next edition of the ”No Money For Terror” conference to be held in 2020.
Choose correct
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Both
(D) None

•  India will host the next edition of the ”No Money For Terror” conference to be held in 2020. The announcement was made at the ”No Money For Terror” conference in Melbourne, Australia.

Key facts:

•  The ”No Money For Terror” conference is organized by Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) of over 100 countries, jointly called The Egmont Group.
•  Recognizing the importance of international cooperation in the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism, a group of FIUs met a few years ago at the Egmont Arenberg Palace in Brussels, Belgium, and decided to establish an informal network of FIUs for the stimulation of international co-operation.
•  The Egmont Group was created to provide FIUs around the world a forum to exchange information confidentially to combat money-laundering, the financing of terrorism and other predicate offences.

Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism:

•  Terrorists and terrorist organizations rely on money to sustain themselves and to carry out terrorist acts. Money for terrorists is derived from a wide variety of sources.
• While terrorists are not greatly concerned with disguising the origin of money, they are concerned with concealing its destination and the purpose for which it has been collected. Terrorists and terrorist organizations therefore employ techniques similar to those used by money launderers to hide their money.
• The ability to prevent and detect money-laundering is a highly effective means of identifying criminals and terrorists and the underlying activity from which money is derived.
• The application of intelligence and investigative techniques can be one way of detecting and disrupting the activities of terrorists and terrorist organizations.

MCQ 7
1. India internet report is released by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
2. In terms of absolute numbers, urban India with 192 million users had almost the same number of users as rural India.
Choose correct
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Both
(D) None

•  India had 451 Mn monthly active internet users as on March 31, 2019
•  72% of urban Internet users or approximately 139 Mn use internet daily
•  Female internet users’ population is half of the 258 Mn male internet users According to Mary
• Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report, India had the second largest internet user base with 12% of the world. The digitalization and access to the internet has created a new growth story in India.
• Taking into stock country’s access to the internet and its usage, a report by Nielsen and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has noted that India had 451 Mn monthly active users as on March 31, 2019.
•  The report titled, “Internet in India 2019”, said that of the 451 Mn monthly active users, 385 Mn are over 12 years of age and 66 Mn are in the age bracket of 5 to 11 years, who access the Internet on the devices of family members.
•  It said that even though internet penetration is higher in urban areas with 192 Mn users, there is an equal split of urban and rural internet users.

•  However, in terms of percentages or penetration, given the disparity of population distribution in urban and rural India, urban India has a considerably higher penetration level.
  Here are other interesting notes from the report:
•  2/3rd of internet users in India are in the age group of 12-29 years. • Interestingly, a higher proportion of this age group is seen in rural India. This is indicative of the fact that there is potential for growth in this segment.
• Internet consumption at home is still prevalent across urban and rural
• 1/3rd of the urban population is accessing Internet while travelling
•  At a state level, Delhi NCR has registered the highest Internet penetration followed by Kerala, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Punjab
•  States in the East, except Assam and North East, have low Internet penetration.
• Among the cities, Mumbai and Delhi top the list with 11.7 Mn and 11.2 Mn internet users’ respectively
•  Bengaluru and Kolkata with 6.1 Mn users are third, followed by Chennai with 5.4 Mn internet users

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