Daily Current Affairs MCQ / UPSC / IAS / 19-10-19 | Free PDF

MCQ 1

1. The government aims to blend 25 per cent of biodiesel in diesel by 2030
2. RUCO movement is related to Biofuels.

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• World Biofuel Day is observed every year on 10th of August to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels and highlight the various efforts made by Government in the biofuel sector.
• State-run oil marketing companies IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleumon had launched a programme to procure biodiesel made from used cooking oil in 100 cities across the country.
• The programme was formally launched by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, under which the three OMCs would invite expression of interest from private entities for setting up plants to produce biodiesel from used cooking oil. At present, 850 crore litres of diesel is consumed every month in India.
• Initially, the biodiesel would be procured by the OMCs at an assured rate of Rs 51 per litre, which would be increased to Rs 52.7 in the second year and Rs 54.5 per litre in the third year. The minister also launched Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) sticker and a mobile phone application for collection of used cooking oil (UCO) to ensure that it does not come back to ecosystem. The sticker would affixed by the food joints, hotels and restaurants in their premises to show that they supply UCO for producing biodiesel. Addressing an event to mark ‘World Biofuel Day’ , Pradhan said, “Biodiesel is available in many forms other than used cooking oil. It is waste to wealth.
• We will celebrate World Biofuel Day as alternative energy day.”
• The National Policy on Biofuels, released by the Government of India in 2018, envisages production of biofuel from UCO. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is implementing a strategy to divert UCO from the food value chain and curb current illegal usage. The benefits of transformation of UCO will help bring health benefits as there would be no recycling of the UCO, employment generation, infrastructural investment in rural areas & cleaner environment with reduced carbon footprint.
• At present, approximately 850 crore litres of High Speed Diesel (HSD) is consumed on a monthly basis in India. The National Policy on Biofuels – 2018 envisages a target of 5% blending of Biodiesel in HSD by 2030. In order to achieve the blending target, 500 crore litres of Biodiesel is required in a year.
• In India, approximately, 22.7 MMTPA (2700 crore litres) of Cooking Oil is used out of which 1.2 MMTPA (140 Crore) UCO can be collected from Bulk Consumers such as hotels, restaurants, canteens, etc. for conversion, which will give approximately 110 crore litres of Biodiesel in one year. Presently there is no established collection chain for UCO. Thus, there is a huge opportunity in production of biodiesel from UCO.
• To facilitate the production of Biodiesel from UCO, the Oil Marketing Companies shall float an Expression of Interest (EOI) for procurement of Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil across 100 cities. The purpose of inviting this EOI is to encourage the applicants to set up Biodiesel producing plants from Used Cooking Oil (UCO), processing plants and further utilizing the existing potential of UCO based Bio-diesel in India.
• On this occasion, a sticker on RUCO viz., Repurpose Used Cooking Oil and a mobile app to facilitate the collection of UCO shall also be released by FSSAI.

MCQ 2

1. The Frankfurt International Book Fair is the largest and most important book fair in USA which is held annually in the month of October
2. For the 1st time Multimedia exhibition on the 150th Birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi organized at India Pavilion

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• Ministry of Information and Broadcasting participates in Frankfurt Book Fair every year but this is the first time when a multimedia exhibition has been organized. The Pavilion is centre of attraction this year as people get to have relevant information on Gandhiji and other eminent leaders in a short span with the touch of a screen.
• The Frankfurt International Book Fair is the largest and most important book fair which is held annually in the month of October. This year the five day fair is being organised from 16th to 20th October. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Multimedia exhibition on the 150th Birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi organized at India Pavilion at the Frankfurt International Book Fair Multi media exhibition on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi was organized in the India Pavilion at the Frankfurt International Book Fair. The life and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi was celebrated by performing Dandi Yatra today. Participants in huge number took part in the Yatra which was made vibrant by young students and their enthusiasm.

MCQ 3

1. The Sainik Schools are a system of schools in India established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society under Ministry of Defence.
2. Only Boys are allowed for the admission in schools

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• The Sainik Schools are a system of schools in India established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society under Ministry of Defence.
• They were conceived in 1961 by V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of India, to rectify the regional and class imbalance amongst the Officer cadre of the Indian Military, and to prepare students for entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, Pune and Indian Naval Academy.
• Today there are 27 such schools running and proposed for future covering all the states of the country.
• The schools come under the purview of respective state governments and Ministry of Defence, and in his Union Budget of 2008, Finance minister, P Chidambaram, allocated ₹2 crore to each of the 25 Sainik schools, to counter rising attrition in the defence forces, especially at the officer level.
• The first Sainik School was opened by Dr Sampoorna Nand in UP in 1960 under UP state government and there after other Sainik school and Military Schools we’re opened. UP Sainik School Lucknow located near Amausi Airport remains the only Sainik School under State Govt.

Ministry of Defence

•  Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh gives nod for girls to enter Sainik Schools Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh has approved a proposal for admission of girl children in Sainik schools w.e.f. academic session 2021-22 in a phased manner. The decision has been taken following the success of the pilot project started by the Ministry of Defence for admission of girl children in Sainik School Chhingchhip in Mizoram two years ago.
• Raksha Mantri has directed concerned authorities to ensure availability of necessary infrastructure and sufficient female staff in Sainik schools for smooth implementation of the directive. The decision is in line with the objective of the Government towards greater inclusiveness, gender equality, enabling greater participation of women in Armed Forces and strengthening the motto of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’, propagated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

MCQ 4

1. The idea for setting up the New Development Bank was proposed by India at the 4th BRICS summit in 2012 held in Delhi.
2. The bank is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa

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• The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). According to the Agreement on the NDB, “the Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments.” Moreover, the NDB “shall cooperate with international organizations and other financial entities, and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the Bank.”
• The initial authorized capital of the bank is $100 billion divided into 1 million shares having a par value of $100,000 each. The initial subscribed capital of the NDB is $50 billion divided into paid-in shares ($10 billion) and callable shares ($40 billion). The initial subscribed capital of the bank was equally distributed among the founding members. The Agreement on the NDB specifies that the voting power of each member will be equal to the number of its subscribed shares in the capital stock of the bank
• The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The first regional office of the NDB is in Johannesburg, South Africa

 Membership

• The Agreement on the New Development Bank entered into force in July 2015, with the official declaration of all five states that have signed it. The five founding members of the Bank include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• Bank’s Articles of Agreement specify that all members of the United Nations could be members of the bank, however the share of the BRICS nations can never be less than 55% of voting power.
• Expanding the NDB’s membership is considered by some experts to be crucial to its long-term development by helping boost the bank’s business growth.
• According to the Bank’s General Strategy: 2017-2021, the NDB plans to expand membership gradually so as not to overly strain its operational and decision-making capacity.

Ministry of Finance

• Finance Minister led the Indian delegation at G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as well as the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings on the side-lines of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings
• FM re-emphasized the need for G20 to ensure collective action so as to enable global growth to regain pace Finance Minister leading Indian delegation to the IMF/WB Annual Meetings being held in Washington D.C this week
• The main issues discussed during the BRICS FMCBG meeting included those pertaining to New Development Bank (such as membership expansion and enhancing the effectiveness of the utilization of the NDB’s Project Preparation Facility); developing the way forward on IMF resources as well as formulating a consensus co-operation on Authorized Economic Operators Programme.
• On NDB issues, the Finance Minister in her interventions, emphasized India’s strong support for NDB’s membership expansion and encouraged NDB Management to continue the good progress achieved on this issue till date. As far as improving the effectiveness of the Project Preparation Facility is concerned, the Finance Minister indicated that sustainable recovery mechanisms need to be inbuilt into the PPF guidelines so that the assistance extended is recovered once the project loan is sanctioned. Regarding the IMF resources issue, Smt. Sitharaman indicated India’s deep regret on the lack of progress of the 15th General Review of Quotas (15th GRQ). With reference to the alternative proposal emerging at the current juncture with reference to strengthening borrowed resources of IMF, Finance Minister expressed a word of caution and indicated that borrowed resources cannot provide full confidence in extreme crisis situations as creditor nations themselves may be in stress.

MCQ 5

1. The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It is published by WEF
2. Following it NITI Aayog, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) together launched a mega initiative “India Innovation Index” in 2019

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• The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation.
• It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, in partnership with other organizations and institutions, and is based on both subjective and objective data derived from several sources, including the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
• The index was started in 2007 by INSEAD and World Business, a British magazine. The GII is commonly used by corporate and government officials to compare countries by their level of innovation.
• The GII is computed by taking a simple average of the scores in two subindices, the Innovation Input Index and Innovation Output Index, which are composed of five and two pillars respectively. Each of these pillars describe an attribute of innovation, and comprise up to five indicators, and their score is calculated by the weighted average method
• To make India an innovation-driven economy, NITI Aayog, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) together launched a mega initiative “India Innovation Index” that will rank states on Innovations through country’s first online innovation index portal that will capture data on innovation from all Indian states on innovation and regularly update it in real time.
• The India Innovation Index Framework will be structured based on the best practices followed in Global Innovation Index (GII) indicators and additionally by adding India-centric parameters those truly reflect the Indian innovation ecosystem. This initiative will be the point of reference for all international agencies to collect India’s up to date data points for global indices and analytic. • “This portal will be a first-of-its-kind online platform where Global Innovation Index indicators and India–centric data from various states will be coalesced and disseminated and updated periodically. This will be a one-stop data warehouse and will track progress on each indicator at the National level and the State level on real-time basis. The access to this portal will be hosted on the NITI Aayog website, and NITI Aayog will update this data periodically.”
• States are been ranked on innovations since 2017
• NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner released the India Innovation Index (III) 2019.
• Karnataka is the most innovative major state in India. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh form the remaining top ten major states respectively.
• The top ten major states are majorly concentrated in southern and western India. Sikkim and Delhi take the top spots among the north- eastern & hill states, and union territories/city states/small states respectively. Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are the most efficient states in translating inputs into output.

NITI Aayog

• NITI Aayog launches India Innovation Index 2019 Karnataka tops the Innovation Index followed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Delhi
• Recognizing the role of innovation as a key driver of growth and prosperity for India, NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner has released the India Innovation Index 2019. The study is an outcome of extensive research and analysis, which looks holistically at the innovation landscape of India by examining the innovation capabilities and performance of Indian states and union territories. The aim is to create a holistic tool which can be used by policymakers across the country to identify the challenges to be addressed and strengths to build on when designing the economic growth policies for their regions.
• The index attempts to create an extensive framework for the continual evaluation of the innovation environment of 29 states and seven union territories in India and intends to perform the following three functions- 1) ranking of states and UTs based on their index scores, 2) recognizing opportunities and challenges, and 3) assisting in tailoring governmental policies to foster innovation.
• The India Innovation Index 2019 is calculated as the average of the scores of its two dimensions – Enablers and Performance. The Enablers are the factors that underpin innovative capacities, grouped in five pillars: (1) Human Capital, (2) Investment, (3) Knowledge Workers, (4) Business Environment, and (5) Safety and Legal Environment. The Performance dimension captures benefits that a nation derives from the inputs, divided in two pillars: (6) Knowledge Output and (7) Knowledge Diffusion.
• The index presents the latest findings and highlights the regional catalysts and caveats for promoting innovation readiness. The Report offers a comprehensive snapshot of the innovation ecosystem of 29 states and seven union territories. It also includes a section on state profiles covering 33 indicators looking at the different facets of innovation in India.
• The index shows that the innovation ecosystem of the country is strong in south and western parts of India. In fact, three of the top five major states are from southern India. Delhi and Haryana seem to be an exception to this rule and seem to be doing well on the Index. Thus, there seems to be a west-south and northeast divide across the country.
• The states have been bifurcated into three categories: major states, north-east and hill states, and union territories / city states / small states. Karnataka is the leader in the overall rankings in the category of major states. Karnataka’s number one position in the overall ranking is partly attributed to its top rank in the Performance dimension. It is also among the top performers in Infrastructure, Knowledge Workers, Knowledge Output and Business Environment.
• Among the category of major states, Maharashtra performs the best in the dimension of Enablers. This implies that it has the best enabling environment for innovation, even though the state comes in at the third position in the overall innovation index.

MCQ 6

1. 5 thWorld Coffee Conference (WCC)& Expo was held in Bengaluru from September 7-12, 2019.
2. The Coffee Board of India is an organization managed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the government of India

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•  Ministry of Commerce & Industry Farmers be Made Stakeholders in The Coffee Value Chain: Piyush Goyal Crowd Source Ideas for Innovative WCC & Expo 2020: Commerce & Industry Minister Make India Sustainable Destination for Coffee: Piyush Goyal Commerce & Industry Minister Speaks at Curtain Raiser Event for 5th WCC & Expo 2020 This is the first time that the World Coffee Conference and Expo will be held in Asia.
• During his address Commerce and Industry Minister urged the Coffee Board of India and the International Coffee Organization (ICO) to bring in innovation to the conference and expo by crowd sourcing ideas from citizens. He further urged ICO and Coffee Board of India to look at ways that will make Indian coffee a brand that is recognized worldwide and formulate ways to make India a sustainable destination for coffee.
• Commerce and Industry Minister also said that methods may be explored to make coffee farmers stakeholders in the value chain as this will have a positive impact on the 25 million families who depend on coffee cultivation the world over. The Minister suggested that a rupee may be added to every cup of coffee that is bought all over the world by coffee lovers and this can be given to the coffee growers, to make a positive impact on the lives of coffee growers and their families.
• Commerce and Industry Minister said that the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka will extend full co-operation for the success of the 5 thWorld Coffee Conference (WCC)& Expo to be held in Bengaluru from September 7-12, 2020. This is a great opportunity that India has got and the Coffee Board of India will welcome to India participants from more than 70 countries for the Expo and Conference, said the Minister.
• India will be hosting the WCC 2020 as it is the 5 th largest export and producer in the coffee in the world and is emerging as the major coffee consuming country.
• The Government of India has also a strong focus on increasing coffee plantation. The global community also desires to connect with coffee growers in India and Asia and WCC 2020 offers an opportunity to explore India and Asia to the global coffee community.
• Bengaluru is the coffee capital of India and produces nearly 70% of India’s coffee

 MCQ 7

1. Under UNSC Each year the 193-member General Assembly elects 10 non-permanent members for a two-year term at the UN hightable
2. India is currently in the list of 10 Non Permanent members

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• Each year the 193-member General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term at the UN high-table. The five permanent members of the Council are China, France, Russia, UK and the US.
• The Council is composed of 15 Members: Five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly (with end of term year):
• Belgium (2020)
• Côte d’Ivoire (2019)
• Dominican Republic (2020)
• Equatorial Guinea (2019)
• Germany (2020)
• Indonesia (2020)
• Kuwait (2019)
• Peru (2019)
• Poland (2019)
• South Africa (2020)
• Along with the five permanent members, the Security Council of the United Nations has temporary members that hold their seats on a rotating basis by geographic region. Non-permanent members may be involved in global security briefings.
• In its first two decades, the Security Council had six non-permanent members, the first of which were Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Poland. In 1965, the number of non-permanent members was expanded to ten.
• These ten non-permanent members are elected by the United Nations General Assembly for two-year terms starting on 1 January, with five replaced each year.
• To be approved, a candidate must receive at least two-thirds of all votes cast for that seat, which can result in deadlock if there are two roughly evenly matched candidates. In 1979, a standoff between Cuba and Colombia only ended after three months and a record 154 rounds of voting; both eventually withdrew in favour of Mexico as a compromise candidate. A retiring member is not eligible for immediate re-election.
• The African Group is represented by three members; the Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, and Western European and Others groups by two apiece; and the Eastern European Group by one. Traditionally, one of the seats assigned to either the Asia-Pacific Group or the African Group is filled by a nation from the Arab world.
• Currently, elections for terms beginning in even-numbered years select two African members, and one each within Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Terms beginning in oddnumbered years consist of two Western European and Other members, and one each from Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean

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