Daily Current Affairs MCQ / UPSC / IAS / 20-08-19 | Free PDF

MCQ 1

 Driven by serious sustainability concern, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had proposed a draft National Resource Efficiency Policy 2019. Which are the features

1. Ban on plastic use
2. to drive the country towards circular economy
3. moving towards ‘zero landfill’ approach in the country

(A) 1 & 2
(B) All
(C) 1 only
(D) 2 & 3

Key features of the policy:

• It seeks to set up a National Resource Efficiency Authority (NREA) with a core working group housed in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and a members group with representations from different ministries, state/union territory, and other stakeholders.
• The authority would be supported by an Inter-Ministerial National Resource Efficiency Board to guide on the aspects critical to its implementation.
• It also plans to offer tax benefits on recycled materials, green loans to small and medium Enterprises (SMEs) and soft loans to construct waste disposal facilities, apart from setting up Material Recovery Facilities (MRF).
• Manufacturers and service providers would also be required to use more recycled or renewable materials and awareness would be created among consumers to indicate the shift.
• Idea of the national policy is to drive the country towards circular economy through efficient use of available material resources, based on principle of 6R and ‘green public procurement’.
• The 6R stands for reduce, reuse, recycle, redesign, re-manufacture and refurbish while the very premise of ‘green public procurement’ is to procure products with lower environmental footprints such as secondary raw materials and locally sourced materials.
• It also pitches for moving towards ‘zero landfill’ approach in the country, hinting at possibility of imposing ‘landfill taxes’ and ‘high tipping fees’ for bulk generators of waste so that they can move towards optimal use of materials and better waste management.

 What is Resource Efficiency?

• Resource efficiency very simply put is making more with fewer materials. In practice, through a life-cycle approach, it leads to minimizing impact on environment & the associated societal burdens, transforming ‘waste’ into ‘resources’ fostering circular economy, and strengthening resource security.
• Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy are important goals and central principles for achieving sustainable development. Sustainability is a global priority and SDGs commitment and 11th Five year plan also clearly enunciate importance of Resource efficiency (RE).
• India’s large population, rapid urbanization and expanding industrial production have led to exploitation of available limited natural resources with concerns regarding resource depletion and future availability becoming more pronounced.
• Therefore, Enhancing resource efficiency (RE) and promoting the use of secondary raw materials (SRM) is a pertinent strategy to address these challenges and reduce dependence on primary resource.

Challenges before India:

• According to data available, India’s resource extraction of 1580 tonnes/acre is much higher than the world average of 450 tonnes/acre, while material productivity remains low.
• Water is fast becoming scarce while deteriorating air quality has emerged as a major threat to human life.
• There has been massive soil degradation, with 147 million hectares (Mha) of a total of 329 Mha land area hit.
• Import dependency is nearly 100% for the majority of the ‘most critical’ materials -cobalt, copper and lithium that find extensive application in high-end technology industry.
• Over 80% of crude oil that is processed in the economy is imported, alongwith 85% of its coking coal demand. Extraction of non-metallic minerals is crippled with challenges.
• To add to the problems, the country’s recycling rate is just about 20-25% compared with 70% in developing countries in Europe. The situation will only aggravate as India is likely to double its material consumption by 2030.

MCQ 2

1. The capabilities of Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) are being enhanced under the National Maritime Domain Awareness (NMDA) Project.
2. The NMDA project was launched in accordance with the SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) program

 Choose correct

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

• The IFC-IOR was established with the vision of strengthening maritime security in the region and beyond, by building a common coherent maritime situation picture and acting as a maritime information hub for the region.
• The IFC has been established at the Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) in Gurugram, which is the single point centre linking all the coastal radar chains to generate a seamless real-time picture of the nearly 7,500-km coastline.
• Through this Centre, information on “white shipping”, or commercial shipping, will be exchanged with countries in the region to improve maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean.

SAGAR Programme (Security and Growth for All in the Region)

• SAGAR is a term coined by PM Modi in 2015 during his Mauritius visit with a focus on blue economy.
• It is a maritime initiative which gives priority to Indian Ocean region for ensuring peace, stability and prosperity of India in Indian Ocean region.
• The goal is to seek a climate of trust and transparency; respect for international maritime rules and norms by all countries; sensitivity to each other`s interests; peaceful resolution of maritime issues; and increase in maritime cooperation.
• It is in line with the principles of Indian Ocean Rim Association.

The Indian ocean is important

• It enjoys a privileged location at the crossroads of global trade, connecting the major engines of the international economy in the Northern Atlantic and AsiaPacific. This is particularly important in an era in which global shipping has burgeoned.
• Indian Ocean is also rich in natural resources. 40% of the world’s offshore oil production takes place in the Indian Ocean basin.
• Fishing in the Indian Ocean now accounts for almost 15% of the world’s total.
• Mineral resources are equally important, with nodules containing nickel, cobalt, and iron, and massive sulphide deposits of manganese, copper, iron, zinc, silver, and gold present in sizeable quantities on the sea bed.
• Indian Ocean coastal sediments are also important sources of titanium, zirconium, tin, zinc, and copper. Additionally, various rare earth elements are present, even if their extraction is not always commercially feasible.

MCQ 3

 What is a tardigrade

1. A scale to measure strength of metals
2. A micro-animal
3. A chemical that is found on moon
4. Alloy used in satellites

• Tardigrades known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of waterdwelling eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them little water bears. In 1777, the Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani named them Tardigrada, which means “slow steppers”.
• They have been found everywhere, from mountaintops to the deep sea and mud volcanoes. from tropical rain forests to the Antarctic. Tardigrades are among the most resilient animals known, with individual species able to survive extreme conditions— such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation—that would quickly kill most other known forms of life. Tardigrades have survived exposure to outer space. About 1,150 known species form the phylum Tardigrada, a part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa. The group includes fossils dating from 530 million years ago, in the Cambrian period.
• Tardigrades are usually about 0.5 mm (0.02 in) long when fully grown. They are short and plump, with four pairs of legs, each ending in claws (usually four to eight) or sucking disks. Tardigrades are prevalent in mosses and lichens and feed on plant cells, algae, and small invertebrates. When collected, they may be viewed under a very lowpower microscope, making them accessible to students and amateur scientists
• Beresheet:
• Israel’s First Lunar Lander- Beresheet– was launched on board Falcon 9.
• Beresheet attempted to become the first Israeli spacecraft, and the first privately-operated mission, to land on the Moon.
• So far, only three other nations have carried out controlled “soft” landings on the moon – the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. Did any of them survive the impact? If they did,

 what happens to them now?

• When the tardigrades were placed on the Israeli moon mission Beresheet, they were in a tun state — dehydrated, with their chubby limbs and heads retracted and all metabolic activity temporarily suspended.
• Their arrival on the moon was unexpectedly explosive; Beresheet’s crash landing on April 11 may have scattered the microorganisms onto the lunar surface.
• But as long as the tardigrades remain on the moon, their chances of spontaneously awakening are low. Without liquid water, the tiny creatures will remain in a tun state, and while there’s evidence of ice on the moon, liquid water is nowhere to be found.
• Even if the lunar tardigrades did somehow encounter liquid water while still on the moon, without food, air and a moderate ambient temperature, they wouldn’t last very long once they revived.

What’s the concern now? Are we polluting the moon’s atmosphere?

• Scientists have yet to find any evidence that the moon ever hosted living organisms(other than visiting astronauts and microbial hitchhikers from Earth) that could be threatened by microscopic invaders. However, contamination could carry serious consequences for missions to planets where life might yet be found.
• There is already a fairly sizeable amount of debris from redundant spacecraft and litter left behind by astronauts. As more missions are planned to the moon, eventually with human passengers and perhaps even settlements, we must learn to clean up as we go along. Otherwise, we are going to have the sort of crisis that we are seeing on Earth with the outcry about environmental damage from plastics.

MCQ 4

1. India is the 2nd largest emitter of anthropogenic sulphur dioxide in the world
2. Vehicular pollution is the biggest reason in india for SO2 emission

Choose correct

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

• India is the largest emitter of anthropogenic sulphur dioxide in the world, as per the data released by environmental NGO Greenpeace on August 19, 2019.
• Anthropogenic sulphur dioxide is produced from burning of coal and it is known to largely contribute to air pollution.

 Key findings:

• SO2 hotspots across the world have been mapped.
• The SO2 hotspots were detected by the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) satellite.
• India has over 15 percent of all anthropogenic sulphur dioxide (SO2) hotspots in the world.
• The main SO2 hotspots in India include Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Talcher and Jharsuguda in Odisha, Neyveli and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Kutch in Gujarat, Ramagundam in Telangana and Chandrapur and Koradi in Maharashtra.
• Norilsk smelter complex in Russia is the largest SO2 emission hotspot in the world, followed by Kriel in Mpumalanga province in South Africa and Zagroz in Iran.

1. SO2 emission is a significant contributor to air pollution and the largest source of SO2 in the atmosphere is burning of fossil fuels in power plants and other industrial facilities.
2. The primary reason for India’s high emission output is the expansion of coal-based electricity generation over the past decade.
3. India should take stricter action against coal power plants and should not give them a free to hand to continue polluting the atmosphere and cause a public health emergency.

Efforts in this regard:

1. The Environment Ministry had introduced SO2 emission limits for coal power plants in December 2015 and set the initial deadline to control SO2 emissions from power generation by December 2017.
2. The deadline was later extended till December 2019 after a request from the Ministry of Power and power plant operators in Delhi-NCR and till 2022 for some other power plants across the country through a Supreme Court order.

 MCQ 5

Debentures are used for

1. Controlling illegal money transaction internationally
2. By large companies to borrow money
3. Insure the assets of a company
4. None

• In corporate finance, a debenture is a medium- to long-term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money, at a fixed rate of interest. The legal term “debenture” originally referred to a document that either creates a debt or acknowledges it, but in some countries the term is now used interchangeably with bond, loan stock or note. A debenture is thus like a certificate of loan or a loan bond evidencing the fact that the company is liable to pay a specified amount with interest and although the money raised by the debentures becomes a part of the company’s capital structure, it does not become share capital. Senior debentures get paid before subordinate debentures, and there are varying rates of risk and payoff for these categories.
• Government removes Debenture Redemption Reserve requirement for Listed Companies, NBFCs and HFCs by amending the Companies (Share Capital & Debentures) Rules.
• The measure has been taken by the Government with a view to reducing the cost of the capital raised by companies through issue of debentures and is expected to significantly deepen the Bond Market
• What is Debenture Redemption Reserve (DRR)?
• It is a provision stating that any Indian corporation that issues debentures must create a debenture redemption service in an effort to protect investors from the possibility of a company defaulting.
• This provision was tacked onto the Indian Companies Act of 1956, in an amendment introduced in the year 2000.

 MCQ 6

Okjokull glacier is located in

1. Alps
2. Antarctica
3. Arctic
4. None

MCQ 7

1. The Union Defence Ministry has fixed the retirement age of all Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel at 60 years
2. Earlier All personnel in the Central Industrial Security Force and the Assam Rifles retire at the age of 50 & others @ 57

Choose correct

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

MCQ 8

1. Mangde Chhu river is the principal river in Meghalaya
2. It is a direct tributary of Brahmputra

 Choose correct

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

PM Modi inaugurates Mangdechhu hydroelectric power plant in Bhutan

• The Rs 4,500-crore hydroelectric plant, touted as a Bhutan-India friendship project, is a 720MW run-of-river power plant built on the Mangdechhu River in Trongsa Dzongkhag district of central Bhutan. It was developed by the Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Project Authority (MHPA), which was jointly constituted by the Indian and the Bhutanese governments.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the Mangdechhu hydroelectric power plant, one of the major projects under Bhutan’s initiative to generate 10,000 MW hydropower by 2020 with the Indian government’s support.
• The Mangdechhu project is funded by India through a 70 per cent loan and a 30 per cent grant. It is estimated to generate 2,923 GWh of electricity.

MCQ 9

1. To strengthen enforcement of the ban on production and sale of electronic cigarettes, the State government of karnataka has amended the Karnataka Poisons (Possession and Sale) Rules 2015, notifying nicotine as Class A poison under the rules.

2. Nicotine is not present in e-cigarettes so only these will be allowed to be sold now

Choose correct

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

 MCQ 10

Southern railway headquarters are in

1. Kozikode
2. Chennai
3. Sikunderabad
4. Bengaluru

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