Daily Current Affairs MCQ UPSC / IAS / 25-06-19

Table of Contents

MCQ 1

Rashtriya Gokul Mission is a focussed project under National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development
It was announced in budget 2018-19

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

Funds have been mobilized under Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM) for setting up of 21 Gokul Grams as Integrated Cattle Development Centres.
To conserve and develop indigenous bovine breeds, government has launched ‘Rashtriya Gokul Mission’ under the National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development (NPBBD).
Rashtriya Gokul Mission is a focussed project under National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development, with an outlay of Rs 500 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan. During 2014-15 Rs 150.00 crores will be allocated for development, preservation and conservation of indigenous breeds.
the Mission will be implemented with the objectives to: a) development and conservation of indigenous breeds b) undertake breed improvement programme for indigenous cattle breeds so as to improve the genetic makeup and increase the stock; c) enhance milk production and productivity; d) upgrade nondescript cattle using elite indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi and e) distribute disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service.
Rashtriya gokul mission will be implemented through the “state implementing agency (SIA viz livestock development boards). State gauseva ayogs will be given the mandate to sponsor proposals to the SIA’s (ldb’s) and monitor implementation of the sponsored proposal. All agencies having a role in indigenous cattle development will be the “participating agencies” like CFSPTI, ccbfs, ICAR, universities, colleges, ngo’s, cooperative societies and gaushalas with best germplasm .

The funds under the scheme will be allocated for:

A) establishment of integrated indigenous cattle centres viz “gokul gram”;
B) strengthening of bull mother farms to conserve high genetic merit indigenous breeds;
C) establishment of field performance recording (FPR) in the breeding tract
D) assistance to institutions/institutes which are repositories of best germplasm;
E) implementation of pedigree selection programme for the indigenous breeds with large population;
F) establishment of breeder’s societies: gopalan sangh
G) distribution of disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service
H) incentive to farmers maintaining elite animals of indigenous breeds;
I) heifer rearing programme; award to farmers (“gopal ratna” ) and breeders’ societies (“kamadhenu” );
J) organization of milk yield competitions for indigenous breeds and K) organization of training programme for technical and non technical personnel working at the institute/institutions engaged in indigenous cattle development.

MCQ 2

The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) is a statutary body
Its main task is to compensate to small traders who are struggling after GST implementation in states.

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

The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) has been constituted under Section 171 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
It is to ensure the reduction in rate of tax or the benefit of input tax credit is passed on to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices.
The Authority’s core function is to ensure that the benefits of the reduction is GST rates on goods and services made by GST Council and proportional change in the Input tax credit passed on to the ultimate consumers and recipient respectively by way of reduction in the prices by the suppliers. Composition:
The National Anti-profiteering Authority shall be headed by a senior officer of the level of a Secretary to the Government of India and shall have four technical members from the Centre and/or the States.

Powers and functions of the authority:

In the event the National Anti-profiteering Authority confirms the necessity of applying anti-profiteering measures, it has the power to order the business concerned to reduce its prices or return the undue benefit availed along with interest to the recipient of the goods or services.
If the undue benefit cannot be passed on to the recipient, it can be ordered to be deposited in the Consumer Welfare Fund.
In extreme cases the National Anti-profiteering Authority can impose a penalty on the defaulting business entity and even order the cancellation of its registration under GST.
Introduction:
Any reduction in rate of tax on any supply of goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit should have been passed on to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices. However it has been the experience of many countries that when GST was introduced there has been a marked increase in inflation and the prices of the commodities. This happened in spite of the availability of the tax credit right from the production stage to the final consumption stage which should have actually reduced the final prices. This was obviously happening because the supplier was not passing on the benefit to the consumer and thereby indulging in illegal profiteering. National Anti-profiteering Authority is therefore being constituted by the central Government to examine whether input tax credits availed by any registered person or the reduction in the tax rate have actually resulted in a comm

Vision and Mission of NAA

The National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) is the institutional mechanism under GST law to check the unfair profit-making activities by the trading community. The Authority’s core function is to ensure that the benefits of the reduction is GST rates on goods and services made by GST Council and proportional change in the Input tax credit passed on to the ultimate consumers and recipient respectively by way of reduction in the prices by the suppliers.
The formation of NAA comes in the background of rate-reduction of large number of items by GST Council in its 22nd meeting at Guwahati. At the meeting, the Council reduced rates of more than 200 items including goods and services. This has made tremendous price reduction effect and the consumers will be benefited only if the traders are making quick reduction of prices of respective items.
The Authority’s main function is to ensure that traders are not realizing unfair profit by charging high price from consumers in the name of GST. The responsibility of NAA is to examine and check such profiteering activities and recommend punitive actions including cancellation of Registration. The chairman, NAA along with 4 Technical members and with help of the Standing Committee, Screening Committee in every state and the Directorate General of Safeguards in the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC), will work together on the anti-profiteering front.
We hope to bring transparency in our decisions and be more proactive in persuading the industry and traders in passing on benefits to the consumers.

MCQ 3

ICAO is a trade association of the world’s airlines.
Senior bureaucrat Shefali Juneja was appointed as representative of India in council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Montreal, Canada.
Its not an agency of UN

Choose correct
(A) 1 & 2
(B) 2 only
(C) All
(D) None

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.
Its headquarters is located in the Quartier International of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The ICAO Council adopts standards and recommended practices concerning air navigation, its infrastructure, flight inspection, prevention of unlawful interference, and facilitation of border-crossing procedures for international civil aviation. ICAO defines the protocols for air accident investigation that are followed by transport safety authorities in countries signatory to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.
The Air Navigation Commission (ANC) is the technical body within ICAO. The Commission is composed of 19 Commissioners, nominated by the ICAO’s contracting states and appointed by the ICAO Council.
Commissioners serve as independent experts, who although nominated by their states, do not serve as state or political representatives. International Standards And Recommended Practices are developed under the direction of the ANC through the formal process of ICAO Panels. Once approved by the Commission, standards are sent to the Council, the political body of ICAO, for consultation and coordination with the Member States before final adoption.
ICAO is distinct from other international air transport organizations, particularly because it alone is vested with international authority (among signatory states): other organizations include the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association representing airlines; the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO), an organization for Air navigation service providers (ANSPs); and the Airports Council International, a trade association of airport authorities.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a trade association of the world’s airlines.
Consisting of 290 airlines, primarily major carriers, representing 117 countries, the IATA’s member airlines account for carrying approximately 82% of total available seat miles air traffic.
IATA supports airline activity and helps formulate industry policy and standards. It is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with Executive Offices in Geneva, Switzerland.
List of specialized agencies of the United Nations

1 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
2 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
3 International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
4 International Labour Organization (ILO)
5 International Maritime Organization (IMO)
6 International Monetary Fund (IMF)
7 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 8 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
9 United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
10 Universal Postal Union (UPU)
11 World Bank Group (WBG)
11.1International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
11.2International Finance Corporation (IFC)
11.3International Development Association (IDA)
12 World Health Organization (WHO)
13 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
14 World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
15 World Tourism Organization (UNWTO or WTO)
MCQ 4

Superconductivity can make wireless electricity possible for distant objects
It is a state in which a material shows absolutely zero electrical resistance

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

Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance and expulsion of magnetic flux fields occurring in certain materials, called superconductors, when cooled below a characteristic critical temperature. It was discovered by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911, in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phenomenon.
It is characterized by the Meissner effect, the complete ejection of magnetic field lines from the interior of the superconductor during its transitions into the superconducting state. The occurrence of the Meissner effect indicates that superconductivity cannot be understood simply as the idealization of perfect conductivity in classical physics.
IISc researchers have reported superconductivity at room temperature. Their finding, now under review, will be a breakthrough if verified.
Superconductivity is a phenomenon that, so far, has been possible only at extremely low temperatures, in the range of 100°C below zero. The search for a material that exhibits superconductivity at room temperature, or at least manageable low temperatures, has been going on for decades, without success. If the claimed discovery were confirmed, it could be one of the biggest breakthroughs in physics in this century so far.
It is a state in which a material shows absolutely zero electrical resistance. While resistance is a property that restricts the flow of electricity, superconductivity allows unhindered flow.
In a superconducting state, the material offers no resistance at all. All the electrons align themselves in a particular direction, and move without any obstruction in a “coherent” manner.
Because of zero resistance, superconducting materials can save huge amounts of energy, and be used to make highly efficient electrical appliances.
Two fundamental properties of a superconductor:

Zero resistance to electrical current.
Diamagnetism

Diamagnetism is a property opposite to normal magnetism that we are used to. A diamagnetic substance repels an external magnetic field, in sharp contrast to normal magnetism, or ferromagnetism, under which a substance is attracted by an external magnetic field.
The problem is that superconductivity, ever since it was first discovered in 1911, has only been observed at very low temperatures, somewhere close to what is called absolute zero (0°K or -273.15°C). In recent years, scientists have been able to find superconductive materials at temperatures that are higher than absolute zero but, in most cases, these temperatures are still below -100°C and the pressures required are extreme. Creating such extreme conditions of temperature and pressure is a difficult task.
Therefore, the applications of superconducting materials have remained limited as of now.

MCQ 5
E-2020 initiative is related to

E-waste
Space technology
E governance
Disease

Four countries from Asia — China, Iran, Malaysia and Timor-Leste — and one from Central America — El Salvador — reported no indigenous cases of malaria in 2018, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The countries were part of the global health body’s E-2020 initiative, launched in 2016, working in 21 countries, spanning five regions, to scale up efforts to achieve malaria elimination by 2020.
In May 2015, the World Health Assembly endorsed a new Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030, setting ambitious goals aimed at dramatically lowering the global malaria burden over this 15-year period, with milestones along the way to track progress. A key milestone for 2020 is the elimination of malaria in at least 10 countries that had the disease in 2015. To meet this target, countries must report zero indigenous cases in 2020.
According to a WHO analysis published in 2016, 21 countries have the potential to eliminate malaria by 2020. They were selected based on an analysis that looked at the likelihood of elimination across 3 key criteria:

trends in malaria case incidence between 2000 and 2014;
declared malaria objectives of affected countries; and
informed opinions of WHO experts in the field.

Together, these 21 malaria-eliminating countries are part of a concerted effort known as the E-2020 initiative, supported by WHO and other partners, to eliminate malaria in an ambitious but technically feasible time frame

Malaria and concerns for India:

Contracted through the bite of an infected mosquito, malaria remains one of the world’s leading killers. It accounted for an estimated 219 million cases from 87 countries and over 400,000 related deaths in 2017.
Over 60 per cent of fatalities were among children under five years, and caused 266,000 of all malaria deaths worldwide.
India (4 per cent) was among the five countries, the others being — Nigeria (25 per cent), Democratic Republic of the Congo (11 per cent), Mozambique (5 per cent), and Uganda (4 per cent) — that accounted for nearly 50 per cent of all malaria cases worldwide.
The country was also among the 11 countries — 10 in Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda and United Republic of Tanzania) — that reported approximately 70 per cent of all malaria cases (151 million) and deaths (274,000).
Among these countries, only India reported progress in reducing its malaria cases in 2017 (24 per cent reduction in cases) compared to 2016, according to the report.

MCQ 6

There is a new cryptocurrency called Libra, announced by Facebook
Such a currency is powered by a technology called blockchain, which functions like an open ledger that gets updated in real time
Problem with currency like libra is that it will not be backed by any asset so no intrinsic value

Choose correct

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

There is a new cryptocurrency called Libra, announced by Facebook . While this signals Facebook’s plans to expand into the digital currency market, it has also raised privacy concerns. How cryptocurrency works?
It is a virtual currency, which users buy and store in any of several available digital wallets, and use it for transactions on a decentralised network that is not controlled by one bank or a government.
Such a currency s powered by a technology called blockchain, which functions like an open ledger that gets updated in real time.
Each transaction on a blockchain network is preserved, and reversing it is impossible. Because data are encrypted, cryptocurrency is supposed to be secure and anonymous. Is Libra different?
The values of most cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, tend to fluctuate against real currencies.
The plan is to ensure Libra is stable and give users confidence.
Libra will be backed by a reserve of assets designed to “give it intrinsic value” and ensure stability. These assets includes securities and fiat currencies (like dollar, pound).
Libra will be controlled by the Libra Association, a non-profit based in Geneva.
Facebook will have a leadership role for 2019, but will later become one of many members of the association. Other prominent names backing Libra are Uber, Visa, Lyft, Mastercard, Paypal, and PayU from India.
The association has 28 members now and aims at 100 founding members by the first half of 2020. • Libra is planned as a “global currency” for use anywhere in the world without transaction fees. It will target those who are unbanked, who are believed to number around 1.7 billion across the world. Privacy concerns:
Cryptocurrencies allow anonymous funding potentially acting as conduits for money laundering and terror financing. As the number of users and transactions are increasing, the hackers are getting into the personal wallets or even to the entire transaction.
Fraudsters are finding new ways to deceive consumers and loot them.
The anonymity of cryptocurrency has made way for cybercriminals to hold victims hard drives hostage to extort payment from them in terms of bitcoins.
Since cryptocurrency is borderless, it can be really attractive for terrorist finances as they can transfer funds across countries in a cheap way.
Certain characteristics of cryptocurrency like speed, cost, security make it a lucrative source to finance such activities
Cryptocurrency is being used to fund child pornography, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking
Most new users know close to nothing of the technology, or how to verify the genuineness of a particular crypto currency.
Intense volatility of cryptocurrency.
Facebook’s entrance into the financial industry is a threat to democracies and their citizens around the world, on the same scale as disinformation and information warfare, which also depend on social media for their effectiveness.
In the wake of the not too distant global financial crisis, and the “fake news” and disinformation culture that is developing, people must slow down and fully evaluate disruptive technology of this magnitude. Society cannot withstand a launch of a cryptocurrency in Facebook’s infamous “move fast and break things” style.
Fiat money is a currency without intrinsic value that has been established as money, often by government regulation. Fiat money does not have use value, and has value only because a government maintains its value, or because parties engaging in exchange agree on its value.
It was introduced as an alternative to commodity money and representative money. Commodity money is created from a good, often a precious metal such as goldor silver, which has uses other than as a medium of exchange (such a good is called a commodity). Representative money is similar to fiat money, but it represents a claim on a commodity (which can be redeemed to a greater or lesser extent)