Daily Current Affairs MCQ / UPSC / IAS / 30-08-19 | Free PDF

MCQ 1

1. Shagun online junction is launched by ministry of textile
2. It is to create better quality and more jobs in textile sector

Choose correct

(A) Only 1

(B) Only 2

(C) Both

(D) None

Shagun

• Union HRD Ministry launched Integrated Online junction for School Education ‘Shagun’.
• It is one of world’s largest system of its kind to improve school education,
• by creating a junction for all online portals and websites relating to various activities of the Department of School Education and all States and Union Territories.
• The word ‘Shagun’ is coined from two different words,
• ‘Shala’ meaning Schools and
• ‘Gunvatta’ meaning Quality
• Websites of Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, other CBSE affiliated schools, SCERTs, among others are integrated with ‘Shagun’.
• The portal seeks to connect approximately 92 lakh teachers and 26 crores, students.
• Common people can directly give their feedback about schools which will further increase public participation.
• ‘Integrated National School Education Treasury’ (INSET) is to be set up,
• It envisages a fully integrated, instantly accessible and seamless information network for all parameters relating to the students, teachers, and schools in the country.

 The main focus areas will be,

1. Reinforcing and cleaning the data of the Integrated Online Junction through feedback from Stakeholders.
2. Ensuring full inter-operability among the websites, portals and applications which are already hosted in the junction.
3. Creating high-quality e-contents, including quizzes and puzzles to enhance learning.
4. Using artificial intelligence and deep machine learning in a variety of ways to enhance the quality of school education.

MCQ 2

1. H1N1 has killed maximum people in north east part of India
2. Main reservoirs of the virus are chickens

Choose correct

(A) Only 1

(B) Only 2

(C) Both

 (D)None

• In 2009, the first case of ‘Influenza A’ H1N1 was reported in Mexico, later the infection spread to a total of 214 countries.
• 10 years since H1N1 outbreaks in India, saw as many as 1.58 lakh persons being infected and over 10,000 succumbing to it.
• H1N1 (Swine Flu) is an infection caused by a virus, a subtype of Influenza A virus (a communicable viral disease).
• It is a common infection in ‘pigs’ worldwide and it can potentially infect the respiratory tract of pigs.
• Sometimes, people who are closely associated with pigs or in the proximity of pigs have developed swine flu.
• Since the virus is contagious, it can spread from human to human.
• Respiratory transmission occurs mainly by droplets disseminated by unprotected coughs and sneezes.
• Hand contamination and direct inoculation of the virus is another possible source of transmission.
• An analysis in India shows that ‘Maharashtra’ has reported the highest number of cases and deaths since the influenza outbreak.
• In the temperate countries, peak influenza activity is recorded in winters.
• In the tropical and sub-tropical countries like in India, the primary peak of influenza activity is during the monsoon.
• Overcrowding leads to increased transmission of airborne infection in India.
• Infection cases are reported mainly from western parts of India, localized to Pune in Maharashtra and Jaipur in Rajasthan.
• North-eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, which had never reported H1N1 in the past, notified 44 cases in 2017.
• According to researchers, observations require further probe to understand the changing ecological and transmission dynamics.

 MCQ 3

Coprolite recently in news are

1. Bacteria
2. Type of algaes
3. Newly discovered rocks
4. Fossils

Prehistoric puma feces reveals oldest parasite DNA ever recorded

• The oldest parasite DNA ever recorded has been found in the ancient, desiccated faeces of a puma.
• A team of Argentinian scientists from the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) made the discovery after studying a coprolite taken from a rock-shelter in the country’s mountainous Catamarca Province, where the remains of now extinct megafauna have previously been recovered in stratigraphic excavations.
• Radiocarbon dating revealed that the coprolite and thus the parasitic roundworm eggs preserved inside dated back to between 16,570 and 17,000 years ago, towards the end of the last Ice Age.

MCQ 4

1. Giraffes are only found in Africa
2. They are critically endangered on IUCN list
3. Not covered in CITES appendices

Choose correct

(A)1 & 2

(B)1 & 3

(C)1 only

(D)None

• ‘Giraffes’ accorded protection from trade for the first time –
• The giraffe has been placed in Appendix II of CITES.
• This places prohibitions on uncontrolled trade.
• They have been listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN list.
• 40% decline of African giraffe has been recorded over the last 30 years.
• The Indian star tortoise was upgraded to CITES Appendix I (threatened with extinction).
• It got the highest level of international protection from commercial trade.
• The Indian star tortoise is an IUCN-listed ‘Vulnerable’ species.
• It is being illegally trafficked despite restrictions on its trade.
• To combat the stress (largely from trading), range states like Sri Lanka and India, submitted a proposal to CITES summit.
• It is to move the star tortoise from Appendix II to Appendix I, it was passed with a majority by nations participating in CITES.
• Now it prohibits international trade of these species except when the purpose of the import is for scientific research.
• They are native to India and found only in Sri Lanka, some parts of India and adjoining Pakistan.
• ‘Sharks’ gets special protection –
• 18 species of sharks and rays, threatened by the scale of international trade in their fins and meat, were included in Appendix II of the Convention.
• This will limits the trade to sustainable levels.
• No more trade in ‘African elephants’ –
• Parties vote to restrict trade from Zimbabwe and Botswana.
• They can no longer be shipped to zoos and circuses worldwide
• This will save an untold number of baby elephants from being torn from their mothers, beaten during capture and conscripted into a lifetime of captivity.
• Zimbabwe made $2.7 million by selling 97 live elephants to China and the United Arab Emirates between 2012 and 2018.

MCQ 5

 Assam’s population according to 2011 census is around

1. 4.22 crores
2. 3.12 crores
3. 5.10 crores
4. 2.80 crores

• The NRC is the list of Indian citizens and was prepared in 1951, following the census of 1951.
• The process of NRC update was taken up in Assam as per a Supreme Court order in 2013.
• In order to wean out cases of illegal migration from Bangladesh and other adjoining areas, NRC updation was carried out under The Citizenship Act, 1955, and according to rules framed in the Assam Accord.
• The Assam government released the final draft of NRC on July 30, 2018. The list incorporates names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants. The names of 40.07 lakh people have been left out

MCQ 6

Code of Conduct For Politicians is mentioned in

1. Article 74
2. Article 124
3. Its according to the conventions of Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha
4. None

• Lok Sabha Speaker has said that a common code of conduct will be framed for legislative bodies to check interruptions and for this a committee of presiding officers will be formed, which, after due consultations with Speakers of Legislative Assemblies and the Chairmen of Legislative Councils, will present its report later this year.
• Background:
• Code of conduct for high constitutional functionaries and representatives of the people have been discussed for long. A code for Union ministers was adopted in 1964, and state governments were advised to adopt it as well.
• A conference of Chief Justices in 1999 resolved to adopt a code of conduct for judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts — this 15-point ‘Reinstatement of Values in Judicial Life’ recommended that serving judges should maintain an air of “aloofness” in their official and personal lives.
• In the case of MPs, the first step was the constitution of Parliamentary Standing Committees on Ethics in both Houses. The Committee in Rajya Sabha was inaugurated by Chairman K R Narayanan on May 30, 1997 “to oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the Members and to examine the cases referred to it with reference to ethical and other misconduct of Members”.
• Why do We Need a Code of Conduct For Politicians?
• Elections in India are often remembered for personal attacks, snide remarks and hate speeches made at the expense of taking political discourse to its nadir.
• In a bid to assert their superiority over the rest, some political leaders go overboard and blur the line between public and private lives. Some even threaten voters with dire consequences if they are not voted to power.
• Parliament and State Legislatures, the representative institutions, are accountable to the people and matters concerning different regions need to be constructively discussed and debated in the House.
• Therefore, to ensure civility in political speeches and expressions, establishing code of conduct for politicians is mandatory.
• Key recommendations:
• Prohibit MPs from misusing the power and immunities they get.
• An MP should avoid conflict between a private and a public interest.
• No parliamentarian should be allowed to vote on those questions in the House, in which he/she has a vested interest.
• Amend the Constitution to ensure a minimum of 110 days of sitting in a legislature having more than 100 members, and 90-50 days of sitting in Houses with less than 100 members depending on the size of the State involved.
• The filing by legislators of a statement of income, assets and liabilities, and an indication of changes in these figures over time.
• Punishment of members by admonition, reprimand, censure or withdrawal from the House in case of violations or breach of the code of conduct.
• Automatic suspension from the House of any member involved in offences of grave misconduct.

Other Countries

1. In the UK, a code of conduct for MPs was “prepared pursuant to the Resolution of the House of 19 July 1995”.
2. The Canadian House of Commons has a Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner with powers to examine violations of the Conflict of Interest Code at the request of another Member or by Resolution of the House or on his own initiative.
3. Germany has had a Code of Conduct for members of the Bundestag since 1972.
4. The US has had a Code since 1968.
5. Pakistan has a Code of Conduct for members of the Senate.

MCQ 7

One Country Two Systems policy, recently in news is related with

1. PoK
2. China
3. Hongkong
4. Both 2 & 3

• Protests in Hong Kong, now in its 13th consecutive week, have brought a decades-old policy of the People’s Republic of China back into focus — One Country Two Systems.
• The protesters say Beijing is trying to violate this policy by infringing on Hong Kong’s autonomy.

What’s this One Country Two Systems approach?

• As per the policy, the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions, both former colonies, can have different economic and political systems from that of mainland China, while being part of the People’s Republic of China.
• It was proposed by Deng Xiaoping with an aim to unify China and Taiwan.
• On December 19, 1984, China and the U.K. signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration in Beijing, which set the terms for the autonomy and the legal, economic and governmental systems for Hong Kong post 1997.
• Similarly, on March 26, 1987, China and Portugal signed the Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau in which China made similar promises for the region of Macau after it was handed over to Beijing.

MCQ 8

1. CAMPA Act seeks to establish the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Consolidated fund of India
2. The National Fund will get 90% of funds collected and the remaining 10% will go to respective State Fund.

Choose correct

(A) Only 1

(B) Only 2

(C) Both

(D) None

• CAMPA Act or Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority Act is an Indian legislation that seeks to provide an appropriate institutional mechanism, both at the Centre and in each State and Union Territory, to ensure expeditious utilization in efficient and transparent manner of amounts released in lieu of forest land diverted for non-forest purpose which would mitigate impact of diversion of such forest land.
• In 2002, the Supreme Court of India observed that collected funds for afforestation were underutilized by the states and it ordered for centrally pooling of funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund. The court had set up the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (National CAMPA) to manage the Fund. In 2009, states also had set up State CAMPAs that receive 10% of funds form National CAMPA to use for afforestation and forest conservation. However, in 2013, a CAG report identified that the funds continued to be underutilized. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill 2015 was introduced by the government in Lok Sabha on May 8, 2015 to regulate collected funds. The bill was sent for examination under a standing committee.
• It was passed by Rajya Sabha on 28 July 2016
• The legislation established the Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF)
• It seeks to establish the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of India, and a State Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of each state.
• The payments into the funds include compensatory afforestation, NPV, reforestation and any project specific payments. The National Fund will get 10% of funds collected and the remaining 90% will go to respective State Fund.
• The collected funds will be utilized for afforestation, regeneration of forest ecosystem, wild life protection and infrastructure development.
• The bill also seeks to establish National and State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authorities to manage the funds.
• The determination of NPV will be delegated to an expert committee constituted by the central government

MCQ 9

1. Dindigul locks are only made for temples
2. Kandangi sarees are made from 100% cotton

Choose correct

(A)Only 1

(B)Only 2

(C)Both

(D)None

• Kandangi is a type of saree made from silk threads in Tamil Nadu state of India. Traditionally, Chettinad and Koorainad are two types of Kandangi saree native in Tamil Nadu. However, many new types of Kandangi are now introduced by Tamil Nadu government. Kandangi Saree received Geographical Indicator tag on 30th of August 2019.
• Koorai saree is a modified version of Kandangi traditionally made from both silk and cotton threads in Koorainad region (currently named as Orur Oranad (also named as Koranad) which is located near Mayavaram (Mayiladuthurai)) in Tamil Nadu. It weighs around 7-9 kejams (see:Tamil units of measurement).
• The Chettinadu Kandangi sari, introduced by Nagarathar community, is native to the town Karaikudi of Tamil Nadu state in India.
• This style of saree, which has 2 borders and checked at its centre, is existed for more than 250 years old.

MCQ 10

1. Cabinet had cleared FDI up to 100% under the “automatic route” for digital media companies
2. Until now the print media and news broadcast television companies in India have had 100% FDI allowed by automatic route

Choose correct

(A) Only 1

(B) Only 2

(C) Both

(D)None

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