Daily Current Affairs Quiz: February 08 2023

 ANSWER: B

 ANSWER: B

 ANSWER: D

 ANSWER: A

• The recent data presented by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) revealed that the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is currently functioning with less than 50% of its sanctioned strength.

National Commission for Schedule Tribes

• NCST was set up in 2004 by amending Article 338 and by inserting a new article 338A in the Constitution through the 89th Constitution Amendment Act, 2003. Hence, it is a constitutional body.
  • By this amendment, the erstwhile National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was replaced by two separate Commissions i.e the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), and the National Comission for Schedule Tribes (NCST).
• Article 338A inter-alia gives powers to the NCST to oversee the implementation of various safeguards provided to Scheduled Tribes (STs) under the Constitution or under any other law for time being in force or under any other order to the Government and to evaluate the working of such safeguards.
• It consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and 3 other Members, appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal. At least one member should be a woman.
• Tenure-The Chairperson, the Vice-Chairperson and the other Members hold office for a term of 3 years.
• The Chairperson has been given the rank of Union Cabinet Minister, the Vice Chairperson has the rank of a Minister of State and other Members have the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
• Reappointment -The members are not eligible for appointments for more than two terms.

Duties and Functions of the NCST

• To investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the STs under the Constitution or under any other law for the time being in force or under any order of the Government.
• To inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the STs.
• To participate and advise in the planning process of the socio-economic development of the STs and to evaluate the progress of their development.
• The Commission shall provide reports on the operation of those safeguards to the President annually and as necessary.
• To make in such reports recommendations as to the measures that should be taken by the Union or any State for effective implementation of those safeguards.
• The President, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, may, by rule, discharge any other functions relating to the protection, welfare, development, and advancement of the STs.

Constitutional Provisions:

• Article 366(25) provides a process to define STs: “STs means such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution.”
• Article 342(1): The President with respect to any State/UT (after consultation with the Governor in case of state) may specify the tribes/tribal communities/part of or groups within tribes/ tribal communities as a Scheduled Tribe in that State/UT.
• Fifth Schedule: It lays out provisions for the Administration and Control of Scheduled Areas and STs in states other than 6th Schedule States.
• Sixth Schedule: Deals with the administration of the tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
• Statutory Provisions-
  • Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 against Untouchability.
  • Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
  • Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996.
  • Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.

 ANSWER: C

• Bengaluru-based composer Ricky Kej won a Grammy for Best Immersive Audio Album for his most recent album Divine Tides with rock-legend Stewart Copeland (The Police), making him the only Indian to win three Grammy awards.
• He won his first Grammy in 2015 in the Best New Age Album category for ‘Winds of Samsara’. The project had debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard New Age Albums Chart –a first for any person of Indian origin. 
• In 2022, Kej won asecond Grammy under the same category for his collaborative work with Copeland.

Grammy Awards

• Popularly known as Grammy Award, it is originally named Gramophone Award, presented annually in the United States by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS; commonly called the Recording Academy) to honour artistes in the music industry for their exceptional work in a year.
• It was started in 1959to respect the performers for the year 1958. Once it was made, the committee decided to call it Grammy as a tribute to Emile Berliner’s gramophone.

Categories

• The “General Field”are four awards that are not restricted by genre:
  • Album of the Year
  • Record of the Year
  • Song of the Year
  • Best New Artist
• Winners are selected from more than25 fields, which cover such genres as pop, rock, rap, R&B, country, reggae, classical, gospel, and jazz, as well as production and postproduction work, including packaging and album notes. The honorees receive a golden statuette of a gramophone.

ANSWER: B

• India’s First Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H2-ICE) powered truck was developed by Reliance in partnership with Ashok Leyland. The H2-ICE truck is the first of its kind in India to be powered by hydrogen. the truck emits zero carbon. It is completely clean.
• TO harness energy from hydrogen, there are two technologies: hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2ICE).
• FCEVs generate electricity from hydrogen in a device known as a fuel cell that is used to power the electric motor, whereas H2ICE burn hydrogen in an internal combustion engine.

Recent technology trends

• Most of these OEMs are modifying their existing conventional spark-ignition engines to develop H2ICEs.
• This is because a four-stroke H2ICE operates on the same cycle as regular natural gas engine and shares most of the components.
• H2ICE, however, requires minimum changes to the fuel injection and ignition systems along with different controls to handle high pressure hydrogen fuel and the corresponding light changes to the cylinder head.
• With higher part-sharing and a known technical arena, R&D costs required to develop H2ICE from a base spark-ignition engine are much lower than the cost of FCEV development.
• Also, with these engines being manufactured in the same production facilities and following the same manufacturing processes as conventional fossil-fuel ICE, with limited changes, economies of scale could be achieved faster. Moreover, the existing and established ICE supply chain can be leveraged efficiently.

Challenges

• An area where additional investment would be needed is that H2ICE require a storage tank similar to FCEVs.

FCEV

• In comparison to H2ICE, fuel cell technology is very cost-intensive.
• Operationally, it requires pure hydrogen and a high specification compressor to supply compressed air.
• Intricate designs of critical components such as bipolar plates, membranes, etc, add to the cost.
• Also, new development and testing methods are required to validate the technology.

A promising future

• H2ICE will require minimum incremental changes to the conventional powertrain and vehicle architecture, which makes it a logical option, especially for cost-conscious markets such as India, Southeast Asia, Africa, etc.
• It can also potentially open up new opportunities such as retrofitting of the current on-road ICE commercial vehicle fleet, long distance intercity buses, etc.
• The fuel cell technology is more expensive, but both technologies (fuel cell and H2ICE) share the same infrastructure. Therefore, development of any one technology will consequently help the development of the other. Overall, H2ICE offers an immediately viable powertrain option for decarbonisation in the medium- and heavy-duty vehicle application in India.
• It can be a bridging technology to remain cost-competitive till the fuel cell technology is commercialised while propelling the development of the hydrogen infrastructure.

 ANSWER: B

• The Rajasthan state Forest Department has proposed to construct a zoo inside Keoladeo National Park, a World Heritage Site popularly known as Bharatpur bird sanctuary, to display a range of wetland species, including rhinos, water buffaloes, crocs, dolphins and exotic species.
• As per the the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Rajasthan Forestry and Biodiversity Development Project (RFBDP)purpose of this zoo, called Wetland ex-situ Conservation Establishment (WESCE), is “to rejuvenate the bio-diversity of Keoladeo National Park, thereby boosting its outstanding universal values.”
• The Rs 15-crore WESCE plan for Bharatpur is part of the ambitious RFBDP for which Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the overseas development arm of the French government, has agreed to fund up to Rs 1,200 crore over eight years.
• According to the DPR, several facilities are planned inside Keoladeo national park. These include:
  • a breeding and re-introduction centre for locally extinct species, such as otters, fishing cats, blackbucks, hog deer, etc, “with collateral provision as exhibits for tourists”;
  • an aquarium for indigenous species like Gangetic Dolphin, crocodiles;
  • enclosures for the display of large wetland species like Indian Rhino, Water Buffalo, Barasingha (swamp deer); an aviary, a reptile house and a veterinary care facility; and
  • an integrated administrative block, tourist facilities, and residential quarters for Park manager, field staff and families.

Keoladeo National Park

• It is a Ramsar as well as a World Heritage Site.
• Due to its strategic location in the middle of Central Asian migratory flyway and presence of water, large congregations of ducks, geese, coots, pelicans and waders arrive in the winter.
• Wetlands of Keoladeo are not natural, they are dependent on monsoon and on water pumped in from outside.
• Fauna and Flora: Some 364 species of birds, including rare Siberian crane.

ANSWER: D

• Under the scheme, the senior citizens will be taken on a spiritual tour free of cost. They will be taken to pilgri mage sites that are located outside the state. One or two pilgrimage sites will be visited by them. The scheme is funded by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
• The scheme is applicable only to senior citizens, that is, persons of age 60 years
• For women, two years of age concession is provided
• The scheme is to be implemented with the help of IRCTC.
• During the travel, the tourists will be provided with food, accommodation, bus travel cost, drinking water, etc. meaning all the expenses will be borne by the State Government.

Eligibility

• Only the MP state people shall apply for the scheme.
• He or she applying to the scheme should not be an income taxpayer.
• Physical and mental fitness certificates are essential to apply for the scheme. The applicants should not be suffering from diseases like TB, obstructive respiratory diseases, mental illness, etc.

 ANSWER: D

• As many as seven species of vulture are facing the threat of extinction in the state due to poisoning by diclofenac.
• Diclofenac has been banned for veterinary use since 2006, but there is no move to ban other such salts like aceclofenac and ketoprofen as of now.
• As per the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) findings in 2013, there were seven types of vulture that were facing threat to their lives, owing to poisoning by diclofenac.
• Among these, three species have been categorised as near-threatened, which are close to being at the high risk of becoming extinct. They comprise bearded Himalayan griffon , Bearded vulture and cinereous vultures.
• Another specie named Egyptian vulture is endangered and faces the risk of being extinct.
• Three others – white-rumped, slender-billed and red-headed — are critically endangered as they face extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
• Diclofenac was toxic even in small doses to the vultures. “It causes kidney failure and leads to the accumulation of uric acid in the bird’s blood and crystallising around their organs. The vultures are exposed to the drug when they consume the carcasses that are treated with diclofenac shortly before the animal’s death. They die within days of consuming it.
• The drug is also used by humans for treating aches and pains as well as problems with joints, muscles and bones.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has launched a Vulture Action Plan 2020-25. It aims to step up conservation measures. It is supposed to set up a mechanism to ensure that toxic drugs other than diclofenac are also banned for veterinary use.

ANSWER: A

• Res earchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) have created an artificial structure/material that can make stealth vehicles and well as covert establishments less visible to a radar.
• This material can absorb a wide range of radar frequencies, irrespective of the direction from where signals hit the target. It can also be used to cover windows or glass panels of stealth vehicles and covert establishments that must be invisible to radars.
  • Being invisible to radars is a crucial defence strategy and the ability to evade radar detection can reduce chances of being targeted by enemy weapons.
• Any technology that makes things invisible to radars can also be used in the commercial sector to reduce radiation leakages from buildings and make them more secure. For example, invisibility to radar can also be used in private or covert establishments for privacy.
• The material has been developed using the technology based on frequency selective surface (FSS) that absorbs a wide range of frequencies used in radars, which makes surface invisible to radars.

 ANSWER:  B

ANSWER:  A

 ANSWER:  A

 ANSWER:  B

ANSWER:  A

 ANSWER:  C