Daily Current Affairs Quiz: July 21, 2022

ANSWER: C

• The Andhra Pradesh State Wildlife Department has kick-started the first-ever survey of blackbucks along a stretch of islands in the Godavari between Dowleswaram and Yanam with the goal of drawing up a conservation plan to protect the endangered species.
• The survey was mooted in the wake of scores of blackbucks getting stranded on the islands that have been hit by the Godavari floods.
• The islands surrounded by the branches of the Godavari, such as the Gowthami, Vasista, Vainteya and Vridha Gowthami, in Konaseema and East Godavari districts are a major habitat for blackbucks, which roam across the region close to human habitations. There have been instances of blackbucks getting poached downstream of Dowleswaram.
• Of the many islands that are home to the animal, Bobbarlanka, located downstream Dowleswaram barrage, is home to a huge number of blackbucks, where they can be sighted all through the year.
• In the islands of the Godavari, co-existence of local communities with the blackbuck has been ensuring the safety of the species.
• Hunting of the blackbuck attracts penal action under Schedule-1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

ANSWER: C

• According to the External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, that India is among the top five countries that have invested in the African continent.
• While addressing the 17th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Growth Partnership, S. Jaishankar said that with cumulative investments at $73.9 billion from 1996-2021, India is among the top five investors in Africa.
• India’s bilateral trade with Africa has now reached $89.5 billion in 2021-22 compared with $56 billion the previous year.
• Notably, through the Duty-Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) Scheme that extends duty free access to 98.2 per cent of India’s total tariff lines, India has opened its market to African countries. So far 33 LDC African nations have been entitled to get benefits under this scheme.
• The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) which was commenced in 2021 would be helpful to Indian companies to enhance and intensify the business footprint in Africa.

What is African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)?

• AfCFTA aims to create a single continental market for products and services, with free movement of people and capital, paving the way for the Continental Customs Union and the African Customs Union to be established faster.
• The preliminary work on the AfCFTA focuses on incremental tariff reductions, non-tariff barriers, supply networks, and dispute resolution.
• It creates the world’s largest free-trade zone since the World Trade Organization was founded in
• AfCFTA will have a worldwide influence that is becoming increasingly reliant on African markets and commodities.
• It is headquartered in Accra, Ghana.

ANSWER: D

• Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution Ashwini Kumar Choubey explained in a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha that an E-Commerce entity must ensure that the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, or importer, the Maximum Retail Price (MRP), the nation of origin, the common or generic name of the commodity, and the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011 under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 are all included.
• This is to ensure that the consumer is taking an informed and conscious decision based on the declaration of the product on the E-Commerce platform.
• The Legal Metrology Division, Department of Consumer Affairs, has issued 38 notices between 16 October 2020 and 31 December 2020, 232 notices between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021, and 178 notices between 1 January 2022 and 11 July 2022 for declaration violations by e-commerce companies.
• An amount of about Rs. 77, 90,500 has been realised from e-commerce companies in the form of compounding fees.
• When the 2011 Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules are broken, state governments are also permitted to initiate enforcement action.
• Recently, the Union govt. has amended the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) 2011 Rules. 

About The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities), (Second Amendment) Rules 2022

• It has allowed the electronic products to declare certain mandatory declarations through the QR Code for a period of one year, if not declared in the package itself.
• Earlier, all the pre-packaged commodities including the electronic products were required to declare all the mandatory declarations as per the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities), Rules 2011 on the packag
• The amendment will allow the industry to declare the information in digital form through the QR Code.
• It will allow important declarations to be declared effectively on the label in the package while the other descriptive information can be conveyed to the Consumer through the QR Code.

ANSWER: D

• Recently, the Steering Committee of the Ken-Betwa Link Project (SC-KBLP) conducted its second meeting.
• Members from the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, as well as representatives from the NITI Aayog and different central ministries, attended the conference.

KEY POINTS:

• The Ken-Betwa link project, is crucial for the water security and socioeconomic development of the Bundelkhand region, should be implemented in a time-bound manner using state-of-the-art technologies and know-how while properly taking care of R&R for project affected people and conservation of the region, in particular the landscape-dependent species of the Panna Tiger Reserve.
• Deliberations on the implementation of an integrated landscape management plan for Greater Panna prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India.
• It was also proposed to constitute a Technical Advisory Group for KBLP to review and advise the Authority on various planning and technical matters.
• An R&R Committee to monitor the implementation of R&R plan in transparent and time bound manner was proposed to be constituted.
• A Greater Panna Landscape council was also proposed to be constituted for implementation of Landscape Management Plan (LMP) and Environment Management Plan (EMP) of the project.

Ken Betwa (ILR) Project Details

• It is a project proposed to transfer excess water from the River Ken to the Betwa basin through the use of a concrete canal. The project aims to provide irrigation to the Bundelkhand region, which is one of the worst drought-affected areas in India.
• The beneficiary states are Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• It will meet the irrigation purposes, drinking water, and electricity needs of 6 districts in both states.
• The proposed concrete canal would be 221 km long. It will pass through Jhansi, Banda, and Mahoba districts of UP and Chhatarpur, Panna, and Tikamgarh districts of MP.
• A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Centre and the governments of UP and MP for the project.
• Nearly 8,650 hectares of forest land including part of Panna National Parkin Madhya Pradesh will be submerged if the project were to become a reality.

ANSWER: D

KEY POINTS:

• According to the study published in the journal PLOS Global Public Health, Arunachal Pradesh fares the worst of all states and Maharashtra the best. Scientists analysed 61,982,623 (61.9 million) live births and 61,169 maternal deaths recorded in the Health Management Information System (HMIS) during 2017-2019.
• (PTI) Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in 448 of India’s 640 districts are higher than the target set under UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), according to the first mapping of India’s maternal deaths at the district level.
• HMIS is a web-based monitoring system put in place by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW). As Census 2011 data was used, only 640 districts were considered against 773 in 2022.
• The findings suggest that 70 per cent of districts (448 out of 640 districts) in India have reported MMR above 70 deaths — a target set under Sustainable Development Goal.
• MMR refers to deaths due to complications from childbirth or pregnancy per 1 lakh live births. The MMR under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030 is 70. India’s MMR is 113 right now.
• It accounts for 15 per cent of world maternal deaths, second only to Nigeria (19 per cent), the study said.
• The highest MMR is in Arunachal Pradesh (284) and the lowest in Maharashtra (40), researchers from the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai, the University of Portsmouth, UK, and the University of Western Australia found.
• Four other states — Manipur (282), Andaman and Nicobar Island (275), Meghalaya (266), and Sikkim (228) — have MMR greater than or equal to 210.
• Nine states and two union territories have MMR in the range of 140-209. These are Nagaland (143), Punjab (143), Chhattisgarh (144), Jammu and Kashmir (151), Delhi (162), Rajasthan (162), Bihar (164), Madhya Pradesh (179), Lakshadweep (208), Uttar Pradesh (208), and Assam (209).
• Recent estimates of Sample Registration System (SRS) of India have witnessed a steady decline in the MMR from 130 to 113 per 100,000 live births.
• Although MMR is falling at an average of 4.5 per cent yearly, the target set under SDG-3 is an annual rate of 5.5 per cent.
• A comparison of successive rounds of information from the Office of Registrar General of India reveals a surprising rise in MMR in Punjab.
• Among the districts, the highest MMR is found in the Tirap district in Arunachal Pradesh and the lowest in Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh.
• Overall, 115 districts registered a maternal mortality ratio greater than or equal to 210; 125 districts show a range of 140-209 while 210 districts fall in the range of 70-139, and only 190 districts reported a maternal mortality ratio less than 70, they said.
• The findings can be immensely useful in identifying ‘hot spots’ of maternal mortality within the states, thus aiding in micro-level maternal health care policy and planning.
• These “hotspots” or cluster of districts need to initiate immediate action to meet the ambitious SDG-3 target for maternal mortality ratio and thereby eliminate all preventable maternal mortality.
• The researchers also noted that despite some caveats about the completeness of information in a few states, HMIS is a reliable, cost-effective, and routine source for monitoring progress in reducing avoidable maternal mortality in India and its states and districts.

ANSWER: A

• Fifty years after it was declared extinct in the country in 1952, Cheetahs will formally make an entry in India next month before Independence Day.
• India and Namibia signed a crucial memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the reintroduction of Cheetahs, with the first batch comprising four male and as many females arriving from Namibia in August.
• Namibia has the world’s largest population of Cheetahs. According to the pact, the two countries will share and exchange expertise and capacities to promote cheetah conservation in their ranges.
• According to a senior environment ministry official that talks are on with South Africa too. An MoU will be signed after getting the approval.
• The fastest land animal in the world will find a new home in the Kuno-Palpur National Park in Madhya Pradesh’ Sheopur district.
• The Cheetahs are likely to be brought to India before August 15. The Cheetah is the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out from India, mainly due to over-hunting and habitat loss.
• The last spotted feline died in 1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district.
• They will collaborate in areas of climate change, environmental governance, environmental impact assessments, pollution and waste management etc and undertake an exchange of personnel for training and education in wildlife management, including sharing of technical expertise, wherever relevant.

HISTORY:

• At the first wildlife board meeting of Independent India in 1952, the government had “called for assigning special priority for the protection of the cheetahs in central India” and a “bold experimentation to preserve the Cheetah” was suggested. Subsequently, negotiations commenced with the Shah of Iran in the 1970s for bringing the Asiatic cheetah to India in exchange for Asiatic lions. Keeping in view the small Asiatic cheetah population of Iran and the genetic similarity between the Iranian and the African cheetah, it was decided that the latter would be introduced in India.
• As many as 10 sites were surveyed between 2010 and 2012.Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh was considered ready for receiving cheetahs with the least management interventions since a lot of investments had been done in this protected area for reintroducing Asiatic lions, which are also an endangered species.
• Spread over 748 square kilometres, KNP has an adequate prey base. It is devoid of human settlements, forms a part of the Sheopur-Shivpuri deciduous open forest landscape and is estimated to have a capacity to sustain 21 cheetahs.
• Once restored, the larger landscape can hold about 36 cheetahs. The carrying capacity can be further enhanced by including the remaining part of the Kuno Wildlife Division (1,280 sq km) through prey restoration.

Action plan:

• The action plan for cheetah translocations in KNP has been developed in compliance with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines and considering site assessment and prey density, current cheetah carrying capacity of the national park, among other criteria.
• The financial and administrative support to the cheetah reintroduction programme in India would be provided by the ministry through the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

ANSWER: A

• Recently, Government Data claimed that over 9 lakh Indians gave up citizenship in the past 3 yrs to settle abroad.
• America emerged as the top choice among 103 countries where the emigrants settled.
• 2021: More than 1.63 lakh Indians relinquished their citizenship in 2021 alone. Of them, more than 78,000 took US citizenship.
• 2019 and 2020: While 1.44 lakh Indians gave up their citizenship in 2019, the numbers fell in 2020 to 85,256 in 2020, before rising again last year.
• Other Countries: Apart from choosing countries such as Singapore (7,046) and Sweden (3,754), many have also renounced their citizenship for Bahrain (170), Angola (2), Iran (21), and Iraq (1) — one person took the citizenship of Burkina Faso in 2021.
• More than 1,400 persons took Chinese citizenship, while 48 persons renounced their citizenship for Pakistan’s.
• Most citizenships acquired: The largest numbers of Indians who relinquished Indian citizenship in 2021 went to: The United States (78,284), Australia (23,533), Canada (21,597), and The United Kingdom (14,637).

ANSWER: C

• NITI Aayog will release the third edition of the India Innovation Index on the 21st of July, 2022 at an event in the NITI Bhawan. The India Innovation Index 2021 will be released by the Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Shri Suman Bery.
• The release of the third edition of the index – the first and second editions were launched in October, 2019 and January, 2021, respectively.
• The India Innovation Index 2021, which examines innovation capacities and ecosystems at the sub-national level, highlights the recent factors and catalysts for promoting such crisis-driven innovation.
• The third edition strengthens the scope of innovation analysis in the country by drawing on the framework of the Global Innovation Index (GII).
• The new framework presents a more nuanced and comprehensive outlook for measuring innovation performance in India, with the introduction of 66 unique indicators, as compared to the 36 indicators used in the preceding edition (viz. India Innovation Index 2020).
• Through this comprehensive framework, the index evaluates the innovation performance of all the states and union territories in India.
• The states and the union territories have been divided into 17 ‘Major States’, 10 ‘North-East and Hill States’, and 9 ‘Union Territories and City States’, for effectively comparing their performance.

ANSWER: A

• An entrepreneurship centre named after Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar will be established in Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) for the youth of the state, said Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar while speaking at the launch of the state chapter of Dr Ambedkar Chamber of Commerce (DACC).
• The Governor released a concept of the Himachal Chapter of the DACC on the occasion.

ANSWER: C

• Prof HK Chaudhary, Vice-Chancellor, HP agriculture university, congratulated University Krishi Doot Kundan Lal for receiving the prestigious Pt Deen Dyal Antodya Krishi Puruskar.
• The award comprising Rs 1 lakh, a certificate and a memento was presented by Narendra Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister, on the ICAR foundation day in Delhi.
• The minister also appreciated last year’s awardee and University Krishi Doot Sanjay Saklani.