Daily Current Affairs (MCQ) | Date 04.04.22

Q1. Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy committee and Justice N. Santosh Hegde committee are linked to

a. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA)
b. Food security
c. Social security
d. Uniform Civil Code

Answer : a

Why is the Question ?

For a full repeal
The relaxation of AFSPA is welcome, but the demand for full repeal should be considered
Highlights:
1. In what is clearly a nod to the vociferous demand for the repeal of the unpopular Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from several States in the northeast the Union Home Ministry has decided to considerably reduce the number of “disturbed areas” under the Act in three States.
2. The order, from April 1, is applicable for six months. In Nagaland, Assam and Manipur districts and Police stations where it is applicable has been reduced significantly.
3. As things stand, the Government’s decision to relax the application of the Act in specific areas seems to stem from the reduction in violence and also administrative reasons rather than as a response to the burning question on whether the Act is essential to security operations in these States, which have experienced insurgencies of various degrees in the past.

B.P. Jeevan Reddy committee:
1. Despite the vociferous protests from security forces for the retention of the Act, human rights organizations, sections of civil society and committees including the five-member committee led by retired Supreme Court judge B.P. Jeevan Reddy in 2005, has steadfastly called for its repeal.
2. The committee in particular had suggested that the Act had created an impression that the people of the northeast States were being targeted for hostile treatment and that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act could instead be suitably amended to tackle terrorism.
3. The Supreme Court-appointed Justice N. Santosh Hegde committee, in 2013, which investigated “encounter” killings in Manipur, suggested that the Act must be properly reviewed every six months to see if its implementation is necessary, but extensions of the purview of the Act have proceeded as routine affairs.
4. In 2016, the Supreme Court had also ruled that the armed forces could not be immune from investigation for excesses committed during the discharge of their duties even in “disturbed areas”, in effect circumscribing the conditions in which the immunity is applied.

Q2. Consider the following statements

1. Almost 89% of the groundwater extracted is used for irrigation and the rest for domestic and industrial use (9% and 2%)
2. The annual groundwater withdrawal is considered to be safe when the extraction rate is limited to below 70% of the annual replenishable recharge

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

a. 1 only

b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer : c

Why is the Question ?

Making groundwater visible
The existing approach to dealing with surface water and groundwater independently has severe limitations
Groundwater: Source of resilience
1. The groundwater is everywhere in water and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems, and climate change adaptation.
2. Groundwater helps reduce the risk of temporary water shortage and caters to the needs of arid and semiarid regions, but its value has not been fully recognised in policymaking.
3. While dependence on groundwater is increasing everywhere, there are serious issues of depletion of stored groundwater and deterioration of quality.
4. High temperatures and drought threaten water security. Due to its high storage capacity, groundwater is more resilient to the effects of climate change than surface water.
Global summits to highlight importance of ground water:
The international conference on ‘Groundwater, Key to the Sustainable Development Goals’ (May 2022) and the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater (December 2022) are part of global initiatives to highlight the significance of groundwater in sustainable development.
India is among the largest users of groundwater
1. With an annual groundwater extraction of 248.69 billion cubic meters (2017), India is among the largest users of groundwater in the world. Almost 89% of the groundwater extracted is used for irrigation and the rest for domestic and industrial use (9% and 2%).
Monitoring groundwater:
Extraction value:
1. According to the Central Ground Water Board, the annual groundwater withdrawal is considered to be safe when the extraction rate is limited to below 70% of the annual replenishable recharge.
2. Available data indicate that the level of extraction for the country in 2017 was 63%, from 58% in 2004.
3. However, the level varied across regions. Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry have crossed the 70% mark.
4. Of 534 districts in 22 States/UTs, 202 districts had stages of extraction ranging from 71% to 385%. NITI Aayog has set the 70% extraction value as the target to be achieved by 2030.

Q3. Which of the following are major sources of water contamination in India?

1. Fluoride
2. Iron
3. Arsenic contamination
4. Salinity
5. Nitrate
6. Biological contamination

Select the correct answer from the codes given below

a. 1 and 4 only
b. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 only
c. 1, 2, 3 and 6 only
d. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Answer : d

Why is the Question ?

Quality:
1. Besides the high level of extraction, quality is also an issue of concern. A quantity-wise safe district may be vulnerable due to deterioration of water quality.
2. Fluoride, iron, salinity, nitrate, and arsenic contamination are major problems. As many as 335 districts reported nitrate pollution compared to 109 in 2006.
3. A high level of nitrate affects human health. Sources of nitrates are mainly anthropogenic and depends on local actions. Biological contamination has also been reported from different parts of the country.

Q4. The case Hrishikesh Sahoo vs State of Karnataka is linked to

a. Marital rape
b. Right to Marriage
c. LGBTQ rights to family
d. Temple entry of Woman

Answer : a

Why is the Question ?

A far-reaching verdict that ends a regressive exception In pronouncing the end of the marital rape exception, the Karnataka High Court has delivered a nuanced judgment Hrishikesh Sahoo vs State of Karnataka
1. The Karnataka High Court in the case of Hrishikesh Sahoo vs the State of Karnataka, pronounced the end of the marital rape exception.
2. In a nuanced and far-reaching judgment, Justice Nagaprasanna refused to quash the charge of rape against the husband. He held that if a man, being a husband is exempted for his acts of sexual assault, it would destroy women’s right to equality, which is the very soul of the Constitution.
3. He held that the Constitution recognises and grants equal status to women, but the exception to marital rape in the IPC amounts to discrimination because a wife is treated as subordinate to the husband.
4. The Constitution considers marriage as an association of equals and does not in any sense depict women to be subordinate to men and guarantees women the fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 the right to live with dignity, personal liberty, bodily integrity, sexual autonomy, right to reproductive choices, right to privacy, right to freedom of speech and expression.
Earlier judgments
In Independent Thought vs Union of India (2017), the Supreme Court of India diluted it and removed the exception to marital rape to a wife, not below 15 years and made it 18 years.
Roots of the principle
1. The exception to marital rape in common law was due to the dictum by Chief Justice Matthew Hale of Britain in 1736 where he stated: “But the husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed by himself upon his lawful wife, for by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract the wife hath given up herself in this kind unto her husband which she cannot retract.”
2. The concept that by marriage, a woman gave up her body to the husband was accepted as an enduring principle of common law, due to which a husband could not be guilty of raping his wife. This was therefore translated into criminal codes, including the Indian Penal Code which India adopted.

3. This principle has now been completely abolished. In the United Kingdom, in 1991, the exception to marital rape was done away with, in the case of R. vs R.
4. The House of Lords held that where the common law rule no longer even remotely represents what is the true position of a wife in present-day society, the duty of the court is to take steps to alter the rule.
5. The court held that a husband’s immunity as expounded by Chief Justice Matthew Hale no longer exists and took the view that the time had arrived when the law should declare that a rapist remains a rapist subject to the criminal law, irrespective of his relationship with his victim.
6. It held that it was the duty of the court to remove a commonlaw fiction that had become anachronistic and offensive and that there was no justification for the marital exemption in
rape.
That was in 1991, more than 30 years ago in the U.K. The Karnataka High Court took a similar view of its duties as a constitutional court in the present case and held that the exception to marital rape in Section 375 is regressive, wherein a woman is treated as a subordinate to the husband and against the constitutional guarantee of equality. Our courts have now truly pronounced the death knell of the marital rape exception.

Q5. Consider the following statements about the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology

1. NFC is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that allows to pay bills, exchange business cards, download coupons or share a document
2. NFC transmits data through electromagnetic radio fields
3. NFC-enabled devices must be physically touching each other
4. NFC is used in wireless charging 

5. NFC can be used for UPI enabled payment

Select the correct answer from the codes given below

a. 1 and 4 only
b. 2, 3, 4 and 5 only
c. 1, 2, 4 and 5 only
d. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Answer : c

Why is the Question ?

NFC technology for instant payments

The story so far: Google Pay has recently launched a new feature in India, ‘Tap to pay for UPI’, in collaboration with Pine Labs. The feature makes use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.
1. Near-field communication is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that allows NFC-enabled devices to communicate with each other and transfer information quickly and easily with a single touch.

2. NFC tech has a wide range of applications besides driving payment services. It is used in contactless banking cards or to generate contact-less tickets for public transport.
3. Google Pay will now allow users with UPI accounts to make payments just by tapping their NFC-enabled Android smartphones on any Pine Labs Android POS terminal. This process will be much faster compared to scanning a QR code or entering the UPI-linked mobile number. Till now, Tap to Pay was only available for cards.

What is NFC and how does it work?
1. NFC is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that allows NFC-enabled devices to communicate with each other and transfer information quickly and easily with a single touch — whether to pay bills, exchange business cards, download coupons or share a document.
2. NFC transmits data through electromagnetic radio fields, to enable communication between two devices. Both devices must contain NFC chips, as transactions take place within a very short distance.
3. NFC-enabled devices must be either physically touching or within a few centimetres from each other for data transfer to occur.

How will this technology work with the recently launched feature, ‘Tap to pay for UPI’?
Once users tap their phones on the POS terminal, it will automatically open the Google pay app with the payment amount pre-filled. Users can then verify the amount and merchant name and authenticate the payment, using their UPI PIN.
What are the other applications of NFC technology?
1. It is used in contactless banking cards to perform money transactions or to generate contact-less tickets for public transport.
2. It also has an application in healthcare, to monitor patient stats through NFC-enabled wristbands.
3. NFC is used in wireless charging too.
How safe is this technology?
1. NFC technology is designed for an operation between devices within a few centimetres from each other. This makes it difficult for attackers to record the communication between the devices compared to other wireless technologies which have a working distance of several metres.
2. The security level of NFC communication is by default higher compared to other wireless communication protocols.
Where does it stand in comparison to other wireless technologies?
There are other wireless technologies available that are replacing cable-based connections.
1. The IrDa technology is a short-range (a few metres) connections based on the exchange of data over infrared light where the two communication devices must be positioned within a line of sight. Today, this technology is mainly used for remote control devices.

2. For larger data communication with computer devices, this technology was replaced by Bluetooth or WiFi connections.
3. However, these technologies’ receiver devices need their own power supply due to the larger working distance. Therefore, the receiving device cannot be powered by the radiofrequency (RF) field like in NFC.
4. Another consequence of the larger working distance is the need for the user to configure their device and pair them together for communication. The connection cannot be initiated by a simple touch gesture like in NFC.