Daily Current Affairs (MCQ) | Date 06.12.21

Q1. Consider the following statements

1.Early childhood interventions give more return for public investment compared to intervention in later stages
2. Anganwadis provide preschool education in India

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 ?

The need to reopen anganwadis
India must invest robustly in the world’s largest social programme on early childhood services

Anganwadis at the centre of social safety net in rural areas:
1. As part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), anganwadis play a crucial role in supporting households, particularly from lowincome families, by providing childcare, health and nutrition, education, supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-up and referral services.
2. The largest in the world, ICDS covers about 88 million children aged 0-6 years in India. Their closure significantly impacted service delivery and weakened an important social safety net.

Q2. The Recent eruption of Mount Semeru took place in JAVA island of

a. Indonesia
b. Malaysia
c. Philippines
d. Japan

Answer : a

Why is the Question ?

Indonesia volcano eruption
1. The eruption of Mount Semeru
2. The eruption of the biggest mountain on the island of Java caught locals by surprise 

Q3. Consider the following statements

1. India is one of the leading countries in the fertility business
2. Indian fertility clinics are well regulated

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 : a

Why is the Question ?

ART Bill plugs longstanding regulatory deficit. Ways must be found to make it more inclusive The Lok Sabha passed the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Regulation Bill that sets standards and codes of conduct for fertility clinics and sperm banks in the country.

Increasing Demand for ART:
1. The piece of legislation caters to a longstanding need. In the past 20 years, the increase in the number of ART clinics in India has been amongst the highest in the world.
2. They cater to the burgeoning medical tourism industry and significantly, to a growing section of the country’s population that is turning to ARTs such as gamete donation, intrauterine dissemination, in-vitro fertilisation and intracytoplasmic sperm injection to have
children.
3. Because of declining fertility rates, a substantial section of Indians marrying later than the generation before them, and the increasing provenance of single parenthood, the use of such technologies is bound to grow.
Challenges in the ART sector:
1. At the same time, more than 80 per cent of clinics in the country offering ART facilities are reportedly unregistered. The ethical, as well as safety-related issues germane to this regulatory deficit, have been a part of the conversation for two decades.
2. The ICMR did lay down guidelines for ART clinics in 2005. But these protocols did not have any legislative backing.
Provisions of the bill:
1. If the ART Bill becomes a law, it would be incumbent on clinics to ensure that commissioning couples, women and gamete donors are tested according to the established protocols.
2. It also provides for a database of ART clinics in the country.
3. The Bill does tick several right boxes in stipulating that the clinics provide counselling about the chances of success, costs, sideeffects and risks, including that of multiple pregnancies.

4. Importantly, it talks of informed consent of donors and legalises ART procedures for live-in couples and single women.
5. However, as several members pointed out in the debate in the Lok Sabha, the bill discriminates against LGBTQ and single male parents.
6. It goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict in Navtej Johar v Union of India and assumes a formalistic position on the rights of same-sex couples to raise a family.
It seems that the heteronormative line of thinking of the Surrogacy Bill passed by the Lok Sabha in 2019
— the Rajya Sabha referred it to a select committee
— has driven the ART Bill when it should have been the other way around given that the ART sector is more expansive than the surrogacy sector. The Upper House must take the conversation further and make sure that the law keeps up with the inclusive potential of reproductive technologies.

Q4. H-CNG is a blend of hydrogen and CNG, the ideal hydrogen concentration being  8%. CNG is compressed natural gas. Consider the following statement about H-CNG as automotive fuel

1. It can not be directly used in Internal Combustion engines
2. Compared to conventional CNG, the use of HCNG can reduce the emission of carbon monoxide by up to 70%

Which of the above statements is/are incorrect?

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

Answer : a

Why is the Question ?

Hydrogen can be used as an energy carrier directly in Internal Combustion engines and turbines in place of fossil fuels or as a blended mixture with fossil fuels. H-CNG is a blend of hydrogen and CNG, the ideal hydrogen concentration being 18%. CNG is compressed natural gas. As natural gas is mainly composed of methane, CNG emits fewer air pollutants — carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter — than petrol or diesel.
Compared to conventional CNG, the use of H-CNG can reduce the emission of carbon monoxide by up to 70%. Safer than hydrogen due to its lower energy content. Usable with existing CNG infrastructure, no major engine modifications are required. Improves engine efficiency etc.
Challenges of using H-CNG: determining optimized hydrogen/natural gas ratio, lack of storage and supply infrastructure, more expensive than CNG 

Q5. Ratings for Green Buildings rates buildings on a five-star scale based on actual performance in terms of energy usage. It is the initiative of

a. The Indian Space Research Organisation
b. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency
c. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
d. The Department of Science and Technology

Answer : b

Why is the Question ?

Ratings for Green Buildings BEE developed a Star Rating Programme for commercial buildings that rates buildings on a fivestar scale based on actual performance in terms of energy usage.

The other two rating systems are operating for rating green buildings in India:
Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA): Jointly developed by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, it evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle, thereby providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’.
Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design
(LEED): It is an internationally recognized certification system for green buildings developed by the U.S. Green Building Council