Daily Current Affairs (MCQ) | Date 07.04.22

Q1. Consider the following statements about the Mullaperiyar dam

1. Located in Kerala, it is used by TN for multiple purposes
2. Once operational it will come under supervision of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) under the recently enacted Dam Safety Act

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 ?

Safety first: Mullaperiyar dam status quo continues
1. The Central Water Commission (CWC)’s proposal to let the Mullaperiyar dam’s Supervisory Committee continue for a year essentially means the status quo continues.
2. The proposal makes the Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu and Kerala accountable and provides for the participation of technical experts as panel members.
3. The proposed arrangement, presented before the Supreme Court, has become necessary as the CWC is of the view that the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), the regulatory body envisaged under the recently enacted Dam Safety Act, will require one year to become fully functional.

4. Ideally speaking, the authority would have been well suited to handle issues concerning the Mullaperiyar, as the Act empowers the body to perform the role of the State Dam Safety Organization (SDSO) in this context because the NDSA assumes the role of SDSO for a dam located in one State and owned by another.
The 126-year-old Mullaperiyar dam: issues
1. Given the features of the 126-year-old Mullaperiyar dam and the controversies surrounding its lime and mortar structure, both States would have nothing much to complain about regarding sticking to the existing arrangement for some more time although they differ in the way they approach the dam.
2. Located in Kerala, it is used by TN for multiple purposes. While TN is keen on getting the strengthening work completed to raise the water level to 152 ft from 142 ft, Kerala wants a new dam built.
3. In the backdrop of landslides in Kerala after heavy rain, fears, though misplaced, have arisen over the dam’s structural stability.
4. Regardless of these apprehensions being addressed through technical and scientific bodies, the issue of safety crops up time and again.
5. What this underlines is that there should be no room for complacency about the dam’s safety. It is for this purpose that the apex court too has been addressing the issue of having a stronger institutional mechanism than the existing Supervisory Committee which has been rendered almost toothless.

Q2. Recently launched Mission Vatsalya aims

a. To protect children in distress
b. To promote breastfeeding
c. Secure inheritance rights of children orphaned during COVID19
d. To increase proportion of institutional deliveries

Answer : a

Why is the Question ?

The child at the centre
Mission Vatsalya must bring together services and structures to help children in distress
Highlights:
1. Schemes designed for social good do well on intent, but their success depends on whether they are built on principles of sustainability and work within structures of accountability.
2. The Centre’s intent to provide ‘integrated benefits to children and women’ is behind the comprehensive revamping of the Department of Women and Children’s schemes.
3. Mission Vatsalya, which has been operationalised, is one of the new triad of schemes along with Mission Shakti, and Poshan 2.0, that aims at securing a healthy and happy childhood for every child.
4. Components under Mission Vatsalya include statutory bodies; service delivery structures; institutional care/services; noninstitutional community-based care; emergency outreach services; training and capacity building.

Q3. Consider the following statements about the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022

1. The draft law empowers the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to collect, store and preserve these records for 15 years and share it with other agencies
2. Resistance or refusal to allow the collection of data is an offence
3. The bill expands number of measurements to be taken and category of people who are required to provide such measurements

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

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

Answer : c

Why is the Question ?

Criminal identification Bill gets Parliament nod
1. Parliament cleared a contentious Bill that accords sweeping powers to police to collect biometric and physical measurements of people convicted, arrested or detained.
2. The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 seeks to update a British-era law to enable police to collect samples of a person’s biometric details, such as fingerprints and iris scans, if they have been arrested, detained or placed under preventive detention on charges that attract a jail term of seven years or more.
3. The Bill makes it mandatory for police to allow collection of finger impressions, palm print impressions, footprint impressions, photographs, iris and retina scans, physical and biological samples and their analysis, behavioral attributes, including signatures and handwriting, among others.
4. The draft law also empowers the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to collect, store and preserve these records for 75 years and share it with other agencies. Resistance or refusal to allow the collection of data is an offense.

Concerns over bill:
1. The Opposition called the Bill “draconian” and raised concerns about data breaches and violation of privacy, but the government assured the House that biometric data of political detainees will not be collected and the proposed law will exclude brain mapping and polygraph tests.
2. The government will make rules to ensure that no person involved in a political agitation has to give (physical and biometric) measurements only for political agitation. But, if a political leader is arrested in a criminal case, then he will have to be at par with a citizen.

3. The home minister added no measurements will be taken of any political person for violation of prohibitory orders promulgated by police. No provision of this bill permits performing narco analysis, polygraph tests and brain mapping of any prisoner.
4. Experts have also said that in the absence of a national data protection law, the data collected might not have adequate safeguards against privacy violations.
5. The Bill also empowers a magistrate to direct any person to give measurements and empowers police or prison officers to take measurements of any person who resists or refuses to give measurements
Benefits:
1. The government wants the country’s police to stay two steps ahead of criminals. We cannot handle next-generation crime with old techniques. Conviction rates in India are low and it will be increased by application of latest technology
2. The Bill is about safeguarding the human rights of the victims of crimes, and not just criminals.
3. It is aimed at building capacity for the police and forensic teams, the measure was intended to preclude the use of third degree methods (custodial torture) and making available the benefits of science and technology to prosecuting agencies.
4. The minister said police will send fingerprint impressions to NCRB, which will share the name of the person with the investigators only if it matches with the records present in the database. Police will not have access to fingerprint data of others.

Q4. Consider the following statements

1. The extreme poverty is defined by the World Bank as living on US$ 4.9 or less per day in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms
2. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 representing perfect equality and 1 representing perfect inequality

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 : b

Why is the Question ?

India has almost wiped out extreme poverty: IMF
1. India has almost eradicated extreme poverty and brought down consumption inequality to its lowest levels in 40 years through state-provided food handouts, according to a new working paper published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
2. The IMF working paper said that the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, at less than 1%, remained steady even during the pandemic on the back of “in-kind” subsidies, especially food rations.
3. Results also demonstrate that the social safety net provided by the expansion of India’s food subsidy program absorbed a major part of the pandemic shock, the authors stated. Such back-to-back low poverty rates suggest India has eliminated extreme poverty, they concluded.
4. In India, the number of people living in extreme poverty -- defined by the World Bank as living on US$1.9 or less in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms -- was 0.8% of the population in the pre-pandemic year 2019, stated the IMF paper.
5. PPP is a metric that equalizes the buying power of different currencies to make comparisons easy.
The Gini coefficient
1. Real (inflation-adjusted) inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, which stands at 0.294, is now very close to its lowest level 0.284 observed in 1993-94, the paper stated.
2. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 representing perfect equality and 1 representing perfect inequality.