Daily Current Affairs (MCQ) | Date 23.04.22

Q1. Consider the following statements

1. The per capita water availability in India has been increasing since last decade due to Jal Jeevan Mission
2. India’s per person surface water storage is highest in the world
3. India is the largest ground water user in the world

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

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

Answer : c

Why is the Question ?

 India’s water crisis is worse than it may seem. In effect, it is worsening by the day, season and year. Post-Independence, per capita water availability, has declined from a high of 4,000 cubic metres in 1947 to a low of 1,486 cubic metres in 2021.
 It is an alarming trend as the accepted global norm is 3,000 cubic metres. Given the country’s annual water endowment of 4 billion cubic metres, the picture is one of scarcity amid
plenty.

Statistics as daily life experiences:
1. Statistics reveal only a part of the daily ordeal a sizeable population in the country undergoes, in urban and rural centres. Household water connections have remained an exercise in numbers as per capita daily allocation of 135 litres for urban and 55 litres for rural areas is good only on paper.
2. The gap between water haves and have-nots has widened. It’s no surprise, therefore, that increasing demand, asymmetric distribution and contaminated supplies have left a large,
growing population vulnerable to water stress, social conflicts and medical conditions.
Rainwater harvesting:
1. As total precipitation is received during a few monsoon months a year, directing rainfall into surface storage structures for use during the lean season remains a workable solution.
2. Before being subsumed under the urban sprawl, traditional water tanks were spread across the country and helped Indians even out seasonal and geographical variations in rainfall.
3. Large dams were supposed to have performed better as a replacement, but the cumulative storage capacity of these structures has remained below par.
4. As a result, India’s per person surface water storage is an abysmal 150 cubic metres. That’s 10 times less than the global average of 1,500 cubic metres. In comparison, China stores thrice as much while the US stocks 10 times more than India does.

Q2. The electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS) was used in 2019 General election for

1. Armed forces
2. Central police forces
3. Diplomats and their families

Select the correct answer using the code given below

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

Answer : d

Why is the Question ?

Electronically Transmitted Votes For NRIs In Works

1. The Election Commission of India is considering the introduction of an electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS) facility for overseas voters.
2. ECI urged NRIs to register as overseas voters as the current numbers are “abysmally low”.According to ECI estimates, at least 60-65% of the 12.6 million Indians residing overseas are likely to be eligible to vote in Indian elections. Just a little over 100,000 overseas Indians are currently registered as voters.
3. Overseas electors are allowed to register in their respective constituencies using form 6A which is available online. Their names are added at the end of the electoral list of their respective polling station. At present, non-resident Indians (NRIs) can cast their ballots only at their respective polling booths.
4. ECI, however, wrote to the law ministry last year to expedite the amendment of the People’s Representation Act, 1951, to extend the postal ballot facility to overseas electors.
5. It has been proposed that voting be done via ETPBS, which was first tested in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for voters in the armed forces, central police forces, diplomats and their families.

Q3. Consider the following statements

1. Methane has 84 times the warming potential of CO2 over a short timeframe
2. Agriculture is mainly responsible for methane emissions from India
3. India is largest methane producer in the world

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

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

Answer : a

Why is the Question ?

Catastrophic flooding, hottest summer: Climate crisis threatens Europe
1. Climate crisis produced another record-breaking year of extreme weather in Europe in 2021, triggering catastrophic flooding and the hottest summer on record, according to scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
2. Summer temperatures in Europe last year were 1°C above the average of the previous 20 years, and the rainfall that battered Germany and Belgium broke records, the scientists said in their annual European State of the Climate report.
3. Globally, the last seven years have been the warmest since records began in 1850, with 2021 ranking sixth.
Greenhouse emissions
1. There were worrying findings in terms of greenhouse emissions, too: concentrations of carbon dioxide and particularly methane continued to rise in the atmosphere.

2. The continued increase in greenhouse gases is the main driver behind the global increase in temperatures.
3. It also painted a stark picture of the crisis in the Arctic, with wildfires mostly from eastern Siberia contributing to the fourth-highest amount of carbon emissions from such events in the region.

Methane rising:
1. Methane - which has 84 times the warming potential of CO2 over a short timeframe - jumped by 16.5 parts per billion, marking a second consecutive year of sharp increases.
2. The cause of the rise was unclear, the scientists said, though a large portion was likely attributable to rice and cattle farming, as well as the gas escaping from natural sinks.
3. The Copernicus findings come after Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the world may be on track to warm by more than 3°C - twice the Paris Agreement target.

Q4. Consider the following statements

1. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a Paris-based intergovernmental organization to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and funding of weapons of mass destruction
2. FATF was established in 1989
3. India is a member of orgnization

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

a. 1 and 2 only
b. 2 only

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

Answer : d

Why is the Question ?

‘Committed to fighting money laundering, terror financing’
1. The Finance minister said India is committed to fighting money laundering and terrorist financing.
2. The priorities include strengthening the organization’s network, systems of mutual evaluations, boosting capabilities to effectively recover criminal assets, leveraging digital transformation, and ensuring funding for its work.
FATF:
1. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a Paris-based intergovernmental organization to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and funding of weapons of mass destruction.
2. FATF was established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other such threats to the integrity of the international financial system and has 39 members, including India.

Q5. Recently in news Red Echo and Shadow Pad are related to

a. Red algae boom in Indian ocean
b. Phenomenon related to universe expansion and dark energy
c. Start ups in defense sector
d. Cyber attacks on Indian power infrastructure

Answer : d

Why is the Question ?

Cyberattacks rise at oil cos as hackers up their game
1. A major cyberattack hit state-run Oil India Ltd on 13 April, targeting its Assam facility’s information technology (IT) systems. The company said the attack did not affect operations; however, media reports claimed that hackers demanded $7.5 million from the oil producer.
2. Oil India isn’t alone. According to CyberPeace Foundation, a civil society organization, nearly 360,000 attacks on Indian oil companies were detected by threat intelligence sensors deployed to analyze real-time cyberthreats between 1 October and 12 April.
3. The study was part of CyberPeace Foundation’s eKawach programme, under which it partnered with Autobot Infosec Pvt. Ltd and CyberPeace Center of Excellence (CCoE) to deploy the SCADA Critical Information Infrastructure threat intelligence sensors, which are industrial control systems deployed on critical infrastructure.
4. The study signals the growing number of cyberattacks on the critical infrastructure of companies in India. Such attacks have increased in the past year worldwide as well. Several US firms, including Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods, were hit by ransomware attacks in 2021.
5. Earlier, UK-based cybersecurity firm Recorded Future warned about a Chinese state-backed threat campaign targeting power companies in India. It had flagged similar attacks on power grids in the country in February.
Red Echo
1. Last year, a Chinese state-backed hacker group called RedEcho targeted power grids in India. This latest set of intrusions, however, is composed of an almost entirely different set of victim organizations.
2. It used a malware called ShadowPad, according to the USbased cybersecurity company, Recorded Futures.
Suspected Indian power sector victims of RedEcho targeted intrusions