Daily Current Affairs (MCQ) | Date 25.04.22

Q1. Strontium or Fancy Bear, recently seen in news, is

a. A cyber-espionage group
b. Far off Black hole
c. Giant galaxy near milkyway
d. Quantum commuter developed by Russia

Answer : a

Why is the Question ?

Strontium: a cyber-espionage group
1. Strontium, also known as Fancy Bear, Tsar Team, Pawn Storm, Sofacy, Sednit or Advanced Persistent Threat 28 (APT28) group, is a highly active and prolific cyber-espionage group.
2. The group is said to be connected to the GRU, the Russian Armed Forces’ main military intelligence wing. The GRU’s unit 26165 is identified as Fancy Bear.
3. It is one of the most active APT groups and has been operating since at least the mid-2000s, making it one of the world’s oldest cyber-spy groups.
4. It has access to highly sophisticated tools to conduct spy operations and has been attacking targets in the U.S., Europe, Central Asia and West Asia.

Q2. Which of the following States/UTs has India’s first carbonneutral Panchayat?

a. Jammu and Kashmir
b. Ladakh
c. Punjab
d. Haryana

Answer : a

Why is the Question ?

Palli in Jammu becomes India’s first carbon-neutral panchayat
1. Palli village in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir has become the first panchayat in the country to become carbonneutral, fully powered by solar energy. All its records have been digitised and the benefits of all the Central schemes are available in this village around 17 km from Jammu.
2. Inaugurating a 500-kilowatt solar plant in Palli, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it would take three weeks to move a Sarkari file from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir, this project, with the help of villagers, was completed in a record time of three weeks.
3. “It’s India that has come up with a living example in the form of Palli village to the Glasgow pledge. Palli village, with its enthusiastic and dedicated elected representatives full of dreams, has shown how to implement the Glasgow pledge,” Mr Modi said.
4. PM described Palli as a model panchayat, which is bound to motivate other panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir and the country to become carbon-neutral.
5. He asked panchayats to participate in the movement “to segregate waste at the doorstep and reduce the use of chemical fertilizers”.

Q3. Consider the following statements

1. Chief Justice of India (CJI) has minimum tenure of 2 years
2. Retirement age for a supreme court judge is 65 years

Which of the statements given above 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 ?

This calendar year will see 3 CJIs in 3 months

1. The Supreme Court has had a handful of instances when more than one Chief Justice of India (CJI) took the highest chair in the judiciary in a year. But the year 2022 will become only the second such year since the top court’s inception in 1950 when it will have three different CJIs in under three months.
2. The incumbent, justice NV Ramana, will retire in August after a tenure of 16 months. Justice Ramana will pass the baton to justice Uday U Lalit, who will get just a little over two months as the head of the judiciary before he demits office in November. Justice Lalit’s retirement will pave the way for justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud to take over as the CJI for a term of two years.

3. Supreme Court judges take over as the CJI on the basis of their seniority. While there is no tenure fixed for a CJI, the retirement age of the judges in the apex court has been ascertained at 65 under the Constitution.
Minimum Three Years Tenure:
1. Experts believe every CJI should have a minimum tenure of three years. There are several important issues such as judicial and administrative reforms coupled with the problem of huge arrears of cases that need to be tackled.
2. A CJI should get sufficient time to execute his or her vision and usher in reforms as planned. The issue of the minimum tenure of a CJI should be considered by the central government as well as by the judges of the Supreme Court.
3. One way of ensuring a minimum tenure of three years for a CJI could be through an inbuilt mechanism by the collegium.
4. At the time of recommending a judge for his or her appointment in the Supreme Court, the collegium is aware of the tenure of each and every judge, as also who would go on to become a CJI and for how long.
5. The collegium can make sure that the appointee to the Supreme Court gets at least three years as a CJI. This can be done without any requirement of governmental interference or amending any constitutional provision.
Increase retirement age:
1. According to Attorney-General for India, increasing the retirement age of Supreme Court judges could go a long way in assisting the cause. We have lawyers practising till they are 75 or 80.
2. Also, the retirement age of the judges of the constitutional courts was fixed long back based on the average life of that time. It needs a revision now.

3. High court judges should retire at 67 (they currently retire at 62) and the Supreme Court judges should retire at 70.

Q4. Consider the following statements

1. India aims to provide fortified rice under all state-run food schemes in three stages by 2024 to improve nutritional outcomes
2. Rice is to be fortified with Iron

Which of the statements given above 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 ?

India’s plan for fortified rice needs an infra overhaul as the deadline looms

1. India aims to provide fortified rice under all state-run food schemes in three stages by 2024 to improve nutritional outcomes, a plan that will need a massive upgrade of the country’s food infrastructure to deliver a programme that some experts say is no magic bullet.

2. In his Independence Day speech in 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that his government would distribute fortified rice by 2024 under all schemes, leading up to the Cabinet’s approval.
3. The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the Centre’s grainhandling agency, has already  massed 8.8 million tonnes of rice fortified with iron for distribution and supply in specific schemes.
Fortification of rice scheme:
1. During stage 1, the programme will cover the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and PM POSHAN by March 2022. Both the schemes target schoolchildren and women with nutritional interventions, comprising at least one hot, cooked school meal.
2. In stage 2, the programme will cover the public distribution network in all of India’s so-called aspirational districts and 291 districts with the highest levels of stunting by March 2023. The third stage will expand the programme to all remaining districts by March 2024.