Daily Current Affairs (MCQ's) | 01-12-2022

Q1. Vagsheer, the sixth submarine of the P75 project of the Indian Navy, was launched recently. Submarine works on the principle of

1. Magnetism
2. Buoyancy
3. Electromagnetic repulsion
4. Bernoulli

Answer (b)

Explanation:

• Vagsheer, the sixth submarine of the P75 project of the Indian Navy was launched recently.
• It is the last of the Scorpene class submarines made under the P75 project.
• Under P75, INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj and INS Vela have been Sea trials are on for Vagir.
• Vagsheer is named after the sand fish, a deep sea predator of the Indian The first submarine Vagsheer, from Russia, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 26, 1974, and was decommissioned on April 30, 1997.
• The submarine operates using Archimedes’ principle of buoyancy which states that “the upward buoyant force which is applied on a body that is submerged in a fluid, whether fully or partially, is directly proportional to the weight of the fluid it displaces”.
• Therefore, the submarine floats when the water it pushes out of the way (displaces) is equivalent to its mass. When the water is pushed away it causes an upward force called Buoyancy or the buoyant force, which works against gravity, which would foster the pulling down of the ship.
• The buoyancy of the submarine is controlled by ballast tanks.

• So for the submarine to float on the surface of the water, these ballast tanks have positive buoyancy by being filled with air and having a lower density than water.

Q2. Bosphorus strait lies between

1. Sea of Marmara and Black sea
2. Aegian sea and Black sea
3. Sea of Marmara and Aegian sea
4. Mediterranean sea and Atlantic ocean

Answer (a)

Explanation:

Q3. Consider the following statements

1. Food fortification is the process of adding nutrients to food
2. For instance, rice and wheat are fortified with iron, folic acid and vitamin B12,
3. Salt can be fortified with iron and iodine

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1. 1 and 2 only
   2. 2 only
   3. 1 and 3 only
   4. 1, 2 and 3

Answer (d)

Explanation:

An Indian recipe to quell micronutrient malnutrition

• When it comes to nutrition, or more specifically micronutrient malnutrition, there is an urgent need to address the maladies that poor nutrition can inflict on the masses, especially given the diverse populations in India.
• Malnutrition exacerbates the magnitude of the public health crises we face, and is India’s most serious challenge and concern.
• As in National Family Health Survey-5 data, every second Indian woman is anaemic, every third child is stunted and malnourished, and every fifth child is wasted.
• According to an FAO Food Security Report for 2021, India ranks 101 out of 116 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2021, with a 3% undernourished population, the highest proportion of stunted children (30%), and wasted children (17.3%).
• The picture the Global Nutrition Report 2021 paints is cause for concern, noting that stunting among children in India is significantly higher than the Asian average of 21.8%.

Food fortification:

• Since the 1920s, developed countries and high-income countries have successfully tackled the issue of malnutrition through food fortification.
• Of late, the low-and middle-income countries, such as India, have pursued food fortification as one of the strategies to tackle micronutrient malnutrition.
• Put simply, food fortification is the process of adding nutrients to For instance, rice and wheat are fortified with iron, folic acid and vitamin B12, and salt fortified with iron and iodine. Iodised salt has been in use for the past few decades.

The rice programme and anaemia

• Pilot projects on the distribution of fortified rice have been taken up in select States, including Maharashtra (Gadchiroli district) as part of a targeted Public Distribution programme for the masses.
• The programme has been a success in terms of preventing cases of anaemia — from 9% to 29.5% — within a span of two years, prompting the central government to declare the scaling up of the distribution of fortified rice, the major staple diet of 65% of the population, through the existing platform of social safety nets such as the PDS, ICDS and PM-POSHAN.

• Experiences from the different States on the fortified rice project, so far tally with the results of global programmes that use fortified food as a cost-effective strategy.
• The encouraging results of the pilot programme in Gadchiroli have prompted the proposed large-scale food fortification programme, which includes fortified rice in all all safety net government schemes.
• The study found a promising reduction (29.5%) in the prevalence of anaemia among women, adolescent girls, and children put together in Gadchiroli district.

Q4. The Great Indian Bustard could be seen in

1. Rajasthan
2. Gujarat
3. Maharashtra

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Answer (d)

Explanation:

SC seeks Centre’s response on evolving a programme to protect Great Indian Bustard

• The Supreme Court sought the government’s response about evolving a “Project Great Indian Bustard” conservation programme like the Project Tiger to bring attention to the peril faced by the critically endangered bird.
• Project Tiger is touted by the government as one of the most successful conservation programmes for a single species in the world.
• The court is hearing a series of petitions highlighting the numerous deaths of Great Indian Bustards due to power transmission lines criss-crossing their habitat in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Q5. Consider the following statements about the Genetically Modified (GM) crops

1. GM crops can displace women labourers
2. These can end up promoting herbicide misuse leaving large amounts of toxic chemical residue on the crops
3. The commercial cultivation of GM mustard may open the door wide, for multinational corporations
4. India allows full scale commercial cultivation of GM food crops

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 3 and 4 only
3. 1, 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer (c)

Explanation:

SC worried over effect of GM crops on livelihood of women farm labourers

• The Supreme Court expressed concern about the plight of thousands of women agricultural labourers in rural areas traditionally engaged in de-weeding as they would be part of the human cost if the government permitted the commercial cultivation of herbicide- tolerant crops such as GM mustard.
• Petitions challenge environmental nod given to GM mustard; petitioner says widespread use of herbicide-tolerant crops will encourage farmers to spray chemical weed-killers, leaving large amounts of toxic chemical residue on the crops
• The Supreme Court’s own Technical Expert Committee [TEC] had said that these GM crops were not meant for agriculture in the Indian context. They may be suitable in the western context where there are large farms, but not here.
• The Petitioners also submitted that India had 5,477 varieties of mustard, which would be at He argued that the regulatory system under the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), which cleared the environmental release of Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11), a genetically engineered variant of mustard, was “horrendous” and riddled with conflict of interest.
• The Supreme Court-appointed member of the GEAC had said the commercial cultivation of GM mustard would open the door wide, for multinational corporations.
• He said GM mustard, if approved for commercial cultivation, would be the first genetically modified food crop available to Indian He recalled how Bt Brinjal was withdrawn by the government years ago after the regulatory system was found riddled with inconsistencies.