Daily Current Affairs (MCQ's) | 27-05-2023

Q1. Consider the following statements
1. India is only country to do the rice fortification
2. Iron fortified rice can help in tackling anaemia

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)

Explanation:

Union Food Ministry counters Cong., says fortified rice is safe
• The Union Food Ministry countered the Opposition Congress’s allegation that the distribution of fortified rice through fair price shops is being done despite multiple warnings by experts and institutions such as NITI Aayog and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

• The Ministry has been maintaining, citing various studies, that consumption of fortified rice resulted in significant improvement in hemoglobin levels and reduction in the prevalence of anemia.

• The Ministry said rice fortification has been adopted by seven countries, including the U.S., since 1958.

• Meanwhile, the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) said in a statement that the Centre, in a unilateral decision, has been supplying iron-fortified rice in public safety net programmes such as the PDS, mid-day meals, and anganwadis, reaching crores of Indians.

• “These are mostly poor citizens who rely on State subsidized food and for whom iron-fortified rice has become mandatory since they cannot afford to buy other (non-fortified) rice in the open market. The scaling up of this programme came before a pilot scheme in 15 States was completed, or evaluated independently and rigorously. The evaluation of these pilots was due in late 2022 as per an RTI response by the government,” the statement said.

Q2. Consider the following statements
1. The Constitution talks about the use of Census data for delimitation of constituencies and for determining the quantum of reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
2. The Census Act, 1948 mandates that a census must be done once in every ten years

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)

Explanation:
• The freezing of administrative boundaries that precedes the Census
would be done with effect from July 1, 2023. Such a freeze is necessary as State governments are in the habit of creating new districts and tehsils or reorganizing existing ones.

• The pandemic ensured that the house-listing and, consequently, the population enumeration phase were postponed. Two years have been lost. There is no reason for a further postponement.

The constitutional and legal provisions:
• The Constitution talks about the use of Census data for delimitation of constituencies and for determining the quantum of reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, it does not say what should be the periodicity of the census.

• The Census Act, 1948, which predates the Constitution, provides the legal background for several activities relating to the Census without mentioning anything about its periodicity.

• It says, “The Central Government may,... declare its intention of taking a census..., whenever it may consider it necessary or desirable to do so, and thereupon the census shall be taken”. This provision puts the onus of deciding when to conduct a Census on the executive.

• This is unlike the position in several countries such as the U.S. and Japan where the Constitution or the Census law mandates a Census with defined periodicity.

Q3. Consider the following statements
1. Next Census will also count followers of Sarna faith and lingayats as having distinct religion
2. The next Census is also set to be the first digital Census

Which of the above is/are correct?
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer (b)

Explanation:
Only six religion options make it to next Census form

• Do you consume “packaged or bottled water”? The Census wants to know. This will be one of the new questions in the next Census, which will also introduce “natural calamities” as a new option when asking about the factors responsible for migration of an individual or a family, besides existing options.

• Despite demands from several communities to be counted as a separate religion, the next Census will only count Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain as options. Nature-worshipping Adivasis in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Odisha have been campaigning to include their Sarna faith as a separate religion, while Karnataka’s Lingayats have been making a similar demand. Though respondents can write the name of any other religion, no separate code will be provided.

• Census officials had, in fact, designed detailed codes for religion on the basis of data collected during Census 2011. However, they were dropped and only six religion codes were retained in the final schedule. The details are explained in a report titled, “The Treatise on Indian Censuses Since 1981”, which was released by Home Minister Amit Shah on May 22.

Digital Census
• The next Census is also set to be the first digital Census, where respondents will have the option to fill in the questionnaire from the comfort of their own home.

Q4. Which of the following are considered passive funds managed mutual funds by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)?

1. Exchange traded funds (ETFs)
2. Index funds
3. Individual Equities

Select the correct answer from the codes given below
a. 1 and 2 only
b. 2 and 3 only
c. 1 and 3 only
d. 1, 2 and 3

Answer (a)

Explanation:
‘SEBI to ease passive fund rules soon’

• SEBI will soon introduce a new light-touch regulatory framework for passively managed mutual funds like exchange traded funds (ETFs) and index funds, which have seen a sharp uptick in assets under management (AUM) in recent years, a member said.

• While ETF units can be traded even intra-day on the bourses, index funds offer traditional MF units, which can be bought or redeemed at their net asset value that is revised daily.

Q5. Consider the following statements
1. Monsoon is negatively impacted by El Nino and positive Indian Ocean Dipole
2. The Long Period Average (a 50-year mean) of southwest monsoon is 137 cm

Which of the above is/are correct?
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer (d)

Explanation:
IMD retains its normal outlook for monsoon
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has kept its forecast of normal rainfall from June-September this year, unchanged from its prediction in April. At 96% of the Long Period Average (a 50-year mean) of 87 cm, this is at the lowest end of what is considered ‘normal’. The chances of an El Nino forming are near certain, and this will likely mean that rainfall levels will be below normal in northwest India, IMD said on Friday.

• The key factor influencing the quantum of monsoon rains is the development of an El Nino, a phenomenon of warming in the central Pacific Ocean that is linked to diminished rainfall in western and northwestern India.

• Since 2019, India has been under the influence of the converse La Nina, which is a cooling in those regions, and therefore linked to substantial monsoon rains. Another ocean-linked phenomenon, called the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is also likely to play out during the monsoon. A positive dipole, characterised by a warming in the western half of the Indian Ocean relative to the eastern, is expected to compensate for some of the rain sucked out due to El Nino, D.S. Pai of the IMD said. “The link between IOD and good monsoon rains isn’t as strong as the link between El Nino and diminished rains,” he added.

June Rains Below Normal
• IMD officials added that monsoon rains over most parts of India will be between 92% and 104% of the average. Southern India will receive above normal levels of rainfall.

• The IMD has forecast that the monsoon will arrive over Kerala on June 4, three days after the usual due date. While onset dates have no link to the quantum of monsoon rainfall, IMD’s monsoon models say that June rainfall is likely to be “below normal” (<92% of the average of 16.54 cm). Except in some areas of southern peninsular India, northwest India, north India and pockets of northeast India, rainfall is likely to be “below normal” in June, the agency noted.