Daily Current Affairs (MCQ's) | 30-06-2022

Q1. Which of the following are fundamental rights?

1. Freedom of speech and expression
2. Right to property
3. Freedom of speech over the Internet

Select the correct answer from the codes given below

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

Answer (b)

Explanation:

Rights vs restrictions: The precarious balance for free speech

• The Preamble of the Constitution of India speaks of liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. Article 19 (1)(a) lays down that all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression.
• Former Supreme Court judge Krishna Iyer once said that “this freedom is essential because the censorial power lies in the people over and against the Government, and not in the Government over and against the people. ”

Reasonable restrictions:

• But the right under Article 19(1)(a), like every other right under the Constitution, is not Article 19(2) lays down that the State shall be entitled to impose reasonable restrictions on the exercise of rights under Article 19 by way of framing laws.
• Article 19(2) provides that the right can be regulated and prohibited “be in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence. ”

Supreme court observations:

• In Romesh Thapar Vs State of Madras, (1950), the Supreme Court stated that freedom of speech lay at the foundation of all democratic organisations.
• In Bennett Coleman & Co & Ors Vs Union of India & Ors, (1973), the apex court called the freedom of speech and of the press “the Ark of the Covenant of Democracy because public criticism is essential to the working of its institutions ”

Reasonable restrictions:

• On the ambit of restrictions that the State can impose on free speech under Article 19(2), the SC in Chintaman Rao Vs State of Madhya Pradesh (1950) held that such restrictions are amenable to judicial review.
• In State of Madras Vs G Row (1952), the court said that the test of reasonableness, wherever prescribed, shall be applied to each individual statute impugned and that no abstract or general principle of reasonableness can be laid down for all prohibitory laws.

• The Supreme Court also clarified in Superintendent, Central Prison, Fatehgarh Vs Ram Manohar Lohia (1960), that “public order” must be distinguished from the other grounds mentioned under Article 19(2) and taken in an exclusive sense to mean public peace, safety and tranquillity as opposed to national upheavals, such as revolution, civil strife and war, affecting the security of the State.

Internet and free speech

• In other judgments, the court has extended the right of freedom of expression to anything posted on the Internet, and also emphasised the right to the Internet itself.
• Back in 2015, in Shreya Singhal Vs Union of India, the SC expanded the contours of free speech to the Internet, and struck down the Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which authorised police to arrest people for social media posts construed as “offensive” or “menacing”.
• The Centre, in this case, emphasised that publishing on the Internet must be viewed from a different angle since, by the very nature of the medium, the width and reach of the Internet are manifold as against newspapers and But the court shot down this argument.
• In a recent ruling in the Supreme Court in Anuradha Bhasin Vs the Union of India (2020), the court examined Internet shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir and expressly declared the right to freedom of speech and expression over the Internet as a fundamental right.
• It added that any order suspending internet services indefinitely is “impermissible” and suspension of the Internet must be considered by the State only if it is necessary and unavoidable.
• Asserting that non-recognition of technology within the sphere of law is a disservice, the judgment held that freedom of speech and expression includes the right to disseminate information to a wide section of the population using the Internet and hence, this right is constitutionally protected.

Q2. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153A, 295 and 295A deal with

1. Defamation
2. Sedition
3. Incitement of violence against the state
4. Hurting the religious sentiments

Answer (d)

Explanation:

Prosecution for blasphemy and hate speech as exceptions to freedom

• India does not have a formal legal framework to criminalise blasphemy or hate speech. A clutch of provisions in the IPC, however, are invoked to deal with offences pertaining to religions and communities.
• IPC sections 153A, 295 and 295A tend to prosecute individuals for hurting the religious sentiments of a class through offensive Section 295A criminalises acts with “deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India”.
• Section 153A deals with the offence of promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and indulging in acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony.
• Section 295 criminalises injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any The alleged offences can fetch a jail term of up to three years.

• The Supreme Court has tested the validity of these penal provisions under Article 19(2), which authorises the State to impose reasonable restrictions on the right to free speech.

Q3. Consider the following statements

1. Article 76 of the constitution mentions that he/she is the highest law officer in India
2. He can be removed by the President at any time
3. As a chief legal advisor to the government of India, he advises the union government on all legal matters

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

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

Answer (d)

Explanation:

The Union government extended the tenure of Attorney General KK Venugopal by three months.

• The Attorney General is the central government’s top law officer and chief legal advisor who represents the Government of India in crucial cases before the Supreme Court.
• Article 76 of the constitution mentions that he/she is the highest law officer in As a chief legal advisor to the government of India, he advises the union government on all legal matters.
• The Attorney General, like an Advocate General of a State, is not supposed to be a political appointee, in spirit, but this is not the case in practice.

• The President of India appoints a person who is qualified for the post of Supreme Court Attorney General is appointed by the President on the advice of the government. There are the following qualifications:
• He should be an Indian Citizen
• He must have either completed 5 years in the High Court of any Indian state as a judge or 10 years in the High Court as an advocate
• He may be an eminent jurist too, in the eye of the President

The term of Attorney General’s office:

• He can be removed by the President at any The Constitution mentions no specified tenure of the Attorney General.
• Similarly, the Constitution also does not mention the procedure and ground of his removal.
• He can quit by submitting his resignation only to the Since he is appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers, conventionally he is removed when the council is dissolved or replaced

Q4. Consider the following statements

1. Unicorns are privately held, venture-capital backed startups that have reached a value of $1 billion
2. Very few unicorns were established in India during the pandemic

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer (a)

Explanation:

• India will have 122 new unicorns in the next 2 to 4 years and these firms currently have a cumulative value of $49 billion, according to Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022.
• Bengaluru alone would add 46 new unicorns, while Delhi NCR would get 25 new unicorns, Mumbai 16, Chennai 5, and Pune 3, while the rest are expected from 20 other cities, according to the unicorn index released by the Hurun Research Institute.

What is a unicorn startup?

Unicorns are privately held, venture-capital backed startups that have reached a value of $1 billion. The valuation of unicorns is not expressly linked to their current financial performance, but largely based on their growth potential as perceived by investors and venture capitalists who have taken part in various funding rounds.

When was the term first used?

American venture capitalist Aileen Lee is credited with coining the term in 2013. It was used to emphasise the rarity of the emergence of such startups. In an article written for Techcrunch, “Welcome To The Unicorn Club: Learning from Billion-Dollar Startups”, Lee looked at US-based tech companies started since January 2003, to understand — “How likely is it for a startup to achieve a billion- dollar valuation?”

What is India’s unicorn record?

During his recent ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio address, Prime Minister Modi said that a record 44 unicorns were established in India last year during the pandemic. “Not only that, 14 more unicorns were formed anew in three-four months this year. This means that even in this phase of the global pandemic, our startups have been creating wealth and value,” he said.

According to Invest India, the government’s National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, “The year 2021, 2020, and 2019 saw the birth of the maximum number of Indian unicorns with 44, 11, and 7 unicorns coming each year, respectively.”

It adds that between 2015 and 2021, the country’s startup ecosystem has seen a nine-time increase in the number of investors, and a seven-time increase in the total funding of startups.

“We are gradually transitioning from the age of unicorns to the age of decacorns. A decacorn is a company that has attained a valuation of more than USD10 billion. As of May 2022, 47 companies world over have achieved the decacorn status. India has four startups namely, Flipkart, BYJU’s, Nykaa and Swiggy, added in the decacorn cohort,” says Invest India on its website.

Q5. Which of the following is responsible for the highest number of road accident casualties?

1. Faulty roads
2. Overspeeding
3. Non-use of crash helmets and seat belts
4. Drunk driving

Answer (b)

Explanation:

Speeding major cause of death: Lancet study

• Steps taken to check vehicle speed on roads in India could alone have the biggest impact on ensuring road safety by saving 20,554 lives annually, says a new Lancet study, which underlines that interventions focusing on four key risk factors such as speeding, drunk driving, non-use of crash helmets and seat belts could prevent 25% to 40% of the 5 lakh fatal road injuries worldwide every year.

• This is the first study that gives country-specific estimates of the effect of addressing the four main road safety risk factors through interventions for 185
• In India, interventions to check speeding could save 20,554 lives and the promotion of crash helmets could save 5,683 Encouraging the use of seat belts can also save 3,204 lives in the country.

Under-reported figures

• According to the Road Transport and Highway Ministry’s 2020 report, there were a total of 1,31,714 deaths due to road accidents, where speeding accounted for 3% of deaths ( 91,239), non-wearing of helmets resulted in 30.1% of deaths (39,798) and non-use of seat belts caused 11.5% of deaths (26,896).
• India accounts for almost 10% of all crash-related deaths while accounting for only 1% of the world’s vehicles.
• Steps undertaken to reduce speeding such as infrastructure changes and electronic speed control could save an estimated 3,47,258 lives globally each year, while measures to tackle drunk driving such as enhanced enforcement could save a further 16,304 lives. An estimated 1,21,083 and 51,698 lives could be saved by enforcing rules on wearing seat belts and motorcycle helmets,respectively.

The second decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 sets an ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030 and the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari aims to halve the numbers for India by 2024.

Q6. Which of the following countries share border with Russia?

1. Sweden
2. Finland
3. Hungary
4. Estonia
5. Bulgaria

Select the correct answer from the codes given below

1. 2, 3 and 4 only
2. 2 and 4 only
3. 1, 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Answer (b)

Explanation: