Daily Current Affairs for UPSC – 17 March 2023

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC 2023

Q) Recently seen in news, World Air Quality Report 2023 was released by

1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
2. Swiss based technology company IQAir
3. Friends of Earth International
4. United Nations Environment Programme

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC – 16 March 2023

Explanation:

• Option (2) is correct: Swiss based technology company IQAir has published the annual city-wise air quality report for 2022. There were six Indian cities in the top 10 with the most polluted air globally, 14 in the top 20, 39 in the top 50 and 65 in the top 100 — up from 61 in the previous year. India had the eighth-most polluted air on average, the report added.

Q) With reference to the PM MITRA Park Scheme, recently seen in the news, consider the following statements:

1. PM MITRA Scheme has been launched by the Ministry of Textiles (MoT) to strengthen the Indian textile industry.

1. Each MITRA Park will have an incubation centre, common processing house and a common effluent treatment plant.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

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

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is correct: Ministry of Textiles (MoT) has launched PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel Parks (MITRAs) Scheme to strengthen the Indian textile industry by way of enabling scale of operations, reduce logistics cost by housing entire value chain at one location, attract investment, generate employment and augment export potential. The scheme will develop integrated large scale and modern industrial infrastructure facility for total value-chain of the textile industry for example, spinning, weaving, processing, garmenting, textile manufacturing, processing & printing machinery industry.
• Statement 2 is correct: Each MITRA Park will have an incubation centre, common processing house and a common effluent treatment plant and other textile related facilities such as design centres and testing centres.

Q) Often seen in the news, right to repair movement is associated with

1. decreasing the tension between the Capitalist, USA and the Communist, Russia.
2. repairing the relationship between the South Asian countries including India and Pakistan.
3. right of consumers to be able to repair their own electronics and other product.
4. right of the Indian judiciary to be able to repair/ re-legislate the laws that conflict with the Indian Constitution.

Explanation:

• Option (3) is correct: Activists and organisations around the world have been advocating for the right of consumers to be able to repair their own electronics and other products as part of the ‘right to repair’ movement. The movement traces its roots back to the very dawn of the computer era in the 1950s. The goal of the movement is to get companies to make spare parts, tools and information on how to repair devices available to customers and repair shops to increase the lifespan of products and to keep them from ending up in landfills.

Q) With reference to the ‘New START Treaty’, consider the following statements:

1. It is a treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation for the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.
2. The treaty’s validity has been extended for seven years recently, thus making it effective until 2031.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

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

Explanation:

• Statement 1 correct: The New START Treaty is a treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms. It entered into force on 5th February 2011. It is a successor to the START framework of 1991 (at the end of the Cold War).
• Statement 2 incorrect: Recently, Russia and the USA have extended the treaty for the next five years. Its duration was for ten years that is till 2021, but it was extended by five more years till 2026. Days before the first anniversary of the beginning of the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin announced in an address to his nation that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START, the last remaining major military agreement with the United States.

Q) Which one of the following is done in the process of “Low temperature thermal desalination”?

1. the cold surface sea water is flash evaporated at low pressure.
2. the warm surface sea water is flash evaporated at low pressure.
3. the warm surface sea water is flash evaporated at high pressure.
4. the vapour is condensed using sea surface water.

Explanation:

• Option (2) is correct: The LTTD is a process under which the warm surface sea water is flash evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep-sea water. It utilizes vacuum pumps for creating a low pressure and low-temperature environment, resulting into evaporation of water at a temperature gradient of 8 °C. The LTTD technology does not require any chemical pre-and post-treatment of seawater and thus the pollution problems are minimal, and the process is suitable for island territories. Since no effluent treatment is required, it gives less operational maintenance problems compared to other desalination processes.

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