UPSC Quiz – 2021 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 27th November 2021

Solution (d)

India has set a target of 20% ethanol-blending with petrol by 2023-24 and the ultimate goal is to have 100 per cent ethanol-run vehicles.

Ethanol can be produced from sugarcane, maize, wheat, etc which are having high starch content. 

In India, ethanol is mainly produced from sugarcane molasses by fermentation process. 

Ethanol can be mixed with gasoline to form different blends. As the ethanol molecule contains oxygen, it allows the engine to more completely combust the fuel, resulting in fewer emissions and thereby reducing the occurrence of environmental pollution. 

Mixing ethanol in auto fuel can result in savings and also protect against climate change.

Ethanol in India is obtained primarily from sugarcane via a fermentation process. Ethanol is high in oxygen content, which therefore allows an engine to more thoroughly combust fuel.

It can be mixed with fuel in different quantities and can help reduce vehicular emissions. Also, since it is plant-based, it is considered to be a renewable fuel.

Ethanol is less polluting than other fuels and, per the NITI Aayog paper, “offers equivalent efficiency at lower cost than petrol”.

Ethanol blending will also, to a large extent, solve the problem of agricultural waste as well as sugar rates plummeting due to excess production, therefore providing security to sugarcane farmers.

Article Link:

https://www.firstpost.com/india/explained-what-is-ethanol-blending-in-petrol-and-why-it-can-be-beneficial-for-india-9692861.html

Solution (a)

Theme-based trains on the anvil

Service providers, who can be an individual, company, society, trust, joint venture or consortium, will be free to decide themes and circuits such as Guru Kripa trains for covering important places of Sikh culture or the Ramayana Express for places connected with Lord Ram.

Bharat Gaurav trains that will be operated by private players and run on theme-based circuits

According to the Bharat Gaurav policy, any operator or service provider, or virtually anyone, can lease trains from Indian Railways to run on a theme-based circuit as a special tourism package. The tenure of the arrangement is a minimum of two years and maximum of the codal life of the coach. The operator has the freedom to decide the route, the halts, the services provided, and, most importantly, the tariff.

The Bharat Gaurav operator will also have to propose a similar business model wherein it takes care of local transport, sightseeing, food, local stays, etc. along with operating the trains.

If the operator finds it feasible, then it can even purchase rakes from Indian Railway production units and run them. These trains cannot be used as ordinary transport trains between an origin and destination.

Indian Railways will provide staff to drive the trains, guards and also maintenance staff on board for the coaches. Other staff, like housekeeping and catering, etc, will be deployed by the operator.

Article Link:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/indian-railways-bharat-gaurav-scheme-explained-7640296/

Solution (c)

Why does Russia want to leave the International Space Station?

Russia has announced that it would be withdrawing from the International Space Station in 2025, and build and manage its own floating laboratory that will be launched into orbit by 2030.

What does the International Space Station do?

A space station is essentially a large spacecraft that remains in low-earth orbit for extended periods of time. It is like a large laboratory in space, and allows astronauts to come aboard and stay for weeks or months to carry out experiments in microgravity.

The Mir space station of the former Soviet Union, and later operated by Russia, was functional from 1986 to 2001. The ISS has been in space since 1998, and has been known for the exemplary cooperation between the five participating space agencies that have been running it: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).

Russia was also indispensable because of its Soyuz passenger vehicle, which served as the only way for transporting astronauts to the ISS ever since the US retired its Space Shuttle Program in 2011. This reliance on Russia ended last year, however, when the US started to use the SpaceX system developed by Elon Musk.

Article Link:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-why-russia-wants-to-leave-the-international-space-station-7288790/

Solution (c)

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, listed for introduction in Parliament’s Winter Session, seeks to “create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India”.

The Bill “seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses”.

How would a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) work?

The Reserve Bank of India plans to launch its CBDC, a digital form of fiat currency that can be transacted using wallets backed by blockchain, and which is regulated by the central bank. Though the concept of CBDCs was directly inspired by Bitcoin, it is different from decentralised virtual currencies and crypto assets, which are not issued by the state, and lack the ‘legal tender’ status declared by the government.

CBDCs enable the user to conduct both domestic and cross-border transactions that do not require a third party or bank. Since several countries are running pilot projects in this space, it is important for India to launch its own CBDC, making the rupee competitive in international financial markets.

While CBDC too is a digital or virtual currency, it is not comparable to the private virtual currencies that have mushroomed over the last decade.

Article Link:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/cryptocurrency-and-regulation-of-official-digital-currency-bill-rbi-parliament-winter-session-7639969/

Solution (c)

Global push to cap oil prices: India to release 5 mn barrels from reserves

The stocks will be sold to Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) which are connected by pipeline to the strategic reserves.

INDIA IS set to release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic reserves as part of a coordinated move along with the US, China, Japan and South Korea aimed at lowering international prices. The US will release 50 million barrels of crude oil from its reserves as part of the effort.

India has built 1.33 million tonnes of storage at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, 1.5 million tonnes at Mangaluru and 2.5 million tonnes at Padur (both in Karnataka).

ADNOC of UAE has leased half of the Mangalore storage, while the remaining is with state-owned Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL). State-owned firms and the government have stocked oil at the other facilities.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/india-to-release-5-millon-barrels-of-crude-oil-from-strategic-reserves/article37640438.ece