DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 7th February 2023

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Polity and Governance

Context: Recently the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court said that newly introduced system of Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS) should help under-trial prisoners belong to marginalised and weaker sections of the society.

About the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System:

• It will provide free legal assistance to the accused in custody and the defendants in criminal cases in line with the public defence system.
• It would come to the rescue of the needy, for and distressed persons in the State.
• A team of select lawyers will fight cases for the defendants for free, on the lines of the office of public prosecutors.
• The LADCS lawyers will receive monthly salary and would not handle other cases.
• The legal aid is being offered at pre-arrest, remand, trial and appellate stages in criminal matters to the accused or convicts coming under section 12 of the Legal Services Act-1987.

About National Legal Services Authority:

• Constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• While the Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief, the second senior most judge of the Supreme Court of India is the executive chairperson of the Authority.
• In every State, State Legal Services Authority has been constituted to give effect to the policies and directions of the NALSA and to give free legal services to the people and conduct Lok Adalats in the State.
• The State Legal Services Authority is headed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of the respective High Court.

Constitutional Provisions:

• Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides that State shall secure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity, and shall in particular, provide free legal aid, by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disability.
• Articles 14 and 22(1) also make it obligatory for the State to ensure equality before law and a legal system which promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to all.

Objectives of Legal Services Authorities:

• Provide free legal aid and advice.
• Spread legal awareness.
• Organize Lok Adalats.
• Promote settlements of disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanisms. Various kinds of ADR mechanisms are Arbitration, Conciliation, Judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat, or Mediation.
• Provide compensation to victims of crime.

Source: The Hindu

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) Consider the following statements:

1. Pursuant to the report of H.N. Sanyal Committee, the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 was passed.
2. The Constitution of India empowers the Supreme Court and the High Courts to punish for contempt of themselves.
3. The Constitution of India defines Civil Contempt and Criminal Contempt.
4. In India, the Parliament is vested with the powers to make laws on Contempt of Court.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (2022)

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

Q.2) With reference to India, consider the following statements:

1. Judicial custody means an accused is in the custody of the concerned magistrate and such accused is locked up in police station, not in jail.
2. During judicial custody, the police officer in charge of the case is not allowed to interrogate the suspect without the approval of the court.

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

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Geography

Context: The first G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting recently held in Kutch region of Gujarat.

About Rann of Kutch:

• It is a large area of salt marshes that span the border between India and Pakistan.
• It is located mostly in the Kutch district of Gujarat, with a minor portion extending into the Sindh province of Pakistan.
• It is divided into the Great Rann and Little Rann.
• The Great Rann of Kutch is the larger portion of the Rann.
• It extends east and west, with the Thar Desert to the north and the low hills of Kutch to the south.
• The Indus River Delta lies to the west in southern Pakistan.
• The Little Rann of Kutch lies southeast of the Great Rann, and extends southwards to the Gulf of Kutch.
• The climate of the ecoregion is
  • Temperatures average 44 °C during the hot summer months, and can reach highs of 50 °C.
  • During the winter the temperature can drop to or below freezing.
• The Rann of Kutch is the only large flooded grasslands zone in the Indomalayan realm.
  • The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms.
• It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia.
• The Little Rann of Kutch is home to the Indian wild ass (khur).
• The area has desert on one side and the sea on the other enables various ecosystems, including mangroves and desert vegetation.
• The history of the Rann of Kutch began with early neolithic settlements.
• It was later inhabited by the Indus Valley civilization as well as the Maurya and Gupta empires of India.

Kutch Desert:

• Kutch Desert covers a vast area to the north of India and northwest by Sindh (Pakistan), west and southwest by the Arabian Sea, and to the northeast by Rajasthan.
• The Rann of Kachchh comprises a unique example of Holocene sedimentation.
• It is connected to the Arabian Sea through Kori Creek in the west and the Gulf of Kachchh in the east, and is very close to sea level.
• The Wild Ass Wildlife Sanctuary, situated in the Indian state of Gujarat, is the largest wildlife sanctuary in the country.
  • It is spread in the entire area of the little Rann of Kutch where small grass-covered areas, known as baits, forms the flora and is an important source to support the fauna of the region.

Source: NewsOnAir

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) Consider the following pairs:

Peak                                              Mountains

1. Namcha Barwa                     Garhwal Himalaya
2. Nanda Devi                           Kumaon Himalaya
3. Nokrek                                   Sikkim Himalaya

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (2022)

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

Q.2) The term “Levant” often heard in the news roughly corresponds to which of the following regions? (2022)

1. Region along the eastern Mediterranean shores
2. Region along North African shores stretching from Egypt to Morocco
3. Region along Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa
4. The entire coastal Mediterranean Sea of areas

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Geography

Context: Recently an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck Turkiye, one of the most seismically active regions in the Mediterranean and the world.

About the Anatolian Plate:

• Turkiye (the Turkish/Anatolian plate) sits between three major tectonic plates: African, Arabian and Eurasian.
• The Anatolian Plate is a continental tectonic plate comprising most of the Anatolia (Asia Minor) peninsula (and the country of Turkey).
• To the east, the East Anatolian Fault, a left lateral transform fault, forms a boundary with the Arabian Plate.
  • To the south and southwest is a convergent boundary with the African Plate.
• The Anatolian plate is divided into three major fault zones: North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ), South Eastern Anatolian Thrust Zone (SAT)
• Collisions between the Arabian and African plates with Eurasia typically result in earthquakes.

Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale

• It is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake.
• It describes the effects of an earthquake on human beings, natural structures and industrial installations in a given region.
• The scale is designated in roman numerals.

Source: DownToEarth

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) Consider the following pairs:

Region often mentioned in the news:   Country

1. Anatolia                                               Turkey
2. Amhara                                               Ethiopia
3. Cabo Delgado                                     Spain
4. Catalonia                                             Italy

How many pairs given above are correctly matched? (2022)

1. Only one pair
2. Only two pairs
3. Only three pairs
4. All four pairs

Q.2) With references to India, Didwana, Kuchaman, Sargol and khatu are the names of  (2021)

1. Glaciers
2. Mangrove areas
3. Ramsar sites
4. Saline lakes

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Syllabus

• Prelims – International Relations

Context: Recently , the European Union revealed the “Green Deal Industrial Plan” that aims to cut red tape and provide massive subsidies in a bid to support and expand its green industry.

Regulatory Framework:

• By regulatory framework, the Green Deal Industrial Plan seeks to formulate a strategy for the “Net-Zero Industry Act.”
• This will not only simplify rules for traders to trade and operate freely but will expedite the process of trade permits and insurance for green projects, such as renewable energy generation arrays, carbon capture and renewable hydrogen production facilities.

Faster funds arrangement:

• The rules will be relaxed to facilitate easier investment and raising of funds for the EU’s 27 governments to operate and work on clean energy projects.
• The proposal has been formulated to help European (Non-rich) by offering subsidies and allowing the usage of existing EU funds.

Enhancement of skills:

• The ‘Green Deal Industrial Plan’ aims to create a “Net-Zero Industry Academies” that will provide up-skilling and re-skilling programmes in strategic industries.

Trade improvement:

• The deal plan also emphasizes on the significance of free and open trade and aims to further ‘develop EU’s network of Free Trade Agreements and other forms of cooperation with partners to support the green transition.”

USA’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA):

• It is a landmark United States federal law which aims to curb inflation by reducing the deficit, lowering prescription drug prices, and investing into domestic energy production while promoting clean energy.

Source: Indian Express

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Science and Technology

Context: Recently researchers are examining the fortress wall of Xi’an, an ancient city in China, by using tiny outer space particles called Muons that can penetrate hundreds of meters of stone surfaces.

• These particles have helped them find small density anomalies, which are potential safety hazards, inside the wall.

• Muons are subatomic particles raining from space.
• They are created when the particles in Earth’s atmosphere collide with cosmic rays.
• These particles resemble electrons but are 207 times as massive.
  • Therefore, they are sometimes called “fat electrons”.
• Because muons are so heavy, they can travel through hundreds of meters of rock or other matter before getting absorbed or decaying into electrons and neutrinos.
• In comparison, electrons can penetrate through only a few centimeters.
• Muons are highly unstable and exist for just 2.2 microseconds.

Muography – Applications

• It is conceptually similar to X-ray but capable of scanning much larger and wider structures, owing to the penetration power of muons.
• Apart from archaeology, Muography has found use in customs security, internal imaging of volcanoes and others.
• Around 2015, scientists used the technique to look inside the Fukushima nuclear reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) If a major solar storm (solar flare) reaches the Earth, which of the following are the possible effects on the Earth? (2022)

1. GPS and navigation systems could fail.
2. Tsunamis could occur at equatorial regions.
3. Power grids could be damaged.
4. Intense auroras could occur over much of the Earth.
5. Forest fires could take place over much of the planet.
6. Orbits of the satellites could be disturbed.
7. Shortwave radio communication of the aircraft flying over polar regions could be interrupted.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

1. 1, 2, 4 and 5 only
2. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 only
3. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 only
4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

Q.2) With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following?

1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units
2. Create meaningful short stories and songs
3. Disease diagnosis
4. Text-to-speech conversion
5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

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

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Defence

Context: As part of ‘Operation SADBHAVANA’, Indian Army is undertaking multiple welfare activities in remote areas of Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh.

About Operation Sadbhavana:

• Operation Sadbhavana (Goodwill) is a unique humane initiative undertaken by Indian Army in the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to address aspirations of people affected by terrorism, sponsored and abetted by Pakistan.
• As part of ‘Operation SADBHAVANA’, Indian Army is undertaking multiple welfare activities such as running of Army Goodwill Schools, Infrastructure Development Projects and Education Tours for the children living in remote areas of Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh.
• To improve the standard of education and to provide them with quality education, Indian Army is presently running seven (07) Army Goodwill Schools (AGS) under ‘Operation SADBHAVANA’ in Ladakh Region.
• Some of the objectives achieved through ‘Operation SADBHAVANA’ are national integration tours, women empowerment, employment generation, education and development activities towards nation building.
• ‘Operation SADBHAVANA’ projects are selected after taking local aspirations into consideration, in conjunction with local civil administration and it is ensured that there is no duplicates with projects of civil administration.

Source:  PIB

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Syllabus

• Prelims – Science and Technology

Context: Finance Minister recently announced government’s plan to launch a mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047.

• It is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders.
• In someone who has SCD, the hemoglobin is abnormal, which causes the red blood cells to become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a “sickle.”
• The sickle cells die early, which causes a constant shortage of red blood cells.
• Also, when they travel through small blood vessels, they get stuck and clog the blood flow.
• This can cause pain and other serious complications (health problems) such as infection, acute chest syndrome and stroke.
• SCD is a genetic condition that is present at birth.
• It is inherited when a child receives two genes—one from each parent—that code for abnormal hemoglobin.
• A blood test can determine whether you have SCD or sickle cell trait.
• SCD can also be diagnosed before a baby is born.
• SCD can only be cured by bone marrow or stem cell transplantation.

Source: Indian Express

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) Consider the following statements in respect of probiotics :

1. Probiotics are made of both bacteria and yeast.
2. The organisms in probiotics are found in foods we ingest but they do not naturally occur in our gut.
3. Probiotics help in the digestion of milk sugars.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (2022)

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

Q.2) In the context of vaccines manufactured to prevent COVID-19 pandemic, consider the following statements:

1. The Serum Institute of India produced COVID-19 vaccine named Covishield using mRNA platform.
2. Sputnik V vaccine is manufactured using vector-based platform.
3. COVAXIN is an inactivated pathogen-based vaccine.

Which of the statements given above are correct? (2022)

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

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Syllabus

• Mains – GS 2 (Governance)

Context: There is a great deal of speculation about how the recently launched ChatGPT will impact a huge number of human job roles, from customer service to computer programming.

About ChatGPT:

• ChatGPT is a prototype dialogue-based AI chatbot capable of understanding natural human language and generating impressively detailed human-like written text.
• It is the latest evolution of the GPT – or Generative Pre-Trained Transformer – family of text-generating AIs.
• It is trained using a machine learning technique called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF).
• It can simulate dialogue, answer follow-up questions, admit mistakes, challenge incorrect premises and reject inappropriate requests.

Core function of ChatGPT:

• Like other language models, Chat-GPT is designed to generate human-like text based on the input it receives.
• It is trained on a large text dataset and can generate a wide range of responses to various prompts and questions.
• This helps them mimic speech patterns while dispatching encyclopedic knowledge.
• Basically, that means that it is a computer program that can understand and “talk” to us in a way that is very close to conversing with an actual human.
• A very clever and knowledgeable human at that, who knows around 175 billion pieces of information and is able to recall any of them almost instantly.
• Although the core function of a chatbot is to mimic a human conversationalist, ChatGPT is versatile.
• For example, it can write and debug computer programs, to compose music, teleplays, fairy tales, and student essays; to answer test questions .

Significance of Chat GPT

• Increased productivity: Having Chat GPT implemented can help businesses improve their efficiency, allowing them to provide better and faster service to their clients.
• Increased Accuracy: As more data is gathered and the model is fine-tuned on specific tasks, the generated text is expected to increase in both its accuracy and its coherence.
• Quick responses: With ChatGPT you can be sure of quick responses. GPT can promptly respond to incoming messages. It makes real-time conversations a breeze.
• Reduced Expenses: Providing support and customer care using ChatGPT can be accomplished at a very reasonable cost.
  • Having ChatGPT will allow businesses to hire a smaller number of customer care personnel to handle client inquiries, which in turn will lower the overhead costs of the firm.
• Support for Various Languages: ChatGPT is beneficial for individuals and businesses who wish to communicate with speakers of other languages, as Open AI works on models that support several languages.

Limitations:

• It may generate incorrect information, and create “biased”.
• It could give “plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical”
• It can sometimes overuse certain phrases.
• The chatbot displayed clear racial and sexist biases.
• The chatbot gives answers which are grammatically correct and read well– though some have pointed out that these lack context and substance, which is largely true.

Ethical concerns associated with ChatGPT:

• Malicious and Dangerous Coding: Some users have been experimenting with the chatbot’s potential to carry out malicious actions.
  • It has been claimed by several users that malicious and dangerous coding is generated by the Chatbot despite their claims to be amateurs.
• Plagiarism Chokepoint: Plagiarism in academics is not a new issue, but ChatGPT has altered how AI is utilized to produce original writing.
  • It is difficult to identify plagiarized information as a result. Teachers and academicians have also expressed concerns over ChatGPT’s impact on written assignments.
• Creation of Biased Data/information: One concern is the potential for bias in the generated code, as the training data used to create the code generator may contain biases that are reflected in the generated code.
• Curtailing the Job Opportunity: There is a concern that the use of code generators could lead to the loss of jobs for human programmers.
• Generation of Phishing Email: ChatGPT is set up to reject requests to write phishing emails or malicious code but in actual sense ChatGPT is producing an outstanding phishing email.

Way Forward:

Anticipating possible futures requires engagement with the opportunities and challenges flagged by ChatGPT. Elon Musk wrote that “ChatGPT is scary good. we are not far from dangerously strong AI”. Thus,  Current requirement is mapping out and planning for the changes that will be required in the education system, labour codes and new commodities that are bound to emerge as a result.

Previous Year Questions

Q.1) With reference to Web 3.0, consider the following statements:

1. Web 3.0 technology enables people to control their own data.
2. In Web 3.0 world, there can be blockchain based social networks.
3. Web 3.0 is operated by users collectively rather than a corporation

Which of the following given above are correct? (2022)

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

Q.2) Which one of the following is the context in which the term “qubit” is mentioned? (2022)

1. Cloud Services
2. Quantum Computing
3. Visible Light Communication Technologies
4. Wireless Communication Technologies

Q.1) Consider the following statements regarding National Legal Services Authority:

1. It is constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
2. The Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief of the authority.
3. The State Legal Services Authority is headed by the Chief Justice of the respective High Court.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

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

Q.2) The wild ass wildlife sanctuary is located in

1. Rajasthan
2. Kerala
3. Gujrat
4. Andhra Pradesh

Q.3) Which of the following organizations recently launched “ Green Deal Industrial Plan ”  to cut red tape and provide massive subsidies in a bid to support and expand its green industry ?

1. International Monetary Fund
2. World Bank
3. European Union
4. United Nations Environment Programme

Comment the answers to the above questions in the comment section below!!

ANSWERS FOR ’ 7th February 2023 – Daily Practice MCQs’ will be updated along with tomorrow’s Daily Current Affairs.st

Q.1) – c

Q.2) – d

Q.3) – b