Daily Quiz #57 UPSC Prelims Marathon – January 9, 2020

Explanation: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has declared 2010 –2020 as a “Decade of Innovations” during his inaugural address in the 97th session of Indian Science Congress held on 3rd January 2010 at Thiruvananthapuram. The primary objective of this declaration is to develop an innovation- based ecosystem, which aims at producing solutions for the societal needs in terms of healthcare, energy, urban infrastructure, water and transportation. The youthful populations have high expectations and aspirations of the nation. The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STI) 2013 approved by the Union Cabinet is in furtherance of this declaration and aims to bring perspectives to bear on Science & Technology led innovations in the changing context.

Explanation: In August 1999, the Indian government released a draft of the doctrine which asserts that nuclear weapons are solely for deterrence and that India will pursue a policy of “retaliation only”. The document also maintains that India “will not be the first to initiate a nuclear first strike, but will respond with punitive retaliation should deterrence fail” and that decisions to authorise the use of nuclear weapons would be made by the Prime Minister or his ‘designated successor(s).’ The doctrine of “No first use” means “no first use against non-nuclear weapon states”, as clarified by our NSA.
Credible Minimum Deterrence is a composite posturing adopted by some nuclear-armed states (especially India and Pakistan) to convey a non-aggressive and defensive nuclear posture by projecting a nuclear arsenal that fulfils the bare needs of defence and security. Accordingly, it implies that the nuclear arsenals will be minimal enough to provide credible deterrence against adversaries.While ‘minimum’ (the number of warheads and delivery systems at a given point of time) can be dynamically driven by the strategic environment (perceived strength or build-up of rival arsenals), the question of ‘credibility’ is based on perceptions – whether the adversary has been ‘effectively deterred’ or whether the capability to impart ‘unacceptable damage’ has been convincingly conveyed to the adversary. India and Pakistan have both seen their deterrence goalposts being constantly shifted as a result of their mutual security dilemmas, as also the strategic modernisation pursued by China.

Explanation: On January 4, 2003, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) constituted the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA). NCA has two councils : Executive Council and Political Council. The Executive Council is chaired by the National Security Advisor (NSA) while Political Council is chaired by the Prime Minister. National Security Advisor gives the inputs to the Political Council, which authorities a nuclear attack when deemed necessary. This mechanism of Political Council being advised by Executive Council and letting the “nuclear button remain with PM” was implemented to ensure that Indian nukes remain firmly in civilian control and that there exists a sophisticated Command and Control (C2) mechanism to prevent their accidental or unauthorised use.

Explanation: The Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech (2018) announced that ISRO will be sending its first human spaceflight mission into space by 2022. GSLV MK-III launch vehicle will be used to launch GAGANYAAN. This will be first human mission indigenously developed by ISRO. The mission aims to send 3 member crew to space for period of 5-7 days in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km. A special dedicated centre is inaugurated at Bengaluru as Human Space Flight Centre (Gaganyaan Project).

Explanation: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) will set up ‘Design University for Gaming’ in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. For this UNESCO has requested State Government to provide 100 acres of land in Visakhapatnam for developing the city as International Gaming and Digital Learning Hub. Gaming and IT giants like UBSoft, Samsung, Microsoft etc are ready to establish their centres in Visakhapatnam.