26 Mar 2023: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

CNA 26 March 2023:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
GOVERNANCE
1. Online RTI Portal
C. GS 3 Related
ECONOMY
1. MSME growth in India
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
ECONOMY
1. Why did India reject J&J’s patent on TB drug?
2. Will mega textile parks help boost the sector?
F. Prelims Facts
1. Fatty Liver Disease
G. Tidbits
1. Anji Khad bridge
2. Origin of Nuclear Fuel
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
FIP Magazine

G. Tidbits

1. Anji Khad bridge

  • The Anji Khad bridge is an under-construction cable-stayed bridge over the Anji Khad river connecting Katra and Reasi Section of Jammu–Baramulla line. 
  • It is India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge. 
  • It is supported by a single pylon — a large vertical tower-like structure — soaring 1,086 feet from the river bed, the height of a 77-storey building. 
  • The bridge will pave the way for a single broad-gauge track for trains connecting Jammu to Baramulla, via Srinagar, along a 326-km railway line.
  • The project was commissioned by the Northern Railways and is being executed by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL) and Hindustan Construction Company.
  • The idea was first conceived in 2002 during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure as Prime Minister, and was declared a “national project”.
  • The nearest border area is Suchetgarh, about 92 km from the bridge construction site.
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Image Source: The Hindu

 

2. Origin of Nuclear Fuel

  • Scientists in China have developed a technique to reliably identify whether some nuclear fuel originated in one of two common kinds of nuclear reactors using experimental data and machine-learning (ML).
  • The reactor type, the fuel’s exposure time inside the reactor, and the extent of the fuel’s enrichment can uniquely identify spent nuclear fuel.
  • Nuclear fuel is a highly regulated material because of its destructive potential. Countries maintain detailed inventories to safeguard it.
  • Identifying the origin of nuclear fuel is a difficult task in nuclear forensics.
  • Nuclear forensics uses analytical methods to identify the origins of nuclear materials and whether they were used for military applications.
  • Spent fuel from boiling water reactors (BWRs) is hard to differentiate from that from pressurised water reactors (PWRs) because both “use water as moderator and have similar thermal neutron spectra, so they are quite similar in neutron reaction mechanism.
    • Therefore, scientists from China have trained data from the database to develop three ML models to distinguish fuel from BWRs from that from PWRs.
  • In BWRs, the fuel rods are submerged in water. When the fuel fissions, the water boils and the steam drives a turbine. In PWRs, the fuel rods aren’t exposed to the water; only the heat is exchanged.

Read more on Nuclear Reactor

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q1. With respect to ‘Earth Hour’, which of the following statements is/are correct?
(Level-Difficult)
  1. It is an initiative of UNESCO.
  2. The event is held biennially, encouraging individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour

Options:

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both
  4. None
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d

Explanation:

  • The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) started ‘Earth Hour’  in 2007. 
  • It is held every year on the last Saturday of March.
  • The initiative began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia and later became a global event. 
  • Earth Hour’s goal is to raise awareness for sustainable energy use and create a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. 
  • This day encourages citizens, communities, businesses and organisations to switch the lights off from 8:30 pm local time for an hour to highlight the plight of the planet.
Q2. Which of the following are the Applications of Artificial Intelligence?(Level-Easy)
  1. AI can help reduce the possibility of credit card fraud
  2. AI helps individuals and businesses from Email spam.
  3. AI applications are used in healthcare to build sophisticated machines that can detect diseases and identify cancer cells
  4. Artificial Intelligence is used to identify defects and nutrient deficiencies in the soil.
  5. AI assists in detecting data overflow in a buffer.

Options:

  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 1, 2, 4 and 5 only
  3. 3, 4 and 5 only
  4. 1, 2, 3,4 and 5
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d

Explanation:

  • Statement 01 is correct, AI can help reduce the possibility of credit card fraud. AI is able to analyse huge numbers of transactions in order to uncover fraud patterns, and eventually use them to detect fraud in real-time and even prevent it.
  • Statement 02 is correct, Machine learning informs AI when it scans incoming emails. It looks for emails that signal red flags and filter out spam emails.
  • Statement 03 is correct, Artificial intelligence can assist providers in a variety of patient care and intelligent health systems. Artificial intelligence techniques ranging from machine learning to deep learning are prevalent in healthcare for disease diagnosis, drug discovery, and patient risk identification.
  • Statement 04 is correct, The AI deep learning application aids the growth of flora pattern analysis in agriculture. The AI-driven software tools support our understanding of soil imperfections, plant pests, and diseases. Farmers use AI to control weeds using computer vision, robotics, and Machine learning.
  • Statement 05 is correct, AI can be used to detect vulnerabilities in software, detecting data overflow in a buffer.
Q3. Which of the following Provisions were added by the 42nd Constitutional
Amendment act? (Level-Difficult)
  1. Made the President bound by the advice of the cabinet.
  2. Curtailed the power of judicial review and writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and high courts.
  3. Included 14 land reforms Acts of various states in the Ninth Schedule.
  4. Empowered the Parliament to restrict the Fundamental Rights of persons employed in intelligence organisations and telecommunication systems

Options:

  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 2, 3 and 4 only
  3. 1, 3 and 4 only
  4. 1, 2, 3 and 4
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: a

Explanation:

  • Statement 01 is correct, 42nd Constitutional Amendment act made the President bound by the advice of the cabinet.
  • Statement 02 is correct, This amendment attempted to curtail the power of judicial review of the Supreme Court and High court by excluding from their purview any matter of elections.
  • Statement 03 is incorrect, 47th Constitutional Amendment Act,1984  included 14 land reforms Acts of various states in the Ninth Schedule.
  • Statement 04 is incorrect, 50th Constitutional Amendment Act,1984  empowered the Parliament to restrict the Fundamental Rights of persons employed in intelligence organisations and telecommunication systems set up for the armed forces or intelligence organisations.
Q4. Consider the following statements with respect to M. Visvesvaraya: (Level-Medium)
  1. Visvesvaraya was appointed Diwan of Mysore by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV.
  2. He founded the Century Club and served as its first president in 1917-18.
  3. He was the Chief Engineer of the Almatti Dam

Options:

  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 2 and 3 only
  3. 1 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: a

Explanation:

  • Statement 01 is correct, In 1912, Visvesvaraya was appointed Diwan of Mysore by Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV. He served as Diwan until 1918.
  • Statement 02 is correct, In 1917, he founded the Century Club and served as its first president in 1917-18.
  • Statement 03 is incorrect, The Almatti Dam is a dam project on the Krishna River in North Karnataka, India which began in 1963.
Q5. Which of the following countries share borders with Moldova? (PYQ-CSE-2008)
(Level-Difficult)
  1. Ukraine   
  2. Romania
  3. Belarus

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  1. 1 and 2 only
  2. 2 and 3 only
  3. 1 and 3 only
  4. 1,2 and 3
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: a

Explanation: Moldova shares its international border with its two neighbouring countries; Romania and Ukraine.

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Read the previous CNA here.

CNA 26 March 2023:- Download PDF Here

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