UPSC 2024: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Dec 01 - Dec 08

• Statement 01 is correct, The China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA); is a foreign aid agency of the People’s Republic of China.
  • It is directly subordinate to the State Council. It was created to “achieve better coordination and greater impact” of China’s aid programs, particularly in support of the Belt and Road Initiative.
• Statement 02 is incorrect,  It recently hosted the ‘China-Indian Ocean Region Forum’ with representatives from 19 countries in the region, except for India.

• The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant  is being constructed at Rooppur, on the bank of the river Padma, in Bangladesh. It will be the country’s first nuclear power plant, and the first of the two unit is expected to go into operation in 2024.
• IN 2018, India, Bangladesh and Russia signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

• India – Malaysia joint military Exercise “Harimau Shakti -2022” commenced at Pulai, Kluang, Malaysia recently.
• Exercise HARIMAU SHAKTI is an annual training event between the Indian and Malaysian Army which has been conducted since 2012.
• “Exercise HARIMAU SHAKTI” will enhance the level of defence co-operation between Indian Army and the Malaysian Army, which in turn will further foster the bilateral relations between the two nations.

• B cells and T cells are the white blood cells of the immune system that are responsible for adaptive immune response in an organism. They protect the body from diseases caused by pathogens.

Read more on the Difference between T cells and B cells.

• Statement 1 is not correct, The President can promulgate an ordinance only when both houses are not in session or only one house is in session.
• Statement 2 is correct, In RC Cooper Case 1970, Supreme Court held that the President’s decision to promulgate an ordinance could be challenged on the grounds that ‘immediate action’ was not required, and the ordinance had been issued primarily to bypass debate and discussion in the legislature.
• Statement 3 is correct, Article 123 places no numeric limits on ordinances.

• Statement 1 is correct, In 2019, India voted in favour of Israel at the ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) to deny observer status to a Palestinian organisation named Shahed.
• Statement 2 is correct, In 1947, the United Nations (UN) adopted Resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, which sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.
• Statement 3 is correct, In 2017 Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel who skipped visiting the Palestinian Authority.

• November 28th is observed as Red Planet Day to commemorate the launch of the Mariner 4 space mission towards Mars.
• Mariner 4 was launched on 28th November 1964. It was the first time that a spacecraft undertook the first flyby of the red planet and became the first-ever spacecraft to take close-up photographs of another planet.

• SARAS 3 is a radio telescope designed and developed indigenously at the Raman Research Institute (RRI).
• In 2020, the SARAS 3 radio telescope was deployed in lakes in Karnataka namely the Dandiganahalli Lake and Sharavathi backwaters.
• With the help of data from the SARAS 3 telescope, astronomers and researchers have been able to determine the properties of radio luminous galaxies formed in a period about 200 million years after the Big Bang which is known as the Cosmic Dawn.

• Statement 1 is correct, The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a transnational body composed of nuclear supplier countries that aim to control the proliferation of nuclear weapons by curbing the export of nuclear weapons development materials and related technology.
  • By joining NSG, countries will get access to the latest, most efficient nuclear technologies and sophisticated nuclear technology,
• Statement 2 is not correct, India is not a member of the NSG but wishes to be a part of the NSG. However, since India is not a member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), China and Pakistan have objections to its enrollment.

• Statement 1 is correct, The term Chin is used for the people in the neighbouring Chin state of Myanmar whereas Chins are called Kukis on the Indian side.
• Statement 2 is correct, Following ethnic clashes between the Nagas and Kukis in the early 1990s, a number of Kuki outfits like the Kuki National Front were formed to counter Naga hegemony and assertion.
• Statement 3 is correct, The Kuki-Chin National Army aims to create a separate state in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Southern Bangladesh.

• Statement 1 is correct, Section 327 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has detailed the types of cases that should be recorded on camera, including inquiries into and trials in rape cases.
• Statement 2 is correct, According to Section 327 of the CrPC, if the presiding judge or a magistrate thinks fit, she can order at any stage of the proceedings that the public generally, or any particular person, shall not remain present in the courtroom or the court building.
• Statement 3 is correct, In-camera proceedings are usually conducted at family courts in cases of matrimonial disputes, including judicial separation, divorce proceedings, impotence, and more.
  • In-camera proceedings are also conducted during the deposition of witnesses of terrorist activities as per the court’s discretion, so as to protect them and maintain national security.

• Wet leasing refers to renting the plane along with the operating crew and engineers.
• Dry leasing refers to taking only the aircraft on rent.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would be releasing the central bank digital currency (CBDC) for retail customers and merchants in four cities, including Mumbai and Delhi, from December 1 on a pilot basis.
• The e-rupee (e₹) would be issued in the same denominations that paper currency and coins are currently issued.
• Users will be able to transact with e₹ through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones or other devices or gadgets.
• CBDC or the Digital Rupee is categorised into two types namely Retail (CBDC-R) and Wholesale (CBDC-W).
• Transactions can be both person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M).

• It is known that Viruses can infect plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, archaea, etc.
• Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase (1952) worked with viruses that infect bacteria called bacteriophages.
• According to the type of the host they infect, viruses are classified mainly into the following four types:
  • Plant viruses including algal viruses-RNA/DNA
  • Animal viruses including human viruses-DNA/RNA
  • Fungal viruses (Mycoviruses) – Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)
  • Bacterial viruses (Bacteriophages) including cyanophages

• Statement 1 is correct, The Great Indian Bustard is the State bird of Rajasthan.
• Statement 2 is correct, The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List (IUCN) status of GIB is Critically Endangered.
• Statement 3 is correct, GIB is kept under the species recovery programme under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

• Statement 1 is correct, GVA (Gross Value Added) provides a picture of the state of economic activity from the producers’ side or supply side, whereas the GDP (Gross domestic product ) provides the picture from the consumers’ side or demand perspective.
• Statement 2 is correct, GVA (Gross Value Added) is defined as output (at basic prices) minus intermediate consumption (at purchaser prices).
• Statement 3 is correct, GVA is as susceptible to vulnerabilities from the use of inappropriate or flawed methodologies as any other measure.

• The Khel Ratna award was started in 1991-1992 and Viswanathan Anand was the first recipient of the award.
• The Khel Ratna Award is the highest sporting award given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over the period of the previous four years.
• Shooter Abhinav Bindra is the youngest recipient of the Khel Ratna Award. The Olympic gold medalist was conferred the award in 2001 at the age of 18.
• The award from 1991-2021 was named after Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India and has now been renamed as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

• Statement 1 is correct, Bt cotton is the only Genetically Modified (GM) crop allowed in India and it has two alien genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that allow the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest pink bollworm.
• Statement 2 is correct, The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body that allows for the commercial release of GM crops in India.
• Statement 3 is not correct, The area under cultivation, production and productivity of Bt. cotton has increased significantly since its introduction in India in 2002-03.
  • The area under cultivation which was hardly 86.24 lakh hectare in 2002-03 had increased to 125.84 by 2019-20.

• The painting of Bodhisattva Padmapani is one of the most famous and oft-illustrated paintings at Ajanta.
• Important paintings at Ajanta include:
  • Scenes from the Jataka stories of the life of Gautama Buddha, the Buddha’s former life as a bodhisattva, etc.
  • Paintings of various Bodhisattvas in tribhanga pose in Cave 1: Vajrapani (protector and guide, a symbol of Buddha’s power), Manjusri (manifestation of Buddha’s wisdom) and Padmapani (Avalokitesvara) (symbol of Buddha’s compassion).
  • The Dying Princess in Cave 16.

• The Hornbill Festival is an annual festival celebrated from the 1st to the 10th of December in Nagaland.
• As the festival represents all ethnic groups of Nagaland it is also called the “Festival of Festivals”.

• The Exercise Agni Warrior is a bilateral exercise between the Singapore and Indian armies.

• Statement 1 is correct, Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is a statutory body of the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India.
• Statement 2 is correct, CARA has been established under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
• Statement 3 is correct, CARA is the designated authority in India for the promotion of in-country adoptions and to facilitate inter-state adoptions in accordance with the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of inter-country adoption as India ratified the convention in 2003.

• Moreh is a border town located on the India-Myanmar border in the Tengnoupal district of Manipur.

• There is no established relationship between the occurrence of solar storms and their impact on Tsunamis.
• Further, forest fires are also not linked to the occurrence of solar storms.
• All the other statements are correct as they refer to the possible effects of solar storms on Earth. Hence “Options C” is the correct answer.

• The red dunes are called theri in Tamil. They consist of sediments dating back to the Quaternary Period and are made of marine deposits.
• Such sand deposits are rare and have been reported only from three places in the tropical regions in south Asia such as Teri Sands in Tamil Nadu, Erra Matti Dibbalu in Visakhapatnam and one more site in Sri Lanka. They do not occur in equatorial regions or temperate regions due to many scientific reasons.

• Statement 01 is incorrect, Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Gujarat.
• Statement 02 is incorrect, The Kalika Mata Temple, located on top of the 800 metres high Pavagadh Hill, is an important Hindu shrine in the region, attracting large numbers of pilgrims throughout the year.
• Statement 03 is correct, The transition between Hindu and Muslim culture and architecture in the late 15th to early 16th century is documented in the park, particularly the early Islamic and pre-Mughal city that has remained without any change.

• The US Air force recently unveiled its most advanced military aircraft – the B-21 Raider.
• It is developed by US defence major Northrop Grumman.
• B-21 Raider is being promoted by the company as a ‘digital bomber’.
• It can hit enemy targets with conventional missiles as well as nuclear warheads.

• Statement 01 is correct, EOS 6 is the third-generation Indian satellite for monitoring the oceans.
• Statement 02 is correct, The satellite would serve as a strong foundation for India’s blue economy and polar region policies.
• Statement 03 is correct, The EOS-06 payloads include Ocean Color Monitor (OCM-3), Sea Surface Temperature Monitor (SSTM), Ku-Band Scatterometer (SCAT-3) and ARGOS – a French payload.
• Statement 04 is incorrect, The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-develop and launch a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar on an Earth observation satellite.

• Statement 01 is incorrect, The First APMCHUD Conference was held in New Delhi in December 2006 under the theme “A vision for sustainable urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific by 2020“.
• Statement 02 is incorrect, The Conference of APMCHUD is a biennial event. This event is hosted by one of the member countries whose offer is consented to by the members in the previous conference of the APMCHUD.

• Statement 01 is incorrect: Carbon-12 isotope is the most abundant carbon isotope that makes up about 98.89% of all naturally occurring carbon. It is found in all biological systems.
• Statement 02 is correct: Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method.
• Statement 03 is incorrect: Because the half-life of carbon-14 is 5,700 years, it is only reliable for dating objects up to about 60,000 years old and not older than that.