UPSC 2024: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Dec 09 - Dec 15

• The Tata Vadya is a group of musical instruments in which sound is made by the vibration of a chord or a string.
• Pillankarovi (flute) is a family of classical music instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, Pillankarovi are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air.
• A Jhanj (cymbal) is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys.

• Pair 01 is correctly matched, the Gond and Korku tribes belong to the State of Madhya Pradesh.
• Pair 02 is correctly matched, Bhuta-Lepcha is an ethnic grouping consisting of people of the Bhutia and Lepcha communities in Sikkim.
• Pair 03 is incorrectly matched, Irula and Toda are the hill tribes of Nilgiri in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Pair 04 is incorrectly matched, Sahariya is an ethnic group of Madhya Pradesh. They are also found in some parts of Rajasthan.
  • The Agariya are a community in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

• One horned rhinoceros is the state animal of Assam.
• The state animal of Delhi is Nilgai.
• Indian Elephant is the state animal of Karnataka and Jharkhand.

• M-STrIPES ( Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) is a software-based monitoring system launched across Indian tiger reserves by the Indian government’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 2010.
  • M-STrIPES allows patrol teams to keep a better tab on suspicious activity while also mapping the patrolling, location, routes and timings of forest officials.

• The Ring of Fire is a string of volcanoes and sites of seismic activity, or earthquakes, around the edges of the Pacific Ocean. Roughly 90% of all earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire, and the ring is dotted with 75% of all active volcanoes on Earth.
• Mount Semeru, Saint Helens, and Taal volcanoes are located in Pacific Ring of fire.
• Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano located on the east coast of Sicily, Italy. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

• Tiangong is a space station developed by China and operated by China Manned Space Agency in low Earth orbit between 340 and 450 km above the surface.

• Core inflation represents the change in the costs of goods and services. It does not include food and energy inflation as these are very volatile and fluctuate frequently.
• Core inflation = Headline inflation – (Food and Fuel) inflation.

• Vadhavan is a major port near Dahanu in Maharashtra.
• Vizhinjam International Transhipment Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport is being developed in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram.
• A huge multipurpose port at Tadadi is proposed to be constructed at the estuary of Aghanashini.
• Sagar Port is a proposed seaport in Sagar Island, West Bengal.

• Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a laboratory technique for creating a viable embryo from a body cell and an egg cell. The technique consists of taking an enucleated oocyte (egg cell) and implanting a donor nucleus from a somatic (body) cell.
• It is used in both therapeutic and reproductive cloning.

• The “Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2022: Rethinking sectoral strategies for a human-centered future of work” was released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

• Statement 1 is correct, The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India is the ex-officio chairperson of the Monetary Policy Committee.
• Statement 2 is correct, The MPC determines the policy repo rate required to achieve the inflation target.
• Statement 3 is not correct, The decision of the Monetary Policy Committee shall be binding on the Bank and the quorum for the meeting of the MPC is four members.

• Statement 1 is not correct, The World Bank updated the global poverty lines in September 2022 and the new extreme poverty line is $2.15 per person per day, which replaces the $1.90 poverty line.
• Statement 2 is correct, The extreme poverty line is based on the 2017 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

• According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the five largest military spenders in 2021 were the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia.
• Together these five countries accounted for 62% of the total military expenditure.

• Golden Mahseer is a freshwater fish species belonging to the genus Tor.
• Golden Mahseer is regarded as the “tiger of Indian rivers”.
• The Golden Mahseer can be found in the rivers of the Himalayan foothills, the Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra basins, the Cauvery, Tambraparini, and Kosi rivers.

• Statement 1 is correct, Kangaroo courts are unauthorized courts that are not sanctioned by any law.
• Statement 2 is correct, Kangaroo courts are courts that ignore the standards of law or justice and are inequitable.

• In the 1960s, a high number of induced abortions were reported in the country and the union government then constituted a Shantilal Shah Committee in 1964 to look into the issue of abortions and find out if there was a need to formulate a law on abortions.
  • The Committee conducted a detailed study on the medical, legal, and sociocultural aspects of abortion in the country.
  • The Committee recommended the legalisation of abortion and comprehensive law on abortions to address the issues of unsafe abortions and maternal mortality rates.

• Pair 1 is correct, The Battle of Hydaspes was a decisive battle fought between the armies of Alexander the Great and King Porus (also known as Poru, Paurava) in 326 BC.
• Pair 2 is correct, The Battle of Baligram (Battle of Kannauj) was fought between Sher Shah Suri and Mughal Emperor Humayun on 17 May 1540.
• Pair 3 is correct, The Battle of Venni was fought between Karikala Chola with a confederacy of the two crowned kings of Pandya and Chera.
• Pair 4 is not correct, The Battle of Khanwa was a decisive engagement between the Mughal forces under Babur and the Rajput alliance under Rana Sanga of Mewar in 1527.
  • In the Battle of Ghaghra (1529), the forces of Mughal Emperor Babur fought the Afghan king Sultan Mahmud Lodi.

• Statement 1 is correct, Tight (contractionary) monetary policy is usually undertaken by a central bank such as the Federal Reserve to slow down overheated economic growth and to constrain spending in an economy.
  • However, tight monetary policy discourages investments and could lead to capital flight.
• Statement 2 is correct, As there is a reduced money supply in the system, capital flight can increase the interest cost of firms with existing External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs).
• Statement 3 is not correct, Devaluation of domestic currency does not impact the ECBs as it is denominated in the foreign currency and not in the domestic currency.

• The Ninety-Seventh Amendment Act of 2011 gave constitutional status and protection to cooperative societies and introduced the following three changes in the Constitution:
  • It made the right to form cooperative societies a fundamental right (Article 19).
  • It included a new Directive Principle of State Policy on the promotion of cooperative societies (Article 43B).
  • It added a new Part IX-B in the Constitution, which is entitled “The Cooperative Societies” (Article 243-ZH to 243-ZT).

• Statement 1 is correct, Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary and an elephant reserve situated in Andhra Pradesh.
• Statement 2 is not correct, Black Buck (Antilope cervicapra) is the state animal of Andhra Pradesh.
• Statement 3 is correct, Operation Shikkar was undertaken to stop the illegal trade in ivory. Operation Shikar was initiated soon after the discovery of organized elephant poaching in Kerala.

• The Brandt Line was proposed by Willy Brandt in the 1980s.
• The Brandt Line is a way of visualising the world that highlights the disparities and inequalities between the wealthy North and the poorer global South.

• Statement 1 is correct, Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are massive but extremely bright, high-energy short gamma radiations which get released when massive stars collapse or die in the Universe.
• Statement 2 is correct, The energy associated with GRBs is many folds larger than what our Sun can emit in its entire lifetime, making its study key to understanding the life and death of stars in our Universe.

• Statement 1 is not correct, According to Article 368 of the Constitution, A bill amending the Constitution does not require a prior recommendation of the President.
• Statement 2 is correct, The President cannot exercise his/her veto powers w.r.t. Constitution amendment bill i.e. when a Constitution Amendment Bill is presented to the President of India, it is obligatory for the President to give his/her assent.
• Statement 3 is correct, A Constitution Amendment Bill must be passed by both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha by a special majority and there is no provision for a joint sitting.

• Statement 1 is not correct, According to Article 127 of the Constitution, the Chief Justice of India can nominate a High Court judge as an ad hoc Supreme Court judge for a specified time with the prior consent of the President and consultation of the Chief Justice of the respected High Court concerned.
• Statement 2 is correct,  While performing the duty of an ad hoc judge, the newly appointed judge carries all of the powers, authorities, and advantages and obligations of a Supreme Court judge.

• Statement 1 is correct, The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 provides for the protection of the country’s wild animals, birds, and plant species, in order to ensure environmental and ecological security.
• Statement 2 is correct, The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) were constituted as statutory organisations under the provisions of the Act.
• Statement 3 is not correct, Schedule 5 of the Act consists of animals that are considered vermin which can be hunted freely.
  •  Schedule 6 of the Act contains plants that are forbidden from cultivation. It provides for regulation in the cultivation of a specified plant and restricts its possession, sale and transportation.

Image Source: russiancouncil.ru

• Statement 1 is not correct, The Election Commission of India (ECI) has laid down the technical criterion for a party to be recognised as a national party.
• Statement 2 is correct, According to  ECI’s Political Parties and Election Symbols, 2019 handbook, a political party would be considered a national party if:
  • it is ‘recognised’ in four or more states; or
  • if its candidates polled at least 6% of total valid votes in any four or more states in the last Lok Sabha or Assembly elections and it has at least four MPs in the last Lok Sabha polls; or
  • if it has won at least 2% of the total seats in the Lok Sabha from not less than three states.

• Pair 1 is not correct, China does not have any permanent military base in Chad.
• Pair 2 is correct, In Guinea, military leaders detained the president, declared the dissolution of government and suspended the constitution.
• Pair 3 is correct, Lebanon is experiencing a severe and prolonged economic and financial depression.
• Pair 4 is correct, The Tunisian President invoked an emergency act from Tunisia’s constitution and removed the Prime Minister and suspended the Parliament.

• According to Section 2 (f) of the Right to Information Act, any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, log books,  contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force are the types of information which can be obtained.