UPSC Exam: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Dec 30 - Jan 05

The Clean Seas Campaign was launched by the UN in February 2017. The Versova Beach Clean Up project was launched in 2015.

All three

Isthmus of Kra, Diego Garcia, Seychelles

Please check BYJU’S CNA below:

India’s first pod taxi on the way, to follow US safety norms

The committee did not accept chemical castration.

The projected pod taxi scheme — also known as Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) has moved a step closer to reality. PRT is an advanced public transport using automated electric pod cars to provide a taxi-like demand responsive feeder and shuttle services for small groups of travelers and is a green mode of uninterrupted journey. 

India is set to overtake the United Kingdom and France to become the world’s fifth largest economy next year. Currently ranked seventh, India will move up to fifth place in 2018 and vault to the third spot by 2032. The Centre for Economics and Business Research, a London-based consultancy, said in its annual rankings. 

The 42^nd Constitutional  Amendment  Act  (1976) added the words: socialist, secular and integrity.

Both are correct.

During photochemical smog NO and O3 both are produced, but major production is of nitrogen oxide and NO2.

Epiphytes depend on other plants for mechanical support.

Nationalization is a process whereby a national government or State takes over the private industry, organisation or assets into public ownership by an Act or ordinance or some other kind of orders. This strategy has been frequently adopted by socialist governments for transition from capitalism to socialism. All those banks which were taken over through Banking companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Bill are called nationalised banks. Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in India are banks where a majority stake (i.e. more than 50%) is held by a government. Thus at present all the nationalised banks are Public Sector banks. In addition to these, we can also say that IDBI Bank Ltd and SBI are too Public Sector Bank (though not nationalised bank) as GoI has over 50% stake in these bank too.

An exoplanet is a planet outside of our solar system that orbits a star.
Kepler-90i and Kepler-80g are the latest exo-planets to be discovered.

Sustainable Development Goal-2

Read more.

All three are landlocked. Lesotho by South Africa. Austria by Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Bolivia by Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Paraguay.

The macronutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), sulfur (S), magnesium (Mg).

Net neutrality is the freedom of accessibility to lawful sites without any discrimination. It is the principle that bars service providers from speeding up, slowing down or blocking any content, application or website you want to use. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was set up in 1997 to regulate the telecommunication sector in India. It regulates telecom services and tariffs, and protects the interests of the service providers as well as the consumers.

Doklam is an area with a plateau and a valley, lying between Tibet’s Chumbi Valley to the north, Bhutan’s Ha Valley to the east and India’s Sikkim state to the west. It has been depicted as part of Bhutan in the Bhutanese maps, but it is also claimed by China.

Sapta Sindhu plays a prominent part in the hymns of the Rig-Veda, consequently in the early Vedic religion.

Components of Capital Account
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI)
External Borrowings such as ECB
Reserve Account with the Central Bank.

Both the statements are correct.

Justice K. S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India case:

A landmark case by the Supreme Court of India which holds that the right to privacy is protected under Article 21 and Part 3 of the Constitution. It also mentioned that it won’t be an Absolute right and will have some reasonable restrictions in matters of national security and mutual interest of the citizens and the state.

Monetary policy aims at stability of prices with a moderate rate of inflation. Some inflation is necessary for growth. This is ensured through instruments like Bank rate, CRR, SLR, Open Market operations etc. Forex reserves accrue or deplete based on the foreign exchange received by India through trade, FDI, remittances etc. It has no direct relation with the design of the monetary policy. Monetary policy refers to the credit control measures adopted by the central bank of a country, not by the government of the day.

• FAME India – Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles in India – is a part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan.
• The scheme has four focus areas, technology development, demand creation, pilot projects and charging infrastructure.
• The scheme envisages around Rs eight hundred crore support in the first two fiscals starting with the current year.
• It is being administered by the Heavy Industries Ministry.
• The centre is considering the extension of FAME- India scheme to promote electric and hybrid vehicles by another six months.

The Cartosat-2 is a remote sensing satellite, and is the sixth in the series. It will be used for cartographic applications, coastal land use and regulation, road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, Land Information Systems (LIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.

• Arunachal Pradesh — issued by the secretary (political) of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh. It is required for entering Arunachal Pradesh through any of the check gates across the interstate border with Assam or Nagaland.
• Mizoram — Issued by the Government of Mizoram. It is required for entering Mizoram through any of the check gates across the inter-State borders.
• Nagaland — Issued by the Government of Nagaland. It is mandatory for Indian citizens of other states entering Nagaland through any of the check gates across the interstate borders. Dimapur, Nagaland’s largest city and porthead, is the only place in the state which does not require an ILP, and Indians arriving by air at Dimapur Airport can arrive and stay in the city without one.

India and Russia.

India’s first micro forest will be built in Raipur, Chattisgarh. Approximately, 19 acres of land which housed around 70 government office buildings will be converted into micro forest in order to create an oxy-zone. The micro forest will provide fresh air to Raipur which is the 7th most polluted city in the world. It will reportedly be open to the public in the next 8 months.

Kautilya

Please check here

Please check here

Both are correct.

Please check here

Both are correct.

Advaita Philosophy

This is mentioned in the Junagarh Rock Inscription.

‘Rayichapalu’ has been officially declared as one of the rarest species of fish in the world by the researchers from the Marine Living Resources Department of Andhra University. The fish is a regular catch for fishermen in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. It is a colourful fish which is around 97mm in length and lives near the reefs. The researchers stated that this fish has a unique colour pattern with spectacular diamond shaped bands. Reportedly, it is the only fifth fish in this category of size. Now, the tiny colourful fish will have the scientific name ‘Pseudathias Vizagensis’, after the city where it was first discovered.

Shaphee Lanphee is a traditional textile fabric woven and embroidered by Meitei women of Manipur. The fabric was, in the past, presented as a gift of honour (Mana Phee) to the soldiers for their bravery in a successful war, and to the praise-worthy chiefs of the Nagas of Manipur by the king of Manipur.

All of the choices.

Self – Explanatory

Under Section 22 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, RBI has sole right to issue currency notes of various denominations except one rupee notes. The One Rupee note is issued by Ministry of Finance and it bears the signatures of Finance Secretary, while other notes bear the signature of Governor RBI.

A nine-day mega social occasion Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsava exhibiting traditional folk dance and music was introduced in Tawang.

The power to enlarge the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India with respect to any matter included in the Union List of Legislative Powers rests with The Parliament.

• Irrawaddv Dolplin is not a true river dolphin, but an oceanic dolphin that lives in brackish water near coasts, river mouths and in estuaries in South and Southeast Asia.
• It has established subpopulations in freshwater rivers, including the Ganges and the Mekong, as well as theIrrawaddv River fron which it takes its name.
• Its habitat range extends from the Bay of Bengal to New Guinea and the Philippines.
• They do not appear to venture off shore.
• Protection Status: IUNC has classified it as Vulnerable in Red Data list.
• Threats: Fishing nets, developmental projects like construction of dams, tourism and diseases.

Nilgai

• It is also called bluebuck
• It is the largest Asian antelope (family Bovidae).
• The nilgai is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.
• It is the only one of the four Indian antelopes that is still abundant.
• It is the largest of all Asian antelopes and is one of the most commonly seen wild animals in all of India.
• IUCN Status: Least Concern.

MIKE

• MIKE stands for Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants
• Comes tinder CITES
• It was started in South Asia in 2003 with the following objective:

o To measure levels and trends in illegal hunting of elephants.

o To determine changes in these trends overtime.

o To determine the factors causing or associated with these clanges and to try and assess in particular to what extent observed trends are a result of any decisions taken by the Conference of the Parties to CITES.

• In India, Project Elephant has been formally implementing MIKE.

It is written in Babur’s mother tongue, Chagatai Turkic. The work is also known as Tuzk-e Babri.

Lord Canning

Countries in the Horn of Africa are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea. Ethiopia is landlocked.

Both are correct.

Djibouti. Please read October 3- 2017 CNA

Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary – Gujarat

Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary – Kerala

Both are correct.

Both are correct

Bhitarkanika