UPSC 2022: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Feb 26 - Mar 04

• Himalayan serow is a goat-antelope.
• The Himalayan mammal is a high-altitude dweller usually found 2,000-4,000 metres above sea level.
• It is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List.

• The Port of Trincomalee is the largest natural harbour in Sri Lanka.
• The Port of Colombo is the largest port of Sri Lanka with the most traffic.

• Light Machine Guns (LMGs) are designed to be employed by an individual soldier, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon.
• Negev is Israeli LMG.
• SIG-716 assault rifles are American LMG.
• AK-203 assault rifles are Russian LMG.

• Manas National Park is a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site.
• It is located in Assam. It is a tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve.

All the statements are correct.

• Lake Natron is a salt lake in Arusha Region in Tanzania.
• It is included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.
• High levels of evaporation cause sodium carbonate decahydrate to be left behind in its bed.
• The lake’s warm water is an ideal breeding ground for the Rift Valley flamingos.

Both the statements are correct.

• The National Population Register (NPR) is not a citizenship enumeration drive, as it would record even a foreigner staying in a locality for more than six months.
• It is a Register of usual residents of the country.
• A usual resident is a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.

• Lord Irwin was the viceroy of India from 1926-1931.
• When he was the viceroy, the civil disobedience movement and the Dandi march were launched. Also, the first round table conference was held.

All the statements are correct.

• Chabahar port is the only oceanic port in Iran.
• It is located in the southeastern part of Iran on the Gulf of Oman.
• While India made a proposal to include Chabahar port in the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), no decision has been taken yet. Therefore, the 3^rd statement is wrong.

Bao-dhaan is the name of the ‘red rice’ variety that is grown in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilizer. It is iron-rich and is an integral part of Assamese cuisine.

• Simlipal, which derives its name from ‘Simul’ (silk cotton) tree, is a national park and a tiger reserve.
• It is situated in the northern part of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.
• Simlipal and the adjoining areas, comprising 5,569 sq km, was declared a biosphere reserve by the Government of India in 1994, and lies in the eastern end of the Eastern Ghats.
• UNESCO added the national park to its list of biosphere reserves in 2009.
• It is a part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

• Pterocarpus santalinus or Red Sanders is a tree endemic to South India.
• They are found in the Tropical Dry Deciduous forest of the Palakonda and Seshachalam hill ranges of Andhra Pradesh and also found in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
• It is used for various purposes such as immunity medicine; it is used in Ayurveda and Siddha medicine.
• While red sanders was classified as endangered in 1997, IUCN reclassified red sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) as ‘near threatened’ from the earlier ‘endangered’ in 2018.

• Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology is a missile propulsion technology.
• It includes a thrust modulated ducted rocket with a reduced smoke nozzle-less missile booster.
• The missiles which use such a system are also able to carry a larger payload due to the absence of an oxidiser.
• The system utilises a solid fuelled air-breathing ramjet engine.
• This kind of propulsion system drastically enhances the range with a higher average speed.

• Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are the founding members of OPEC.
• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies as a grouping are known as OPEC+.
• OPEC+ comprises Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Centaurs are icy planetesimals located between Jupiter and Neptune. They cross the orbits of one or more of the giant planets in their journey around the Sun, and interactions with these outer planets cause the orbits of Centaurs to be inherently unstable.

• The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and stretches to the tip of Florida and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean as the North Atlantic Current.
• The Gulf Stream system conveys warm surface water from equator to the north and the deeper cold, low-salinity water down south. It works like a giant conveyor belt.

• Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive and irreversible disorder of the brain, which affects memory and thinking skills.
• Brain cell connections and the cells themselves degenerate and die, eventually destroying memory and other important mental functions.
• Memory loss and confusion are the main symptoms.
• Usually, in people, the symptoms start manifesting when they are in their sixties, though the onset is much earlier.
• No cure exists, but medication and management strategies may temporarily improve symptoms.

• The olive ridley turtles turn up in millions for mass nesting along the Odisha coast every year. This phenomenon is referred to as ‘arribada’.
• Gahirmatha beach in Kendrapara district is acclaimed as the world’s largest-known nesting ground of these endangered marine species. Apart from Gahirmatha, these aquatic animals turn up at Rushikulya river mouth and Devi river mouth for mass nesting.

• Savitribai Phule is hailed as one of the first modern feminists of India.
• Savitribai Phule’s husband Jyotirao Phule established the Satyshodhak Samaj. She took on the work of Satya Shodhak Samaj after the demise of Jyotirao Phule.
• Savitribai Phule became the first female teacher in India in 1848.

While Subansiri, Kameng and Manas are the right bank tributaries of the River Brahmaputra, Lohit and Dhansiri are its left bank tributaries.

• Chenda is a cylindrical percussion instrument widely used in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• It is classified in the avannadha vadya category.
• It is an Oordhwaka drum, placed vertically before the musician.

Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland share a border with Myanmar.

• India is seeking to acquire 30 MQ-9 Reaper or Predator B armed drones from the U.S., 10 each for the three services.
• MQ-9B has an endurance of 48 hours and a range of over 6,000 nautical miles. It comes with nine hard-points, capable of carrying sensors and laser-guided bombs besides air-to-ground missiles, with a maximum payload of two tonnes.

• The Project 75I-class submarine is a follow-on of the Project 75 Kalvari-class submarine for the Indian Navy. Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire six diesel-electric submarines, which will also feature advanced air-independent propulsion systems.
• Air-independent propulsion (AIP), or air-independent power, is any marine propulsion technology that allows a non-nuclear submarine to operate without access to atmospheric oxygen (by surfacing or using a snorkel). AIP can augment or replace the diesel-electric propulsion system of non-nuclear vessels.
• The air-independent propulsion systems enable the submarines to stay submerged for a longer duration and substantially increase their operational range as compared to the conventional diesel operated submarines.
• Modern non-nuclear submarines are potentially stealthier than nuclear submarines; a nuclear ship’s reactor must constantly pump coolant, generating some amount of detectable noise. Non-nuclear submarines running on battery power or AIP, on the other hand, can be virtually silent.
• While nuclear-powered designs still dominate in submergence times and deep-ocean performance, small, high-tech non-nuclear attack submarines are highly effective in coastal operations and pose a significant threat to less-stealthy and less-manoeuvrable nuclear submarines.

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has said that the state would become the first State to come up with a gender budget in the current financial year. This budget would clearly list out the expenditure on welfare schemes for women.
• Such a budget would be a significant step towards addressing gender inequality.

The India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise is known as Dustlik. The first-ever exercise was held in 2019. Exercise Dustlik­-II is being held between India and Uzbekistan from March 10­-19, 2021.

Enabling the Business of Agriculture is a World Bank Group study collecting unique data on the regulations that affect farmers. Enabling the Business of Agriculture indicators assess whether governments make it easier or harder for farmers to operate their businesses.