UPSC 2024: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Mar 30 - Apr 05

• The Landslide Atlas of India was released recently by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at the “National Meet on Disaster Risk Management — Trends & Technologies” held at Hyderabad.
• As per the Atlas, Northwest Himalayas contribute 66.5% of landslides in India, followed by Northeast Himalayas (18.8%) and Western Ghats (14.7%).
• Uttarakhand, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh reported the highest number of landslides during 1998 – 2022.
• Top 5 districts based on their exposure to landslide: Rudraprayag and Tehri Garhwal (Uttarakhand), Thrissur (Kerala), Rajouri (J&K), and Palakkad (Kerala).

• The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is a permanent organ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

• The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was constituted on 31 August 2005, as a Commission of Inquiry, under the Chairmanship of Veerappa Moily for preparing a detailed blueprint for revamping the public administrative system.

• India and Australia recently signed the “Critical Minerals Investment Partnership” in efforts towards investment in critical minerals such as Lithium and cobalt to develop supply chains between the two countries.
• Investments under the partnership will seek to build new supply chains underpinned by critical minerals processed in Australia, that will help India’s plans lower emissions from its electricity network and become a global manufacturing hub, including for electric vehicles.

• Vayulink is an ad-hoc data link communication system that would help pilots deal with bad weather and provide jammer-proof uninterrupted communication with the base station.
  • It is developed by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• It uses the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) to send radio communication to the base station when the signals are low.
• Vayulink, when installed in an aircraft, gives the position of other aircraft close by and encrypted traffic data over a secure channel.

• Statement 01 is correct, the Ring of Fire is a roughly 25,000-mile chain of volcanoes and seismically active sites that outline the Pacific Ocean.
  • The Ring of Fire is also where an estimated 75% of the planet’s volcanoes are located. Indonesia has volcanoes due to its location at the Circum-Pacific Ring of Fire.
• Statement 02 is correct, the 9,721 feet Mount Merapi is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes.
• Statement 03 is correct,  The Alpine Fault is a geological fault that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand’s South Island and forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate.
  • The Southern Alps have been uplifted on the fault over the last 12 million years in a series of earthquakes.

Image Source: Teara.gov

• Statement 01 is incorrect, The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), constituted under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, is the primary fund available to State Governments for responses to notified disasters.
  • The Central Government contributes 75% of SDRF allocation for general category States/UTs and 90% for special category States/UTs (NE States, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, and Kashmir).
  • The annual Central contribution is released in two equal instalments as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission.
• Statement 02 is correct,  The SDRF funds disaster management operations in case of all the listed natural disasters in India. NDRF comes in only when a disaster is declared as of ‘severe nature’.
• Statement 03 is incorrect, according to present norms, cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold waves are included in the list of natural disasters in India.

Statement 01 is incorrect, Jet streams occur in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Statement 02 is correct, Extra-tropical cyclones may not always have an eye, whereas mostly mature storms have well developed eyes. Rapidly intensifying storms may develop an extremely small, clear, and circular eye, sometimes referred to as a pinhole eye.
Statement 03 is incorrect, The warmest temperatures are found in the eye itself, not in the eyewall clouds where the latent heat occurs. The air is saturated only where convective vertical motions pass through flight level. Inside the eye, the temperature is greater than 28°C and the dewpoint is less than 0°C. These warm and dry conditions are typical of the eyes of extremely intense tropical cyclones.

• The Salt Satyagraha or the Dandi March was a mass civil disobedience movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi against the salt tax imposed by the British government in India and a nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly.
• The Civil Disobedience Movement was a landmark movement in the Indian Nationalist Movement which was launched in 1930, and it commenced with the Dandi March.

• According to Article 1 of the Ramsar Convention, Wetlands are “areas of marsh, fen, peat land or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters.”
• Wetlands includes lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands, peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, mangroves and other coastal areas, coral reefs, and all human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs and salt pans.

• Statement 1 is correct, The Academy Awards or the Oscars Awards are given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
• Statement 2 is correct, The Oscar Awards are presented for artistic talent and technical excellence in the International film industry.
• Statement 3 is not correct, Bhanu Athaiya was the first Indian to win the Oscar Award for costume designing.
  • The list of other winners from India are Satyajit Ray, A R Rahman, Resul Pookotty, and Gulzar.

• Statement 1 is correct, Wheat blast (WB) is an important fungal disease in tropical and subtropical wheat production regions caused by Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum (MoT).
• Statement 2 is correct, Wheat blast disease was first discovered in the state of Paraná in  Brazil in 1985.

• Lithium has the lowest atomic weight and is considered the lightest metal.
• Osmium is a natural metal with the highest density, thus Osmium is the heaviest metal.

• Statement 1 is not correct, Dragon Fruit is native to the deserts of Mexico, the countries of Central America and South America.
  • The plant is also grown in other countries in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand.
• Statement 2 is correct, Dragon Fruit is a climbing, fast-growing perennial vine cactus species.
• Statement 3 is not correct, The Dragon Fruit production in India began in the early 1990s and is gaining popularity as a crop of choice for India’s fruit farmers.

• Statement 1 is not correct, The Nagar Van Yojana has been implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• Statement 2 is correct, The scheme utilises National Funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) for the development of “Nagar Vans” and “Nagar Vatikas”.
• Statement 3 is correct, The key objectives of the scheme are to enhance the tree outside forests and green cover, enhancement of biodiversity and ecological benefits to the urban and peri-urban areas apart from improving the quality of life of city dwellers.

Image Source: IILSS – INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LAW OF THE SEA STUDIES

• Statement 1 is correct, The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural and historical monuments in the country.
  • ASI also takes part in overseas heritage restoration on behalf of the Government of India.
• Statement 2 is not correct, There is no provision under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 to declare a site as a “Water Heritage Site” under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
  • The Ministry of Jal Shakti had set up a Committee to identify 75 Water Heritage Structure (WHS) in reference to 75 years of India’s Independence.

• Statement 1 is not correct, LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. It is a model for high-speed data communication systems, also called 4G.
  • VoLTE stands for Voice over Long Term Evolution and similar to LTE, it also holds 4G networks that helps provide high-speed internet services
• Statement 2 is not correct, LTE is data-only technology but VoLTE is both data and voice technology.
  • Basically, VoLTE systems convert voice into the data stream, which is then transmitted using the data connection.

• The Defence Minister has launched the indigenisation portal SRIJAN.
• SRIJAN is the Ministry of Defence’s portal which acts as a one-stop-shop online portal that provides access to the vendors to take up items that can be taken up for indigenisation.

• Statement 1 is not correct, The Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme also known as MPLADS was launched in December 1993.
  • As per the Scheme, Rs. 5 crore per annum is released in two instalments of Rs. 2.5 crore each by the government directly to the District Authority of the Nodal District of the MP concerned.
• Statement 2 is not correct, The funds under MPLADS are non-lapsable both at the end of the Union Government and at the end of the District Authority.
• Statement 3 is correct, Under the scheme, each Lok Sabha MP has the choice to suggest to the District Collector works to the tune of Rs.5 Crores per annum to be taken up in their constituency.
  • The Rajya Sabha MPs can recommend works in one or more districts in the State from where they have been elected.

• Statement 1 is correct, The IPCC was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• Statement 2 is correct, IPCC works to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
  • However, IPCC does not conduct its own scientific research.
• Statement 3 is correct, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations charged with advancing scientific knowledge about anthropogenic or human-induced climate change.

• Statement 1 is correct, The key element of the AUKUS arrangement was to export to Australia the US technology of nuclear-powered submarines.
• Statement 2 is not correct, Sharing the technology is a rare step and the US has only done this once before with the UK in 1959.
• Statement 3 is correct, Australia is set to join the group of six countries namely India, the US, the UK, France, Russia and China, that operate nuclear-powered submarines.
  • And Australia will be the only country to have such submarines without having a civilian nuclear power industry.

• In 1993, a team of archaeologists surveyed Sannai, Karnataka and the discoveries at the Kanaganahalli site included a broken relief sculpture which had the emperor, his queen, and attendants engraved on a slab.
• An inscription in Brahmi letter that read “Ranyo Ashoka” (Raja Ashoka) was seen alongside the stone picture of Ashoka.
• It is the first sculpture of Ashoka with his name engraved on it.

• Statement 1 is not correct, UMANG Apps provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies.
• Statement 2 is correct, IMD developed mobile App “MAUSAM” for weather forecasting.
• Statement 3 is not correct, IMD had developed mobile App ‘Damini’ for lightning alerts.
  • Meghdoot App is used for Agromet advisory dissemination.

• Statement 1 is not correct, Core inflation is the change in prices of goods and services, except for those from the food and energy sectors.
  • Milk is not included while calculating the core inflation.
• Statement 2 is not correct, Operation Flood led India from being 50th in the world in terms of milk production to becoming the largest producer in just a couple of decades.
  • However, India is not the largest exporter of milk due to domestic demands.

• The “Security Bond” is a military exercise conducted between China, Russia, and Iran.
• Security Bond-2023 is a five-day naval drill conducted in the Gulf of Oman.

• Public sector lender UCO Bank has received the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) approval to open a special vostro account with Gazprombank of Russia.
  • Thus the account is a Vostro account of SBI. Hence Statement 1 is true.
• The account is a Nostro account for Gazprom. Hence Statement 2 is true.
• Statement 3 is not true, The UCO Bank has received the RBI’s approval to open a special vostro account (SVA) with Gazprombank of Russia for trade settlement in Indian rupees therefore, the currency which will be maintained in the account will be Rupees.

• Statement 1 is correct, The basic objective of the Second Five-Year Plan was to adopt the Nehru-Mahalanobis model. Under this model, top priority was given to investment goods, as they were crucial for the further economic growth of India. Further, there was a determined thrust towards the substitution of basic and capital goods industries.
• Statement 2 is correct,  The Fourth Five-Year Plan adopted the objective of correcting the earlier trend of increased concentration of wealth and economic power.
• Statement 3 is not correct, In the Fifth Five-Year Plan, the Indian national highway system was introduced for the first time.
  • The financial sector was included as an integral part of Plan from the Fourth Five-Year Plan where 14 banks were nationalised.

• Statement 1 is correct, PMEGP is a central sector scheme.
• Statement 2 is not correct, PMEGP is administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME).
• Statement 3 is correct, The scheme is implemented by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) functioning as the nodal agency at the national level.
  • At the state level, the scheme is implemented through State KVIC Directorates, State Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs), District Industries Centres (DICs) and banks.
• Statement 4 is not correct, Individuals above the age of 18 years, Self Help Groups (SHGs), Cooperative Societies involved in the production, and institutions that are registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 are eligible for benefits under this programme.