UPSC 2024: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Nov 11 - Nov 17

• Statement 1 is correct, Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that can control a wide range of weeds, whether broadleaf or grassy.
• Statement 2 is correct, There are nine glyphosate-based formulations containing different concentrations of the chemical registered for use under the Insecticides Act, 1968.
  • These are approved largely for weed control in tea gardens and non-crop areas such as railway tracks or playgrounds.
• Statement 3 is correct, Bt cotton is the only genetically modified (GM) crop that has been approved for commercial cultivation in 2002 by the Government of India.

Greenwashing is the technique of creating a false image or presenting misleading information about how a company’s products are better for the environment. Greenwashing is defined as making an unfounded claim in order to mislead customers into believing that a company’s products are ecologically beneficial.

Mother Tongue Survey of India is a project that “surveys the mother tongues, which are returned consistently across two and more Census decades”.
It also documents the linguistic features of the selected languages.
Mother Tongue Survey of India is undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

• Sugarcane is considered to be the least water-efficient crop as it requires about 1800-2200 mm/season water.
• Sunflower’s water requirement is estimated to be 672.4 mm/season.
• Pearl millet is a drought-tolerant crop and its water requirement is close to 350 mm/season.
• Red gram uses about 250-400 mm/season of water.

• Statement 1 is correct, Vikram-S is India’s first privately developed launch vehicle.
• Statement 2 is not correct, the Vikram-S rocket is a single-stage sub-orbital launch vehicle.
• Statement 3 is not correct, At present, the Vikram rockets are being developed in such a way that they use solid and cryogenic fuels and are capable of carrying about 290 kg to 560 kg payloads to sun-synchronous polar orbits.
  • Chennai-headquartered spacetech start-up named Agnikul Cosmos has recently announced that it has successfully test-fired the world’s first single-piece, fully 3D printed, second-stage rocket engine powered by semi-cryogenic fuel, Agnilet.

• Shahtoosh is a fine undercoat fibre obtained from the Tibetan Antelope locally known as “Chiru”, a species living mainly in the northern parts of the Changthang Plateau in Tibet.
• CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora) included the Tibetan Antelope in 1979 as commercial poaching of the animal has led to a decline in their population which has led to prohibition in the sale and trade of Shahtoosh shawls and scarves.
• The antelope is provided protection under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Prevention) Act.

• Statement 1 is not correct, Body waves are generated due to the release of energy at the focus and move in all directions travelling through the body of the earth.
• Statement 2 is correct, Primary waves are similar to sound waves and pass through gaseous, liquid and solid materials.
• Statement 3 is not correct, Secondary waves can travel only through solid materials.

• Statement 1 is correct, National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are standards for air quality that are set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that are applicable all over the country.
• Statement 2 is correct, The compliance of the NAAQS is monitored under the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) which is implemented by the CPCB.
• Statement 3 is not correct, The measurement of air quality for NAAQS is based on 12 pollutants.

• Gadgil Committee Report and Kasturirangan Committee Report are both related to the protection of the Western Ghats.

Read more about – Gadgil Committee and Kasturirangan Committee

• Statement 1 is not correct, According to Article 158(3)(3A) of the Constitution, if a person is appointed as the governor of two or more states, his salary and allowances payable to him are shared by the states in such proportion as determined by the President.
• Statement 2 is not correct, As per Article 159 of the Constitution, the oath of office to the governor is administered by the Chief Justice of the High Court of the respective State and in his absence, the seniormost Judge of that Court would administer the oath.
• Statement 3 is correct, The Governor holds office “during the pleasure of the President” and the Constitution has not laid down any grounds for the removal of the governor by the president.

• Members of ASEAN: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
• Members of East Asia Summit: Ten ASEAN countries, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Russia and the United States.
• South Korea is not a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), hence option c is the correct answer.

• Cryogenics is the branch of physics that deals with the production and effects of very low temperatures.
• Hence option a is the correct answer.

• Statement 1 is correct, The Tea Board was established as a statutory body in 1954 under the provisions of Section (4) of the Tea Act, 1953.
• Statement 2 is not correct, The Tea Board works under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Statement 3 is not correct, The Board’s Head Office is located in Kolkata, West Bengal.

• Pair 1 is correct, Blue-finned Mahseer is found naturally in the Cauvery river.
• Pair 2 is not correct, Gangetic river dolphins (Platanista gangetica) are found in the Chambal river. However, Irrawaddy Dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) are a different species and are seen in the Chilika lagoon and other salt-water estuaries of Odisha.
• Pair 3 is correct, The rusty-spotted cat is one of the smallest cat species seen in India and these cats inhabit the forests of the Eastern Ghats.

• Statement 1 is correct, In 1964 Justice Sikri became the first lawyer to be appointed directly to the Supreme Court Bench
• Statement 2 is correct, If the Supreme Court Collegium sends its recommendations to the union government, the government may send the name back for reconsideration by the Collegium. However, if the collegium reiterates its recommendation unanimously, the government cannot object any further and the President is bound to issue the warrant of appointment.

• Statement 1 is not correct, Nadaprabhu Kempegowda was a 16th-century chieftain of the Vijayanagara empire.
• Statement 2 is not correct, Kempegowda is known as the founder of Bengaluru and he built the Bangalore Fort after taking permission from the Vijayanagar emperor Achyutharaya.
• Statement 3 is not correct, Kavirajamarga was written and motivated by King Nrupatunga Amoghavarsha-I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty.
  • Kavirajamarga is co-authored by Sri Vijaya and is the earliest available work on poetics, grammar, and rhetoric in the Kannada language.

• Statement 1 is not correct, Pratapgad fort is a mountain fort located in the Satara district of Maharashtra.
• Statement 2 is not correct, Shivaji Maharaj was born in the hill fort of Shivneri, close to the town of Junnar, which is currently in the Pune district.
• Statement 3 is correct, In the Battle of Pratapgarh (c. 1659 CE), the Sultan of Bijapur (Adil Shah) sent Afzal Khan, a premier Bijapuri noble against Shivaji Maharaj.
  • But Afzal Khan was murdered by Shivaji Maharaj in a daring manner and the Maratha troops overran the powerful fort of Panhala and poured into south Konkan and the Kolhapur districts, making extensive conquests.

• Statement 1 is not correct, The IUCN status of Himalayan Grey Langur (Semnopithecus ajax) is Endangered.
• Statement 2 is correct, Kalatop Khajjiar Sanctuary is located at Kalatop and Khajjiar in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.

• As per the Reserve Bank of India, Act, 1934 (as amended in 2016), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is entrusted with the responsibility of conducting monetary policy in India with the primary objective of maintaining price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth.

• Pair 01 is correctly matched, Araku Valley is a hill station in Alluri Sitharama Raju district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a valley in the Eastern Ghats inhabited by different tribes, mainly Araku Tribes.
• Pair 02 is correctly matched, Kangra Valley is a river valley situated in the Western Himalayas.It lies in Himachal Pradesh.
• Pair 03 is correctly matched, Ziro valley is present in Arunachal Pradesh. It is included in the Tentative List for UNESCO’s World Heritage Site for the Apatani cultural landscape.
• Pair 04 is correctly matched,  The Yumthang Valley or Sikkim Valley of Flowers sanctuary, is a nature sanctuary surrounded by the Himalayan mountains in Sikkim.
  • It is popularly known as ‘Valley of Flowers’ and is home to the Shingba Rhododendron Sanctuary, which has over twenty-four species of the rhododendron, the state flower of Sikkim.

• Statement 01 is incorrect, The Global Warming Potential of Methane is higher as compared that of Carbon-di-oxide and lower compared to nitrous oxide.
  • CO2 has a GWP.
  • Methane (CH4) is estimated to have a GWP of 27-30 over 100 years.
  • Nitrous Oxide (N2O) has a GWP 273 times that of CO2 for a 100-year timescale.
• Statement 02 is incorrect, The Global Methane Pledge aims to cut down methane emissions by up to 30 per cent from 2020 levels by the year 2030.

Ajeya Warrior is a bilateral military exercise between India and the UK. The first military training took place in 2013.

• Pair 01 is correctly matched, Kherson is a port city of Ukraine Located on the Black Sea and on the Dnieper River. Ukrainian troops retook control of more than 60 settlements in the Kherson region recently from Russia.
• Pair 02 is correctly matched, Mekele is a special zone and capital of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.
• Pair 03 is correctly matched, Kobani  is a Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the Syria–Turkey border.
• Pair 04 is correctly matched, Sharm el-Sheikh is an Egyptian town between the desert of the Sinai Peninsula and the Red Sea.
• • The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference-COP27 is being held from 6 November until 18 November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

• Statement 01 is correct, The Indira Gandhi administration nationalised coal mining in phases – coking coal mines in 1971–72 and non-coking coal mines in 1973.
  • With the enactment of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973, all coal mines in India were nationalised in May 1973.
• Statement 02 is incorrect, The coal Blocks are allocated through auctions and not on lottery basis.
• Statement 03 is incorrect,  India holds 5th biggest coal reserves in the world but due to incapacity of coal production by Indian firms, it imports coal to meet the shortages of domestic supply therefore India is not self sufficient in coal production.

• The Cape Town Agreement was adopted by the IMO in 2012 to help combat illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing.
• The agreement is aimed at facilitating better control of fishing vessel safety by flag, port and coastal states.

• Established in 2005, it is a forum of 18 regional leaders for strategic dialogue and cooperation on the key political, security, and economic challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region.
• Papua New Guinea is not a member of the East Asia Summit.

• Statement 01 is incorrect, India has the world’s fifth largest cultivated area under genetically modified (GM) crops. The United States has the largest area of genetically modified crops worldwide, followed by Brazil, Argentina and Canada.
• Statement 02 is incorrect, As of 2022,  More than 70 countries have accepted the use of GM crops.

• Statement 01 is correct, Almost 60% of India’s total agri imports is accounted for by vegetable oils. Their imports were valued at $19 billion in 2021-22, and imports have increased by more than 25% in the first half of this fiscal. Vegetable oils are today the country’s fifth biggest import item after petroleum, electronics, gold, and coal.
• Statement 02 is correct, Marine products account for the largest proportion among India’s agri-export items followed by non-basmati rice and basmati rice.
• Statement 03 is correct, India has consistently maintained  net trade surplus in the agricultural products over the years.  It has witnessed a net trade surplus in international agricultural trade in the last decade.

Image Source: Indian Express

• Statement 01 is correct, The Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 lists certain offices of profit under the central and state governments, which do not disqualify the holders from being an MP or MLA/MLC respectively. There is no bar on how many offices can be exempted from the purview of the law.
• Statement 02 is correct, Parliament has amended the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959, five times to expand the exempted list.
• Statement 03 is incorrect, The expression ‘office of profit’ is mentioned in Article 102 and Article 191 of the Constitution, however, it has not been defined anywhere in the Constitution.

• Statement 1 is correct: Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees the freedom of conscience, the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion to all citizens subject to reasonable restrictions of public order, health and morality.
• Statement 2 is correct: Article 26 of the Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of religion to not only individuals but also religious groups in India. It provides the right to form and maintain institutions for religious and charitable intents.