UPSC 2021: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Nov 13 - Nov 19

1, 2, 3 and 5 only are correct. Read more on the Delhi Regional Security Dialogue in the link.

1 and 2 only are correct. There is no specific focus on tribal villages under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana.

1 and 3 only are correct. The IUCN status of the blackbuck is ‘least concern’.

Both are correct about the Ranthambore National Park.

Myanmar is not a member of the SAARC. It is an observer state.

1, 2, 3 and 4 only are correct. Afghanistan is not a member of the Arab League.

Narendra Modi launched the Act East Policy.

Statement 1 is incorrect.

• The office of the Governor is not employment under the government. Thus, the Constitution has no bar on retired judges of High Courts or the Supreme Court being appointed as Governors.  Notably the Supreme Court too in various cases has observed that the office of the Governor is not an employment under the Government of India.
• The Governor is given immunity from any criminal proceedings, even in respect of his personal acts during his term as the Governor.
• Article 361 of the Indian Constitution provides that no criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the President, or the Governor of a State, in any court during his term of office.

All three are correct.

• The Khel Ratna Award, officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, formerly known as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in Sports and Games, is the highest sporting honour of India.
• It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
• The recipient(s) is/are honoured for their “spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years” at the international level.
• The award was first instituted in 1991–1992 and the first recipient of the award was Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, who was honoured for the performance in the year 1991–92.

• The doctrine of lapse was a policy of annexation initiated by the East India Company in the Indian subcontinent against the princely states.
• The policy is most commonly associated with Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor-General of the East India Company in India between 1848 and 1856.
• According to the doctrine, any Indian princely state under the suzerainty of the East India Company (EIC) (the dominant imperial power in the Indian subsidiary system), would have its princely status abolished (and therefore be annexed into British India) if the ruler was either “manifestly incompetent or died without a male heir”.

• The doctrine and its applications were widely regarded as illegitimate by many Indians, leading to resentment against the EIC.

Both are incorrect.

• Onake Obavva died fighting the troops of Hyder Ali, a ruler of the Mysore Kingdom and father of Tipu Sultan, when he invaded the Chitradurga Fort, which was ruled by Madakari Nayaka in the 18th century.
• Chitradurga Fort, locally known as Elusuttina Kote, (the fort of seven circles in Kannada), is situated in Chitradurga, 200 km northwest of Bengaluru.
• Obavva is considered to be the epitome of Kannada pride and celebrated along with other women warriors of Karnataka state like Abbakka Rani (first Tuluva Queen of Ullal in coastal Karnataka who fought the Portuguese), Keladi Chennamma (the queen of the Keladi Kingdom who is known for fighting against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb), and Kittur Chennamma (Queen of Kittur known for the 1824 revolt against the British East India Company).

1 and 4 only are correct.

• Article 23 and 24 of the Indian Constitution deals with the right against exploitation.
• Article 23 of the Indian Constitution prohibits human trafficking and begar (forced labour without payment).
• Article 24 of the Indian Constitution prohibits child labour. It forbids the employment of children below the age of 14 years in dangerous jobs like factories and mines. However, it did not prohibit their employment in any harmless or innocent work.

1 and 2 only are correct.

• The MPLADS is a Central Sector Scheme fully funded by the Government of India wherein funds are allocated to the MPs to carry out developmental activities in their constituencies. Under this scheme, funds released to district authorities under MPLADS are not lapsable.
• Initially, the MPLADS was under the control of the Ministry of Rural Development. The 1st Guidelines were issued in February 1994, covering the concept, implementation and monitoring of the Scheme. The MPLAD Scheme was transferred to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in October 1994.

Dead Sea, Jordan and Israel border the West Bank area.

All the statements are correct.

Only 1 is correct.

• Using mRNA as a medicine is a fundamentally different approach in drug therapy.
• Unlike the traditional pharmaceuticals which are small therapeutic molecules or the traditional biologics (recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies), mRNA medicines are sets of instructions. These instructions direct cells in the body to make proteins to prevent or fight disease.
• Despite the numerous advantages offered by mRNA technology-based vaccine development strategy, there are still no commercially available m-RNA based vaccines to accurately predict the efficacy of mRNA technology-based vaccines.

Both statements are correct.

Gairsain is being developed as the summer capital of Uttarakhand. Challakere in Karnataka is housing premier science and research organizations such as IISc, DRDO, BARC and ISRO. While travelling from Gairsain to Challakere one would pass through the following states: Uttarakhand—Uttar Pradesh—Madhya Pradesh—Maharashtra—Karnataka.

Both are incorrect.

• The CITES has many wildlife species that are not endangered.
• CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organizations adhere to voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention (‘joined’ CITES) are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties – in other words, they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level.

Viability Gap Finance means a grant to support projects that are economically justified but not financially viable.

As per the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, members of legislatures, political parties, government officials, judges and media persons are prohibited from receiving any foreign contribution.
Foreign grants received by NGOs are regulated by the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, or FCRA. In order to receive foreign funds, an NGO has to register with the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is assigned a unique FCRA registration number, to be renewed every five years.

Both are correct statements. OPEC+ is the alliance of crude producers who have been undertaking corrections in supply in the oil markets since the year 2017. OPEC+ countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Both are incorrect. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) was established under the Competition Act, 2002 for the administration, implementation and enforcement of the Act, and was duly constituted in March 2009. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 (MRTP Act) was repealed and replaced by the Competition Act, 2002. The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) has ceased to exist effective 26 May 2017. The appellate function under the Competition Act, 2002 would now confer to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

All three are correct. The CBI is governed by the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act that makes consent of a state government mandatory for conducting an investigation in that state. The state governments have the power to withdraw the general consent for investigation accorded to CBI. Cases registered anywhere else in the country, but involving people stationed in states which have withdrawn general consent, would still allow CBI’s jurisdiction to extend to these states. Also, the CBI would still have the power to investigate old cases registered when general consent existed.

Statement 3 is only incorrect. Mission Shakti is a joint programme of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ‘Mission Shakti’ was India’s first-ever Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Missile Test successfully conducted in March 2019 from Dr AP J Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha, where a fast-moving Indian orbiting target satellite in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was neutralised with pinpoint accuracy. This made India the fourth nation in the world with the capability to defend its assets in outer space. Till now, only the US, Russia and China had the capability to hit a live target in space.

2 only is correct. The AQI has six categories of air quality, viz Good, Satisfactory, Moderately polluted, Poor, Very Poor and Severe with a distinct colour scheme.
Each of these categories is associated with likely health impacts. AQI considers eight pollutants (PM10, PM 2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3 and Pb) for which short-term (up to 24-hourly averaging period) National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.

1 only is incorrect. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission (ASIIM) under Venture Capital Fund for SCs with a view to promoting innovation and enterprise among SC students studying in higher educational institutions. Under the initiative, 1,000 SC youth will be identified in the next four years with start-up ideas through the Technology Business Incubators in various higher educational institutions. They will be funded 30 lakh rupees in three years as equity funding to translate their start-up ideas into commercial ventures.

• Carbon neutrality refers to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by balancing carbon dioxide emissions with carbon absorption.
• Achieving carbon neutrality has two basic aims, reducing or simply eliminating carbon dioxide emissions altogether and also increasing carbon removal (through carbon absorption in carbon sinks, carbon offsetting and carbon sequestration).

None of the statements is incorrect.

• Chlorpyrifos (CPS) is an organophosphate pesticide used on crops, animals, and buildings, and in other settings, to kill a number of pests, including insects and worms.
• On the farm, it is used to control ticks on cattle and as a spray to control crop pests.
• It acts on the nervous systems of insects.
• However, it has the potential for both acute toxicity at larger amounts and neurological effects in foetuses and children even at very small amounts.

• Earth observation satellites also referred to as remote Sensing Satellites have immense application potential.
• Some of the most prominent application areas are Agricultural Crops Inventory, Water Resources Information System, Ground Water Prospects, Forest Working Plans, Biodiversity and Coral Mapping, Potential Fishing Zones, Ocean State Forecasts, Rural Development, Urban Development, Inventory & Monitoring of Glacial Lakes / Water Bodies, Location-based Services using NavIC constellation, Disaster Management Support Programme (Cyclone and Floods Mapping & Monitoring, Landslide Mapping & Monitoring, Agricultural Drought, Forest Fire, Earthquakes, Extreme Weather Monitoring and experimental Forecasts and so on).