UPSC 2023: Weekly GK and Current Affairs Quiz Nov 26 - Dec 02

• River Vamsadhara is an important east flowing river between Rushikulya and Godavari, in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states in India.
• Mahendratanaya River is a major tributary river of Vamsadhara. Hence Statement 1 is correct.
• The Vamsadhara water dispute is between the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Hence Statement 2 is incorrect.

• SOHO was launched on December 2, 1995.
• SOHO, the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory, is a project of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. Hence Statement 1 is incorrect.
• SOHO aims to study the Sun from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind. Hence Statement 2 is incorrect.

• The Tigray Region in Ethiopia borders Eritrea and Sudan (Not Djibouti). Hence Statement 1 is incorrect.
• Ethiopia is the sixth largest landlocked country in the world. The largest landlocked country in the world is Kazakhstan followed by Mongolia, Chad, Niger, Mali. Hence Statement 2 is incorrect.

• The Advocate General  of the State is the highest law officer of the state.
• The Governor(Not President) appoints the advocate general of state on the advice of the council of ministers of the state. Hence Statement 1 is incorrect.
• Article 165 of the Indian Constitution is related to the office of Advocate General of State. Hence Statement 2 is correct.

• According to the rules of the Airports Economic Authority Act of 2008, the Centre has the power to recognise an airport as a major airport.
• Under the AERA, the Centre can designate an airport as a major airport if it has an annual passenger traffic of at least 35 lakh. Hence Option D is correct.

• Médecins Sans Frontières, is also rendered in English as Doctors Without Borders.
• It is an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation of French origin. Hence Option B is correct.
• It is best known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.

• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at the prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.
• The law was originally enacted in 1967.
• Subsequent to the 2019 amendment to the Act, an investigating officer is required to obtain the prior approval of the Director-General of Police to seize properties that may be connected with terrorism.
• The death sentence is the highest punishment under the Act.

• Molnupiravir is the first antiviral medicine that can be taken as a pill rather than being injected or administered intravenously for the treatment of the COVID-19 disease.
• The drug has been codenamed ‘EIDD-2081’.
• Molnupiravir was originally developed to treat influenza and works by inhibiting the replication of certain RNA viruses. Molnupiravir gets incorporated into the growing RNA strands. Such RNA strands become faulty blueprints for the next round of viral genomes and when enough mutations occur, the viral population collapses. Thus the drug prevents the SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA replication process through “error catastrophe”.

India’s new climate actions announced at the 26^th CoP of UNFCCC:

• India will achieve net zero emissions latest by 2070. This is notable given that so far India was the only major emitter that had not committed to a timeline to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions and has also argued against the concept of net zero carbon targets.
• Renewable energy would be tapped in a big way in India. By 2030, India will ensure 50% of its energy will be sourced from renewable sources. India plans to generate 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030. This marks a 50 GW increase from its current target of 450 GW.
• India also committed to reducing its carbon emissions until 2030 by a billion tonnes. By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy to less than 45 per cent. India is largely on track to meet, and even exceed, its Paris Agreement targets: reduce emissions’ intensity of its gross domestic product (GDP) by 33 to 35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.

• The Budget 2020-21 had proposed to remove limit on foreign investment in some government securities, as a first step towards their inclusion in global bond indices.
• Following the announcement made in the Union Budget 2020-21 that certain specified categories of Central Government securities would be opened fully for non-resident investors without any restrictions, apart from being available to domestic investors as well, the Reserve Bank of India had notified the Fully Accessible Route (FAR) for investment by non-residents in securities issued by the Government of India.
• In order to further mainstream government securities, the Indian Government plans to list India’s G-secs in the international bond indices.
• The move is expected to attract foreign inflows in the debt market, help the government in its market borrowing programme by increasing liquidity in domestic bond markets and also keep a check on yields.

• Kanaganahalli, situated about 3 km from Sannati, Karnataka, is an important excavation site for Buddhist monuments. The most important finding of the excavation from this site includes a stone sculptured slab bearing the name Ranyo Ashoko.
• Kanaganahalli inscription also includes a portrait of Ashoka (surrounded by female attendants and queens).

• The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. It emphasizes placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of the development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.
• The network involves folk art, media, film, literature, design, gastronomy and media arts.
• Recently, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has picked Srinagar as part of the creative city network under the Crafts and Folk Arts category.
• Jaipur (Crafts and Folk Arts) in 2015, Varanasi and Chennai (Creative city of Music) in 2015 and 2017 respectively, Mumbai (Creative city of film) and Hyderabad a (Creative city of gastronomy) in 2019 have so far been recognised as members of the UCCN for creative cities in India.

• The Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian honours of India. The Awards are given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service), Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of the higher order) and Padma Shri (distinguished service).
• The award seeks to recognize achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved.
• Padma Awards were instituted in 1954 to be awarded to citizens of India in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, medicine, social service and public affairs.
• It has also been awarded to some distinguished individuals who were not citizens of India but did contribute in various ways to India.
• Padma Shri is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan.
• The Padma Awards are conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The nomination process is open to the public. India has now created an online nomination platform for the common citizens to recommend the nomination for the annually given “Padma” awards.

• As per NASA’s definition, a meteor storm must have at least 1000 meteors per hour.

• The Ninth Schedule became a part of the Constitution in 1951 when the Indian Constitution was amended for the first time.
• It was introduced by the Jawaharlal Nehru Government.
• It was created by the new Article 31B, which along with 31A was brought in by the government to protect laws related to agrarian reform and for abolishing the Zamindari system. While A. 31A extends protection to ‘classes’ of laws, A. 31B shields specific laws or enactments.
• The Ninth Schedule contains a list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in courts.

• LeadIT (Leadership Group for Industry transition) was launched by India and Sweden along with the World Economic Forum in 2019.
• It is a voluntary initiative to create a low carbon transition especially in the industries like Iron & Steel, Aluminium, Cement and Concrete, petrochemicals, fertilizers, bricks, heavy duty transport, along with the engagement of private sectors.
• The initiative aims to reduce carbon emissions by the industries. The industrial sector contributes around 30% of the total CO2 emissions.

• The Indian Union Environment Minister inaugurated the Ganga Connect Exhibition at Glasgow during the ongoing COP26.
• The Ganga Connect exhibition centres on the purpose of preserving and protecting the river basin and its ecological components and brings more awareness about the same. This exhibition presents all the developments in the Ganga river basin on the global platform.
• This exhibition portrays river Ganga as a major lab for global technology and the entire scientific community to come up with environment-friendly solutions.

• National Legal Services Authority of India (NALSA) was established to fulfil provisions of Article 39A of the Indian Constitution.
• Article 39A of the Constitution of India provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society and ensures justice for all.
• In the year 1987, the Legal Services Authorities Act was enacted by the Parliament which aims to establish a nationwide uniform network for providing free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society on the basis of equal opportunity.
  • The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has been constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to monitor and evaluate the implementation of legal aid programmes and to lay down policies and principles for making legal services available under the Act.

• Recently India and Israel have signed a Bilateral Innovation Agreement for the development of dual use technologies.
• Dual use goods are products and technologies normally used for civilian purposes but which may have military applications. Hence “dual-use” refers to technology that can be used for both peaceful and military aims.
• The agreement will help promote startups and generate technology in the areas of Drones, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Photonics, Biosensing, Brain Machine, Natural Language Processing, etc.

• Gandhi was instrumental in the abolition of the indentured (meaning contract) labour system in the British Empire.
• In Lord Chelmsford’s ‘War Conference’, Mahatma Gandhi supported the resolution on recruiting Indians for World War I. He believed that this support will help India gain the trust of the British Empire and also help attain swaraj.
• Gandhi undertook the Dandi March in 1930 protesting against the salt law of 1882. He broke the salt law at Dandi on April 6, 1930. Consequent to the breaking of the Salt Law by the Indian people, the Indian National Congress was declared illegal by the colonial rulers.

• 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.

• Mardani Khel is an armed Indian martial art from Maharashtra.
• ‘Pari Khanda’ the famous martial art form created by Rajputs is practised in the state of​ Bihar.
• Thoda is a  martial art form of Himachal Pradesh.

• Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary is an estuary situated near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. It constitutes a large stretch of mangrove forests in India.
  • The sanctuary is a part of the Godavari estuary.
• The sanctuary is yet to be declared as a Ramsar site despite facing various threats to its ecology.

• Janjatiya Gaurav Divas is a day to commemorate the contributions of tribal freedom fighters.

• With reference to the cultural history of India, the memorizing of chronicles, dynastic histories and epic tales was the profession of Maagadha.
• Shramana means seeker, one who performs acts of austerity.
• Agraharika means one who looked after lands given in charity.
• Parivraajaka means one who roams about around places.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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).

• Article 23 and 24 of the Indian Constitution deals with the right against exploitation.
• The 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 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.