February 07 2024 Current Affairs MCQs

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• It stretches 3,500 kilometres and spans 8 countries and is home to most of the snow and ice on Earth outside the poles. The 8 countries are:
  • Afghanistan
  • Bangladesh
  • Bhutan
  • China
  • India
  • Nepal
  • Myanmar
  • Pakistan
• It comprises of mountain ranges such as the Tian Shan, Kunlun Shan, Pamir, Karakoram, Hindu Kush, Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas.

• It is the ‘Water Tower of Asia’ that provides essential ecosystem services such as clean water for a third of the world’s population.
• Water flowing from these mountains feeds major rivers includes the Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Yangtse, and Yellow.

Statement 2 is correct

• The Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth.
• 4 of the world’s 36 global biodiversity hotspots are in this region.
• 2 of the global 200 eco regions, 575 Protected Areas, 335 important bird areas are located in this region.
• It has the highest mountain ranges in the world, the largest volume of ice on Earth outside the Polar Regions and holds all or parts of 4 global biodiversity hotspots supporting diverse flora and fauna.
• 75% of the original biodiversity has been lost over the last century and yet 85% of mountain communities remain dependent on this biodiversity, for food, water, flood control and cultural identity.
  

  It is estimated to be warming at nearly 2 times the average rate of warming in the Northern Hemisphere.

Statement 3 is incorrect

• The Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP) is an initiative of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
  

  The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is an intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre established in 1983, which is working on behalf of the people of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). They are based in Kathmandu, Nepal and work together with their eight regional member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.

Answer: (b) Only two; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• Objectives:
• The primary objective of the survey is to provide a meaningful insight into the changing landscape of manufacturing industries.
• The survey analyses the change in the composition, growth and structure of various manufacturing industries in terms of output, value added, employment, capital formation and a host of other parameters.
• It provides valuable input to the National Accounts Statistics at national and state level.
• Key Highlights of the survey:
• Due to Covid pandemic, there had been a marginal fall in employment in 2020-21 which was more than compensated in the subsequent year.
• The main drivers of the growth in 2021-22 were industries like Manufacture of Basic metal, Coke & Refined Petroleum Products, Pharmaceutical Products, Motor vehicles, Food Products and Chemical products.
• The Gross Value Added (GVA) of the manufacturing sector grew by 8.8%.
• Among the major states, in terms of GVA, Gujarat remained at the top in 2020-21 and in the second position in 2021-22 while Maharashtra ranked first in 2021-22 and second in 2020-21.
• These two states were followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in both the years.
• The top 5 states employing highest number of persons in this sector were Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in ASI 2020-21 as well as in ASI 2021-22.
• The top 5 states, taken together contributed about 53% of the total manufacturing GVA of the country in 2020-21 as well as in 2021-22.

Answer: (b) 1, 2, 3 and 4; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland are the only states in India that have English as their only official language and no additional official languages.
• Other states which have English as their additional official language are Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu.
• Meghalaya has English as its official language and Khasi and Garo as additional official languages.
• Mizoram has English as its official language along with Mizo and Hindi.
• Sikkim has English as its official language along with additional ten local languages.
• Tripura has English as its official language along with Bengali and Kokborok

Statement 2 is incorrect

• Eighth Schedule lists the official languages of the republic of India.
• Part XVII of the Indian constitution deals with the official languages in Articles 343 to 351.
• The Constitutional provisions related to the Eighth Schedule are:
  • Article 344: Article 344(1) provides for the constitution of a Commission by the President on expiration of five years from the commencement of the Constitution.
  • Article 351: It provides for the spread of the Hindi language to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India.
• However, It can be noted that there is no fixed criteria for any language to be considered for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule.

Answer: (b) 2 only; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• Future Circular Collider (FCC) is an electron-positron collider that will be within a 91-kilometre ring, which will give it three times the circumference of the Large Hadron Collider.
• The goal of FCC is to push the energy and intensity frontiers of particle colliders, with the aim of reaching collision energies of 100 Tera electron Volts (TeV), in the search for new physics.
• It examines scenarios for three different types of particle collisions such as hadron (proton–proton and heavy ion) collisions, like in the LHC (FCC-hh) electron–positron collisions (FCC-ee).

Statement 2 is incorrect

• It is an initiative of European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
• The Large Hadron Collider is a proton-proton machine/ collider that was instrumental in the discovery of the Higgs Boson, the so-called god particle.

Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• UCC refers to a common set of laws that are applicable to all Indian citizens, and is not based on religion in dealing with marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption, among other personal matters.
• Article 44 of the Indian Constitution deals with Uniform Civil Code.
• It was adopted by the Constituent Assembly in November 1948.
• The UCC was meant to address the “little corner” of personal laws relating to marriage and succession.

Statement 2 is incorrect

• Senior Congress Leader and Members of Constituent Assembly like Kamalapati Tripathi, T Prakasam, Acharya JB Kripalani, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Mahavir Tyagi, opposed the UCC, citing concerns about potential unrest and clashes between religious communities if their personal laws were abolished.

Answer: (a) 1 only; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• The Public Examinations Bill, 2024 is aimed at preventing organized gangs and institutions that are involved in unfair means for monetary gains.
• The Objective of the Bill is to:
  • Bring greater transparency, fairness and credibility to the public examination systems, and
  • Reassure the youth that their sincere and genuine efforts will be fairly rewarded, and their future is safe.
• A High level National Technical Committee on Public Examinations will be set up to develop protocol for developing fool proof IT security system for online and technology-based exams.
• The term public examination has been defined under the bill.
• It is defined as any examination conducted by a “public examination authority” listed in the Schedule of the Bill, or any “such other authority as may be notified by the Central Government.

Statement 2 is correct

• The bills include any examinations conducted by the:
  • Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and Railway Recruitment Boards (RRB),
  • Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS),
  • Ministries or Departments of the Central Government and their attached and subordinate offices for recruitment of staff and
  • National Testing Agency or other authority as may be notified by the Central Government.

Statement 3 is correct

• Any individual or persons found guilty of unfair means and offences will be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than 3 years, which may extend to 5 years and with fine up to 10 lakh rupees.
• The service provider shall also be liable to be punished with imposition of a fine up to 1 crore rupees.
• If a person or a group of individuals including the examination service provider are found guilty of organised crime, the punishment amounts to a minimum of 5 years of imprisonment which may extend to 10 years.
• All the offences will be cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.

Answer: (c) All; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• Also known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), the Messinian event was a geological event during which the Mediterranean Sea went into a cycle of partial or nearly complete desiccation (drying up).
• It was one of the most severe ecological crises in the Earth’s history.
• The MSC began approximately 6 million years ago (MYA) and lasted until around 5.3 MYA.
• It began when the connection between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea was cut off.
• This occurred due to a combination of lowered sea levels in the global oceans and collision between the European and African plates that caused the land to lift.
• Normally, there is much more evaporation than precipitation over the Mediterranean Sea. This means that much more water is leaving than entering the sea.
• Without a significant source of water from the Atlantic Ocean, this led to the evaporation of much of the Mediterranean Sea.
• The Mediterranean continued to dry up until there was almost no water left.
• It ended with the Zanclean flood, when the Atlantic reclaimed the basin.

Answer: (c) It was a geological event during which the Mediterranean Sea completely dried up; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is also known as Moon bear.
• The Asiatic black bear has 7 subspecies, out of which we find the Himalayan Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus laniger) subspecies in India.
• In India, The Himalayan Black Bear is distributed across Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
• They have a pale yellow or whitish crescent moon shaped patch on their chest which is their most distinguishable physical feature.

Statement 2 is correct

• Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) is the only rehabilitation facility for Asiatic Black Bear in India.
• It is situated at the Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Asiatic black bear occupies a narrow band from south-eastern Iran to Myanmar, across the foothills of the Himalayas.

Statement 3 is correct

• Today, Asiatic Black Bears are threatened by a number of factors starting with climate change, habitat loss, habitat degradation and poaching for body parts.
• The loss of habitat is caused by expansion of human settlements, encroachment of wild places due to roadways, infrastructure projects and so on.
• In India, less than 10% of the species’ range is under Protected Areas (PAs) and areas outside PAs fall victim to developmental projects, and fuelwood and timber extraction.
• Moreover, they are hunted for their skins, paws and especially gall bladders, which usually have demands in traditional Chinese medicine.

• Conservation:
  • It is protected under the schedule 1 of the Wildlife (protection) Act of 1972.
  • It is protected under the appendix 1 of the CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
  • It is listed as vulnerable in the IUCN red list.

Answer: (d) None; Difficulty Level: Medium