June 29-2024 Current Affairs MCQs

Explanation

Statement 1 is not correct

• Global anti-money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force adds Monaco, Venezuela to money laundering ‘grey list’.
• In October 2022, Pakistan was removed from the FATF Grey List due to significant improvements in the overall anti-money laundering (AML) / counter-terrorist financing (CFT) framework

Statement 2 is correct

• FATF maintains two types of lists –
• Black List:
  • Countries known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories are put on the blacklist.
  • These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities.
  • Three countries, North Korea, Iran, and Myanmar, are currently on FATF’s blacklist.
• Grey List:
  • Countries that are considered a safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put on the FATF grey list.
  • This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.

Answer: (d) Statement-I is incorrect but Statement-II is correct; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Row 1 is correct

• Chanhudaro is situated in Pakistan’s Sindh region.
• The site has revealed remains dating from both the pre-Harappan and Mature Harappan periods.
• It was primarily a centre for bead production, yielding numerous beads, seals, and ornaments.
• Notably, Chanhudaro lacked fortified structures and was unique among Harappan cities for its absence of a citadel.

Row 2 is correct

• Dholavira is an archaeological site on Khadir bet island in the Kachchh Desert Wildlife Sanctuary in the Great Rann of Kachchh.
• Dholavira is one of the two largest Harappan sites in India and 5th largest in the subcontinent.
• It features a significant discovery: a substantial wooden “signboard” near the north entrance of the citadel, bearing one of the longest known Indus inscriptions.
• The inscription consists of 10 symbols, each approximately 37 centimetres tall, on a board estimated to have been around 3 meters long.

Row 3 is correct

• Kalibangan, situated in Rajasthan along the banks of the River Ghaggar, was excavated initially by Amlanand Ghosh in 1953, and later by Dr. B.B. Lal and B.K. Thapar in 1961.
• Significant discoveries at Kalibangan include evidence of a ploughed field, fire altars indicating ritualistic practices, and remains of extensive brick walls surrounding both the citadel and lower town.
• The site, unlike Mohenjodaro, lacked meticulous planning and infrastructure, such as a drainage system.

Answer: (c) All three; Difficulty Level: Easy

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Recently, Borneo elephants have been classified as ‘Endangered’ on the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
• Borneo elephants are the smallest Asian elephant subspecies and the largest mammal on the island.
• They are genetically different from other Asian elephants due to the isolation of their cousins on mainland Asia and Sumatra around 300,000 years ago.
• Threat: widespread commercial oil palm plantations, infrastructure projects like roads, human settlements, and poaching for ivory and hide.

Statement 2 is correct

• India is home to 60% of the Asian elephant population.
• India states with highest elephant population: 1st Karnataka (25%) > 2nd Assam > 3rd Kerala > 4th Tamil Nadu > 5th Odisha > 6th Uttarakhand.
• Indian subspecies has the widest range among Asian elephants.
• India declared the elephant as a national heritage animal by acknowledging its ecological sensitivity.

Statement 3 is not correct

• West Bengal has the highest number (n = 26) of identified elephant corridors in India, accounting for over 17% of all the reported elephant corridors in the country.
• An elephant corridor is a land strip facilitating the movement of elephants between two or more viable habitat patches.
• Corridors leading the animals away from forest habitats into the human domain without connecting to viable habitat patches are not considered true elephant corridors.

Answer: (a) Only one; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

• AI washing is a marketing tactic where companies exaggerate the involvement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their products and services.
• Advertisements that overstate the capabilities of a company’s AI tools or mislead consumers about features that are not yet operational in their AI products also constitute AI washing.
• For example, a business may state that its product is “powered by AI” when, in fact, artificial intelligence plays little or no role.
• This term is derived from greenwashing, where companies exaggerate their environmental friendliness to appeal to customers.

Answer: (b) A marketing strategy where companies exaggerate the involvement of AI in their products and services; Difficulty Level: Easy

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a distinct group of 39 States and 18 Associate Members of United Nations regional commissions that face unique social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities.
• The three geographical regions in which SIDS are located are: the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS).

Statement 2 is correct

• SIDS were recognized as a special case both for their environment and development at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• The aggregate population of all the SIDS is 65 million, slightly less than 1% of the world’s population, yet this group faces unique social, economic, and environmental challenges.

Statement 3 is correct

• UN Programmes of Action in Support of SIDS:
  • In 1994, the Barbados Programme of ActionPDF (BPoA) prescribed specific actions that would enable SIDS to achieve sustainable development.
  • The SAMOA Pathway recognises the adverse impacts of climate change and sea-level rise on SIDS’ efforts to achieve economic development, food security, disaster risk reduction and ocean management, among other challenges.

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