March 31 2024 Current Affairs MCQs

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• Mumps has been spreading rapidly in Kerala over the past few months.
• Mumps is an acute viral infection caused by the mumps virus.
• It primarily affects the salivary glands, leading to painful swelling of the parotid glands (located on both sides of the face).

  

• It primarily affects children and adolescents.
• Mumps has low mortality.

Statement 2 is incorrect

• The mumps vaccine is not part of India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) despite being vaccine-preventable because:
  • No Mortality Profile: Mumps has low mortality, which influenced its exclusion.
  • Poor Documentation: Lack of comprehensive data on clinical cases, complications, and follow-up.
  • Published Studies: Insufficient published studies on mumps in India.

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

Explanation

• The Irular community tribals inhabit the Sigur plateau.
  • The plateau connects several protected areas, including the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
• They are a Dravidian ethnic group.
• They are spread across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
• Meaning of the word “Irular” means “dark people”.
• Their physical features and mannerisms are very close to the Onge tribal community. Onge is a Tribe from Andamans.
• Also, the DNA analysis of a skeleton from the Indus Valley civilization showed close affinities with the Irular community.
  

  With fishing temporarily stopped, migratory birds arrive in greater numbers to Maravakandy Dam in the Nilgiris.

Answer: (a) Tamil Nadu – Kerala – Karnataka; Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• The World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Global Risks Perception Survey, ranks misinformation and disinformation among the top 10 risks, with easy-to-use interfaces of large-scale AI models enabling a boom in false information and “synthetic” content – from sophisticated voice cloning to fake websites.
• AI can be used to inundate voters with highly personalised propaganda on a scale that could make the Cambridge Analytica scandal appear microscopic, as the persuasive ability of AI models would be far superior to the bots and automated social media accounts that are now baseline tools for spreading disinformation.
• The risks are compounded by social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter significantly cutting their fact-checking and election integrity teams.

Statement 2 is correct

• Microtargeting is the use of online data to tailor advertising messages to individuals, based on the identification of recipients’ personal vulnerabilities.
• Such tactics can be used for promoting a product or a political candidate.
• Direct marketing data mining techniques that are used often involve predictive market segmentation (aka cluster analysis).
• Microtargeting’s tactics rely on transmitting a tailored message to a subgroup on the basis of unique information about that subgroup.
• Microtargeting is increasingly used by political parties as well as political candidates who track individual voters and identify potential supporters in election campaigns.
• They use various means of communication such as direct mail, phone calls, home visits, television, radio, web advertising, email, and text messaging, among others, to communicate with voters, crafting messages to build support for fundraising, campaign events, volunteering, and eventually to turn them out to the polls on the election day.

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

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Recently, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Canada based biotechnology company (Conlis Global) for licensing of an innovative and indigenously developed technology that promotes bone healing and regeneration.
• Bone grafting involves a surgical technique where transplanted bone is utilized to repair and reconstruct bones affected by disease or injury.
• This procedure is applicable for repairing bones throughout the body.
• Surgeons may harvest bone from various sources such as the hips, legs, or ribs for grafting purposes.
• The primary objective of the invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the existing remedies.
  • Other alternatives have been associated with infection and immune related complications.
• This technology provides the delivery of bone active molecules, antibiotics or any other drug for combating bone pathologies, reconstruction of irregular bone defects and for dental applications as well.

Statement 2 is correct

• The Nano Hydroxyapatite-based Porous Composite Scaffolds are biodegradable and have osteoinductive and osteopromotive properties for bone regeneration.
• It is highly biocompatible ensuring good cell material interaction with osteoblast cells exhibiting a high mechanical strength and interaction between the polymer network and the solvent.
• Osteoblast cells are responsible for mineralisation of bone during bone formation and bone remodelling.
• Applications:
  • It is commonly used in orthopaedic and dental implants, bone graft substitutes, coatings for prosthetic devices, and tissue engineering scaffolds.
  • Functionalized scaffolds can be used as fillers in large-size bone defects, without compromising the connectivity and structural defects, oxygen, and blood circulation.
  • It enhances tissue formation, mineralization, and rapid defect healing.

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

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems in which waterlogged conditions prevent plant material from fully decomposing.
• Consequently, the production of organic matter exceeds its decomposition, which results in a net accumulation of peat.
• Peatlands occur in every climatic zone and continent and cover 4.23 million km2, which corresponds to 2.84% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface.

Statement 2 is correct

• About 84% of the world’s peatlands are considered to be in natural, or near-natural state.
• Drained peatlands make up about 16% of the world’s peatlands, or 0.5% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface.
• Due to the process of peat accumulation, peatlands are carbon rich ecosystems.
• Peatlands are the largest natural terrestrial carbon store.
• They store more carbon than all other vegetation types in the world combined.
• Damaged peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for almost 5% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

Statement 3 is correct

• Peatlands occur in almost every country on Earth, currently covering 3% of the global land surface.
• In 2017, the world’s largest tropical peatland was discovered beneath the forests of the Congo Basin in 2017.

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

Explanation

Statement 1 is incorrect

• It is a scheme introduced by the UK Government to facilitate developing countries to integrate into the global economy, create stronger trade and investment partnerships and strengthen supply chains.
• It is a simpler and more generous preferential trading scheme which has been designed to boost trade with developing countries in order to support their development.
• It reduces or removes rates of duty, or tariffs, on imports from eligible developing countries into the UK.

Statement 2 is correct

• The DCTS applies to 65 countries, that are:
  • least developed countries (LDCs) as defined by the United Nations
  • low-income countries (LIC) and lower middle-income countries (LMIC) as defined by the World Bank.
• DCTS will provide duty-free, quota-free trade to LDCs on everything but arms and duty-free, quota-free trade on 85% of eligible goods to most low LIC and LMIC countries.
• The DCTS does not extend to countries and territories deemed by the World Bank as ‘upper-middle income’ for three consecutive years, or to LICs and LMICs who have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK.

Answer: (b) 2 Only; Difficulty level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• Vocal for Local is an initiative of NITI Aayog under its Aspirational Blocks Programme to encourage a spirit of self-reliance among the people and propel them towards sustainable growth and prosperity.

Statement 2 is correct

• The Indian government has made it mandatory for sellers to display the ‘country of origin’ on products to be sold on the GeM portal.
• This move aimed to promote the ‘Make in India’ initiative and provide transparency to buyers regarding the origin of products they intend to purchase.

Statement 3 is incorrect

• GeM does not limit the entry of foreign bidders into the Indian market.
• Instead, it facilitates the participation of foreign bidders in government procurement, promoting competition and providing access to a larger pool of suppliers.
• However, foreign bidders need to comply with the relevant rules and regulations governing government procurement in India.

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

Explanation

• Scientists discovered a new species of cicada in Meghalaya, dubbed “Butterfly Cicadas”.
• Cicadas, belonging to the Cicadidae family, are sound-producing insects with two pairs of wings, compound eyes, and ocelli.
• They measure 2 to 5 cm and males produce loud noises via vibrating membranes.
• Females typically lay eggs in woody plants.

  

• Over 3,000 cicada species exist, predominantly in tropical regions like deserts, grasslands, and forests.

Answer: (c) Sound producing insects: Difficulty Level: Medium

Explanation

Statement 1 is correct

• The IOD Index is measured by differences in sea surface temperature anomaly between the western equatorial and south-eastern equatorial portions of the Indian Ocean.

  

• The Indian Ocean Dipole is a climate pattern affecting the Indian Ocean.
• During a positive phase, warm waters are pushed to the Western part of the Indian Ocean, while cold deep waters are brought up to the surface in the Eastern Indian Ocean.
• This pattern is reversed during the negative phase of the IOD.

Statement 2 is incorrect

• During this phase the Westerly winds weaken along the equator, allowing warm water to move to Africa.
• Changes in the winds also allow a rise of cool water from the deep ocean in the east.
• This creates a temperature difference across the tropical Indian Ocean with cooler than normal water in the east and warmer than normal water in the west.
• This event has been found to be beneficial for the monsoon.
• Studies have shown that a positive IOD year sees more than normal rainfall over central India.

  

• It was demonstrated that a positive IOD index often negated the effect of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), resulting in increased Monsoon rains in several ENSO years.

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