CIVIL SERVICES (MAINS)EXAMINATION (Paper III) 2024 Model Questions (Set 5) What is Matsya6000 ? TSPSC GROUP – 1 MAINS EXAM (Paper V), 2024 (Prepared on 12.9.2024 ) (Set 5)

 

CIVIL SERVICES (MAINS)EXAMINATION (Paper III) 2024 Model Questions

 

TSPSC GROUP – 1 MAINS EXAM (Paper V), 2024

 

(Prepared on 12.9.2024 )

(Set 5)

 

                                                                                           Prepared by :

 

 

GENERAL STUDIES / Model Questions based on (Current Affairs)  

 

TOPICS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY,ENVIRONMENT

 

 

Question : 1) What is  Matsya6000 ?

 

Ans :

1)The Matsya6000 is India’s flagship deep-ocean human submersible that aims to reach the ocean bed at a depth of 6,000 m. Accompanied by three crew members, the submersible carries a suite of scientific tools and equipment designed to facilitate observations, sample collection, basic video and audio recording, and experimentation.

2)The primary mission of Matsya6000 is exploration. The U.S.A., Russia, China, France, and Japan have already achieved successful deep-ocean crewed missions. India is poised to join the ranks of these nations. Our focus remains on developing these technologies indigenously, aligned with the vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

4)Matsya6000 combines the best and most feasible features of remote operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous remote vehicles (AUVs).

5)Although its sub-sea endurance is limited, it offers an excellent intervention mechanism and operates untethered. So it is ideal for deep-sea observation missions.

6)Matsya6000 is designed to accommodate three humans travelling within a specialised sphere of diameter 2.1 m. The sphere will weigh approximately 28 tonnes and have a short-sleeved environment with life support, where oxygen is supplied and carbon dioxide is removed.

7)Constructed from a titanium alloy, the sphere is engineered to withstand pressures of up to 6,000 bar. It is equipped with propellers enabling movement in all six directions and features three viewports that allow the crew to observe its surroundings.

8)There will be about 12 cameras and 16 lights powered by lithium polymer batteries with an energy budget of 1 kWh. Communication will be through an acoustic phone and modem. The navigation and positioning systems are state-of-the-art, too.The dimensions of Matsya are 9 m (l), 3 m (b), and 5 m (h). It will not be actively lowered through sinking; instead, it will function as a free-floating system, for energy efficiency. It can move at a speed of about 5.5 km/hr using underwater thrusters, which is adequate.

9)With Matsya, India will be the only country to have an entire ecosystem of underwater vehicles encompassing deep-water ROVs, polar ROVs, AUVs, deep-water coring systems, and more.

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2)”Most of the about 550 active volcanoes on Earth are located along the margins of adjacent tectonic plates.” Write a note on volcanoes ?

 

Ans:

 

Indonesia has the highest number of active volcanoes, as it is located on a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity known as the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire.’

 

 On any given day, there  are about ten actively erupting volcanoes.

 

 Most of the eruptions are characterized by nonviolent extrusion of lava flows. Other eruptions are explosive with violent ejection of volcanic debris called tephra.

 

Ash and fine particles spewed high into the atmosphere scatter light and result inspectacular colour at sunset.

 

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3) How   Earthquake waves propagate  ?

 

Ans :

1)Seismic waves propagate within the Earth or along its surface when an Earthquake happens 

 

2)Those waves that pass through the body of the earth are called Body waves; those restricted to near the Earth’s surface are called Surface Waves.

 

3)Body waves are of two types : Primary (P) waves and Secondary (S) waves

 

4)Surface waves are either Love waves or Raleigh waves. These do not travel through liquids.

 

5)The P waves are the fastest and also the first ones we feel, followed by S waves, Love waves and Raleigh waves.

 

6)The P waves cause the back and forth motion and also from side to side

 

7) S waves shake the rocks up and down and also from side to side.

 

8)Raleigh waves give an elliptical motion to rock particles while Love waves displace particles perpendicularly to the direction of propagation . Love waves have no vertical component.

The third earthquake belt  submerged in mid-Atlantic Ridge. Where are the other two ?

 

”Although Earthquakes can happen anywhere, most strike a within 40,000 KM long , horseshape shaped zone called circum-Pacific seismic belt or Ring of Fire. “

 

The Alpide belt extending the southern margin of Eurasia account for 17% of Earthquakes worldwide 

 

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Question : 4) Tenth-century Chola inscriptions at Uthiramerur in Tamil Nadu reveal the practice of choosing village representatives through a ‘Kudavolai’ system. The final choice was made by randomly picking one among the candidates the people had voted for. What RVS ?

 

Ans:

The Borda electoral process, proposed by French mathematician Jean-Charles de Borda in 1784 — but first described by the 15th-century German astronomer Nicolas of Cusa — is a Rank-based Voting System (RVS) similar to the points table in sporting tournaments like the Indian Premier League.

 RVS allows voters to rank each candidate on the ballot paper, and through a process of vote redistribution, the winner is guaranteed to have at least 50% of the vote.

Redistribution of votes can take several forms; the most common is to add the second and even third preference votes until one of the candidates crosses 50% vote share.

The President of India is elected with the RVS system. In 1969, none of the 15 presidential candidates secured 50% of the first-preference votes. After adding second preference votes, V.V. Giri (who had 48% first preference votes) reached 50.8% and was declared the winner, defeating Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy.

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Question: 5) What is  VVPAT-based audit of EVMs ?

 

Ans :

1)The VVPAT-based audit of EVMs is a typical case of “lot acceptance sampling”, a statistical quality control technique widely used in industry and trade.

2)If the number of defectives found in a randomly drawn, statistical sample is less than or equal to a specified ‘acceptance number’, the entire lot (or ‘population’) is accepted; otherwise, the entire lot is rejected.

3)”We define a ‘defective EVM’ as one which has a mismatch between the EVM count and the VVPAT count due to EVM malfunction or manipulation. “

4)”It is  specified as  the acceptance number as ‘zero defective EVM’.”

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Question : 5)What is  Voice Cloning ?

 

Ans :

 

1)A few years ago, voice cloning through Artificial Intelligence (AI) was just a phenomenon of mild amusement. AI-generated songs by famous artistes like Drake and Ariana Grande were floating around online. However, fears around the AI software were realised when AI voice cloning-related scams burgeoned. In April last year, a family living in Arizona, U.S., was threatened to pay ransom for a fake kidnapping pulled off by an AI cloned voice. And scams weren’t the end of it. Easy access to AI voice clones also spawned disinformation.

 

2)Once a scammer finds an audio clip of an individual, all it takes is to upload their voice clip to the online program that is able to replicate the voice accurately barring some intonations. There’s a host of these applications online with popular ones like Murf, Resemble and Speechify. While most of these providers have a monthly subscription fee from under $15 for basic plans to $100 for premium options, they have a free trial period.

3)An especially lauded one has been a year-old AI startup called ElevenLabs that was founded by former Google and Palantir employees. The Andreesen Horowitz-backed firm has been releasing a steady stream of tools. In October last year, it released a product called AI Dubbing which can translate even long-form speech into 20 different languages.

4)In mid-December, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party used an AI-generated speech from the earlier imprisoned leader in an attempt to rally for votes virtually. Mr. Khan had reportedly sent his party a shorthand script from jail which was later edited and then dubbed by ElevenLabs.

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Question : 6)What is  Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) ?

 

Ans :

 

1)A concerning development for India is the European Union (EU)’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The policy, which intends to tax carbon-intensive products coming into the EU from 2026, is divided into two phases, with the first phase (transitional phase) kicking in from October 1, 2023. There has been constant exchange between the EU and India on the implications of the CBAM. The Commerce and Industry Minister said recently that the proposed carbon tax on imports is an “ill-conceived” move that would become the “death knell” for India’s manufacturing sector

 

2)India has just started working on its own carbon trading mechanism. In December 2022, it amended the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, to introduce the Carbon Credit Trading System (CCTS). This is proposed to combat climate change by incentivising actions for emission reductions leading to increased investments in clean energy by the private sector. The Ministry of Power is still working on the specifics to operationalise the CCTS, including carbon valuation.

3)In India, the obligatory CCTS model is also coupled with the voluntary market-based mechanism called the Green Credit Programme Rules, notified by the Ministry of Environment in 2023. The scheme is aimed to encourage more environmentally proactive actions going beyond the carbon reduction mandate.

4)India is reportedly among the top eight countries that will be adversely affected by the CBAM. As per the Global Trade Research Initiative report, in 2022, 27% of India’s exports of iron, steel, and aluminum products worth $8.2 billion went to the EU. It is estimated that a few of its core sectors such as steel will be greatly affected by the CBAM.

 

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Question: 7)What is  GI Tag ?

 

A GI tag is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.

 

On  4.1.2023 , 17 products from across six States/Union Territories got the Geographical Indications (GI) tag. The products ranged from handicrafts such as the Dongaria Kondh shawl from Odisha, to agricultural products such as the Sundarban Honey from West Bengal.

 

Every State in India has at least one GI tag. While GI tags are a proxy for unique cultural items, they are by no means exhaustive. If a State has more GI tags compared to another, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is more culturally rich; it just means that more items have been registered, with more to probably follow. Tamil Nadu (61) has the highest number of GI tags compared to other States. Uttar Pradesh has the second highest number of GI tags. (56).

 

These include leather footwear from Agra, saddles from Kanpur, and the traditional embroidery art form of Chikankari from Lucknow. Karnataka with 48 GI tags is ranked third, Kerala with 39 is ranked fourth, and Maharashtra with 35 is fifth. 

 

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Question: 8) Landslides are a unique and deadly problem in India. Unlike floods, they’re less widespread and harder to track and study with satellites.” Write a note on Landlsides ?

 

Ans :  

Landslides happen in very localised areas and affect only about 1-2% of the country. As a result, there is much less data of sufficient quality for typical machine-learning models to work with.

 

In late 2023, torrential rain during the northeast monsoon triggered heavy floods and landslides in multiple States in North India, killing hundreds of people.

4)Given the number of fatalities due to landslides in India, a national landslide susceptibility map can help identify the most dangerous areas and help allocate resources for mitigation strategies better.

 

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Question: 9) What is  Aditya L-1 ?

 

Ans :

1)India’s first solar observatory Aditya-L1 reached its destination. It is a testament to the relentless dedication of our scientists in realising among the most complex and intricate space missions..”

 

2)The ISRO said the halo orbit insertion of Aditya-L1 was accomplished  and the final phase of the manoeuvre involved firing of control engines for a short duration.

 

3)“The orbit of Aditya-L1 spacecraft is a periodic halo orbit which is located roughly 1.5 million km from earth on the continuously moving sun-earth line with an orbital period of about 177.86 earth days.

 

4)This halo orbit is a periodic, three-dimensional orbit at L1 involving sun, earth and a spacecraft. This specific halo orbit is selected to ensure a mission lifetime of 5 years, minimising station-keeping manoeuvres and thus fuel consumption and ensuring a continuous, unobstructed view of the sun,” the ISRO said after the orbit Insertion was accomplished.

 

 

5)“A successful insertion further involved constant monitoring along with the adjustment of the spacecraft’s speed and position by using onboard thrusters. The success of this insertion not only signifies ISRO’s capabilities in such complex orbital manoeuvres, but it gives confidence to handle future interplanetary missions,” the ISRO added. Subsequently, ISTRAC carried out four earth-bound manoeuvres between September 3 and 15,2023

 

6)Aditya-L1 on September 19,2023 underwent the Trans-Lagrangian 1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 point.

 

7)Aditya-L1 carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and the outermost layer of the sun (corona) using electromagnetic and particle detectors. It has a mission life of five years.

 

8)After a 1.5-million-km journey, the spacecraft was placed in the orbit following a firing manoeuvre carried out by scientists and engineers at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru.

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Question: 10) Why FIU IND is in news ?

 

Ans :

 

1)On December 28,2023 the Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU IND) issued show-cause notices to nine offshore virtual digital asset service providers (VDA SPs), including Binance, Kucoin, Huobi, Bitfinex and MEXC Global, among others.

 

2)This was for “operating illegally” without complying with the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).

 

3)It has also been written to the Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block URLs of the mentioned entities.

 

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11) What are  mRNA vaccines ?

Ans :

1)mRNA, which stands for messenger RNA, is a form of nucleic acid which carries genetic information.

Like other vaccines, the mRNA vaccine also attempts to activate the immune system to produce antibodies that help counter an infection from a live virus. However, while most vaccines use weakened or dead bacteria or viruses to evoke a response from the immune system, mRNA vaccines only introduce a piece of the genetic material that corresponds to a viral protein. This is usually a protein found on the membrane of the virus called spike protein. Therefore, the mRNA vaccine does not expose individuals to the virus itself.

2) RNA as a therapeutic was first promoted in 1989 after the development of a broadly applicable in vitro transfection technique. A couple of years later, mRNA was advocated as a vaccine platform.

3) “mRNA offers strong safety advantages. As the minimal genetic construct, it harbours only the elements directly required for expression of the encoded protein.”

4)A common approach by vaccine makers during the pandemic was to introduce a portion of the spike protein, the key part of the coronavirus, as part of a vaccine.

5)Some makers wrapped the gene that codes for the spike protein into an inactivated virus that affects chimpanzees, called the chimpanzee adenovirus. The aim is to have the body use its own machinery to make spike proteins from the given genetic code. The immune system, when it registers the spike protein, will create antibodies against it.

6)A major advantage of mRNA vaccines is that because they only need the genetic code, it is possible to quickly update vaccines to emerging variants

 

The mRNA vaccines demonstrate the flexibility of mRNA-based therapies. As the virus that causes COVID-19 mutates, new viral variants can evade existing antibodies and cause new waves of illness

The COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are the first mRNA-based medicines to gain FDA approval. When these vaccines are injected into your arm, the mRNA is absorbed into some of your cells, which read the mRNA recipe and make the spike protein the virus uses to invade cells. Your immune system recognises this spike protein as foreign and makes antibodies that prepare your body to attack the virus if you encounter it later.

However, scientists are able to sequence new mRNA recipes based on these variants and tweak the vaccine recipes to match them. Boosters containing these edited recipes teach your body to make new antibodies that target the latest versions of the viral spike protein.

There are already clinical trials underway for other mRNA-based vaccines, including vaccines for seasonal flu, herpes and respiratory syncytial virus.

There are also many more vaccines in earlier stages of development to combat diseases like norovirus, Lyme disease, Zika and shingles.

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Question : 12)  28th Conference of Parties (COP-28) organised in Dubai . Give details .

Ans:

 

1)The 28th Conference of Parties (COP-28) in Dubai has been described by some as being a mixed bag.

2)Even though it could not come up with a profound statement of ending fossil fuels, at least a discussion was triggered.

3)A few ambitious delegates described it as the “beginning of the end of an era of fossil fuels”.

4)This was an important COP owing to the Global Stock Taking (GST) over the Paris climate deals of keeping global temperatures below 1.5 degree Celsius and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

 

5)Likewise, the Loss and Damage Fund was also cleared. The focus was therefore, on both mitigation and adaptation strategies

 

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Question: 13)Why Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz are in news ?

Ans :

1)At the end of October,2023 after the audacious terror attack by Hamas against Israel, which has upended a renewed sense of regional stability, the Yemen-based and Iran-aligned Houthi militia announced that it would join the war to support the people of Gaza.

2)This brought the critical waterways of the Red Sea, which connects the Suez Canal, into the middle of the conflict. The Suez by itself carries nearly 15% of all global trade between the West and the East.

3)In mid-November,2023 the Houthis released a video of armed men in a helicopter raiding a cargo vessel that reportedly had Israeli links, which was travelling through the Red Sea towards India.

4) While the Strait of Hormuz on the other side of the region, bordering Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, and Qatar, is seen as a major geopolitical chokepoint, the Red Sea is increasingly being seen as an alternative.

5)Saudi Arabia’s new futuristic city of Neom, a pet project of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman which represents the rapidly changing face of the kingdom, is based off the coast of the Red Sea from where vast amounts of oil are also shipped.

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Question: 14)  capture and storage (CCS) and carbon-dioxide removal (CDR) technologies.

[CCS  and CDR] refer to what ?Why  CCS and CDR  are  in news ?

Ans :

CCS refers to technologies that can capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) at a source of emissions before it is released into the atmosphere. These sources include the fossil fuel industry (where coal, oil and gas are combusted to generate power) and industrial processes like steel and cement production.

 

CDR takes the forms of both natural means like afforestation or reforestation and technologies like direct air capture, where machines mimic trees by absorbing CO₂ from their surroundings and storing it underground

 

At the COP28 climate talks underway in Dubai, draft decisions thus far have referred to the abatement and removal of carbon emissions using carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon-dioxide removal (CDR) technologies.

 

Considering the meaning of the word ‘abatement’ has become an important bone of contention, understanding the meaning and limitations of CCS is important – as also those of CDR

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Question : 15) What are  DAOs ?

Ans :

1)Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) represent a groundbreaking innovation at the intersection of blockchain technology and governance.

 

2)These digital entities operate without centralised control and are governed by smart contracts and the consensus of their members, often utilising cryptocurrencies as a means of decision-making and resource allocation.

 

3) DAOs have garnered attention for their potential to change various industries, including finance, art, and governance, by fostering transparent, democratic, and self-executing systems. These entities are not only reshaping traditional business structures but also challenging the way we perceive trust, governance, and collaboration in the digital world.

 

4)DAOs are already making their mark across diverse industries.

5)In the realm of decentralised finance, platforms like Compound and MakerDAO have introduced lending and borrowing services, enabling users to participate in the global financial ecosystem without relying on traditional banks. In the art world, artists are tokenising their creations and utilising DAOs to manage royalties and maintain control over their intellectual property.

6)Supply chain management is another arena where DAOs are gaining traction, as they offer transparency and traceability in global supply chains, ensuring the authenticity and quality of products.

7)Even in the governance of online communities, DAOs have emerged as tools for decision-making, with platforms like DAO stack facilitating decentralised governance structures for internet communities. These examples showcase the versatility of DAOs, demonstrating their potential to reshape industries across various sectors

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Question 16)  lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery and the batteries are also used in Electric Vehicles (EVs)? Give details about Lion – Ion Batteries ?

Ans :

 1)The Li-ion battery won the developers of its foundational principles the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2019 — a testament to the revolutionary impact it has had in the 20th and 21st centuries. This battery is a voltaic as well as an electrolytic cell. A voltaic cell converts chemical energy to electrical energy. An electrolytic cell converts electrical energy to chemical energy. A battery that can do both is thus rechargeable.

2)In a Li-ion polymer cell, used in smartphones, a lithium metal oxide is the cathode and graphite is the anode. The electrolyte is a semisolid polymer gel. Microporous polyethylene is used to separate the two half-cells.

3)The basics are as follows: in the voltaic phase, lithium oxidises to Li⁺ in the anode and releases an electron. The electron moves via the external circuit to the cathode whereas the Li⁺ moves via the electrolyte to the cathode. There, the ion slips between the layers of carbon sheets that graphite is made of in a process called intercalation. In the electrolytic phase, an over-voltage is applied to the cell so that it charges and the Li⁺ moves from the graphite to intercalate in the metal oxide, getting ready for the next discharge.

4)Li-ion batteries are an important research focus worldwide, with a large variety of batteries with different configurations and different pros and cons. These batteries can also be used to power EVs. For example, the P85 battery used in Tesla’s Model S cars consists of 18,650 Li-ion cells, weighing half a tonne in all with an energy output of 80-90 kWh. Other sources of electric power in motor vehicles include fuel cells, of which — like Li-ion batteries — there is a large body of research and variety.

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Question 17 :  What is Hydrogen fuel cell ?

Ans :

Hydrogen fuel cells are also of great interest today. At the anode, a catalyst separates hydrogen into protons and electrons. The electrons flow through an external circuit and the protons through the electrolyte – both to the cathode. At the cathode, the particles react with oxygen from the air to create heat and water. A cell like this will work as long as hydrogen is supplied, and is expected to be a key component of the hydrogen economy.

In January 2023, the Indian government approved the ₹19,744 crore National Green Hydrogen Mission to make India a “global hub” to utilise and export green hydrogen.

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Question : 18)  Where  Biosphere Reserves are there ?

 

Ans:  Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in India, Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve in India :

 

1)World Biosphere Reserve Day is celebrated on November 3 each year to raise awareness of the importance of biosphere reserves and to promote their conservation and sustainable use.

2) In the heart of each biosphere reserve lies the strictly protected core zone, providing habitat for flora and fauna, and protecting water, soil, air, and biota as a whole ecosystem.

3) There is a buffer zone surrounding the core zone, where people live and work in harmony with nature; a zone that also functions as a laboratory for scientists to study nature, and for training and education.

4)The outermost edge is the transition zone where communities practise socio-culturally and ecologically sustainable human activities.

5)Designated by UNESCO to promote the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable development, and research, biosphere reserves are also supported by other United Nations agencies, for example the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, as well as the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

6)According to UNESCO, there are currently 748 biosphere reserves across 134 countries, including 22 transboundary sites, enhancing the friendly cooperation between neighbouring countries. They impact the lives of more than 250 million people in 134 countries; 12 sites can be found in India alone.

7)Biosphere reserves are vital for the future of our planet. They are a living testament to the resilience of nature, that even amidst human activity, finds a way to flourish. They are home to a wide variety of ecosystems — from tropical rainforests to alpine deserts, and thereby provide home to countless unique and endangered plants and animals species. In addition to playing a vital role in the protection of biodiversity and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources, they also provide opportunities for sustainable economic development. In recent years, biosphere reserves have become crucial in our fight against climate change, as these areas are home to many of the world’s carbon sinks helping to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon sinks, like forests and the ocean, provide solutions in implementing adaptation strategies to fight climate change.

 

8)There have been significant advancements in the conservation of biosphere reserves on the local level.

 

9)For example, in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in India, local communities are working together to manage mangrove forests and protect the biodiversity of the region.

 

10) In the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve in India, local communities, including women, are contributing towards conservation efforts by forming self-help groups, while the youth are getting engaged in eco-tourism.

 

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Question: 19) Give details about  Deep Ocean Mission (DOM) and Samudrayaan, (Matsya6000) ?

 

Ans :

 

The Deep Ocean Mission (DOM) is India’s ambitious quest to explore and harness the depths of the ocean. With DOM, India will, for the first time, embark on a journey to a depth of 6,000 metres in the ocean using an indigenously developed submersible with a three-member crew

 

The Mission – a priority area for India – is an ambitious programme to explore and harness the depths of the ocean. Approved by the Union Cabinet in 2021, it has six pillars, including the development of technologies for deep-sea mining and a crewed submersible to reach a depth of 6,000 metres

 

.

 

In ‘Samudrayaan’, India is embarking on a groundbreaking crewed expedition to reach the ocean bed at a depth of 6,000 m in the central Indian Ocean. This historic journey will be accomplished by Matsya6000, a deep-ocean submersible designed to accommodate a crew of three members. Equipped with a suite of scientific sensors and tools, Matsya6000 boasts an operational endurance of 12 hours, which is extendable to 96 hours in the event of an emergency.

 

The deepest point in the oceans, the Mariana Trench, is 11,000 m deep.

 

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Question: 20) What are the significant finding in the  earthquakes in Turkey ?

Ans :

1)Scientists seek to understand how earthquakes occur and grow to devastating sizes.

2)The earth’s crust consists of tectonic plates. Fault lines form where these plates interact, as they collide, pull apart or slide past each other. When these plates abruptly grind and slip past each other, they release pent-up pressure, leading to earthquakes.

3)The earthquakes in Turkey occurred along the East and North Anatolian Fault Lines, which run 700 km and 1,500 km long, respectively. And these geological behemoths, the new study found, were in constant dialogue.

4)“Imagine a conversation among faults, where they communicate through stress interactions,” said .

5)But during the quakes, the conversation was disrupted by something like shouting. A seismic “cascade” broke through fault bends and step-overs, which are otherwise barriers to the propagation of an earthquake.

6)Fault bends and step-overs are like curves and gaps in a road. For earthquakes, they are places where fault lines change direction or have a little gap. They affect how and where earthquakes happen. “These known fault lines played a significant role, but the sheer magnitude of the quakes far exceeded expectations,”

 

7)The first earthquake (M7.8) struck near Gaziantep on a strike-slip fault, a type of tectonic plate boundary where two plates slide horizontally past each other. The next quake (M7.7) hit near Ekinözü, roughly 200 km north. They were Turkiye’s strongest in more than 2,000 years and caused substantial damage along the East Anatolian Fault, which runs through eastern Turkiye, extending from near Turkiye’s border with Syria to the northeastern region.

8)The Narlı Fault and Çardak–Sürgü Fault Zone are also primarily located in eastern Turkiye. They extend from the southern part of Turkiye to the northeastern part, roughly parallel to the border with Armenia. They both experienced separate earthquakes. The ground near the coast some 200 km to the southwest began to move like a liquid. The Cyprian geological survey department recorded a minor tsunami near the island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

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Question: 22) Why earthquakes occur ?

Ans :

1)The earth’s crust consists of tectonic plates. Fault lines form where these plates interact, as they collide, pull apart or slide past each other. When these plates abruptly grind and slip past each other, they release pent-up pressure, leading to earthquakes

2)The Narlı Fault and Çardak–Sürgü Fault Zone extend from the southern part of Turkey to the northeastern part, roughly parallel to the border with Armenia. They both experienced separate earthquakes. The ground near the coast some 200 km to the southwest began to move like a liquid

3)Researchers used two methods: kinematic slip inversion and fault-property modelling. Kinematic slip inversion is like rewinding an earthquake video to understand how fault surfaces moved. In fault-property modelling, researchers estimate the characteristics of the fault, like friction and material properties, to predict how an earthquake is likely to spread along it

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23) What  is the speciality of   Hanle Dark Sky Reserve (HDSR) in Ladakh ?

Ans :

1)At 4,300 metres above sea level, it is  felt that it could have been the Everest Base Camp.

2)In reality, it is Hanle, in the Union Territory of Ladakh. The air is so thin at such altitudes that the oxygen level is less than 60% of what one is normally used to at sea level. Before getting here, we had to acclimatise ourselves for 48 hours in Leh, at an altitude of 3,500 m, before climbing up to Hanle.

3)It is definitely not for everyone. But it was certainly for us: we were a group of amateur astronomers invited by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) to attend the HDSR Star Party, 2023, organised and conducted by the institute.

4)The Hanle Dark Sky Reserve (HDSR) is India’s first dark sky region, and is centred on Hanle in eastern Ladakh, around the Indian Astronomical Observatory.

5)The HDSR preserves the dark skies by reducing light pollution in the surrounding areas, and uses these dark skies to promote astro-tourism as a means to further enhance socio-economic development in the area.

6)A dark sky is the night sky as nature meant for it to be: without any light pollution. Light from the human-made objects that we use — especially outdoor lighting sources — blocks our view of the stars and most celestial objects in the night sky.

7)Ironically, a dark sky lets you see better. From within a light-polluted city, we can typically see only a handful of stars. But from a dark site, we can see thousands in the same location of the sky.

8)Apart from stars, the Milky Way’s galactic centre and its arms are clearly visible to the naked eye. We can also see several star clusters, nebulae and galaxies such as the Andromeda and the Triangulum.

9)Zodiacal light, a faint glow of diffuse sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust in the solar system; airglow, an optical phenomenon caused by faint emission of light in the earth’s atmosphere; and gegenschein, a bright spot in the night sky centred on the antisolar point, caused by backscatter of sunlight by interplanetary dust; are also visible.

10)Venus can be so bright in the night sky that its light can cast shadows on the ground, just as moonlight does.

11)Though some of us astrophotographers were aware of the theories of these optical phenomena and the fact that we could see so many stars and celestial objects under the darkest of skies, it was still an overwhelming feeling to actually observe and experience them under the Bortle Class 1 skies of Hanle.

12)The Bortle Scale helps amateur astronomers measure the night sky’s brightness at a given location. The scale ranges from Class 1, the darkest skies available over the earth, through to Class 9, which denotes the pale, light-marred skies over the insides of cities.

13)A sense of thrill as well as caution filled the thin air under the dark skies of Hanle. Observing outdoors in these harsh conditions — with or without equipment — meant one had to be both strong-willed and careful. But it was worth every second as caution soon led to exhilaration and then wonder.

14)For all amateur astronomers, the three nights and days of the HDSR Star Party made for a great opportunity to observe pristine night skies. We could also connect with fellow amateur astronomers who had come from various parts of the country: they were experienced amateurs as well as young ones with starlit eyes.

15)We also got to rub shoulders with professional astronomers, exchanging ideas and information on all things astronomy, including the particulars of visual observation and the techniques of astrophotography, as well as share large telescopes and imaging equipment during the event. In all, it was an unforgettable experience.

16)Being the first dark sky reserve in the country, the HDSR is certainly a source of pride for India and will be a blueprint for other dark sites in other regions. And just as at Hanle, upcoming dark sky reserves can promote astro-tourism, which will help both amateur astronomers like us as well as local communities.

 

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Question : 24) What is  Cloud Seeding   ?

Ans :

 

1)A cloud seeding experiment carried out in Solapur city, which falls on the leeward side of the Western Ghats and hence gets low rainfall — 384 mm and 422 mm of total rainfall during the period June to September 2018 and 2019, respectively — was able to achieve 18% relative enhancement in rainfall, which is approximately 8.67mm more rainfall. The relative enhancement of accumulated rainfall was seen over two hours after seeding the clouds. In all, the total enhancement of water availability through cloud seeding experiments was 867 million litres.

 

2)Convective clouds with a depth of over one kilometre and likely to evolve into deep cumulus clouds were targeted.

 

3)Calcium chloride flare was used for seeding the clouds. A cloud seeding flare releases these particles when triggered.The seeding was done at the base of the warm convective clouds and at a time when the clouds were in their growing stage so that the seed particles could enter the clouds with minimum dispersion.

4)“The convective cloud bases are found at 500-1,500 metres altitude during the summer monsoon period and around 2,000 metres or more altitude during the monsoon break periods, which depends on the moisture content in the lower atmosphere.”

5) “Since the clouds are found at lower heights, the base of the convective clouds is warm, around 15 degrees C.”

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Question : 25) What is the use of collecting  DNA samples ?

 

Ans :

1)In April 2022, the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act (CrPI) was passed by Parliament.

 

2)The Act enables police and central investigating agencies to collect, store and analyse physical and biological samples including retina and iris scans of arrested persons.

 

3)The rules that would govern the Act were notified in September 2022. However, the Act is yet to be implemented fully as the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the nodal agency, is still preparing the guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to implement the legislation. The NCRB operates under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

 

4) Though the Act and rules do not distinctly mention collection of DNA samples and face-matching procedures, in subsequent meetings with State police officials, the NCRB has said that these measures will be rolled out in around 1,300 locations across the country.

 

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Question: 26) What is the ‘Carrying Capacity in the IHR’ ?

Ans :

 

1)The environmental devastation caused in the Himalayan States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim has reinvigorated the debate on the “carrying capacity’ of the regions.

 

2)The Supreme Court of India, in response to a petition filed by a retired Indian Police Service officer, has asked the Union government to suggest a way forward regarding the carrying capacity of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), which includes its towns and cities.

 

3)In technical terms, carrying capacity of a region is based on the maximum population size that an ecosystem or environment can sustainably support over a specific period without causing significant degradation or harm to its natural resources and overall health. It is crucial in understanding and managing the balance between human activities and the preservation of natural ecosystems to ensure long-term sustainability.

4)There have been initiatives by the Union government regarding overall development in the IHR. Some of them are the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (2010), the Indian Himalayas Climate Adaptation Programme, Secure Himalaya Project, and the recent guidelines on ‘Carrying Capacity in the IHR’ circulated on January 30, 2020.

5)There was a reminder by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on May 19, 2023, asking all the States that if such a study had not been undertaken, then States should submit an action plan (carrying capacity) at the earliest.

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Question: 27) As tension between Moscow and Washington mounts, Russia in October 2023 passed the second and third readings of a Bill to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).   What is  CTBT ?

Ans :

 

The CTBT seeks to ban all nuclear explosions, for both military and peaceful purposes. So far, 187 countries have signed the treaty and 178 have ratified it. The treaty, however, has not legally come into force; it can only do so when it has been signed and ratified by the 44 countries which are part of the treaty's Annex 2 and had formally participated in the 1996 session of the Conference on Disarmament. These countries possessed nuclear power or research reactors at the time.

 

 North Korea, India and Pakistan have not signed the CTBT.

 Five of the 44 countries — China, Egypt, Iran, Israel, and the U.S. — have signed but are yet to ratify the treaty; nine countries have nuclear weapons, while the remaining 35 possess nuclear power and research reactors.

The CTBT also establishes a comprehensive verification regime to monitor and detect nuclear test explosions. This regime consists of three main components: the International Monitoring System (IMS) which has more than 300 global facilities and can detect seismic (shockwaves through the ground), hydroacoustic (sound waves in oceans), infrasound (ultra-low-frequency sound waves inaudible to the human ear), and radionuclide (radioactive particles and gases from a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere) signals; the International Data Centre which receives data from the IMS network and shares it with member states; and On-Site Inspections which will be possible once the treaty is enforced.

Although the CTBT is stuck in an ongoing ratification impasse, it has had positive implications for global nuclear non-proliferation. Ever since the treaty was opened for signatures in 1996, ten nuclear tests have been conducted — two each by India and Pakistan, and six by North Korea. This is drastically less than the more than 2,000 nuclear tests conducted globally between 1945 and 1996.

Russian President  had on October 5,2023  urged the Duma, the Lower House of the country’s Parliament, to make the change to “mirror” the position of the U.S.

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Question : 28) When first nuclear test was conducted ?

Ans :

1)The U.S. conducted the first nuclear test on July 16, 1945, at Alamogordo in New Mexico. Barely a month later, it dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The devastation caused by the bombings drew attention to the nuclear armament race.

2)The Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 (also called the Partial Test Ban Treaty) was the first international step in that direction and prohibited nuclear testing in the atmosphere, underwater, and in outer space. The treaty was signed by the U.S., the erstwhile Soviet Union, and the U.K. It, however, did not extend to underground testing.

2)Subsequently, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 followed as concerns about nuclear stockpiling continued, fuelled by the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

3)As the Cold War ended, the impetus for the CTBT was bolstered by the global anti-nuclear movement and the newfound international climate of cooperation. Negotiations began in 1994 and concluded in 1996 with the adoption of the treaty text by the United Nations General Assembly.

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Question: 29)India has almost 6,000 large dams and about 80% of them are more than 25 years old and carry safety risks.  A new Dam Safety Act (DSA) was passed in late 2021. Where is South Lhonak Lake  ?

Ans :

 On October 4,2023  a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in North Sikkim’s South Lhonak Lake washed away one of the biggest hydropower projects in India, the Teesta III dam at Chungthang.

 

 

Reports have since revealed there were no early warning systems, no risk assessment or preventive measures in place as required under the Act.

 

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Question: 30) Give details  about Dam Safety Act ?

Ans :

 

1)The Dam Safety Act was tabled in the Rajya Sabha in December 2021, as a response to deficient surveillance and maintenance causing dam failure-related disasters.

 

2)The Act listed key responsibilities and mandated that national and State-level bodies be established for implementation. It said a National Committee on Dam Safety would oversee dam safety policies and regulations; a National Dam Safety Authority would be charged with implementation and resolving State-level disputes; the Chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC) would head dam safety protocols at the national level; a State Committee on Dam Safety (SCDS) and State Dam Safety Organisation (SDSO) would be set up.

 

3)Sikkim formed an SCDS  with nine members and experts in hydrology and dam design.

 

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31)Consider the following about Dam Safety. What is the Sikkim  GLOF reveals ?

Ans :

 

1)Dam safety is a function of many parts: designing and constructing dams that adhere to safety margins, maintaining and operating them per guidelines, recording data in real-time in an accessible format, forecasting hazardous events and instituting emergency plans, to name a few.

 

2)The Sikkim GLOF reveals poor compliance at all levels, from the dam’s design to the spillway capacity (which controls the release of water from a reservoir). Hazard profiling and regular assessment are also mandated by the Act.

 

3)Hazard risk fluctuates at the slightest touch, responding to climate change, urbanisation, and the way people/companies use water or where they are located. Periodic reviews are expected to bring forth fresh inundation maps and new rule curves (which determine the capacity of dam reservoirs), all of which contribute towards the safety of the downstream areas.

 

4)Spillway capacity and other metrics should be reviewed every five years or so, but an expert says periodic reviews are often not conducted or if they are, their findings are not not easily available in the public domain.

5)The Act requires dam builders to conduct comprehensive dam safety evaluations, but “there is no standardisation of how the failure is analysed and reported”. The Himachal Pradesh government recently served notices to 21 hydroelectric projects, finding them guilty of non-compliance with the DSA during the July-August floods.

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Question: 32) What are the details about  GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood) in Sikkim ?  

Ans :

 

1)During the early hours of October 4,2023 a sudden surge in the Teesta river washed away habitations in Sikkim, the Chungthang Dam, several bridges and parts of National Highway 10, leaving scores of people dead and missing and thousands homeless. As experts debate the reasons for the collapse, including the failure of automated weather stations, at two high-risk glacial lakes South Lhonak and Shako Cho, the focus is also on the status of other dams and hydel power projects in the State.

 

2)Experts point out that the floods in the Teesta river in Sikkim and West Bengal was triggered by a phenomenon called GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Flood).

3)GLOF is a sudden release of water from a lake fed by glacier melt that has formed at the side, in front, within, beneath, or on the surface of a glacier.

4) In case of the Sikkim floods, satellite images reveal a large chunk of ice may have fallen from the glacier into the lake creating waves that toppled the moraine dam leading to a GLOF and causing severe flash floods downstream in the Teesta.

5)South Lhonak lake is one of the most studied lakes for GLOF. According to the glaciologist, recent satellite images suggest the risk has not been eliminated despite the floods because the lake has not dewatered or drained substantially. “Most of the lake is still intact; earlier, based on satellite images, experts thought that the lake had dewatered. But later it was found that under ice there is water.”

6)The 1,200 MW Teesta Stage III hydro power project located at Chungthang village in Mangan district of north Sikkim was commissioned in February 2017 and in a little over six years, the dam collapsed. The Chief Minister of Sikkim raised the issue that the Central Water Commission while approving the project had said that it would be a concrete gravity dam whereas the dam constructed was a rock-filled dam that would not be able to withstand huge floods. According to him, the cost of the project was increased 2.5 times from ₹5,700 crore to ₹13,965 crore. The Chungthang dam, which has a majority stake of the State government under Sikkim Urja, has stopped generating electricity and has filed an insurance claim.

 

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Question : 33)What are the details about earthquake in Afghanistan in October, 2023  ?

 

Ans :

1)In a short span of about a week, a region about 40 km from Herat, Afghanistan was struck by four shallow focus earthquakes of 6.3 magnitude.

 

2)The first earthquake of 6.3 magnitude occurred at a depth of 14 km at around 11 am local time on October 7,2023

 

3)This was followed by another earthquake of 6.3 magnitude (at 13.5 km depth) about 30 minutes after the first quake.

 

4)Two more shallow focus earthquakes of 6.3 magnitude at 9 km and 6.3 km depths struck the region close to Herat on October 11andOctober 15, 2023  respectively.

 

 4)All four earthquakes occurred on east-west striking fault planes that dip to either the north or south.

 

5)The earthquakes occurred within the Eurasia plate in an intracontinental mountain belt.

 

6) “The release of stress in one fault [in Herat] can result in the loading of stress at another fault. The loading of stress can result in another earthquake which can be of similar magnitude or even higher magnitude.”

7)An expert  elaborating on this further said: “Understanding the relationships between these earthquakes will take further research. However, given the close spatial and temporal proximity of all of these earthquakes, it’s reasonable to infer that the stress changes from one earthquake potentially encouraged the subsequent earthquakes. These stressing relationships — where stress changes from one earthquake encourage a subsequent earthquake — are quite common in nature.”

8)Since all the four earthquakes occurred due to thrust faulting, where one block moves up relative to the other, the area where the earthquakes had occurred would experience upliftment. “Observations of surface motion from satellites indicate that there has been at least 55 cm of uplift caused by these earthquakes” .

9)“Each earthquake causes both uplift and subsidence, with the primary deformation being uplift. The earthquake sequence has led to an accumulation of uplift along the fault that is rupturing. The earthquakes are far enough away from Herat that uplift and/or subsidence within Herat is likely negligible.”

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Question:  34) What is  Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) ?

Ans :

1)Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is one such process defined by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a tool to identify the environmental, social, and economic impacts of a project before it is implemented.

2)This tool compares various alternatives for the proposed project, predicts and analyses all possible environmental repercussions in various scenarios. The EIA also helps decide appropriate mitigation strategies.

3)The EIA process would need comprehensive, reliable data and would deliver results only if it is designed to seek the most appropriate, relevant and reliable information regarding the project. Hence, the base line data on the basis of which future likely impacts are being predicted are very crucial.

4)In India, a precursor to the EIA began in 1976-77 when the Planning Commission directed the Department of Science and Technology to assess the river valley projects from the environmental point of view. It was later extended for all those projects that required approval from the Public Investment Board. Environment clearance then was just an administrative decision of the central government.

5)On January 27, 1994, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 (EPA), promulgated the first EIA notification making Environmental Clearance (EC) mandatory for setting up some specified new projects and also for expansion or modernisation of some specific activities. The notification of 1994 saw 12 amendments in 11 years before it was replaced by the EIA 2006 notification.

6)The hallmark of the 2006 notification was the decentralisation of the process of EC. State governments were also given powers to issue EC in certain cases. The 2006 notification has also been amended, in the name of fine-tuning the process several times. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change floated a draft EIA in 2020 for public comments which created quite a furore as it was perceived to be pro industry and compromising the ecological concerns.

Used diligently, the EIA could be the most potent regulatory tool in the arsenal of environmental governance to further the vision of sustainable development in the country.

7)The EIA 2006 notification lays down the procedure as well as institutional set-up to give environmental clearance for the projects that need such clearance as per this notification. Only projects enumerated in the schedule attached to the notification require prior EC. An EIA is not required for many projects as they do not fall within the ambit of this notification.

8)This notification has categorised projects under various heads such as mining, extraction of natural resources and power generation, and physical infrastructure. Unfortunately, the threshold limits beyond which EIA is warranted for all these projects is the same across the country.

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Question : 35) What is  WACE and  genesis of cyclones ?

Ans :

WACE is a pattern of warm surface temperatures over the Arctic and a large blob of cold surface temperatures over Eurasia. This pattern is associated with upper level circulation changes that reach into the Indian Ocean sector.

Cyclone-genesis is an indicator that denotes the chance of a cyclone forming. It depends on some parameters, including the sea surface temperature, the ocean heat content, change in winds from the surface into the upper atmosphere, and rotation of winds near the surface. If these conditions line up, they will sow the seed for a cyclone, but we still don’t fully understand why some seeds sprout and grow into cyclones and some do not

It is important we understand whether the decrease in the monsoon’s intensity, increase in the amount of extreme rainfall, and greater prevalence of heatwaves are trends that will continue in the coming decades – or if they are parts of longer processes that will revive the monsoon, reduce the number of cyclones, and ameliorate heatwaves and extreme rainfall

This said, all these factors except for wind rotation have seemingly favoured a higher cyclone formation potential since the 1990s. The crucial question is why this switch – a rapid increase – occurred around this time. The present study notes that the rapid increase in the cyclogenesis potential over the Arabian Sea coincides with a shift in the so-called ‘Warm Arctic, Cold Eurasian’, or WACE, pattern. Again: a shift rather than a trend.

Global warming also experienced a slowdown around the same time (although this continues to be debated). More interestingly, scientists have argued that a so-called ‘regime shift’ occurred in the same period as well. Such shifts are not unheard of; a similar event was noted in the mid-1970s.

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Question: 36) What are  ‘quantum dots’ ?

Ans :

1)A quantum dot is a really small assembly of atoms (just a few thousand) around a few nanometres wide. The ‘quantum’ in its name comes from the fact that the electrons in these atoms have very little space to move around, so the crystal as a whole displays the quirky effects of quantum mechanics — effects that otherwise would be hard to ‘see’ without more sophisticated instruments. Quantum dots have also been called ‘artificial atoms’ because the dot as a whole behaves like an atom in some circumstances.

There are two broad types of materials: atomic and bulk. Atomic of course refers to individual atoms and their specific properties. Bulk refers to large assemblies of atoms and molecules. Quantum dots lie somewhere in between and behave in ways that neither atoms nor bulk materials do. One particular behaviour distinguishes them: the properties of a quantum dot change based on how big it is. Just by tweaking its size, scientists can change, say, the quantum dot’s melting point or how readily it participates in a chemical reaction.

When light is shined on a quantum dot, it absorbs and then re-emits it at a different frequency. Smaller dots emit bluer light and larger dots, redder light. This happens because light shone on the dot energises some electrons to jump from one energy level to a higher one, before jumping back down and releasing the energy at a different frequency. So, quantum dots can be easily adapted for a variety of applications including surgical oncology, advanced electronics, and quantum computing.

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Quesiton: 37) What are the applications of  ‘quantum dots’ ?

Ans :

1)An array of quantum dots can be a TV screen by receiving electric signals and emitting light of different colours.

2)Scientists can control the path of a chemical reaction by placing some quantum dots in the mix and making them release electrons by shining light on them. If one of the energy levels an electron jumps between in a quantum-dot atom is the conduction band, the dot can operate like a semiconductor.

3)Also, solar cells made with quantum dots are expected to have a thermodynamic efficiency as high as 66%.

4)A quantum dot can also highlight a tumour that a surgeon needs to remove, hasten chemical reactions that extract hydrogen from water, and as a multiplexer in telecommunications.

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Question 38) What is   ‘attosecond pulses of light’  ?

 

Ans :

 

An attosecond is one quintillionth of a second, or 10^-18 seconds. This is the timescale at which the properties of an electron change. So, to truly understand electrons, it should be possible to study them at these timescales. This is what the work of the Nobel laureates made possible

 

On October 3, the 2023 Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Anne L’Huillier, Pierre Agostini, and Ferenc Krausz “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”.

 

Attosecond science, including attosecond physics, or attophysics, deals with the production of extremely short light pulses and using them to study superfast processes. A hummingbird’s wings beat 80 times a second, so a single beat would last 1/80th of a second. At its best, the human eye can see up to 60 frames per second, which is not good enough to see a single wingbeat as it happens. Instead, the wings’ motion would appear as a blur.

One solution is to use a digital camera that creates photographs by capturing light coming from a source using a sensor. To capture a single wingbeat, the camera needs to capture only just as much light — which it can do if its aperture is open for exactly 1/80th of a second. An alternative is to keep the aperture open at all times and release a light pulse whose duration is 1/80th of a second towards the wing and capture the reflection. The former is much easier to do with a digital camera, but when you’re studying electrons, the latter is a better option. In attosecond science, the light pulse’s duration is a few hundred attoseconds because the electrons’ ‘wingbeats’ happen that rapidly.

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Question : 39) What are the   applications of  Attophysics ?

 

Ans :

1)The devices used to produce attosecond pulses cost crores of rupees, great skill to operate, and are bulky. But miniaturisation has been an important form of technological progress in the last century and, someday, we may have pocket-sized gizmos to study electrons. The important thing is we know how to achieve it. Science has had its own variety of miniaturisation — microbiology, femtochemistry, attophysics — facilitated by devices that could see smaller and smaller things.

2)Microbiology alerted us to bacteria and femtochemistry allowed us to finely manipulate chemical reactions.

3) In 2010, a team led by Dr. Krausz used attophysics to find that electrons leaving two slightly different energy levels in a neon atom, due to the photoelectric effect, don’t do so simultaneously, as was once thought. Instead, there is a 21-attosecond delay.

4)The photoelectric effect is at the heart of solar power, and by refining our theoretical understanding of it based on studies like this, we could gain big. This motif extends to most parts of physics, chemistry, and biology — everywhere the properties of electrons matter.

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Question : 40) What is  Crew Module (CM) for Gaganyaan Mission ?

Ans :

1)The ISRO said the astronauts would remain in a pressurised earth-like atmospheric condition in the crew module during the Gaganyaan mission.

2)“The CM for the Gaganyaan mission is in different stages of development. For the TV-D1, the CM is an unpressurised version that has completed its integration and testing and is ready to be shipped to the launch complex. This unpressurised CM version has to have an overall size and mass of actual Gaganyaan CM. It houses all the systems for the deceleration and recovery. With its complete set of parachutes, recovery aids, actuation systems and pyros. The avionics systems in CM are in a dual redundant mode configuration for navigation, sequencing, telemetry, instrumentation and power.

3)The CM in this mission is extensively instrumented to capture the flight data for evaluation of the performance of various systems. The CM will be recovered after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal, using a dedicated vessel and diving team from the Indian Navy,” the ISRO said.

4)“The test vehicle is a single-stage liquid rocket developed for this abort mission. The payloads consist of the CM and crew escape systems (CES) with their fast-acting solid motors, along with CM fairing (CMF) and interface adapters. This flight will simulate the abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission. CES with CM will be separated from the test vehicle at an altitude of about 17 km. Subsequently, the abort sequence will be executed autonomously commencing with the separation of CES and deployment of the series of parachutes, finally culminating in the safe touchdown of CM in the sea, 10 km from the coast of Sriharikota,” it added.

5)The CM, after integration, underwent various electrical testing, at ISRO’s facility, including an acoustic test and was dispatched to the SDSC on August 13. It will undergo vibration tests and pre-integration with the CES, before final integration to the test vehicle at the launch pad. This mission with this CM is a significant milestone for the overall Gaganyaan programmes as a near-complete system is integrated for a flight test. The success of this test flight will set the stage for the remaining qualification tests and unmanned missions, leading to the first Gaganyaan mission with Indian astronauts.

6)The mission aims to demonstrate the capability to launch human beings (three crew members) to low earth orbit and bring them back safely to earth by landing them in either the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea. For the Gaganyaan mission, four pilots are undergoing training at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru.

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Question : 41)Give details about  Dolphins in the Ganga-Ghagra River basin ?

Ans :

1)A recent publication by scientists and researchers has revealed that 19 Gangetic river dolphins had been rescued from the irrigation canals of the Ganga-Ghagra basin in Uttar Pradesh between 2013 and 2020.

2)The publication, “Rescuing Ganges river dolphins (Platanista gangetica) from irrigation canals in Uttar Pradesh, North India, 2013-2020”, not only highlights the capture and relocation methods but also describes the behavioural and demographic details of rescued animals and locations of the canals where the animals had been trapped.

3)The paper points out that 24 rescue operations had been conducted from 2013 to 2020 and five dolphins had died.

4)“There were 19 successful rescue operations and 14 dolphins were identified as female and 10 as male. The TBL (total body length) of these dolphins was found to be between 128 cm and 275 cm. The size of male dolphins ranged from 128 cm to 195 cm, whereas the females ranged from 190 cm to 274 cm. Of the five dolphins that died, three had a length over 243 cm,” the paper said.

5)The publication said dams and barrages had severely affected this habitat as dolphins moved into irrigation canals where they were at a risk of injury or death from a multiple factors, such as rapidly receding waters, heat stroke and human interferences.

6)The Ganges river dolphin is in Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and Appendix 1 of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).

7)The species, also considered the national aquatic animal, is listed as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List.

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Question : 42) What are  Lagrange Points  ?

 

Ans :  

 

1)Lagrange points offer ideal ‘parking spots’ for satellites and are home to several astronomical observatories. Named for French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange, whose research elucidated the existence of these points, they are also being explored as sites of future space colonies

2)Lagrange points as well –points in space between celestial bodies where a spacecraft stays more or less stationary, as if held in place by some cosmic magic.

Lagrange points are found along the plane of two objects in orbit around their common centre ofgravity, where their gravitational forces cancel each other, so that a third body of negligible mass will remain at rest between them.

For example, the combined gravitational force between the sun and the earth equals the centrifugal force required by a satellite or an asteroid to orbit the sun-earth centre ofgravity. At this Lagrange point, a satellite will keep its position constant relative to both the sun and the earth.

3)Lagrange points exist throughout the Solar System due to this gravitational interaction between the sun and its retinue of planets and their moons.

4)The points were named after the Italian-French mathematicianJoseph-Louis Lagrange, who was born January 25, 1736, in Turin, Italy. His parents wanted him to study law and enrolled him at the University of Turin. But as it happened, a 17-year-old Lagrange chanced upon an algebra paper by the English astronomer Edmond Halley and was so intrigued that he decided to become a mathematician instead.

5)He went on to excel in all fields of analytic number theory and celestial mechanics, and became one of the youngest and brightest mathematics professors of his time. He subsequently moved to Berlin, where his work on astronomy, mechanics and calculus resulted in several groundbreaking papers, including one on the moon’s orbital dynamics and another on perturbations of the orbits of comets.

6)In any three-body system, three of these Lagrange points –L1, L2, and L3 –are unstable positions that lie along an imaginary straight line connecting the two larger bodies. The other two –L4 and L5 –are stable locations that form the apexes of two imaginary equilateral triangles with the two large celestial bodies at the vertices of each triangle.

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Question : 43) Give details about a   lagoon at scarborough Shoal  ?

Ans :

1)Philippine officials condemned (September, 2023) the installation of the 300-metre-long barrier at the entrance to the lagoon at Scarborough Shoal as a violation of international law and their Southeast Asian nation’s sovereignty.

2)The Philippine coast guard’s report that it has removed the barrier underscores intensifying Philippine efforts to fight China’s increasingly aggressive actions, against many odds, in one of the world’s most hotly contested waters.

 

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Question : 44) Give details  about Aditya -  L1 mission ?

Ans:  

 

1)ISRO’s Aditya-L1 mission will explore how magnetic fields result in variations in the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, which plays a critical role in governing the earth’s atmosphere and climate dynamics.

2) It will observe the flow of energy in the sun’s outer atmosphere to test competing theories for the heating of the sun’s corona.

3)By analysing X-ray radiation, it will seek to understand how violent solar storms are born.

 

4)Aditya-L1 will also track the early motion of magnetic storms near the sun and monitor the local space environment in its vicinity at Lagrange point L1, the environment that eventually affects the earth.

 

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Question : 45) Give details about E-waste management ?

Ans :

The Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on August 28,2023 released a report on ‘Pathways to Circular Economy in Indian Electronics Sector,’ following a government effort with NITI Aayog to explore opportunities to harness e-waste. The report talks about changing the outlook on e-waste management to build a system where discarded electronics can have a new life, either by themselves, or by reintroducing components and precious metals into new hardware. There could be an additional $7 billion market opportunity in harnessing e-waste, 

 

1)E-waste management is largely informal in India, as in the case of recycling.

2)“Roughly 90% of collection and 70% of the recycling are managed by a very competitive informal sector,” the ICEA report says. The informal sector is good at salvaging older devices for parts and profiting from repairs with them. Then there are almost industrial hubs like Moradabad, where printed circuit boards (PCBs) arrive in the tonnes to have gold and silver melted out of them and sold.

3)The Union Government notified the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 last November in order to digitise the process and provide more visibility to the movement of e-waste in the economy. The level of e-waste may grow, too, as phones get cheaper and people use them more on the back of cheaper data plans. “There has been a significant increase” in people damaging their phones (as opposed to the devices simply getting too old to keep working) .

4)The informal sector relies on a number of tools and techniques to stay competitive. For instance, the report’s authors speak of ‘cannibalisation,’ a euphemism for repair shops buying whole devices and breaking them down to serve as spare parts for repair. As tariffs for finished products are sometimes lower than they are for parts, this works out in the repair shop’s favour.

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Question : 46) What is  LAM ?

Ans : LAM is Liquid Apogee Motor .

1)A small but powerful engine going by the acronym ‘LAM’ will have a critical role to play in the upcoming Aditya-L1 mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to study the sun.

2)The successful operation of LAM, short for Liquid Apogee Motor, is vital to the ISRO’s plans to place the Aditya spacecraft in a halo orbit at Lagrangian Point L1.

LAM has played an important role in missions, including the 2014 Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), Mangalyaan, and the more recent Chandrayaan-3.

3)In simple terms, LAM engines are used for orbital adjustment manoeuvres of satellites and spacecraft in orbit.

4)The propulsion module system on Aditya-L1 is identical to the one used on Chandrayaan-3. The LAM engine is similar. Its propellant combination (mono-methyl hydrazine (MMH) and MON3 (MON, short for mixed oxides of nitrogen) too is the same. Its volume is different, hence propellant tank sizes are also different,” says Dr. Narayanan.

5)About 1.5 million kilometres from the earth between it and the sun is L1, one of the five Lagrangian points or ‘equilibrium points’ in the sun-earth system.

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Question: 47) Why Northern Sea Route (NSR)  (Murmansk)  is in news ?

Ans :

1)Murmansk, popularly called the capital of the Arctic region and the beginning point of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), is witnessing the rising trend of Indian involvement in cargo traffic.

2)In the first seven months of 2023, India got the lion’s share with 35% of eight million tonnes of cargo handled by the Murmansk port, which is about 2,000 km northwest of Moscow. India has been showing greater interest regarding the NSR for a variety of reasons.

3)The Northern Sea Route (NSR), the shortest shipping route for freight transportation between Europe and countries of the Asia-Pacific region, straddles four seas of the Arctic Ocean. Running to 5,600 km, the route begins at the boundary between the Barents and the Kara seas (Kara Strait) and ends in the Bering Strait (Provideniya Bay).

4)The vulnerability of the Arctic region, which is above the Arctic Circle and includes the Arctic Ocean with the North Pole at its centre, to unprecedented changes in the climate may have an impact on India in terms of economic security, water security and sustainability.

5)It is said that “in theory, distance savings along the NSR can be as high as 50% compared to the currently used shipping lanes via Suez or Panama.”

6)The 2021 blockage of the Suez Canal, which forms part of the widely-used maritime route involving Europe and Asia, has led to greater attention on the NSR.

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Question : 48) Give details  about  Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CKI) in the Southern Indian Ocean and Christmas Island ?

Ans :

1)Expanding the strategic reach of the Indian military and improving interoperability with Australia, an Indian Navy Dornier maritime patrol aircraft and an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130 transport aircraft visited Australia’s Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CKI) in the Southern Indian Ocean, close to Indonesia and strategic maritime choke points earlier this month, diplomatic and official sources confirmed.

2)“Cocos can be an important base for refuelling and operational turnaround for the Indian military, especially once the runway there is expanded to accommodate large aircraft like the P-8 long range maritime patrol aircraft,” an official source said, while confirming the visit by the Dornier and C-130 aircraft. According to diplomatic sources, the aircraft were at Cocos for close to a week

3)India’s access to CKI and Christmas Island, which is even closer to the strategic choke points, has been under discussion for a while. A turnaround from either of the islands would significantly enhance the on-station time of the Indian Navy’s P-8Is to monitor movements into the Indian Ocean, especially by China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, whose forays into the region have significantly gone up in recent years

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Quesiton: 49) “ISRO and India remain committed to reduced space debris and sustainable use of space for the benefit of all.”  Give details  about  PS4 stage de-orbiting experiment ?

Ans:

1)“PSLV-C56 carrying seven satellites including the primary satellite DS-SAR and six co-passengers has been successfully placed in the right orbit  (in July 2023 ).

2) This is a PSLV mission for New Space India Limited [NSIL] and  congratulations to the customers sponsored by the Government of Singapore for having this mission onboard PSLV and their continued faith in our launch vehicle for deploying their spacecraft.”

3)The DS-SAR satellite is developed under a partnership between the DSTA (representing the Government of Singapore) and ST Engineering.

4)After the launcher placed all the seven satellites into a 535-km circular orbit, the PS4 stage was brought back to a lower orbit of 295 km x 300 km.

5)“The stage is purposefully manoeuvred to a 295 km x 300 km orbit. It now spends significantly less time in space, reducing its duration from over two decades to less than two months, before re-entering the earth’s atmosphere.

6)“ISRO and India remain committed to reduced space debris and sustainable use of space for the benefit of all,” the space agency said after the PS4 stage de-orbiting experiment.

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Question : 50) Give details about Melanistic (almost black)Tigers in  Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) ?

Ans :

1)Concerned over the sizeable number of pseudo-melanistic tigers in its Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR), largely due to inbreeding, the Odisha government has written to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to consider introducing female tigers from other landscapes to the reserve.

2)According to the All Odisha Tiger Estimation (AOTE 2023-24) report, which was released earlier, 30 tigers were found in the State’s forests. With 24 adult tigers, the STR currently holds the largest share of the State’s tiger population. It also houses all adult female tigers in the State.

2)“A total of 13 adult tigers (seven females and six males) were found to be pseudo-melanistic in Similipal. No other wild habitat in the world has pseudo-melanistic tigers,” the report said.

3)“The presence of melanistic [almost black] tigers is surely a result of inbreeding in the present tiger population of the reserve. However, it is not a cause of concern. We want to increase genetic diversity in Similipal, for which we want to introduce female tigers from other regions,” said , Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife).

He added that the process of introducing female tigers from other regions would “take time and be done after conducting proper studies”.

4)According to a study conducted by multiple authors, including molecular ecologist, approximately 37% of the tigers in STR are pseudo-melanistic — a condition characterised by wide, merged stripes.

5)Similipal’s tigers are also found to move within an isolated habitat, although it has one of the largest tract of contiguous forest.

6)In 2018, the State government had initiated a programme in Satkosia to introduce three pairs of tigers from Madhya Pradesh. While one pair was successfully relocated, another tiger fell victim to poachers’ traps.

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