CIVIL SERVICES (MAINS)EXAMINATION (Paper III) 2024 Model Questions (Set 6) TSPSC GROUP – 1 MAINS EXAM (Paper V), 2024 (Prepared on 17.9.2024 )
CIVIL SERVICES
(MAINS)EXAMINATION (Paper III) 2024 Model Questions
TSPSC GROUP – 1
MAINS EXAM (Paper V), 2024
(Prepared on 17.9.2024
)
(Set 6)
GENERAL STUDIES / Model Questions based on (Current
Affairs)
TOPICS: SCIENCE &
TECHNOLOGY,ENVIRONMENT
Ans
:
An emerging new lineage 2.3.4.4b of avian influenza has been spreading across
the globe since late 2020, carried by migratory birds following specific
routes.
This panzootic has a significant effect on the avian population
with disastrous consequences to the ecology and significant economic loss
affecting poultry across the world. In rare instances, the virus can infect
mammals from birds causing spillovers, and in recent years, several such
instances of spillovers spanning over 200 species have been noted, the most
recent being polar bears in Antarctica. Close contact with infected animals
could mean the virus could spill over infecting humans and this comes with a
significantly large fatality rate.
Researchers sequenced the H5N1 virus from both
the infected Texas cows and the human case and found that both viruses belonged
to clade 2.3.4.4b of H5N1, with the human strain having one minor mutation
potentially linked to adaptation in mammals. However, this change has not led
to increased transmissibility among humans, and the overall public health risk
remains low according to the CDC. Since late 2021, H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b has
circulated in wild birds in the U.S
=================================================================================
Question: 2) Rat-hole mining involves digging small tunnels
large enough for a person to crawl through to extract coal.What are actions
taken to curb Rat-hole mining ?
Ans :
A one-member panel
appointed by the High Court of Meghalaya to handle coal-related issues has
flagged the lack of progress in restoring the environment damaged by rat-hole
coal mining in the northeastern State.
The High Court appointed Justice Katakey in April 2022 to
recommend measures to the Meghalaya government in compliance with the
directions issued by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT),
which had banned the hazardous rat-hole coal mining in April 2014.
It said that the people living in areas around the mines — most
of them abandoned — continue to suffer due to continued acid mine drainage from
the mine pits that have not been closed yet.
The
committee also said that auditing the source of coal used in the coke oven,
ferroalloy, and captive power plants of cement factories was under way and
expected to be completed within the time period.
=================================================================================
Question : 3)What is
‘doxxing’ ?
Ans :
1)The act of digitally publicising a person’s private details is
called doxxing, or doxing.
2)Doxxers generally publicise highly personal data such as other
people’s home addresses, phone numbers, private email IDs, medical conditions,
government documents, social security numbers, live locations, insurance
information, private employment details, etc.
3)Such information is usually obtained through illegal methods
such as hacking or theft.
4)However, publicising private or semi-public content that an
individual did not intend to share for public consumption can also result in
doxxing and harassment.
5) Doxxing does not end with bringing the perpetrator to
justice. These users often share details that easily allow others worldwide to
launch their own attacks against the victim, making it harder for the police to
take action against all those who are responsible
============================================================
4) Where are the Soloman
islands ?
Ans :
This archipelago, one of the world’s least-developed countries,
is the unlikely focal point of a diplomatic scramble pitting China against
Western rivals.
Solomon Islanders headed
to the polls , voting in an election that promises to bolster or blunt China’s
regional ambitions, with security consequences that will ripple far beyond the
Pacific nation’s palm-fringed shores.
Solomon Islands has veered into China’s orbit under Prime
Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who inked a security pact with Beijing in 2022.
The former British colony gained independence in 1978,
establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan as one of its earliest foreign
partners
===========================================================
Quesiton: 5) Give details about IMD forecast in 2024 ?
Ans :
1)While several States reel under heatwaves, the India
Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast a bountiful monsoon for the year.
The agency has forecast that the rainfall in June-September,2024 will be 6%
more than the annual average of 87 cm during these months.
2)Last year, El Nino phenomenon dented India’s monsoon by 6%.
3)This year, the El Nino has not yet fully faded but is expected
to do so by June and progress to La Nina, a converse cooling effect that is
usually linked to surplus rainfall by the second half of the monsoon , said IMD
Director-General.
4)The IMD uses multiple approaches to forecast the monsoon:
i)One is to use statistical associations and draw upon its vast
historical database to correlate certain global meteorological parameters to
the performance of the monsoon.
ii)The other way is simulating the weather across the globe on a
particular day, and having powerful computers crunch the numbers to extrapolate
this weather into any future day or time period desired.
===============================================================
5) Give Summary of the Forecast of Rainfall during
Southwest Monsoon Season, 2024, as per IMD ?
Ans :
1) There will be 106% of the
Long Period Average (LPA) with a model error of ± 5%. The LPA of the
season rainfall over the country as a whole is 87 cm based on data of
1971-2020.
2) The
expected La Nina, positive IOD and below normal snow cover over northern
hemisphere would be favourable for rainfall during southwest monsoon season
2024.
3) Moderate
El Niño conditions are prevailing over the equatorial Pacific region and the
Climate model forecasts indicate neutral condition by the beginning of monsoon
season and La Niña conditions during second half of monsoon season.
4) At
present neutral Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions are prevailing and
Climate model forecast indicate positive IOD conditions likely to develop
during the monsoon season.
5) Since
Sea Surface temperature conditions over the pacific and the Indian Ocean are
known to have a strong influence on the Indian Monsoon, IMD is carefully
monitoring the evolution of sea surface conditions over these ocean basins.
=============================================================
6)Explain how El Nino affecting Indian monsoon rains ?
The
India Meteorological Department’s prediction of an above normal monsoon this
year 2024 , the first such forecast in eight years, bodes well for the
economy’s growth and inflation outlook but the projection of below-par rainfall
in parts of eastern, northeastern and northwestern India highlights the risks.
1) The
warming phase of (El Nino Southern Oscillaion) ENSO cycle is known as El Nino
and its cooling phase as La Nina. It is characterised by the unusual cooling of
the central and east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean.
2) “La Nina conditions are likely to develop during second half of
monsoon season. At present, neutral IOD conditions are prevailing over the
Indian Ocean and the latest climate model forecasts indicate that the positive
IOD conditions are likely to develop during the later part of the southwest
monsoon season,
================================================================
7) Which are the authorities / regulations dealing with
organ and tissue transportation ?
Ans :
1)
National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)
2)
Transplantation of Human Organs & Tissues Act (THOTA), 1994
===========================================================================
8) What are Sovereign Green Bonds and what is a Greenium ?
SGrBs are a kind of government debt that specifically funds
projects attempting to accelerate India’s transition to a low carbon economy.
1)Reserve Bank of India (RBI) green lighted investments in the
country’s Sovereign Green Bonds (SGrBs) by Foreign Institutional Investors
(FIIS) — investors such as insurance companies, pension funds and
nation-states’ sovereign wealth funds.
2)
SGrBs yield lower interest than conventional G-Secs, and the amount foregone by
a bank by investing in them is called a greenium
=============================================================
9) In the 2022-23 Union Budget, Finance Minister announced the government’s decision to issue
SGrBs to accelerate funding government projects such as harnessing offshore
wind, grid-scale solar power production, or encouraging the transition to
battery operated Electric Vehicles (EVs). In this connection what are details
about accelerate funding?
Ans :
But the RBI had not created a green taxonomy, or a way to assess
an investment’s environmental, or emissions credentials to ensure the project
is not an attempt at greenwashing, that is, faking green credentials to secure
funding.
To address this gap, the Finance Ministry released India’s first
SGrB Framework on November 9, 2022 detailing the kind of projects that would
receive funding through this class of G-Secs.
These included “investments in solar/wind/biomass/hydropower
energy projects (under 25 MW) that integrate energy generation and storage;
supporting public lighting improvements (e.g. replacement with LEDs);
supporting construction of new low-carbon buildings as well as
energy-efficiency retrofits to existing buildings; projects to reduce
electricity grid losses.”
============================================================================
10) In December 2023, four
Indian climate scientists arrived in Oslo to begin acclimatisation for India’s
maiden winter expedition at the Arctic. Give details about it ?
Himadri, India’s research station in the International Arctic
Research Base at Svalbard in Norway, had until then hosted missions only in the summer.
A winter expedition entails living in the intense cold (as low
as -15 degrees Celsius) after a period of rigorous acclimatisation. More
concerning for Indian researchers was the daunting prospect of polar nights.
Its involvement in the
region goes back to 1920, with the signing of the Svalbard Treaty in Paris.
In 2007, India undertook
its first research mission to investigate Arctic microbiology, atmospheric
sciences, and geology. A year later, India became the only developing country,
aside from China, to establish an Arctic research base. After being granted
‘observer’ status by the Arctic Council in 2013, India commissioned a
multi-sensor moored observatory in Svalbard in 2014 and an atmospheric
laboratory in 2016.
============================================================================
Question 11) Where is Siachen glacier ?
Ans :
1)Siachen, in Balti language means “land of roses’ — ‘Sia’ is a
kind of rose species that grows in the region and ‘Chen’ means “in abundance”
2) India claims the area based on the Jammu and Kashmir Accession
Agreement of 1947 and the Karachi Agreement of 1949, which define the ceasefire
line beyond NJ-9842 as running “Northwards to the glaciers”.
3) April 13, 2024 marks four decades since the Indian Army
pre-empted Pakistan and occupied the glacier on the Saltoro ridge,
overlooking the Nubra valley in the Karakoram ranges. Extreme weather is the
biggest enemy on the glacier. Around 1,150 soldiers have lost their lives,
majority of them to the vagaries of extreme weather.
====================================================================================
12) What is coral
bleaching ?
Ans :
Hard corals (different from soft corals which do not have a shell)
are marine animals with a tough shell covering them. Single-celled algae grow
on the shell in a symbiotic relationship with the corals, giving them their
characteristic colour. They usually band together to form colonies and
structures known as coral reefs which become home to millions of marine animals
and plants.
Around 25 per cent of all marine species are dependent on coral
reefs during some part of their life cycle. When sea surface temperatures and
ocean heat in general rise, the algae on the hard corals die-off. This makes
the corals white. This process is known as ‘bleaching’. Once bleached, the
corals can become vulnerable to diseases and eventually die. If other stressors
such as marine pollution and ocean acidification are kept under check and
certain adaptation measures taken, corals can recover back to their original
health
National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch (CRW) of the
United States and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) have confirmed
the fourth global mass coral bleaching event in 2023-2024. CRW and ICRI have
recorded bleaching of corals in 53 countries, territories and local economies
across five different ocean/sea basins between February 2023 and April 2024.
This is
the second such event in the last 10 years and comes at a time when global
oceans have also recorded unprecedented heat in 2023 and 2024. The earlier
event had lasted from 2014 to 2017. The CRW declares a global mass coral
bleaching event only when it records or gets inputs from all ocean basins of coral
bleaching.
===================================================
13) What
is Sea Surface Temperature (SST)? Why it is important ?
Sea
Surface Temperature (SST) is defined as the temperature of the top few
millimeters of the ocean. This temperature directly or indirectly impacts the
rate of all physical, chemical and most biological processes occurring in the
ocean. SST is globally monitored by sensors on satllites, buoys, ships, ocean
reference stations, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and other
tehcnologies.
1)The sea
surface temperature records for July, August and September 2023 were broken by
a wide margin. The El Nino conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that
began in July, added onto the general trend of warming over land and oceans
that has been happening in the past decade due to accumulated greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere. The warming trend of the oceans has also continued into
2024.
2)El Nino
is the warmer-than-normal phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
phenomenon in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. It is generally responsible for
higher-than-normal temperatures on the surface of seas in most of the global
ocean basins. During La Nina, which is the colder-than-normal phase of the
ENSO, the exact opposite happens.
3)Among
long-term patterns, ocean heating and mass coral bleaching are closely tied to
the occurrence of El Nino events. Since 1950, an El Nino event that has
occurred in the last six months of the first year and the first three months of
the following year, happened seven times. Six of these seven times, the second
year was warmer of the two and since 1997, each of these pairs of El Nino years
has also witnessed mass bleaching of corals.
Question : 14)With thousands of islands and islets and one of the
Mediterranean’s longest coastlines, Greece has said it will create one
new marine park in the Ionian Sea and one in the Aegean Sea, bringing
the total of marine protected areas to over 30% of its waters. Why objections
are coming ?
Ans
:
Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and other organisations have
levelled particular criticism at Greece for allowing deep-sea seismic
exploration for energy and mineral resources in the Hellenic Trench,
which includes the deepest waters in the Mediterranean at more than 5,200
metre.
The Hellenic Trench, which
stretches from southwestern Greece to Crete, is a vital habitat for
the Mediterranean’s few hundred sperm whales and other marine mammals already
threatened by fishing, ship collisions and plastic pollution
Greece aims at creating
two large marine parks as part of a 780-million-euro programme to protect
biodiversity and marine ecosystems, with the plans to be announced at an
international oceans conference starting in Athens in 2024.
================================================================
Question: 15) Why Storms are a norm in West Bengal
during 2024 summer ?
Ans
:
The
coastal stretch of West Bengal is
necessarily highly vulnerable to cyclone. The phenomenal storm surge in coastal
West Bengal is due to its pecular bathymetry and nature of coastal belt. The
northern part of the Bay Bengal is very shallow. The coast is also landlocked
on three sides.
In
this 2024 election season, a ‘mini-tornado’ has taken centre stage in the
State’s political theatre.
On
April 2,2024 a storm, termed a ‘mini-tornado’ by the Regional Meteorological
Centre in Kolkata, ravaged Barnish village in Jalpaiguri’s Maynaguri, killing
five people and leaving hundreds homeless.
=======================================================================
16)What is agroforestry
?
Ans :
1)Agriculture
in India has historically been a diversified land-use practice, integrating
crops, trees, and livestock. This technique, broadly called agroforestry, can
enhance farmer livelihoods and the environment and is slowly gaining in
popularity after decades of the modus operandus of
monocropping inspired by the Green Revolution
2)
Nearly 10 years ago with the establishment of the National
Agroforestry Policy (2014) was established . But it was also built on significant investments in
research over a longer 40-year span. Yet the uptake of agroforestry remains
restricted to farmers with medium or large landholdings
3)
This pattern is unsurprising since smallholder farmers seldom grow trees
because of their long gestation, a lack of incentive or investment-based
capital, and weak market linkages.
4) The five-year ‘Trees Outside of Forests India’ (TOFI)
initiative is one such attempt to assess comprehensive ways to stimulate a
change in the status quo. It’s a joint initiative of the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) and India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change. TOFI seeks to enhance tree cover in seven Indian states by
identifying promising expansion opportunities and engaging the right levers.
5)
Mango plantations don’t compete with kharif crops in the central Karnataka
plateau whereas coconut trees in Tamil Nadu’s uplands demand more water than
crops throughout the year
6)The adoption of agroforestry at scale in India must include smallholders,
who hold most of India’s agricultural land. Yet this is currently stymied by
both ecological and socio-economic factors. Although secure land tenure is a
prerequisite for agroforestry uptake, ensuring economic viability through
market linkages while meeting the criteria of sustainable agroforestry is
crucial to empower these farmers.
===============================================================
17) What is
Navchetana ?
Titled ‘Navchetana’, the activity-based curriculum follows the
National Education Policy, 2020 that calls for a continuum of learning. Staff
in 14 lakh anganwadis will be given training in the curriculum.
The curriculum involves talking, playing, moving, listening to
music and sounds, and stimulation of all the senses — particularly sight and
touch in order to reach developmental milestones across domains, and develop
“early language, and emergent literacy and numeracy”.
A child’s learning begins
at month zero, emphasises the National Framework of Early Childhood
Stimulation, 2024, which lays down month-by-month activities to be conducted by
parents, anganwadi staff and ASHA workers for children from birth to the age of
three.
The framework document
has been finalised by an internal committee comprising representatives from the
Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare and
Education, the Department of School Education and Literacy, the National
Council of Educational Research and Training, the Institute of Home Economics,
the University of Delhi and civil society organisations.
As much as 75% of the brain develops in the first three years of
a child’s life, says a member of the internal committee and founder of Rocket
Learning. The national framework provides detailed information on the
importance of brain development in the first three years, and step by step
instructions for caregivers and frontline workers on conducting early
stimulation activities, she said.
This involves getting the child’s attention, communicating with
and responding to the child, introducing age and skill appropriate activities
for play, and following the child’s lead during the activities.
======================================================
18) What is Aadharshila (translated as foundation stone) ?
Ans :
1)For
the first time, the Union government has released a curriculum advisable to be
taught to children aged three to six years, thus giving an impetus to
pre-school learning in 14 lakh anganwadis across the country.
2)The
Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has released the National
Curriculum for Early Childhood Care and Education 2024 titled ‘Aadharshila’, on
the lines of the National Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum
Framework. Aadharshila (translated as foundation stone) is a detailed 48-week
curriculum meant for learning in the age group of three to six years in
anganwadis.
3)There
are 14 lakh anganwadis in India which serve as nodal points in villages for the
health and nutrition needs of pregnant mothers and children.
4)“Concern
in the policy is that children are going up school ladder without learning to
read and write [which may lead them to lack in achieving age-appropriate
learning levels like math and language skills].”
5) This framework will
serve as a base for States to develop their own culturally appropriate
curriculums seen as a solution to tackle challenges of children.
=============================================================
19)The United Arab Emirates struggled in April, 2024 to recover
from the heaviest recorded rainfall ever to hit the desert nation, as its main
airport worked to restore normal operations even as floodwater still covered
portions of major highways and roads.What are the reasons ?
Ans:
The UAE’s drainage systems quickly became
overwhelmed, flooding out neighbourhoods, business districts and even portions
of the 12-lane Sheikh Zayed Road highway running through Dubai.
The
flooding sparked speculation that the UAE’s aggressive campaign of cloud seeding — flying small planes through
clouds dispersing chemicals aimed at getting rain to fall — may have
contributed to the deluge.
But experts said the storm systems that produced the rain were forecast well in
advance and that cloud seeding alone would not have caused such flooding.
A
meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, said the flooding in Dubai was
caused by an unusually strong low pressure system that drove many rounds of
heavy thunderstorms.
Scientists
also say climate change is responsible for more intense and more frequent
extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires around the world.
===============================================================
20) Why Taiwan Strait is in news ?
Ans :
1) TheTaiwan strait is 160 kilometres wide and divides China
from the self-governing island democracy.
2)Although it lies in international waters, China considers the
passage of foreign military aircraft and ships through it a challenge to its
sovereignty
3) The U.S. 7th Fleet said a Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the
Taiwan Strait in April, 2024, a day after U.S. and Chinese defence chiefs held
their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions.
4)The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan
Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By
operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the
United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations”
==================================================================
21) Give details about
IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Cycle (AR 6):
Ans :
1)Since 1988, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) has produced six assessment reports, three special reports, and
methodology reports that provide guidelines for estimating greenhouse gas
emissions and removal.
2)Three reports from the IPCC’s sixth assessment cycle (AR6)
were published in 2021-2022. These documents — prepared by scientists from the
195 countries that are part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(FCCC) — examine the science, consequences, adaptation, and vulnerability as
well as the mitigation aspects of climate change. Over the years, these reports
have substantiated the fact that the planet is warming and that humans bear
primary responsibility.
2) The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) warned that the time to
limit the rise of the world’s average surface temperature to 1.5 degrees
Celsius from the pre-industrial era — as agreed in the Paris Agreement — is
running out and that we are close to breaching adaptation limits. It also
suggested some options and strategies to slow warming, and to adapt and build
resilience in natural systems, in human-made systems, and in communities.
3) After the AR6 synthesis report, the IPCC initiated its
seventh cycle (AR7) by electing an IPCC bureau. In January 2024, bureau members
met for the first time in Turkey to discuss budgeting issues, timelines for the
various reports, and the work programme. Before this meeting, the co-chairs and
rapporteurs of the Informal Group on Lessons Learned had produced a paper
consolidating the learnings from the AR6 cycle and submissions from 66 of the
195 member countries regarding the types of reports, the need for special
reports, and the value of ‘full assessment reports
=========================================================
22)What is ‘Global stocktake’
(GST) ?
Ans :
1)To assess the world’s progress towards the goals of the Paris
Agreement, UNFCCC countries conduct a ‘global stocktake’ (GST) every five years.
2)The GST is a mechanism to measure collective progress,
identify gaps, and chart a better course of climate action.
3)The first GST started in 2022 and ended at the 28th session of
the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UNFCCC in 2023. The first GST
text, to which member countries agreed to at the COP28 in Dubai last year,
requested the IPCC to consider ways in which its work can be aligned with
subsequent stocktakes.
4)The second GST is due in 2028; and member countries have
requested the IPCC to publish its AR7 assessment reports before so that
countries could measure their progress against the state of the planet.
23)The year 2023 smashed multiple climate records with greenhouse gas
levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise,
Antarctic sea ice cover and glacier retreat reaching new highs, according to
the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of the Global Climate 2023
report.What are the details ?
Ans :
1) The WMO confirmed
that the global mean near-surface temperature in 2023 was
1.45 ± 0.12°C above the 1850-1900 average.
2) This rapid rise in
temperature from 2022 to 2023 can be partly explained by the shift from La Nina
to El Nino conditions in the middle of 2023.
3) The total amount of
heat stored by the oceans (ocean heat content) was the highest on record in
2023, the WMO highlighted
=========================================================
24) Give details about WMO report ?
Ans:
1)The Arctic sea ice
extent stayed below normal in 2023, with the annual maximum and annual minimum
extents being the fifth and sixth lowest in the 45-year satellite record,
respectively.
2)At the South Pole, the Antarctic sea ice extent reached an
absolute record low for the satellite era (1979 to present) in February
3)Preliminary data
showed that the amount of mass gained or lost by global glaciers for the
hydrological year 2022-2023 or the annual mass balance was negative 1.2 metres
of water equivalent (mwe).
4)This is nominally
the largest loss since 1950. The WMO said this was likely driven by the
extremely negative mass balance in both western North America and Europe. In
Switzerland, glaciers lost around 10 per cent of their remaining volume in the
past two years.
25)According to IMD what is heatwave ?
Ans :
1)According to the IMD, the definition of a heatwave depends on
the physiography of regions.
2)The IMD will declare a heatwave if the maximum temperature
recorded at a station is 40 degrees Celsius or more in the plains, 37 degrees
Celsius or more in the coast, and 30 degrees Celsius or more in the hills.
3) Heat Action Plans (HAPs): HAPs aim to increase preparedness
and lower the adverse impacts of extreme heat by outlining strategies and
measures to prepare for, address, and recover from heatwaves.
4) HAPs provide directives for hospitals to be well equipped
with supplies and an adequate number of trained healthcare workers to recognise
and treat a large influx of patients with heat-related illnesses. HAPs also
suggest long-term measures such as adopting urban planning strategies that
promote tree planting, using heat-resistant building materials to reduce urban
heat island effect, and using cool roofing technologies to reduce solar
absorption, thereby decreasing indoor temperatures. In addition, HAPs push for
effective coordination among stakeholders, including government agencies,
healthcare providers, community organisations, and emergency services.
=======================================================
26) What is status at Mettur Dam ?
Ans :
1)With the storage at the Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu being around
18 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft), there appears to be little possibility
of the authorities even considering opening the dam’s shutters for irrigation
on the scheduled date of June 12.
2)Given the situation, agricultural specialists have openly
called upon farmers, who are dependent on the Cauvery, to skip raising paddy during
the short-term kuruvai cultivation
season and go for the long-term samba crop
only.
3)The current situation can change only if there is a very heavy
rainfall in the Cauvery catchment in Kerala and Karnataka in the coming weeks
to an extent that Mettur dam witnesses a huge increase in water level and
realises 50 tmc ft more
4) With the present storage at Mettur, it would not be advisable
to go for kuruvai. Instead, it would be
beneficial for agriculturists if they start raising the samba crop between the middle of August and the
first week of September as they will have the benefit of northeast monsoon
===================================================
27) Give details about unclassed or deemed forests ?
Ans :
1)With the enactment of Forest (Conservation) Act Amendment
(FCAA) 2023 , unclassed forests — which have legal protection under the
landmark T.N. Godavarman Thirumalpad (1996)
case — would lose this protection, leading to their inevitable diversion.
2)The State Expert Committee (SEC) reports were to be prepared
in pursuance of the order, which specified that ‘forests’ as per their
dictionary meaning and all categories of forests irrespective of ownership and
notification status would be included under the ambit of the Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980.
3)As a result, unclassed forests, also known as deemed forests,
would require the Central government’s approval in case a project proponent
sought to divert that land for non-forest use.
4)Unclassed or deemed forests may belong to forests, revenue,
railways and other government entities, community forests or those under
private ownership, but are not notified.
============================================================
28) Give details
about BrahMos ?
Ans :
In January 2022, the Philippines concluded a $375-million deal
with India for three batteries of a shore-based, anti-ship variant of the
BrahMos becoming the first export customer for the joint venture missile
between India and Russia
1) BrahMos is a joint venture between the DRDO and Russia’s NPO
Mashinostroyeniya and the missile derives its name from Brahmaputra and Moskva
rivers.
2) The missile is capable of being launched from land, sea,
sub-sea and air against surface and sea-based targets and has been long
inducted by the Indian armed forces
3) India delivered the first batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise
missiles to the Philippines on 19.4.2024.
=========================================================
29) Which are Disposal
Goods ?
Ans :
1)Disposal Goods:These are defined as disposable goods that are
made with plastic but are generally use-and-throw after a single use and
include plastic cups, spoons, earbuds, decorative thermocol, wrapping or
packaging film used to cover sweet boxes and cigarette packets, and plastic
cutlery.
2)It, however, does not include plastic bottles – even those
less than 200 ml— and multi-layered packaging boxes (such as milk cartons).
===============================================================
30) What is
Green Credit Programme (GCP)?
Ans :
1) On April 12,2024 the
Environment Ministry issued further guidelines on its Green
Credit Programme (GCP), two months after it had prescribed rules governing the first
initiative, afforestation. Modifying the rules, an official said, will
prioritise the restoration of ecosystems over mere planting of trees.
2) This programme was officially unveiled in October 2023 and
has its provenance in Mission Life, a principle frequently articulated by Prime
Minister .
3)Its goal is to lay an emphasis on sustainability, reduce waste
and improve the natural environment.
4)The GCP programme presents itself as an “innovative,
market-based mechanism” to incentivise “voluntary actions” for environmental
conservation, according to a document of the Environment Ministry.
5)Under this, individuals, organisations and companies — public
and private — would be encouraged to invest in sectors ranging from
afforestation, water conservation, stemming air-pollution, waste management,
mangrove conservation and in return be eligible to receive ‘green credits.’
6)An autonomous body of the Ministry, the Indian Council of
Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), is in charge of administering the
programme. They will define methodologies to calculate ‘green credits’ that
result from the activities prescribed. They will also manage a trading platform
whereby such credits could be traded
31) Which can be called as ‘low on sugar’?
Ans :
1) In its Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims)
Regulations 2018, the FSSAI said that only if total sugar is less than 5g per
100g in a product, it can claim to be ‘low on sugar.’
2)Any product which is ‘low on sugar,’ can potentially be ‘healthy.’
But when products do not fulfil this requirement, and still advertise or market
their products as ‘health drinks,’ it is problematic, the FSSAI scientific
panel member added. “This is because if a child, for instance, takes four
servings of this so-called drink, he or she will end up consuming 40 grams of
sugar, which is higher than the World Health Organization’s advised threshold
of consuming 25 grams or six teaspoons of sugar per day.
3)In Indian households, one often adds extra teaspoons of sugar
to a chocolate-powder drink too.”
=====================================
32) What is Glycemic Index ?
Ans :
1)The concept of ‘Glycemic Index’ was first proposed by Prof.
David Jenkins of the University of Toronto in 1981.
2)The glycemic index (GI) of a food refers to the property of
the food to increase the blood glucose level and is a measure of the ‘quality’
of carbohydrates. Glucose or white bread is used as the comparator.
3)The GI of glucose is taken as 100 and the GI of other foods is
given as a percentage of this. Thus, the GI of foods is classified as low GI
(less than 55), medium GI (56- 69) and high GI (over 70).
4)The GI multiplied by the amount of the carbohydrate consumed,
determines the glycemic load (GL).
5)Many nutritionists strongly believe in the deleterious effect
of consuming diets with high GI and conversely the beneficial effects of taking
diets with low GI.There are others who believe that this is too simplistic an
approach. Their argument is that carbohydrate is only one of the macronutrients
of food and the quality of protein and fat are ignored if only GI is used to
assess the quality of a die
==========================================================
33) Give details about a coral sanctuary at Meroe Island
Ans:
In May 2022, in complete disregard of the indigenous land
ownership and management systems, the Andaman and Nicobar (A&N)
administration issued three public notices, announcing its intention to create
three wildlife sanctuaries:
Consider the following :
1) a coral
sanctuary : at Meroë Island,
2) a
megapode sanctuary: at Menchal Island
3) a
leatherback turtle sanctuary : on Little Nicobar Island.
======================================================
34) Give details about Mpox ?
Ans :
1)Mpox, like all poxviruses, are DNA viruses.
2)The mpox genome has about 197 kilobases (kb). The core genes
are those closely conserved (i.e. preserved during evolution) by various
poxviruses plus two sections about 6.4 kb long, one at each end of the genome.
3) Poxviruses have long been a cause of fear as well as
curiosity for humankind. One particularly infamous poxvirus, smallpox, alone
may have killed more than 500 million people in the last century
4) Another poxvirus, mpox, was recently in the headlines after a
rapidly expanding global outbreak in 2022-2023. The virus was previously called
‘monkeypox’ after a spillover event in a research facility involving
monkeys in 1958; the name is considered both wrong and inappropriate today:
since then, researchers have identified mpox in many sporadic outbreaks among
humans. They have also found multiple mpox lineages have been circulating in
humans, adapting by accumulating mutations modulated largely by the APOBEC
proteins.
5)But it wasn’t until 2022 that the disease became widely known,
thanks to outbreaks in more than 118 countries and the World Health
Organisation (WHO) quickly declaring it a public health emergency. To date,
this outbreak has infected almost 100,000 people. Based on WHO data, infections
have a mortality rate of 1-10%.
Which of the above
is / are correct ?
========================================================================
35) What is Water, Green Hydrogen, Pumped storage hydropower ?
Ans :
1)Water is also a key component of the world’s clean
energy transition.
2)Green hydrogen, seen as a crucial pillar for decarbonising industry and
long-distance transport sectors, is produced using water and electricity
sourced from renewables.
3)Pumped storage hydropower — which acts as a natural battery and is
essential to balance the power grid load — is an important component of a clean
but reliable power system.
========================================================
36) “Zealandia is
Earth’s forgotten and submerged eighth continent.”
Discuss
Ans:
1)Scientists had long
predicted the existence of this bonus southern landmass that remained missing
for 375 years, largely because it’s submerged 1-2 kilometres under water. An
international team of geologists and seismologists have now created a new map
of Zealandia.
2)Approximately 83 million years ago, the supercontinent Gondwana
was pulled apart resulting in the beginning of the present-day continents.
3)It also resulted in the creation of Zealandia. It is 94 per cent
under the sea and the remaining six per cent is what we identify as New
Zealand and neighboring islands
4) Zealandia is also
substantially larger than the Arabian Peninsula, the world’s largest peninsula,
and the Indian subcontinent. Due to various geological considerations, such as
crustal thickness and density, some geologists from New Zealand and Australia
have concluded that Zealandia fulfills all the requirements to be considered as
a continent rather than a microcontinent.
===============================================
37) “Large-scale solar parks : a key pillar of India’s
mitigation strategy.” Discuss about solar parks and solar energy.
Ans:
1)We have 214 sq. km of land under solar parks, but some studies
estimate that we may need 50,000-75,000 sq. km, which is about half the size of
Tamil Nadu, to achieve our Net Zero targets.
2)At the local level, farmers in villages near India’s two
largest solar parks – in Bhadla in Rajasthan and Pavagada in Karnataka – report
different experiences.
3)In Bhadla, farmers have lost sacred common lands called Orans
and pastoralists are faced with shrinking grazing lands, forcing some to sell
their livestock at throwaway prices. Such losses have led to protests demanding
recognition of common land under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.
4)On the other hand, many farmers in Pavagada were content with
the steady annual income they received by leasing out land for solar parks.
This land was drought-stricken and did not yield significant agricultural
income. All the same, water security issues and economic disparity between
large and small landowners are challenges for the region.
5)India’s
largest solar parks are located in the north-west of the country, particularly
Gujarat and Rajasthan, and cities in both these States are also showing a
decrease in SPV potential.
6)As
of today, India’s installed solar power capacity is about 81 GW (1 GW is 1,000
megawatt), or roughly 17% of the total installed electricity.
7)India
has ambitious plans of sourcing about 500 GW, nearly half its requirement of
electricity, from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.
8)This
would mean at least 280 GW from solar power by that year or at least 40 GW of
solar capacity being annually added until 2030. In the last five years, this
has barely crossed 13 GW though the government has claimed that COVID-19
affected this trajectory and the country was on track to add between 25-40 GW
annually in the coming years.
==============================================================
39) Discuss Rome Declaration on Nutrition ?
Ans:
1)The Rome Declaration on Nutrition underscores the challenges
existing food systems face in providing sufficient, safe, diverse, and
nutrient-rich food for everyone. Approximately 800 million people worldwide
don’t have reliable access to food. Two billion people suffer from iron and
zinc deficiencies. Food systems today are also responsible for a third of the
world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
2)Climate change impacts food value chains and affects
agricultural yields, nutritional quality, food access, and energy-intensive
processes. While a balanced diet is recommended, populations are often unable
to have one thanks to disparities in production systems as well as individual
dietary choices.
3)India itself suffers from many forms of malnutrition: 32% of
children under five are underweight and 74% of the population can’t afford a
healthy diet. Unhealthy diets are leading to a surge in the prevalence of
non-communicable diseases
=================================================================
40) Discuss the news about floods and mudslides in
Southern Brazil ?
Ans:
1)The death toll from floods and mudslides triggered by
torrential storms in southern Brazil climbed to 39 in May 2024.
2)As the rain kept beating down, rescuers in boats and planes
searched for scores of people reported missing among the ruins of collapsed homes,
bridges and roads.
3)Rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul were
straining dams and threatening the metropolis of Porto Alegre with
“unprecedented” flooding, authorities warned.
4)“Forget everything you have seen, it’s going to be much worse
in the metropolitan region,” as the
streets of the state capital, with a population of some 1.5 million, started
flooding after days of heavy downpours in the region.
5)The state’s civil defence department said at least 265
municipalities had suffered storm damage in Rio Grande do Sul , injuring 74
people and displacing more than 24,000.
6)And there was no end in sight, with officials reporting an
“emergency situation, presenting a risk of collapse” at four dams in the state.
7)The level of the State’s main Guiaba river, meanwhile, was
estimated to have risen 4.2 - 4.6m, but could not be measured as the gauges
have washed away, the Mayor said.
======================================================
41) Discuss about the Pulicat Lake and its protection ?
Ans:
1) The Pulicat Lake, the second largest brackish water lagoon
in India after Chilika, sprawling across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu
2) Encompassing 720 square kilometres, most of the lake falls in
Andhra Pradesh and less than 20% in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu.
3)About 60 kilometres north of Chennai, the lagoon is separated
from the Bay of Bengal by the Sriharikota island.
4)It is a unique ecotone that supports rich biodiversity — from
aquatic life such as mudskippers, seagrass beds, and oyster reefs to more than
200 avian species, including migratory birds such as Eurasian curlews,
oystercatchers, bar-tailed godwits, sand plovers, and greater flamingos
5) the lake and its surroundings support not just 10,000
traditional fisher families but also small-time fisherfolk who are not part of
the paadu system (a customary
routine whereby eligible fishing groups take turns to do specified activities
on an allotted fishing ground), women who engage in hand fishing,
shell-pickers, Irulars who catch mud crabs, and agricultural labourers of
Avurivakkam, Kanavanthurai, Pakkam, and other villages.
================================================================
42) Discuss about recent
earthquakes ?
Ans:
1)In the last two decades, major earthquakes have occurred in
many parts of the world including Indonesia, Japan, China, Italy, Nepal,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ecuador, Mexico, Morocco, and the Turkey-Syria border.
2)On April 3, 2024 Taiwan was struck by an earthquake of 7.4
magnitude. These earthquakes cannot be treated as random occurrences, as
earthquake-prone regions share some tectonic similarities.
3)Earthquakes occur in certain regional bands.
4)The spatial distribution is explained by the theory of plate
tectonics, which explains how the Earth’s outermost layer, the lithosphere, is
broken into 15 major fragments or plates which are constantly moving relative
to each other.
5)This is why powerful earthquakes are concentrated along
convergent plate boundaries like the Himalayas, a tectonic product of the
convergence of the Indian and Eurasian plates.
6)The earthquake in Nepal in 2015 caused severe devastation in
central Nepal, but spared India. This was an example of an earthquake
originating from under the Himalayas.
7)In the Taiwan region, the Philippine Sea plate is moving
northwest towards the Eurasian plate at a velocity of about 7.8 cm per year,
which is faster than the motion of the Indian plate.
8)Lying 160 km off the coast of China, Taiwan was formed at a
convergent boundary of the Philippine and Eurasian plates in the western
Pacific Ocean. It is a country of strong earthquakes. The latest one occurred
near the city of Hualien on the eastern coast. In 1999, the Chi-Chi earthquake
of magnitude 7.7 occurred in the central part of Taiwan and impacted the
western region. It killed more than 2,430 people and left 11,305 wounded. It
caused more than 50,000 buildings to collapse and partially damaged as many.
9)The Hualien earthquake killed at least 13 people and injured
about 1,000. Most of the deaths were caused by earthquake-triggered rockfalls
and not by toppled buildings.
10)Despite being of nearly comparable magnitude, the 2024
earthquake has caused minimal damage compared to the 1999 earthquake.
===============================================================
44) Discuss about Bricks, Beads and Bones - The Harappan Civilisation’ :
Ans:
1)Roughly 150 km from Delhi, the national capital, down the
Delhi-Sirsa highway, a meandering road leads to the twin villages of Rakhi
Shahpur and Rakhi Khas in Haryana’s Hissar district. The narrow, dusty road,
typical of small-town India, belies the importance of the place to which it
leads — the archaeological site of Rakhigarhi. A plaque here reads that it is
the largest site of the Harappan culture. Ninety-nine years after it was
discovered, the findings have raised questions about history and identity.
2)Mound 7 of the excavation site, that extends across 3.5 sq km
or 350 hectares, has been identified as a burial plot from which 56 skeletons
were recovered. Of these, a woman’s, roughly 4,600 years old, has created a
buzz among those who work in history, anthropology, genomics, and linguistics.
3)The DNA analysis of the skeleton says “the individual sequenced fits as a mixture of people related
to ancient Iranians (the largest component) and Southeast Asian
hunter-gatherers”, as per Cell. It also
says that there was no Steppe Pastoral gene (from people in Central Asia) in
the Rakhigarhi woman.
========================================================
45) Discuss about Himalayan Glacial lakes.
Ans:
1)The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) long-term
satellite imagery covering the catchments of Indian Himalayan river basins from
1984 to 2023 have shown significant changes in glacial lakes.
2)According to the ISRO, of the 2,431 lakes larger than 10
hectares identified during 2016-17, 676 glacial lakes have notably expanded
since 1984. “Specifically, 130 of these lakes are situated within India, with
65, seven, and 58 lakes located in the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra River
basins, respectively. Of the 676 lakes, 601 lakes (89%) have expanded more than
twice, 10 lakes have grown between 1.5 to 2 times and 65 lakes 1.5 times,” the
ISRO said. It said the elevation-based analysis reveals that 314 lakes are
located in the 4,000 to 5,000 m range and 296 lakes are above 5,000 m
elevation.
3)The glacial lakes are categorised based on their formation
process into four broad categories, namely Moraine-dammed (water dammed by
moraine), Ice-dammed (water dammed by ice), Erosion (water dammed in
depressions formed by erosion), and other glacial lakes.
4)“Among the 676 expanding lakes, the majority of them are
Moraine-dammed [307] followed by Erosion [265], other [96], and Ice-dammed [8]
glacial lakes, respectively,” the space agency said.
==========================================================
46) Which are
Quarks ?
Ans:
1)We know that all matter is composed of atoms, and atoms are
made of protons and neutrons inside the nucleus and electrons outside. But
unlike electrons, protons and neutrons are composite particles because they are
further made up of quarks.
2)Quarks can’t exist in isolation. They can only be found in
groups of two or three, if not more. Such clumps of quarks are called hadrons.
Protons and neutrons are common examples. Physicists have mostly studied quarks
based on the behaviour of hadrons, and are also interested in how quarks clump
together.
3) There are six types of quarks: up, down, top, bottom, strange,
and charm. Each quark can have one of three types of colour charge. Then there
are also antiquarks, their antimatter versions. A quark-antiquark clump is
called a meson (they don’t annihilate each other because they are of different
types, e.g. up + anti-down). Three-quark clumps are called baryons and they
form the normal matter surrounding us.
4)Quarks are further held together by another set of particles
called gluons. Because nuclear forces are very strong, quarks are always
tightly bound to each other and are not free, even in the vacuum of empty space
=========================================================
47) Discuss about Project Nilgiri Tahr ?
Ans:
1)Five months after the launch of Project Nilgiri Tahr, Tamil
Nadu is all set to estimate the population of its State animal.
2)Forest Departments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala will jointly count
the population of the mountain ungulate in a three-day synchronised census
starting from April 29,2024
3) Nilgiri tahrs prefer montane grasslands, with steep and rocky
terrains at an altitude between 300 and 2,600 metres above sea level.
4)A little over 3,100 Nilgiri tahrs were believed to be living
in highly fragmented habitats in the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala,
ranging between the Nilgiris in the north and the Kanniyakumari hills in the
south, as per a 2015 study by WWF-India.
===========================================================
48) Discuss about Global Plastics Treaty conducted in Ottawa, Canada ?
Ans:
1)Activist and environmentalist groups have termed the “Global
Plastics Treaty” negotiations that concluded in Ottawa, Canada, in April, 2024
as “disappointing”. Nearly 192 member countries deliberated for nearly a week
to iron out a legally binding agreement to “end plastic pollution”.
2)This was the fourth round of talks since countries resolved in
2022 to eliminate plastics and formed an Intergovernmental Negotiating
Committee (INC), which consisted of government representatives tasked with
drawing up a timeline for countries to not only eliminate plastic use but also
halt production
3)“India opposed restrictions on producing so called primary
plastic polymers or virgin plastics, arguing that production reductions exceed
the scope of UNEA [United Nations Environment Assembly] resolutions. While
acknowledging the chemicals used in plastic manufacturing, India highlighted
that some are already subject to prohibition or regulation.
===================================================================
49) Discuss abut Viruses of Zika, Dengue and
Chikungunya :
Ans:
1)The mere presence of a virus in a bodily fluid doesn’t mean it
is transmitted via that route.
2)Zika, dengue, and chikungunya viruses are present in fluids
like saliva and semen but don’t spread orally or sexually. This fact has
puzzled scientists for years, and now a research team has finally explained
why.
3) Zika virus can be detected in semen, saliva, and breast milk
but rarely spreads through these means despite the presence of target cells in
the oral and genital cavities. Zika transmits mainly via mosquitoes
=============================================================
50) Discuss about importing of Electric Vehicles
(EVs) :
Ans :
1)The Union government approved a policy to promote India as a
manufacturing hub for Electric Vehicles (EVs). The minimum investment cap has
been set at ₹4,150 crore.
2)The policy broadly clears the path for global EV makers like
Tesla and Chinese EV maker BYD to foray into the Indian markets. The central
goal of this policy is to enable transitioning to localised production in a
commercially viable manner and plan as per local market conditions and demand.
3)The most significant provision is the reduction of import duty
on electric vehicles imported as a
Completely Built Unit (CBU) with a minimum cost, insurance and
freight (CIF) value of $35,000 to 15% (for a five-year period) from the present
70%-100%. This is provided the maker sets up a manufacturing unit within three
years.
3)The policy also stipulates that a total duty of ₹6,484 crore
or an amount proportional to
the investment made — whichever is lower— would be waived on the total number
of EVs imported. It must be noted that, a maximum of 40,000 EVs can be imported
under the scheme at not more than 8,000 units a year, provided the minimum
investment made is $800 million. Another important aspect of the scheme is
localisation targets. Manufacturers have three years to set up their
manufacturing facilities in India. They are expected to attain 25% localisation
by the third year of incentivised operation and 50% by the fifth year. Should
the localisation targets not be achieved, and if the minimum investment
criteria as defined under the scheme is not meet , the bank guarantees of the manufacturers would
be revoked
===================================================================
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