QUIZ – 2020: Insights Current Affairs Quiz, 23 July 2020

Solution: c)

Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam. The sanctuary, which hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses, is a World Heritage Site.

The park is home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer. Kaziranga is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for conservation of avifaunal species.

Located on the edge of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, the park combines high species diversity and visibility.

Assam is traditionally flood prone, and the 1,055 sq km Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) — sandwiched between the Brahmaputra river and the Karbi Anglong Hills — is no exception. Among experts there is a consensus that floods are necessary for Kaziranga by virtue of its ecosystem. “It is a riverine ecosystem, not a solid landmass-based ecosystem. “The system won’t survive without water.” The entire area of Kaziranga — formed by alluvial deposits from the Brahmaputra and its tributaries — is centred around the river.

The regenerative nature of floods helps replenish Kaziranga’s water bodies and maintain its landscape, a mix of wetlands, grasslands and semi-evergreen deciduous forests.

The floodwaters also function as a breeding ground for fish. “The same fish are carried away by the receding waters into the Brahmaputra — in a way, the park replenishes the river’s stock of fish too.

The waters also help get rid of unwanted plants such as water hyacinth which collect in huge masses in the landscape. “In a herbivore-dominated area like Kaziranga, it is important we maintain its grassland status. If it were not for the annual floods, the area would become a woodland.

Many also believe that floods are a way of natural selection. “A number of animals — especially the old, weak — cannot survive the floods. Only the ones with superior genes survive.

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Solution: b)

Melghat was declared a tiger reserve and was among the first nine tiger reserves notified in 1973-74 under the Project Tiger. It is located in northern part of Amravati District of Maharashtra State in India. The Tapti River and the Gawilgadh ridge of the Satpura Range form the boundaries of the reserve.

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Solution: c)

India and the US have announced new areas of research on transformational power generation based on supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycles and advanced coal technologies, including carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS).

This emerged at a virtual ministerial meeting of the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) to review progress, highlight major accomplishments, and prioritise new areas for cooperation.

Collaboration between India and the United States has grown over the years under the Programme for Accelerating Clean Energy – Research (PACE-R).

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Solution: a)

According to an analysis of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) data released by environmental NGO Greenpeace, India has more than 15% of all anthropogenic sulphur dioxide (SO2) hotspots in the world detected by the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) satellite.

The major SO2 emission hotspots in India are Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh, Neyveli and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Talcher and Jharsuguda in Odisha, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Kutch in Gujarat, Ramagundam in Telangana and Chandrapur and Koradi in Maharashtra.

The vast majority of plants in India lack flue-gas desulfurization technology to reduce their air pollution, according to the analysis.

As per country-wise world rankings, India was found at the top position in emitting SO2 as it has the maximum hotspots.

The report said SO2 emissions are a significant contributor to air pollution. The largest source of SO2 in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and other industrial facilities.

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Solution: c)

The BASIC countries are a bloc of four large newly industrialized countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – formed by an agreement on 28 November 2009.

BASIC countries broadly have common position on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and raising the massive funds that are needed to fight climate change.