[Mission 2023] Current Affairs Quiz ,30 December 2022

Solution: b)

Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country located in Central Asia. It is surrounded by five landlocked countries: Kazakhstan to the north; Kyrgyzstan to the northeast; Tajikistan to the southeast; Afghanistan to the south; and Turkmenistan to the southwest.

Uzbekistan is one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world (that is, a landlocked country completely surrounded by other landlocked countries), the other being Liechtenstein.

Solution: b)

As a deadly blizzard grips the United States, scientists have once again started to discuss if the rising temperatures of the Arctic are responsible for extreme cold conditions in the country and other areas of the Northern Hemisphere.

The study largely focused on something called the polar vortex, which is a mass of cold, low-pressure air that consistently hovers over the Arctic region. It is denoted by the word “vortex” because it spins counter-clockwise, just like a hurricane does.

Usually, the polar vortex remains strong and compact, meaning the mass of frigid air stays at the North Pole. But sometimes it weakens, like a wobbling top, and expands to influence the jet stream — an area of fast-moving air high in the atmosphere that surrounds the polar vortex. Once the jet stream is impacted, the cold polar air finds its way towards the mid-latitude regions.

In the study, researchers found that the expansion of the polar vortex has been occurring more than twice as often in recent years and the reason for it is the rapidly warming Arctic.

With the help of observational analysis and numerical modelling, the study demonstrated that the melting sea ice in Barents and Kara seas north of Russia and Scandinavia and increasing Siberian snowfall create larger and more energetic atmospheric waves that ultimately stretch the polar vortex, causing extreme winter weather in the US and other places.

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Solution: b)

The Supreme Court in its original jurisdiction decides imputes between states. Article 131 of the Constitution reads: “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Supreme Court shall, to the exclusion of any other court, have original jurisdiction in any dispute

(a)between the Government of India and one or more States; or

(b)between the Government of India and any State or States on one side and one or more other States on the other; or

(c) between two or more States, if and in so far as the dispute involves any question (whether of law or fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends: Provided that the said jurisdiction shall not extend to a dispute arising out of any treaty, agreement, covenant, engagements, and or other similar instrument which, having been entered into or executed before the commencement of this Constitution, continues in operation after such commencement, or which provides that the said jurisdiction shall not extend to such a dispute.

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Solution: c)

After the Allahabad High Court ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to hold urban local body elections without reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) because the ‘triple test’ requirement for the quota had not been fulfilled.

What is triple test?

The triple test requires the government to complete three tasks for finalisation of reservation to OBCs in the local bodies. These include:

1. a) To set up a dedicated commission to conduct a rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in local bodies;
2. b) To specify the proportion of reservation required in local bodies in light of recommendations of the commission, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth;
3. c) To ensure reservation for SCs/STs/OBCs taken together does not exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats.

These triple test/conditions were outlined by the Supreme Court in the case of Vikas Kishanrao Gawali vs. State of Maharashtra and others, decided on March 4, 2021.

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Solution: d)

Subunit, Recombinant, Polysaccharide, and Conjugate Vaccines:

• They use specific pieces of the germ – like its protein, sugar, or capsid(a casing around the germ). They give a very strong immune response.
• They can also be used on people with weakened immune systems and long-term health problems.

●     These vaccines are used to protect against: Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) disease, Hepatitis B, HPV (Human papillomavirus), Pneumococcal disease among others.