[Mission 2023] Current Affairs Quiz , 18 March 2023

Solution: c)

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) recently opened the strategic Zojila Pass located on the Greater Himalayan Range at an altitude of 11,650 feet which acts as a gateway between Union Territories of Ladakh, and Jammu & Kashmir.

It remained closed for only 68 days this year as compared to 73 days last year and 160-180 days in the past.

Since the first week of February, snow clearance operations were undertaken from both sides of the pass by Project Beacon and Vijayak, located in J&K and Ladakh, respectively.

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Solution: b)

Stepping up from its ongoing initiative of providing potable water in six islands of Lakshadweep using Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology, the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is working at making this process free of emissions.

LTTD exploits the difference in temperature (nearly 15°C) in ocean water at the surface and at depths of about 600 feet. This cold water condenses water at the surface, that is warmer but whose pressure has been lowered using vacuum pumps. Such de-pressurised water can evaporate even at ambient temperatures and this resulting vapour when condensed is free of salts and contaminants and fit to consume.

The NIOT, an institute under the aegis of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has worked for years on harnessing energy from the ocean. 

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Solution: d)

A subsidy shall be deemed to exist if there is a financial contribution by a government or any public body where government practice involves a direct transfer of funds (e.g., grants, loans and equity infusion), and/or government revenue that is otherwise due is foregone or not collected, and/or a government provides goods or services.

What is included in subsidy?

• Income and Price support: Subsidy can also be any form of income or price support granted by the government.
• Taxes and charges: It include not only direct transfer payments by the governments but also taxes and charges that are not collected.

Tax preferences: which are built into both direct and indirect tax regimes for realizing specific benefits serving the greater public good.

Tax preferences are considered as implicit (indirect) subsidies to preferred tax payers.

Solution: b)

While hydrogen generated through renewable energy sources is green, it is blue when the carbon generated from the process is captured and stored without dispersing it in the atmosphere. When the carbon is not captured, the generated hydrogen is labelled grey.

The major challenge in the usage of green hydrogen will be its storage. Given the very low density of hydrogen, it will require large volumes for its storage.

Alternatively, if one chooses to store it in the liquid form, reducing the storage space requires the maintenance of temperatures as low as minus 253° C. This will entail huge costs.

The ‘production cost’ of ‘Green hydrogen’ has been considered to be a prime obstacle to the usage of green hydrogen.

Solution: b)

The Kessler Syndrome is a phenomenon in which the amount of junk in orbit around Earth reaches a point where it just creates more and more space debris, causing big problems for satellites, astronauts and mission planners.