Solution: C

According to latest Central Ground Water Board report, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan fall in ‘over-exploited’ range, while Delhi is in ‘critical’ range. Agriculture biggest consumer.

About 14 per cent of India’s 7,089 groundwater assessment units across states have been categorised as over-exploited, while another four per cent fall in the critical category, according to the latest report of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB).

An “over-exploited” category indicates groundwater extraction exceeding the annually replenishable groundwater recharge, while the “critical” category is one where the stage of groundwater extraction is between 90-100 per cent. The overall stage of groundwater extraction in the country is 60.08 per cent.

According to the CGWB report — the Dynamic Groundwater Resources of India, 2022 — the stage of groundwater extraction is very high, more than 100 per cent, in the states and union territories of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

This means that in these places the annual groundwater consumption is more than annual extractable groundwater resources.

While in Punjab, the stage of groundwater extraction is 165.99 per cent, in Rajasthan it is 165.99 per cent, Haryana 165.99 per cent and in the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, it is 157.927 per cent and 133.2 per cent, respectively. All these fall in the “over-exploited” range, implying that in these states the “annual groundwater consumption is more than annual extractable groundwater resources”.

The report also found that overall, the groundwater extraction in India has marginally decreased from 244.92 bcm (billion cubic metre) in 2020 to 239.16 bcm in 2022. Even the overall stage of groundwater extraction has marginally decreased from 61.6 per cent to 60.08 per cent.

The total annual groundwater recharge in the country in 2022 has been assessed as 437.60 bcm. According to the report, the largest user of groundwater resources in India is the agricultural sector, for irrigation purposes.

Solution: A

What is a ‘bomb cyclone’?

A bomb cyclone, also known as bombogenesis, is a fast-developing storm that occurs when atmospheric pressure drops at least 24 millibars over a 24-hour period, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration note online. 

“A bomb cyclone occurs when atmospheric pressure at the center of the cyclone drops rapidly. In order to approximately qualify, the pressure needs to drop about 1 [millibar], or more, every hour over a 24-hour period,”

When do bomb cyclones most often occur?

While bomb cyclones can happen at any point of the year, they tend to be more frequently reported in the winter months. They are most common from December to early March, according to a 2017 study from the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology which analyzed the patterns of bomb cyclones over the northern Pacific Ocean from 2000 to 2015.

Solution: C

A rainfall rate that is equal to 100 mm or more than 100 mm per hour is a cloudburst.

The Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT) utilizes longwave-infrared, temperature measurements from geostationary satellites to estimate tropical cyclone (TC) intensity.

The Azores High also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda-Azores High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Horse latitudes.

Derechos are fast-moving bands of thunderstorms with destructive winds. The winds of a derecho travel at least 58 miles per hour and have been recorded as fast as 130 miles per hour. That’s as fast as some tornados! But instead of spiraling like a tornado or hurricane, the winds of a derecho move in straight lines. That’s where the storm gets its name; the word derecho means “straight ahead” in Spanish.

What causes a derecho?

It all has to do with something called a downburst. When the wet air in a thunderstorm meets the drier air surrounding it, the water in the air evaporates. When water evaporates, it cools the air around it. Since the cool air is denser, it rapidly sinks to the ground and creates strong winds called downbursts.

Solution: C

The Hydrogen Valley Platform

The Hydrogen Valley platform is a global collaboration platform for all information on large-scale hydrogen flagship projects and aims to facilitate a clean energy transition by promoting the emergence of integrated hydrogen projects along the value chain as well as by raising awareness among policy makers. On this platform, the most advanced Hydrogen Valleys around the globe provide insights into their project development. Explore the world map and discover the profiles of the Hydrogen Valleys represented on the platform or go to the analysis section to find out more about the projects on an aggregate level. If you like to get in touch with a Hydrogen Valley developer directly, the matchmaking section provides you with that possibility.

A “Hydrogen Valley” is a geographical area – a city, a region, an island or an industrial cluster – where several hydrogen applications are combined together into an integrated hydrogen ecosystem that consumes a significant amount of hydrogen, improving the economics behind the project. It should ideally cover the entire hydrogen value chain: production, storage, distribution and final use.

The Hydrogen Valley platform is a joint initiative by the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking and Mission Innovation.

Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 23 countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union) working to reinvigorate and accelerate global clean energy innovation with the objective to make clean energy widely affordable.

The Mission Innovation Hydrogen Valley Platform has been developed under the framework of Mission Innovation’s “Renewable and Clean Hydrogen” Innovation Challenge. Its objective is to accelerate the development of a global hydrogen market by identifying and overcoming key technology barriers to the production, distribution, storage, and use of hydrogen at gigawatt scale. The Innovation Challenge is co-led by Australia, Germany and the European Commission and has more than ten participating member countries around the world.

Solution: B

Menar – The Bird Village in Udaipur

Menar is a beautiful place near Udaipur Rajasthan. Menar is famous not only in the city but in the country for its beautiful migratory bird paradise. A beautiful getaway from your daily life with a pure therapy of nature.

Recognised as the “bird village” following community-driven conservation efforts, Menar in Udaipur district is set to be notified as Rajasthan’s new wetland. This will pave the way for getting the Ramsar site status for this rural heartland of the Mewar region. The two lakes in the village – the Brahma and Dhandh – play host to a large number of migratory birds in the winter season every year.

More than 150 species of local and migratory birds inhabit the two lakes in the winter season. They include greater flamingo, white-tailed lapwing, pelican, marsh harrier, bar headed goose, common teal, greenshank, pintail, wagtail, green sandpiper and red-wattled lapwing. Bird lovers and tourists flock to the village after the arrival of migratory birds from as far as Central Asia, Europe and Mongolia.

Solution: B

Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF)

The Forum, launched in 2009 by US President Barack Obama, is aimed at facilitating candid dialogue among major emitting countries, both developed and developing, to garner the political leadership needed to advance efforts against climate change. The 17 major economies participating are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the EU, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russian Federation, South Africa, the UK and the US.

Solution: A

What is Agnipath scheme?

Agnipath is a pan India merit-based recruitment scheme for enrolling soldiers, airmen and sailors. The scheme provides an opportunity for youth to serve in the regular cadre of the armed forces. All those recruited under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme will be called ‘Agniveers’.
Agniveers will be enrolled for a service duration of 4 years including training period. After four years, only 25% of the Agniveers will be retained or re-enlisted in the regular cadre based on merit, willingness and medical fitness.
They will then serve for a full term of another 15 years.
The first four years, served under a contract, are not likely to be taken into consideration for the fixation of the final pensionary benefits.
The other 75% Agniveers will be demobilized, with an exit or “Seva Nidhi” package of Rs 11-12 lakh, partly funded by their monthly contributions, as well as skill certificates and bank loans for help in their second careers.
Recruitment
* Candidates will be enrolled under the respective service act for a service duration of 4 years.
* Centralised transparent screening assessment based on merit and demonstrated performance during service.
* 100% candidates can apply on volunteer basis to enrol in regular cadre.
For all Agniveers who achieve martyrdom, full payment of unserved service years will be given.
Seva Nidhi
* Upto 25% Agniveers to be selected as regular cadre based on central, transparent system after four years.
* 100% candidates can apply on volunteer basis to enroll in regular cadre.
* They will be entitled to awards, medals and insurance cover like the regular cadre of soldiers, airmen and sailors.
* Corpus of Rs 10.04 lakhs plus accrued interest exempted from Income Tax, after four years.
Death Compensation
* Non-contributory life insurance cover of Rs 48 lakhs.
* Additional Ex Gratia of Rs 44 lakhs for death attributable to service.
* Pay for unserved portion upto four years including ‘Seva Nidhi’ component.
Disability Compensation
* Compensation based on the percenatge disability laid down by medical authorities.
* One time ex-gratia of Rs 44/25/15 lakhs for 100%/75%/50% disability respectively.

Solution: B

Census in India:

• Definition: Population Census is the total process of collecting, compiling, analysing and disseminating demographic, economic and social data pertaining, at a specific time, of all persons in a country or a well-defined part of a country.
• First Non-synchronous Census: It was conducted in India in 1872 during the reign of Governor-General Lord Mayo.
• First Synchronous Census: The first synchronous census was taken under British rule on February 17, 1881, by C. Plowden (Census Commissioner of India).
• The decennial Census is conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Until 1951, the Census Organization was set up on an ad-hoc basis for each Census.
• The population census is a Union subject under Article 246 of India Constitution. It is listed as serial number 69 of the seventh schedule of the constitution.
• Census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948.
  • Under this act, the information collected during the population Census is considered confidential and is not even accessible to the courts of law.

Solution: A

Section 33(7) of the Representation of People’s Act

Section 33(7) of RPA 1951:

Section 33(7) of the Representation of People’s Act permits a candidate to contest any election (Parliamentary, State Assembly, Biennial Council, or bye-elections) from up to two constituencies.

• The provision was introduced in 1996 prior to which there was no bar on the number of constituencies from which a candidate could contest.

When a candidate contests from two seats, he has to vacate one of the two if he wins both. Following this, by-elections are conducted for the vacant seat.

Solution: D

• The Antarctic treaty ( signed in 1959 and implemented in 1961) made it mandatory for the 54 signatory countries to specific laws governing territories on which their stations are located. India signed the treaty in 1983 and therefore a law was needed to preserve the pristine Antarctic environment and ocean around it.
• India is also a member of
  • Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
  • Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programme (COMNAP)
  • Scientific Committee of Antarctica Research (SCAR)

Solution: A

Mpox (monkeypox) is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus. Two different clades exist: clade I and clade II

Common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions which can last 2–4 weeks accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.

Mpox can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with someone who is infectious, with contaminated materials, or with infected animals.

Laboratory confirmation of mpox is done by testing skin lesion material by PCR.

Mpox is treated with supportive care. Vaccines and therapeutics developed for smallpox and approved for use in some countries can be used for mpox in some circumstances.

The monkeypox virus was discovered in Denmark (1958) in monkeys kept for research and the first reported human case of mpox was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, 1970). Mpox can spread from person to person or occasionally from animals to people.

Solution: B

India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally and is known for its affordable vaccines and generic medications. The Indian Pharmaceutical industry is currently ranked third in pharmaceutical production by volume after evolving over time into a thriving industry growing at a CAGR of 9.43% since the past nine years. Generic drugs, over-the-counter medications, bulk drugs, vaccines, contract research & manufacturing, biosimilars, and biologics are some of the major segments of the Indian pharma industry. India has the most number of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities that are in compliance with the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and has 500 API producers that make for around 8% of the worldwide API market.

Indian pharmaceutical sector supplies over 50% of global demand for various vaccines, 40% of generic demand in the US and 25% of all medicine in the UK.

The Pharmaceutical industry in India is the third largest in the world in terms of volume and 14th largest in terms of value. The Pharma sector currently contributes to around 1.72% of the country’s GDP.

The nation is the largest provider of generic medicines globally, occupying a 20% share in global supply by volume, and is the leading vaccine manufacturer globally. India also has the highest number of US-FDA compliant Pharma plants outside of USA.

Solution: A

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is a statutory and quasi-judicial body working under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Competition Commission of India

The objectives of the Act are sought to be achieved through the Competition Commission of India, which has been established by the Central Government with effect from 14th October 2003. CCI consists of a Chairperson and 6 Members appointed by the Central Government.

It is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India.

The Commission is also required to give opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law and to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues.

Solution: B

Hattis Community

The demand for ‘tribal’ status for Himachal’s Trans-Giri and its Hatti community

The Hattis are a close-knit community that takes their name from their traditional occupation of selling home-grown crops, vegetables, meat, and wool at small-town markets known as ‘haats’. Hatti men traditionally don distinctive white headgear on ceremonial occasions.

Solution: D

Defence Minister recently launched Dunagiri (latest ship of 17A frigate)- Nilgiri Class. This is the fourth and latest ship in this class.

• It has been designed in-house by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND)
• The Shivalik class or Project 17 class is a class of multi-role stealth frigates in service with the Indian Navy. They are the first stealth warships built in India.
• P17A Frigates (Nilgiri Class ) are follow-on class of the P17 (Shivalik Class) Frigates with improved stealth features.

Solution: A

Earthquake waves are basically of two types — body waves and surface waves. Body waves are generated due to the release of energy at the focus and move in all directions travelling through the body of the earth.

There are two types of body waves. They are called P and S-waves. P-waves move faster and are the first to arrive at the surface.

The P-waves are similar to sound waves. They travel through gaseous, liquid and solid materials. S-waves arrive at the surface with some time lag. These are called secondary waves. An important fact about S-waves is that they can travel only through solid materials.

Solution: D

According to Wegener, all the continents formed a single continental mass in the beginning and later continents drifted to form the present day map.

Some of the evidences that supported continental drift were:

The shorelines of Africa and South America facing each other have a remarkable and unmistakable match. The match was tried at 1,000-
fathom line instead of the present shoreline. Thus, theses continents were together in the beginning and later drifted.

Tillite is the sedimentary rock formed out of deposits of glaciers. The Gondawana system of sediments from India is known to have its counterparts in six different landmasses of the Southern Hemisphere.

Overall resemblance of the Gondawana-type sediments clearly demonstrates that these landmasses had remarkably similar histories. The glacial tillite provides unambiguous evidence of palaeoclimates and also of drifting of continents.

The occurrence of rich placer deposits of gold in the Ghana coast and the absolute absence of source rock in the region is an amazing fact. The gold bearing veins are in Brazil and it is obvious that the gold deposits of the Ghana are derived from the Brazil plateau when the two continents lay side by side.

Solution: A

The Crust is the outermost solid part of the earth. It is brittle in nature. The thickness of the crust varies under the oceanic and continental areas. Oceanic crust is thinner as compared to the continental crust. The mean thickness of oceanic crust is 5 km whereas that of the continental is around 30 km.

The upper portion of the mantle is called asthenosphere. It is considered to be extending upto 400 km. It is the main source of magma that finds its way to the surface during volcanic eruptions.

The crust and the uppermost part of the mantle are called lithosphere. Its thickness ranges from 10-200 km.

Solution: D

When the moisture is deposited in the form of water droplets on cooler surfaces of solid objects, it is known as dew. The ideal conditions for its formation are clear sky, calm air, high relative humidity, and cold and long nights.
For the formation of dew, it is necessary that the dew point is above the freezing point.

Frost forms on cold surfaces when condensation takes place below freezing point (00C), i.e. the dew point is at or below the freezing point. The excess moisture is deposited in the form of minute ice crystals instead of water droplets.

Solution: B

Weathering processes are responsible for breaking down the rocks into smaller fragments and preparing the way for formation of not only regolith and soils, but also erosion and mass movements.

When rocks undergo weathering, some materials are removed through chemical or physical leaching by groundwater and thereby the concentration of remaining (valuable) materials increases. Thus, weathering of rocks and deposits helps in the enrichment and concentrations of certain valuable ores of iron, manganese, aluminum, copper etc.

Solution: D

Solution: A

West Bengal, a state located in eastern India, shares borders with five Indian states and two nation-states. Here is the list of the states and nation-states that share a border with West Bengal:

• Bihar (Indian state) to the northwest
• Jharkhand (Indian state) to the west
• Odisha (Indian state) to the southwest
• Sikkim (Indian state) to the north
• Assam (Indian state) to the northeast
• Bangladesh (nation-state) to the east
• Bhutan (nation-state) to the north.

Solution: B

Cities and Rivers

Solution: D

Solution: C

Ans. D.

The first statement is wrong as not everyone is equally impacted by the changes brought about by the great acceleration as seen by the inequality around. Statement 2 is wrong as the passage states that our efforts have only managed to make losses manageable. Hence D

Ans. A.

The passage talks about the changes made by great acceleration, the impacts caused by it and how our efforts to be on top of such changes have failed. Thus a summarizes the inference most aptly. B is only a partial coverage of the points talked about in the passage, and C is non the most crucial inference, in fact it is not even a suggestion made in the passage.

Ans. A.

Great Acceleration refers to the Anthropocene era where human beings have brought about massive changes in the environment. Hence A.

Answer: Option C)

Explanation:

The fig. (X) is similar to the Form VI. So, when a cube is formed by folding the sheet shown in fig. (X), then  is one of the faces of the cube. However, the cube in fig. (1) has two such faces and fig. (4) has a face which is completely shaded. So, these two cubes cannot be formed. Hence, only the cubes in figures (2) and (3) can be formed.

Answer: Option D) 6

Explanation:

The given figure is similar to Form V. Therefore, when this figure is folded to form a cube then the face bearing six dots will lie opposite the face bearing three dots.