[MISSION 2024] RTM(Revision through MCQs)- 13 October 2023

Ans: (c )

Explanation:

• The Union Cabinet has cleared a ₹17,490-crore National Green Hydrogen (NGH) mission that aims to facilitate the production of hydrogen from renewable energy. Hydrogen is an essential industrial fuel that has a range of uses from producing ammonia, making steel and cement, to powering fuel cells that can run buses and cars. However, the cheapest way to manufacture this is to rely on fossil fuel such as coal and natural gas and this produces carbon emissions. The concerns over global warming and the gradual but steady embrace of alternative fuels have stoked the world’s interest in producing hydrogen from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy.
• The NGH mission aims to create an enabling environment for the Indian industry to develop the infrastructure to produce and transport green hydrogen from certain nerve centres to production hubs where they can be used in various industrial applications. The NGH mission has committed to finance — the details are not yet available — the manufacturing of electrolysers, which use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
• Green hydrogen, because of the entailed expenses, currently accounts for less than 1% of global hydrogen production and India’s aim is to become a global, industrial hub and exporter of such hydrogen.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/biohydrogen-and-indias-green-hydrogen-pathway/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• 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.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/biohydrogen-and-indias-green-hydrogen-pathway/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• In 9000 BC began an intermediate stage in Stone-Age culture, which is called the Mesolithic age. It intervened as a transitional phase between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic or New Stone ages. The Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing, and food gathering; at a later stage they also domesticated animals.
• The first three occupations continued the Palaeolithic practice, whereas the last developed in the Neolithic culture. Thus, the Mesolithic age marked a transitional phase in the mode of subsistence leading to animal husbandry. The characteristic tools of the Mesolithic age are microliths or tiny tools. Mesolithic sites abound in Rajasthan, southern UP, central and eastern India, and also south of the river Krishna. Of them, Bagor in Rajasthan is very well excavated. It had a distinctive microlithic industry, and its inhabitants subsisted on hunting and pastoralism. The site remained occupied for 5000 years from the fifth millennium BC onwards. Adamgarh in MP and Bagor in Rajasthan provide the earliest evidence for the domestication of animals in the Indian part of the subcontinent; this could be around 5000 BC.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/mesolithic-rock-art-find-adds-to-hyderabads-history/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Hunting-gathering pattern of life was prevalent since Old stone age to Mesolithic and Neolithic.
• However, there seems to have been a shift from big animal hunting to small animal hunting and fishing. This is how bows and arrows were used in this period.
• Domestication of animals, horticulture and primitive cultivation started during the Mesolithic period itself.
• However, during the Neolithic period, domestication of sheep, goats and cattle was widely prevalent. Cattle were used for cultivation and for transport.
• During the Neolithic age, wheels were used to make pottery. Pottery was used for cooking as well as storage of food grains.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/mesolithic-rock-art-find-adds-to-hyderabads-history/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• S1: Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 empowered central to reserve any mine for the particular end-use. These were the captive mines.Now, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2021 removed the distinction. Now captive mines will also be able to sell their stock.
• S2: District Mineral Foundation (“DMF”) was first bought into the picture in 2015, by way of the Mine and Minerals Development Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2015 (“2015 Amendment Act”). DMF is a non-profit body established to work for the interest and benefit of persons and areas affected by mining or mining-related operations. Vide, the said amendment, the State Governments were vested with the responsibility of setting up DMFs in every mining district of the respective States and to prescribe the composition and functioning of DMFs including utilization of the funds.The new Amendment Act, 2021 now empowers the Central Government to direct the utilization of the DMF’s.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/royalty-rates-for-three-critical-and-strategic-minerals/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• All other statements apart from 2 are wrong.
• District Mineral Foundation (“DMF”) was first bought into the picture in 2015, by way of the Mine and Minerals Development Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2015 (“2015 Amendment Act”). DMF is a non-profit body established to work for the interest and benefit of persons and areas affected by mining or mining-related operations. Vide, the said amendment, the State Governments were vested with the responsibility of setting up DMFs in every mining district of the respective States and to prescribe the composition and functioning of DMFs including utilization of the funds.The new Amendment Act, 2021 now empowers the Central Government to direct the utilization of the DMF’s.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/royalty-rates-for-three-critical-and-strategic-minerals/

Ans: (c )

Explanation:

• The United Nations Human Rights Council is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The headquarters of the Council are at the United Nations Office at Geneva in Switzerland

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/un-general-assembly-elects-15-new-members-to-the-human-rights-council/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) (HQ: Patancheru, Hyderabad; founded 1972 with support from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations) is an international organization that conducts agricultural research for rural development.
• It has regional centres in Mali and Kenya, along with research stations in several African countries. ICRISAT operates under the charters of the FAO and UNDP. It holds a special status as a UN organization in India, granting it certain immunities and tax privileges.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/icrisat-joins-one-cgiar-initiative/

Ans: (b )

Explanation:

• The Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) is an ungulate that is endemic to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western and Eastern Ghats in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in southern India.
• It is the state animal of Tamil Nadu.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/project-nilgiri-tahr/

Ans: (d)

• Geographically, the North Sea lies between England and Scotland on its west, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France on its south, and Norway, Denmark, and Germany on its East.
• Why is the North Sea important?
  • Almost the entire seabed of the North Sea is a continental shelf (depth of only about 200 meters). The geological formations beneath the North Sea, such as porous rocks and structural traps, provide suitable environments for the collection of oil and gas reserves.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2023/10/13/uks-rosebank-oil-field/