[MISSION 2024] RTM(Revision through MCQs)- 23 February 2024

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Context: The Supreme Court of India declared (in Selina John’s case) rules penalizing women employees for getting married as unconstitutional, citing gender discrimination and inequality.
• The Global Gender Gap Report is an index designed to measure gender equality. It was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/02/23/sc-decision-on-gender-discrimination/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Statement 3 is incorrect.
• Context: The Delhi High Court upheld alterations to Adoption Rules under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, clarifying that the right to adopt children is not a fundamental right.
• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is a statutory body of the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India. It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions. CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003.
• CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/02/23/right-to-adopt-a-child/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• The Shompen are an indigenous group of people who live on Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They are hunter-gatherers who hunt wild game, forage for fruits and forest foods, and farm yams, roots, vegetables, and tobacco.
• The Shompen are one of the most populated tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with around 200–300 people living mainly on Great Nicobar Island. They were first contacted in the 1840s and are designated as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG)
• There are six main tribes in the Andaman Islands: the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, Sentinelese, Shompens, and Nicobarese

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/02/23/shompen-tribe/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Context: ISRO has achieved a significant milestone in its Gaganyaan mission by completing the human rating of its CE20 cryogenic engine, which powers the cryogenic stage of the human-rated LVM3 launch vehicle.
• The CE-20 is a cryogenic rocket engine developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, a subsidiary of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is the first Indian cryogenic engine to have a gas-generator cycle.
• The CE-20 uses a combination of LOX and LH2 propellants in a gas generator cycle.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/02/23/ce20-cryogenic-engine/

Ans: (c )

Explanation:

• A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct control. Broadly, foreign direct investment includes “mergers and acquisitions, building new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations, and intra company loans”. FDI is the sum of equity capital, long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments.
• FDI is largely a matter of commercial business decisions and FDI inflow depends on a host of factors such as availability of natural resource, market size, infrastructure, political and general investment climate as well as macro-economic stability and investment decision of foreign investors.
• Non-Resident external deposits are a ‘debt creating’ flow in balance of payments accounts and therefore, not part of Foreign Direct investments.
  • Non-Resident External (NRE) account is a rupee denominated account opened by an NRI to facilitate deposit of foreign currency earnings.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/02/23/100-fdi-in-the-space-sector/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• As per the data for the period 1953-2021 maintained by Central Water Commission (CWC), the average annual area affected in the country due to floods is 7.4 million hectares (mha), average annual human lives lost are 1,671 and the average annual damage due to floods including crops, houses and public utilities is worth about Rs. 17,564 crore.
• In order to protect human life, land and property from flood fury in the country, State Governments undertake flood management works. The Government of India supplements the efforts of the State Governments by providing technical guidance and financial assistance through Flood Management & Border Area Programme (FMBAP).
• The scheme has two components.
  • Under the Flood Management Component (FMP) component of FMBAP, central assistance is provided to State Governments for taking up works related to flood control, anti-erosion, drainage development, anti-sea erosion, restoration of damaged flood management works, etc. Expenditure on these schemes are shared between Union Government and State Government on a certain funding pattern approved by Cabinet.
  • Under River Management and Border Areas(RMBA) component of FMBAP, hydrological observations and flood forecasting on common border rivers with neighboring countries, investigation of water resources projects in neighboring countries, pre-construction activities for water resources projects on common border rivers, and activities of Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC) are taken up with 100% central assistance.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/02/23/flood-management-and-border-areas-programme-fmbap-2/

Ans: (a)

Explanation;

• Context: India’s longest rail tunnel T-50, part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), was inaugurated in Jammu and Kashmir.
• The tunnel, named T-50, spans 12.77 km and is considered one of the most challenging aspects of the project. Additionally, construction progress is being made on the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel project in Uttarkashi, with safety measures in place to mitigate risks and ensure worker safety.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/02/23/t-50-jk/

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Carbofuran is one of the most toxic carbamate pesticides. It is marketed under the trade names Furadan, by FMC Corporation and Curater, among several others. It is used to control insects in a wide variety of field crops, including potatoes, corn and soybeans.
• Excerpts from a news report:
  • “CARDAMOM Planters Marketing Co-operative Society in Kerala has appealed to the high court to suspend the ban on the use of extremely toxic and highly toxic pesticides.
  • To promote organic farming in Kerala, the state agriculture department had ordered a ban on the use of these two categories of pesticides on May 7. The order was to be implemented within 10 days.
  • During this period the Kerala Agriculture University was asked to provide alternatives to the banned pesticides, which include carbofuran, phorate, methyl parathion, monocrotophos, methyl demethon, prophenophos and triazophos. The university suggested less hazardous pesticides, like acephate, carbaryl, dimethoate and flubendiamide.”

Refer: UPSC CSE 2019

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• 1, 2 and 4 are correctly paired.
• S3: Mandakini originates from the Chorabari Glacier near Kedarnath in Uttarakhand, India. Mandakini is fed by Vasukiganga River at Sonprayag.
• S5: The Manas river system as a whole in Bhutan constitutes a length of 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi), the main stem of the river is the Manas or Gongri river, which originates in the West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh in India. Zemu is located in Sikkim.

Refer: UPSC CSE 2019

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• 1, 3 and 4 are correctly matched.
• The countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia.
• Please verify the rest with the maps.

Refer: UPSC CSE 2019