UPSC Current Affairs Quiz : 11 April 2024

Ans: (a)

Explanation:

• Context: India’s declining fertility rate, recently projected by The Lancet, suggests a demographic transition with potential economic benefits.
• The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is a measure used in demography to quantify the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her childbearing years. Option A accurately describes this concept, highlighting that TFR is a projection based on current birth rates across different age groups of women. Option B describes the Crude Birth Rate, which is the number of live births per 1,000 people in a population within a specific timeframe. Option C describes the Birth Rate, which is different from TFR. Option D describes the concept of Mean Age at Childbearing, not TFR. Therefore, option A is the correct answer.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/indias-declining-fertility-rate-opportunities-and-challenges-ahead/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Context: The United Nations Security Council president has referred the Palestinian Authority’s application for full UN membership to the committee on new member admissions.
• The correct statement is B. The process to become a UN member involves several steps. Firstly, a country must submit an application to the Security Council, which then reviews the application and makes a recommendation to the General Assembly. The General Assembly then votes on the admission of the country, requiring a two-thirds majority for approval. This process ensures that the decision to admit a new member is made by the collective will of existing member states.

Refer:https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/palestinian-membership-application-referred-to-un-committee/

Ans: (a)

Explanation: United Nations Security Council (UNSC):

• The Security Council was established by the UN Charter in 1945.
• It is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
• Its primary responsibility is to work to maintain international peace and security.
• The council is headquartered in New York.
• The council has 15 members:
  • Five (5) permanent members
  • Ten (10) non-permanent members elected for two-year terms
• Each year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members (out of ten in total) for a two-year term.
• The ten non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis.
• The council’s presidency is a capacity that rotates every month among its 15 members.
• Permanent members: United States, the Russian Federation, France, China and the United Kingdom

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/palestinian-membership-application-referred-to-un-committee/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Context: Banks in India are facing challenges in attracting deposits during the financial year 2023-24.
• The credit-deposit ratio is a financial metric used to assess the relationship between a bank’s lending activities (credit) and its deposit base.
  • It is calculated by dividing the total loans extended by the bank by its total deposits. The ratio indicates how much of a bank’s deposits are being used to provide loans.
  • A higher credit-deposit ratio suggests that a larger portion of the deposits is being lent out as credit, while a lower ratio indicates that more deposits are being held in reserve or invested in other assets.
  • It is an important measure of a bank’s liquidity and lending capacity.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/credit-deposit-ratio/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• None of the statements given above are correct.
• Context: Researchers at the University of Kerala have developed an eco-friendly fuel cell that primarily utilizes air and seawater to generate power.
• The Magnesium-Copper / Cupric Oxide Fuel Cell is an eco-friendly technology developed to generate power primarily using air and seawater.
• This innovative fuel cell produces electricity and heat during operation while emitting water, making it environmentally clean.
• It employs cupric oxide grown over a copper substrate in a magnesium-sodium chloride-based system.
• Compared to traditional fuel cells, it offers cost-effectiveness by utilizing semiconductor material instead of platinum for air cathode systems.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/air-breathing-magnesium-copper-cupric-oxide-fuel-cell/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Context: Peter Higgs, the physicist credited with theorizing the Higgs boson particle, has passed away at 94.
• Neutrinos and photons are the only elementary particles that don’t interact with the Higgs field. The process by which neutrinos acquire mass is different. It’s not known if neutrinos have a non-zero mass, it’s believed they are massless
• Elementary particles, including electrons, quarks and bosons, do interact and have a variety of masses. This mass-giving interaction with the Higgs field is known as the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism, proposed by theorists Robert Brout, François Englert and Peter Higgs.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/peter-higgs-higgs-theory/

Ans: (c)

Explanation:

• Option A: Neutrons are electrically neutral particles found within the nucleus of an atom. They do not possess a charge.
• Option B: Protons are positively charged particles found within the nucleus of an atom. They carry a charge opposite to electrons.
• Option C: Electrons are negatively charged particles that orbit the nucleus in specific energy levels, rather than fixed paths, according to the quantum mechanical model. They have a much smaller mass compared to protons and neutrons, hence their mass can be considered negligible.
• Option D: Quarks are indeed fundamental particles, but they are the building blocks of protons, neutrons, and other hadrons, not electrons. Electrons are considered elementary particles and are not composed of quarks.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/peter-higgs-higgs-theory/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• None of the above statements are correct.
• Context: The C-Dome is the naval version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
  • It was deployed for the first time as a response to a “hostile aircraft” entering Israeli airspace near Eilat.
  • Similar to the Iron Dome, which intercepts rockets fired from Gaza, the C-Dome uses radar to detect incoming threats and destroys them with its own missiles.
  • Unlike the Iron Dome, the C-Dome is mounted on ships and integrated into the ship’s radar It provides full-circular protection against maritime and coastal threats.
  • The system was tested on Sa’ar 6-class corvettes, German-made warships used by the Israeli Navy, and was declared operational in November 2022.
  • The C-Dome employs TAMIR interceptors, a modular Vertical-Launch Unit (VLU), and a Command & Control (C2) component to detect and track threats at sea.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/c-dome-defence-system/

Ans: (b)

Explanation:

• Context: A drone attack damaged the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, with three hits on the main reactor containment.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the damage but stated that nuclear safety remains intact.
• Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, is located in southeast Ukraine, on the banks of the Dnipro or Dnieper River (which drains into the Black Sea). It is currently under the control of the Russian forces.
• The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine faces several risks to its safety and operation. The plant has VVER-1000 reactors and incorporates safety enhancements implemented after the Chornobyl and Fukushima accidents.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-ukraine/

Ans: (d)

Explanation:

• The Dnieper rises at an elevation of about 720 feet (220 metres) in a small peat bog on the southern slope of the Valdai Hills of Russia, about 150 miles (240 km) west of Moscow, and flows in a generally southerly direction through western Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to the Black Sea.
• While the Dnieper River is one of the longest rivers in Europe, it is not the longest. The Volga River holds the title of the longest river in Europe.

Refer: https://www.insightsonindia.com/2024/04/10/zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-plant-ukraine/