UPSC Weekly Current Affairs Quiz | February 25 to March 02, 2024Subscriber Only

UPSC Weekly Quiz is a current affairs-based quiz on relevant topics from the past week, curated for the aspirants of competitive examinations. Attempt the weekly quiz every Saturday and find answers to the MCQs with explanations at the end of the article.

With reference to the Hydrogen fuel cell vessels, consider the following statements:

1. These vessels use conventional batteries as the primary storage house of electrical energy.

2. The hydrogen fuel cell-powered vessel has zero emission, zero noise and is energy-efficient.

3. It generates electricity by utilising the chemical energy contained in hydrogen.

4. India’s first indigenously developed hydrogen fuel cell ferry was deployed for service at Allahabad.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(d) All four

With reference to the Indian leopards, consider the following statements:

1. They are apex predators and are crucial in maintaining a balanced ecosystem.

2. Western Ghats has the highest population of leopards.

3. Maharashtra has the largest population of leopards.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(d) None

Which of the following organisations has introduced the “From Farm to Fork” strategy in order to overhaul the agriculture sector?

(a) European Union

(b) African Union

(d) Food and Agriculture Organization

With reference to the context windows, consider the following statements:

1. It is the amount of conversation that an AI can read and write at any given time.

2. They are measured in tokens.

Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

With reference to the Genome India project, consider the following statements:

1. It aims to create a comprehensive catalogue of genetic variations found in the Indian population.

2. It was approved by the government in 2020.

3. The Genome India initiative is essential for understanding the history of our evolution.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(d) None

Consider the following statements:

1. The number of candidates contesting the Lok Sabha polls has increased over four times from 1952 to 2019.

2. The average number of candidates per constituency has decreased from 1952 to 2019.

3. Bihar and Tamil Nadu saw a high representation of candidates from state parties.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(d) None

Consider the following statements about CV Raman:

1. Raman spectroscopy is a basic analytical tool to conduct nondestructive chemical analysis for both organic and inorganic compounds.

2. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, designated February 28 as National Science Day to commemorate the announcement of the discovery of the “Raman Effect”.

3. He won Nobel Prize in 1950.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(d) None

The place Port Louis was recently in the news. The place is located in:

(a) Australia

(b) Maldives

(d) Madagascar

This place has immense significance in Hindu culture due to its association with Lord Krishna and the Mahabharata. It is believed that after killing his uncle Kamsa, Krishna migrated to this place with his Yadava clan, and founded his kingdom here by reclaiming 12 yojana land from the sea. Present-day, this town is a coastal town located at the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch, facing the Arabian Sea. The town is a part of the Krishna pilgrimage circuit.

The above mentioned lines refer to which place:

(a) Porbandar

(b) Vadodara

(d) Dwarka

Consider the following:

1. Moldova

2. Bulgaria

3. Turkey

4. Greece

5. Georgia

Which of the above countries share borders with the Black Sea?

(a) Only two

(b) Only three

(d) All five

With reference to Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-2023, consider the following statements:

1. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation along with NITI Aayog has conducted Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) during August 2022 to July 2023.

2. The results showed that urban consumption spending rose more sharply than rural spending in 11 years till 2022-23, with a rise in share of expenditure on food for both rural and urban households.

Which of the above statement(s) is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

With reference to India Mauritius relations, consider the following statements:

1. Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated an airstrip and the St James Jetty on North Agaléga Island in the Indian Ocean which will also act as an Indian military base.

2. In pursuance of the vision of SAGAR, India will provide material and technical support to the maritime security apparatus of Mauritius, offer information exchange mechanisms, and conduct joint maritime security exercises and patrols, as mutually agreed.

3. The first team of Indian “technical personnel” reached the Mauritius to take charge of one of the three aviation platforms stationed in the country.

How many of the above statements are not correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(d) None

Falkor (too), recently seen in news, is most closely related to:

(a) Palaeosciences

(b) Oncology

(d) Manned space mission

Consider the following seven big cats which the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) aims to conserve:

1. Lion

2. Tiger

3. Leopard

4. Cheetah

5. Snow leopard

6. Jaguar

7. Puma

Which of the above mentioned cats are found in India?

(a) 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6

(b) 1, 2, 3 and 4

(d) 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

With reference to office of Lokpal, consider the following statements:

1. Former Supreme Court Justice AM Khanwilkar has been appointed as the chairperson of the Lokpal recently.

2. The Lokpal chairperson and the members are appointed for a term of five years or serve till they are 65 years old, whichever is earlier.

3. The first Lokpal chairperson was former Jharkhand HC Chief Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty.

4. The chairperson is appointed by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, the Speaker of the house, the Chief Justice of India and one “eminent jurist” nominated by the President.

How many of the above statements are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(d) All four

FYI:

— Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually launched India’s first indigenously developed hydrogen fuel cell ferry.

— The vessel, manufactured by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), will be deployed for service at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Hence, statement 4 is not correct.

— The Hydrogen fuel cell vessel is a 24-meter-long catamaran, which can carry 50 people in its air-conditioned passenger area. The accommodation area has been constructed with high-quality fiberglass reinforced plastic, similar to metro train coaches.

— Hydrogen fuel cell vessels do not use conventional batteries as the primary storage house of electrical energy. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

— The vessels run on hydrogen fuel, which is stored in cylinders. This boat has five hydrogen cylinders that can carry 40kg of hydrogen and support eight hours of operations. The vessel is also fitted with a 3-kW solar panel.

— The hydrogen fuel cell-powered vessel has zero emission, zero noise and is energy-efficient, which makes it more environment-friendly. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

— A hydrogen fuel cell generates electricity by utilising the chemical energy contained in hydrogen. It releases only pure water, not discharging pollutants. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— The ‘Status of Leopards in India, 2022’ report estimates that there are 13,874 leopards in India, up from 12,852 in 2018.

— Indian leopards (Panthera pardus fusca) are distributed across a variety of forested habitats in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of Pakistan.

— They are apex predators, they sit at the top of the food chain, and thus play a crucial role in maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

— According to the recently released report, Central India and Eastern Ghats has the highest population of leopards (8,820), followed by the Western Ghats (3,596), and the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains (1,109). Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

— Statewise, Madhya Pradesh boasts of the largest population of leopards (3,907), followed by Maharashtra (1,985), Karnataka (1,879) and Tamil Nadu (1,070). Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

— The report showed that the Shivalik Hills and Gangetic Plains recorded a worrying 3.4% per annum decline, going down from 1,253 in 2018 to 1,109 in 2022.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— Even after months of farmer protests across Europe, policymakers have failed to appease their fury. Earlier this week, farmers protested at the Polish-German border, flung bottles at police in Brussels, and staged enormous rallies in Madrid.

— With soaring global temperatures, extreme weather events across the world are becoming more frequent and intense. Europe is no exception — in the past few decades, the continent has witnessed frequent and severe natural hazards like droughts, forest fires, heatwaves, storms and heavy rain.

— In 2020, the European Commission approved the European Green Deal which set an ambitious target of making the EU climate-neutral by 2050.

— The Green Deal introduced the “From Farm to Fork” strategy in order to overhaul the EU’s agriculture sector, which accounts for 11 per cent of EU’s total GHG emissions.

— Nitrous oxide (N2O), also known as laughing gas, is one of the major problems for the sector.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— The amount of conversation that an AI can read and write at any given time is called the context window. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

— They are measured in something called tokens. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

— During the OpenAI Dev Day in 2023, Sam Altman announced GPT-4 Turbo with a massive context window of 128K tokens, which translates to around 300 pages of a book.

— A rule of thumb is one token corresponds to approximately or equal to four characters of text from English.

— According to the definition by Google Deepmind researchers, context windows are crucial as they help AI models recall information during a session.

— It is context windows that help AI models or LLMs capture the contextual nuances of languages and it enables these models to understand and generate human-like responses.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— The government’s Genome India initiative announced the successful sequencing of 10,000 whole genomes of healthy persons from across the country, creating a genetic map of the population.

— The Genome India project was approved by the government in 2020 with the aim of creating a comprehensive catalogue of genetic variations found in the Indian population. Hence, statement 1 and statement 2 are correct.

— A map of genetic diversity is essential for understanding the history of our evolution, discovering the genetic basis for various diseases, and creating therapies of the future. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

— The human genome is essentially a biological instruction manual that we inherit from our parents. It is a tome written with just four letters, A,C,G, and T — the four bases that come together to create everyone’s unique genetic makeup.

— To sequence the genome, researchers first extract the information from the blood. With a complete sequence of 3 billion pairs being extremely hard to handle, scientists cut it up into small pieces and tag them — like you would when you disassemble furniture. The A,C, G, T code of these smaller chunks are written down by a DNA sequencer and then the complete sequence is put together.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— According to official data, the number of candidates competing Lok Sabha elections has increased by more than fourfold, from 1,874 in 1952 to 8,039 in 2019. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

— The average number of candidates per constituency has jumped from 4.67 to 14.8 in the same period, the data showed. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

— Telangana had the highest average number of candidates contesting. This is primarily due to 185 contestants from Nizamabad.

— Bihar (6 state parties) and Tamil Nadu (8 state parties) saw a high representation of candidates from state parties at 1.2 and 1.3 respectively. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

— Five states have more than 30 Parliamentary constituency seats: Uttar Pradesh (80), Maharashtra (48), West Bengal (42), Bihar (40), and Tamil Nadu (39). These states together have 249 seats i.e., 46 per cent of Lok Sabha.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— In 1986, the Government of India, under then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, designated February 28 as National Science Day to commemorate the announcement of the discovery of the “Raman Effect”. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

— This was the discovery which won physicist Sir CV Raman his Nobel Prize in 1930. Conducting a deceptively simple experiment, Raman discovered that when a stream of light passes through a liquid, a fraction of the light scattered by the liquid is of a different colour. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

— This happens due to the change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules.

— The discovery would also find its use in chemistry, giving birth to a new field known as Raman spectroscopy as a basic analytical tool to conduct nondestructive chemical analysis for both organic and inorganic compounds. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth of Mauritius jointly inaugurated an airstrip and a jetty that India has built on Agaléga, a two-island Mauritian dependency 1,100 km to the north of Port Louis and 2,500 km southwest of Malé.

— As Indian Ocean outposts, Mauritius and the Maldives have great strategic significance for India. New Delhi’s maritime security and strategic imperatives in the Indian Ocean are linked to the presence and increased activities of China in the region.

— India signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the “improvement in sea and air transportation facilities” at Agaléga island.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the pilgrimage town of Dwarka, in Gujarat’s Devbhoomi Dwarka district, to inaugurate several infrastructural projects, including the Sudarshan Setu.

— Sudarshan Setu is India’s longest cable-stayed project connecting Okha town with the island of Beyt Dwarka.

— He also went scuba diving off the Panchkui beach coast and performed underwater prayers at the site of what’s considered to be Dwarka Nagari – the mythological kingdom of Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata.

— Dwarka has immense significance in Hindu culture due to its association with Lord Krishna and the Mahabharata. It is believed that after killing his uncle Kamsa, Krishna migrated from Mathura to Dwarka with his Yadava clan, and founded his kingdom here by reclaiming 12 yojana land from the sea.

— Present-day Dwarka is a coastal town located at the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch, facing the Arabian Sea. The town is a part of the Krishna pilgrimage circuit, which includes Vrindavan, Mathura, Govardhan, Kurukshetra and Puri, and is home to the 13th-century Dwarkadheesh temple dedicated to Lord Krishna.

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer

FYI:

— Grain ships from the Black Sea or destined for Iran are about the only ones still going across the Red Sea, as Houthi militants continue to attack vessels in the vicinity.

— The attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis have disrupted global shipping since November and forced firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.

— The Black Sea is bounded by Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Tukey, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has conducted Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) during August 2022 to July 2023. NOT NITI Aayog. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

— The results showed that rural consumption spending rose more sharply than urban spending in 11 years till 2022-23, with a fall in share of expenditure on food for both rural and urban households. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— On Thursday (February 29), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth of Mauritius jointly inaugurated an airstrip and a jetty that India has built on Agaléga, a two-island Mauritian dependency 1,100 km to the north of Port Louis and 2,500 km southwest of Malé. Agaléga will not act as an Indian military base. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.

Will India assist Mauritius in enhancing its maritime security?

— Yes, if requested by Mauritius. India has never forced its security apparatus upon any country; all military and maritime cooperation with its partners has been through established mechanisms of political, diplomatic, and military dialogue.

— In pursuance of the vision of SAGAR, India will provide material and technical support to the maritime security apparatus of Mauritius, offer information exchange mechanisms, and conduct joint maritime security exercises and patrols, as mutually agreed. Hence, statement 2 is correct.

— Visits by Indian military assets and joint deployments, if considered, would be in consonance with diplomatic mechanisms.

— Earlier this week, the first team of Indian “technical personnel” reached the Maldives to take charge of one of the three aviation platforms stationed in the country. They will replace Indian military personnel whose first batch is required to leave the islands by March 10. Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Therefore, option (a) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— Scientists have discovered four underwater mountains — the tallest of which is more than 2.5 kilometres long — while travelling from Golfito in Costa Rica to Valparaiso in Chile on a research vessel, announced the Schmidt Ocean Institute.

— Scientists from the Schmidt Ocean have used the research vessels Falkor and Falkor (too) have mapped about 1.5 million square kilometres and discovered 29 underwater mountains, hills and trenches. The latest discovery was made using Falkor (too).

— This work is important because underwater trenches often host deep-sea coral reefs, sponges and anemones that live alongside organisms that find food, shelter and a rocky surface to cling to.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— The Union Cabinet Thursday formally announced the establishment of International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) with one-time budgetary support of Rs 150 crore from the central government until 2028.

— Briefing reporters on the Cabinet decisions, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said the secretariat of the IBCA will be located in India.

— The IBCA is an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2023 in Mysuru commemorating the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger.

— The objective of the IBCA is to ensure cooperation for the conservation of seven big cats: lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, snow leopard, jaguar, and puma. Five of these cats, apart from jaguar and puma, are found in India.

Therefore, option (c) is the correct answer.

FYI:

— Former Supreme Court Justice AM Khanwilkar has been appointed as the chairperson of the Lokpal recently. Hence, statement 1 is correct.

— The Lokpal chairperson and the members are appointed for a term of five years or serve till they are 70 years old, whichever is earlier. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.

— The first Lokpal chairperson was former Supreme Court Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, who had assumed office in March 2019.

— Since his retirement in May 2022, former Jharkhand HC Chief Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty has been the acting Lokpal chairperson. Hence, statement 3 is not correct.

— The chairperson is appointed by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, the Speaker of the house, the Chief Justice of India and one “eminent jurist” nominated by the President. Hence, statement 4 is correct.

Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.

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