CIVIL SERVICES PRELIMS, 2024 Model Questions (for GS Paper ) Set No. 20 {Prepared on 22 .5.2024 }

 

CIVIL SERVICES PRELIMS, 2024

Model Questions (for GS Paper )

Set No.  20    {Prepared on     22 .5.2024 }

 

Also useful for

TSPSC GROUP I  Prelims 2024

 

                                                                   For Study purpose

Prepared by :Praturi Potayya Sarma,MA(OU),LLB(OU),PGDIRPM

 

CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS

 

 

NOTE: IMPORTANT POINTS ARE PRINTED IN BOLD LETTERS

 

1)Consider the following Crypto exchanges :

Crypto exchanges often rely on smart contracts to run smoothly. A smart contract failure can cause platform outages, and exploitation of the codes could devalue the entire ecosystem. Programming languages help crypto platforms and protocols run effectively.

C++ is a programming language associated with Bitcoin. It is also one of the most used programming languages, playing a role in the development of operating systems, gaming devices and platforms, search engines, and even machine learning.

Rust has the unique distinction of being called the “perfect programming language” in 2021 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. However, developers have complained that Rust is too difficult to learn.

 

2)The crypto ecosystem sits on top of distributed ledgers, which are broadly called blockchains. Apart from recording and verifying transactions, some crypto blockchains like Ethereum let users launch agreements or special actions that execute on their own. These are known as smart contracts and to create them effectively, programming languages are a must

 

3)Some of the most valuable blockchain projects in the crypto industry don’t necessarily rely on the most popular programming languages. Cardano, for example, is a blockchain that takes pride in its academic rigour and scholarly approach to the crypto sector. Its smart contract programming language is based on Haskell. The Cardano Foundation itself admits that Haskell is not well-known, and that it is not a popular programming language for beginners. Haskell is classified as a purely functional programming language, and is hard to learn. But it is said to be well-suited to deliver accurate crypto projects due to its immutability feature.

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

2)Consider the following about Darjeeling Tea  :

 

1)Darjeeling Tea, called the ‘Champagne of Teas’, was the first Indian product to get the GI (Geographical Identification) tag in 2004 for its distinctive aroma and flavour.

2)About 87 gardens in Darjeeling which employ about 55,000 workers produce approximately 7 million kg of tea, most of which is exported.

3)According to insiders, over the past few months a lot of gardens in the hills have changed hands because the owners were reeling under higher costs of production and other issues. ITA chairperson Nayantara Palchoudhuri said the financial problems of the Darjeeling Tea industry were acute, and the Government’s help was needed.

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

3)Consider the following :

 

1)On September 27,2022, at 4:44 am IST, the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft collided with the space rock Dimorphos (just 160 metres wide).

 

2)NASA has confirmed that the collision of the auto-rickshaw sized 600 kilogram weighing DART, on the football stadium-sized Dimorphos, about five billion kilogram in mass (orbiting around the 780 metres wide primary asteroid Didymos), has deflected the trajectory of the pair of space rocks. This kinetic impact technique, which appears as the climax of Hollywood sci-fi movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon,is also known as the ‘kick’ method. It could one day save humanity from a potential cataclysmic collision by safely deflecting a killer asteroid on its course towards earth. It could also fuel space mining technologies and unleash the space economy in decades to come.

3)On September 27,2022  at 4:44 am IST, the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft collided with the space rock Dimorphos (just 160 metres wide). NASA has confirmed that the collision of the auto-rickshaw sized 600 kilogram weighing DART, on the football stadium-sized Dimorphos, about five billion kilogram in mass (orbiting around the 780 metres wide primary asteroid Didymos), has deflected the trajectory of the pair of space rocks.

 

4)The momentum of DART crashing at a breakneck speed of 23,760 kilometres per hour, is adequate to slash the angular momentum of Dimorphos, making it speed up and move closer to Didymos. All of these reduce the orbital period and the time taken for the moonlet to go around the primary asteroid. The pair’s trajectory is thus deflected as the net result of these dynamics.

 

5)While ostensibly the drive comes from the desire to protect earth from killer asteroids, the technique also carries the lure of space mining. If one can tug a mineral-rich asteroid near the Moon or establish a space mining factory between the orbits of earth and Mars, precious mineral resources needed for decades could be easily sourced. The ‘kick’ technique that deflects asteroids can then be used to move a small asteroid into a convenient position for space mining

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

4)Consider the following :

 

1)Department of Consumer Affairs issued guidelines to curtail fake and deceptive product and service reviews on e-commerce websites.

2)Work on the framework titled, ‘Online Consumer Reviews – Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication’, began in June, when a committee was set up comprising industry stakeholders and consumer organisations.

 

3)The standards were enforced on November 25 and apply to any platform which publishes consumer reviews online

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

5)Consider the following :

 

 

1)The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology raised several questions on implication on data privacy of citizens with vague definitions of “public interest” and “national security” in the draft Indian Telecommunication Act, 2022, at a meeting to discuss the draft law on Friday.

 

2)The members, according to sources, expressed concern about the draft law preceding the Data Privacy Bill, without providing the necessary safeguards.

“The draft law has serious loopholes that can be misused for infringing on privacy. Using ‘public interest/emergency’ and ‘national security’ as the reasons, overarching power is being vested with the administration without adequate oversight mechanism,” one of the panel members said.

 

3)The government had released the draft of The Indian Telecommunication Act, 2022, in September, wherein it proposes significant changes, including bringing over-the-top (OTT) platforms within the ambit of telecom services that require a licence to operate, and provisions for message interception in case of public emergency. The government has invited all stakeholders to share inputs by October 30.

 

4)The members also expressed reservation about the broadbase that the draft law intends to cover. Another member speaking  on condition of anonymity said, “It is usurping the powers of Information and Broadcasting Ministry by bringing OTT within their ambit. The TRAI will also be rendered infructuous since the Department of Telecom is seeking to absorb all its regulatory powers. This is a dangerous trend.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)Consider the following :

 

1)United States government officials announced  that a federal facility had achieved a significant milestone in nuclear fusion research. Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm said the feat puts us on the path to “zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society.”

2)Officials said the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), California, had conducted a fusion test on December 5 that produced 153% as much energy as went into triggering it.

3)The NIF uses powerful lasers to heat and compress hydrogen nuclei. When the nuclei fuse, they release heat. When this heat is equal to or greater than the heat delivered to the container, the event is called ignition. The ratio of the output energy to the input delivered to the container is the gain.

4)In 2021, the NIF reported that it had achieved a gain of 0.72. Now, it has reportedly achieved ignition with a gain of 1.53 with a yield of 3 megajoules. “The recent results from the NIF are a major achievement on the road to fusion energy,” Matthew Zepf, professor at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and a director of the Helmholtz Institute Jena, said.

5)Magnetic confinement and inertial confinement are two popular ways to achieve nuclear fusion. Magnetic confinement uses bespoke reactors in which a hydrogen plasma is heated to a high temperature and the nuclei are guided by strong magnetic fields to fuse. Its corresponding technology is considered to be more technologically mature than that of inertial confinement.

6)In the NIF’s setup, 192 high-power lasers fire pulses at a 2-mm-wide capsule inside a 1-cm-long cylinder called a hohlraum, in less than 10 billionths of a second. The capsule holds deuterium and tritium atoms. As the pulses strike the hohlraum’s insides, the latter heats up and releases X-rays, which heat the nuclei to millions of kelvin and compress them to billions of Earth-atmospheres.

7)The high temperature is required to energise the nuclei to overcome their mutual like-charges-repel repulsion. The technique is called inertial confinement because the nuclei’s inertia creates a short window between implosion and explosion in which nuclear forces dominate, fusing the nuclei.

8)When two hydrogen-2 nuclei fuse, they yield a helium-4 nucleus, a neutron and 17.6 MeV of energy according to the mass-energy equivalence

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

7)Consider the following  GM Mustard :

 

1)Welcoming the decision of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) to provide environmental clearance for genetically modified mustard, Ashok Kumar Singh, director, Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), said it will lead to finding a science-based solution for a major challenge — the import of edible oil. Dr. Singh said the clearance would also allow the development of more high-yielding hybrids in the sector.

 

 2)Dr. Singh said the environmental release of GM mustard would provide an opportunity for mustard breeders to develop diverse and high-yielding hybrids. He added that there was no need to go for the clearance of the Environment Ministry as the hybrid was environmentally released by the GEAC. “In BT cotton too, a similar process was followed. Now the responsibility is on the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) for testing the hybrid. Now, the hybrid can be commercially cultivated after producing large quantity of its seeds. In this season, as there are not much seeds available, the available male line and female line of the hybrid have to be multiplied. In the second season, we have to go for large quantity of hybrid seed production by crossing female with male. In the third season, it will be available for commercial cultivation,” Dr. Singh said.

 

3)The ICAR has an established system to coordinate research projects, known as the All India Coordinated Research Project, in which scientists test the hybrid and varieties developed by different institutions. “Now, the GEAC has given environmental clearance for Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH -11). Therefore, this hybrid can now be tested in the all-India coordinated trial of AICRP for its yield advantage. If it is found for higher yielding, then it will be released for commercial cultivation,” Dr. Singh said explaining the next process.

 

4)The most important aspect of the technology, Dr. Singh said, was that it had used barnase and bar genes system for creating diverse parent and the chances of yield enhancement was more. The Environment Ministry had earlier sought studies on the impact of the genes on soil microbes. “This data was there in the application and the GEAC accepted the data,” Dr. Singh said.

 

5)Regarding the effect of GM mustard on honey bees and other pollinators, Dr. Singh said,“Barnase and bar genes are protein and honey is basically sugar without any protein content. So the question of honey being affected by this does not arise. These genes are safe.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

8)Consider the following :

1)Srinivasa Ramanujan was ‘discovered’ twice in the 20th century.

 

2)The first was when English mathematician G.H. Hardy ‘discovered’ the genius mathematician in 1914; and the second was when Indian astronomers in India, led by R. Rajamohan, discovered an asteroid that was later named 4130 Ramanujan.

 

3)It was the first time in 104 years that asteroids were discovered from India. Their instrument, the 45-cm Schmidt telescope, was housed on the Javadi hills in Kavalur, Tamil Nadu.

 

4)This spot is today the Vainu Bappu Observatory and is run by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, and is among India's foremost observatories. It was chosen in the 1960s because it was an impressive 750 metres above sea level, located amid a forest and offered fairly unobstructed vistas of the night sky.

 

5)But this wasn’t ideal. Kavalur’s geography put it in the path of both monsoonal clouds, during June-September and the returning, or northeast, monsoon in November, forcing the observatory to often shut down for months. Rainclouds absorb starlight and radiation from cosmic objects, preventing them from being caught on the telescopes of cameras. So IIA scientists began their search in the early 1980s for a place least affected by the monsoon.

 

6)To be able to detect stars or traces of cosmic phenomena, such as supernovae or nebulae from light years away, astronomers must be able to catch the faintest slivers of their radiation that often lie outside the range of visible light. Such radiation is, however, easily absorbed by water vapour and so it helps to have a telescope high above ground where the atmosphere is drier. “A dry, high-altitude desert is in many ways the ideal location,” says Annapurni Subramaniam, Director of the IIA. “Such terrain is difficult and quite inaccessible. We commissioned several expeditions and teams to different parts of the Himalayas and finally Hanle, Ladakh was chosen

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

9)Consider the following :

 

1)A largely smooth double-lane highway from Leh, the capital of Ladakh, to Hanle cuts through a valley scooped out of the mountains of the Ladakh range and the teal-coloured Indus.

 

2)Army units and border check-posts punctuate the landscape that opens out into the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, where you can spot the occasional herd of the Tibetan wild ass and swarms of leaf warblers. As the road ascends, a smattering of hamlets, surrounded by pasture land, comes into view with herds of Changthangi sheep, the source of pashmina wool.

 

3)Situated at 14,000 ft above sea level and a little over 250 km southeast of Leh, Hanle is a village of about 320 houses and a population of about 1,500, according to Paljor Therchin, the sarpanch of Hanle.

 

4)Against the backdrop of a blue sky flecked with cottony clouds, two huge metallic capsules — one higher than the other — incongruously rise out of the hills. Next to them, satellite dishes, like ushers, point to the sky. From here, a tarred road spirals down about 900 ft to flat land where makeshift cabins and a small building serve as ancillaries to a giant, parabolic dish that is a complex of a thousand mirrors bathed white in sunlight, resting on criss-crossing steel frames of red and blue. Men, some perched, some dangling on the beams, weave out of the meshes of this honeycomb structure.

5)Facing this are what look like seven concrete cannons, one in the centre and six surrounding it. Each has seven mirrors that together resemble a robot-contingent of photographers training their apertures at some uncertain blink-and-you-will-miss cosmic event.

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

10)Consider the following about astro tourism :

 

1)For tourists visiting Ladakh, the itinerary is most likely to include the Pangong Lake in the State’s capital Leh, and for the more adventurous lot, an expedition to the Khardung La pass.

 

2)What many don’t know is that the region’s arid landscape, sparse population and therefore minimal artificial light also makes it a destination for stargazing.

 

3)And soon, India will have its first Dark Sky Reserve in Hanle, located about 250 kilometres from Leh. The initiative mooted by the Department of Science and Technology, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, is expected to give astro tourism in India a boost.

 

4)Globally, designated dark sky regions developed by tourism boards of different countries, in collaboration with astronomers and local communities, are equipped with facilities to aid astro tourism. Since stargazing requires driving to remote locations at night, tourists look for accommodation facilities and this, in turn, can spell revenue for local tourism. 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

11)Consider the following heat waves  :

 

 

1)A heatwave is a period of unusually hot weather with above normal temperatures that typically last three or more days.

 

2)In India, heatwaves are generally experienced during March-June. On an average, two-three heatwave events are expected every season.

 

3)Heatwaves are predominantly observed over two areas, central and northwest India and another over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, supported by favourable atmospheric conditions.

 

4)Total duration of heatwaves has increased by about three days during the last 30 years and a further increase of 12-18 days is expected by 2060. In future climate, heatwaves will be spread to new areas including southern parts of India. Climate change is causing heatwaves more frequently, and they are much stronger and can last for more days.

 

5)Heatwaves have multiple and cascading impact on human health, ecosystems, agriculture, energy, water and economy.

 

6)The recent 2022 heatwave in India and Pakistan in March-April made devastating impacts. It is estimated to have led at least 90 deaths across India and Pakistan. It also triggered an extreme Glacial Lake Outburst Flood in northern Pakistan.

 

7)Adaptation to heatwaves can be effective to minimise the negative impacts, by developing a comprehensive heat response plan that includes early warnings, awareness rising and technology intervention.

 

8)India has now a strong national framework for heat action plans involving the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National and State disaster management authorities, and local bodies. Early warning systems are an integral part of this heat action plan.

 

 

9)Research helped us to improve our understanding on the underlying mechanism of its genesis and intensity. Heatwaves are caused by large scale atmospheric circulation anomalies like high pressure areas, upper-tropospheric, jet streams, etc.

 

10)The global forcing like the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean modulate the frequency and duration of Indian heatwaves. Heatwave can be further accentuated by local effects like depleted soil moisture and enhanced sensible heat flux.

 

11)Under the National Monsoon Mission, the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) had established an advanced prediction system for early warnings of heatwaves. IMD has the capability to predict the genesis, duration and intensity of heatwave events with reasonable accuracy up to four-five days in advance.

 

12)Can we then predict heatwaves two weeks in advance and what about a season in advance

A recent study published in the Scientific Reports by the scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, has shown that heatwave genesis and duration in India can be predicted with good skill up to two weeks in advance.

They have used the hindcasts from the MoES Extended Range Prediction System (ERPS) that uses ensemble method combining four atmospheric general circulation models.

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

12)Consider the following Lumpy Skin Disease  :

 

1)Lumpy skin disease is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), which belongs to the genus capripoxvirus, a part of the poxviridae family (smallpox and monkeypox viruses are also a part of the same family).

 

2)The LSDV shares antigenic similarities with the sheeppox virus (SPPV) and the goatpox virus (GTPV) or is similar in the immune response to those viruses. It is not a zoonotic virus, meaning the disease cannot spread to humans.

 

3)It is a contagious vector-borne disease spread by vectors like mosquitoes, some biting flies, and ticks and usually affects host animals like cows and water buffaloes. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), infected animals shed the virus through oral and nasal secretions which may contaminate common feeding and water troughs. Thus, the disease can either spread through direct contact with the vectors or through contaminated fodder and water. Studies have also shown that it can spread through animal semen during artificial insemination.

 

4)LSD affects the lymph nodes of the infected animal, causing the nodes to enlarge and appear like lumps on the skin, which is where it derives its name from. The cutaneous nodules, 2–5 cm in diameter, appear on the infected cattle’s head, neck, limbs, udder, genitalia, and perineum. The nodules may later turn into ulcers and eventually develop scabs over the skin. The other symptoms include high fever, sharp drop in milk yield, discharge from the eyes and nose, salivation, loss of appetite, depression, damaged hides, emaciation (thinness or weakness) of animals, infertility and abortions.

 

5)The incubation period or the time between infection and symptoms is about 28 days according to the FAO, and 4 to 14 days according to some other estimates.

The morbidity of the disease varies between two to 45% and mortality or rate of date is less than 10%, however, the reported mortality of the current outbreak in India is up to 15%, particularly in cases being reported in the western part (Rajasthan) of the country.

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

13)Consider the following Mastodon :

 

1)Founded by developer Eugen Rochko, Mastodon was released in 2016. The social media platform’s main appeal was that it was decentralised, open source, and represented a vision of what its founder wanted Twitter to be. Rather than being controlled by a CEO or a centralised moderation team, Mastodon users pick “servers” which host their data and let them access the same platform.

 

2)Servers are organised by general or specific topics, including “LGBTQ+,” and “Activism”.

 

3)Some are open to join while others require users to get on a waitlist. Anyone can submit a server for consideration, as long as it is in the ambit of Mastodon’s rules.

 

4)The platform is ad-free and has its timeline arranged in chronological order, rather than relying on an algorithm like Twitter did

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

14)Consider the following  MRCV :

 

1)One of the biggest fallouts of the pandemic globally has been the low routine immunisation coverage of children.

2)Asper WHO data of November 23, 2022,nearly 40 million children globally had missed a measles vaccine doselast year. As a result,there were an estimated nine million measles cases and 1,28,000 deathsin 2021.

3)The ongoing measles outbreak in Mumbai is a reflection of the lower immunisation coverage due to disruption in vaccination services and hesitancy by parents to get their children vaccinated.As of November 24, there have been 233 measles infections and 13 deaths in Mumbai.As per recent data,538 confirmed measles cases have been reported in Maharashtra this year, as of October. There have also been increased number of measles cases in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Kerala.

4)“It is clear that in all such geographies, the effected children are unvaccinated and the average coverage of MRCV [Measles and Rubella containing vaccine] among the eligible beneficiaries is also significantly below the national average,” Health Ministry said in a letter dated November 23. Evidence from elsewhere suggests that unvaccinated children have nearly 70% higher mortality risk compared with vaccinated children.

5)Ironically, even in 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic was at the peak in India, measles vaccination coverage in Mumbai was 78%, while in 2022 (till October) when the pandemic has largely been on low burn after the third wave, measles vaccination coverage in the city has been just 41.9%, as per Maharashtra health officials.

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

15)Consider the following  Medical Colleges in India :

 

1)The average annual growth of medical colleges in India from 2011-12 to 2021-22 stands at 5.9% — the highest in the last five decades, shows data from the Health Ministry.

 

2)According to the data, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh (in 2021-22) have the highest share of both public and private undergraduate (UG) medical colleges followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra.

 

3)Between 2011-12 and 2021-22, the number of government MBBS seats in the country jumped by 155%, superseding private medical seats which grew by 97%. The data also indicates that the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada and Germany remained the top five countries with the highest number of Indian origin doctors.

 

4)“The number of medical seats at UG level increased from 41,569 in 2011-12 to 91,927 in 2021-22, which is a 121% increase,’’ noted an analysis report on the data by KPMG for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), which was released recently.

 

5)It added that in the last decade, government medical colleges had more than doubled from 154 to 321 and private colleges grew by 61% from 181 in 2011-12 to 291 in 2021-22.

6)In 2021-22, Tamil Nadu (11.4%) and Uttar Pradesh (10.9%) had the highest share of both public and private UG medical colleges followed by Karnataka (10.3%) and Maharashtra (10.1%).

 

7)In terms of addition of private MBBS seats between 2017-22 — the maximum increase was in Tamil Nadu (4,110 seats), Karnataka (3,004 seats), Maharashtra (2,775 seats), Gujarat (2,170 seats), Telangana (1,900 seats) and Bihar (1,525 seats).

The report further pointed to the fact that despite the government sector being able to provide education for more than 60% of doctors, 50% of nurses/midwives were employed in the private sector, with public facilities in different States reporting high level of vacancies against the sanctioned posts.

While the rural population was about 66% of India’s total health workforce, only 33% was available in rural areas.

8)The country also witnessed a 74% growth in postgraduate (PG) seats and 81% growth of Diplomate of the National Board (DNB) seats between 2017-22, across government and private medical colleges.

The data analysis further states that the disparity in the availability of doctors across various States would grow if remedial measures were not put in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

16)Consider the following  monoclonal antibodies :

1)The discovery of monoclonal antibodies have come a long way since they were first made using the hybridoma technology in 1975. Now more cutting-edge platforms are available that can clone and express antibody genes from the cells that make the antibodies (B cells) in a high-throughput manner and are in use both for basic research and translational purpose. 

 

2)Very recently labs in India started to establish these human monoclonal antibody platforms to tackle public health concerns specific to India

 

3)One of the parameters that govern what an antibody is like is its genetic makeup; the human body is capable of making almost infinite combinations of antibodies. Our clone has a unique and rare genetic make up — so perhaps while everyone has taken the same approach of mining for antibodies that bind to the RBD, and also neutralise the virus, we have mined for a monoclonal antibody that is rare, broadly and potently neutralising

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

17)Consider the following :

1)Monsoon in India has undergone several changes over the years, especially on account of climate change. A shift in the track of monsoon systems, like low pressure and depression travelling south of their position and flash floods are a result of this change. And these changes spell intense and frequent extreme unprecedented weather events over the places which once struggled to record even normal monsoon rains. With this looming threat having a bearing on food security, it is only a matter of time before it has socio-economic impact.

 

2)“It has been very complex to understand the rainfall variability and how monsoon patterns have been behaving of late, especially this year. The problem is that it is very challenging for us to understand the situation, which calls for a lot more research.

 

3)Persistence of intense La Nina conditions, the abnormal warming of East Indian Ocean, negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), southward movement of most of the monsoon depressions and lows and pre-monsoon heating over the Himalayan region are melting glaciers. This is a very complex mix,” said Dr. R. Krishnan, Executive Director, Centre for Climate Change Research, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).

 

4)The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has clearly sighted that 2022 has seen the second highest extreme events since 1902. An alarming case as incidents of floods and droughts have increased, there is more evidence coming our way on how global warming has been impacting the Indian monsoon.

 

5)“There is no doubt about the fact that most of the monsoon weather systems have been travelling across central parts of the country, changing the area of rainfall. Climate change is definitely behind these changes and thus, it calls for more research on the changes in the behavioural pattern of these systems,” said G.P. Sharma, President, Meteorology and Climate Change, Skymet Weather

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

18)Consider the following :

 

1)While China does not share its COVID-19 variant data, numbers from select countries show that newer Omicron sub-variants have emerged in recent months. While BA.5 continues to dominate in most nations, newer sub-variants such as BA 2.75, BQ.1, and XBB are fast catching up .

 

2)In India, the XBB variant formed 53% of sequenced cases sent for analysis as of November 7, 2022

3)With daily cases zooming past the 25,000-mark and with a few COVID-19-related deaths in Beijing, alarm bells are ringing in China. Only a few weeks ago, the ruling Communist Party of China promised to reduce disruptions caused by its ‘zero-COVID’ policy, which calls for mass testing, lockdowns and quarantining of close contacts to eliminate outbreaks in the shortest possible time. But the latest wave of cases is prompting major cities, including the capital, to close off populous districts, shut stores and offices, and order factories to isolate their workforce from outside contact. This has fuelled fear that a downturn in Chinese business activity might hurt the already weak global trade.

4)China’s infection numbers are lower than those of the U.S. and other major countries. But the ruling party is sticking to zero-COVID, even as other governments are increasingly relaxing travel and other controls in an attempt to live with the virus. On Tuesday, China reported 28,127 new cases, discovered in the previous 24 hours, including 25,902 cases with no symptoms. Almost one-third of the cases (9,022) were found in the Guangdong province, adjacent to Hong Kong

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

19)Consider the following :

 

1)SARS-CoV-2 also has the potential to recombine, and a number of recombinant lineages have been observed during the pandemic.

2)The PANGO network, an open and global consortium of researchers, provides a system for naming different lineages of SARS-CoV-2 and as of date, 49 recombinant lineages of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected and assigned a lineage name.

 

3)Recombinant lineage names start with the letter ‘X’, followed by letters that indicate the order of their detection.

 

4)XA, a recombinant lineage between B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.177 lineages of the virus, was the first recombinant lineage of SARS-CoV-2 and was detected in the United Kingdom in early 2021.

 

5)Subsequently, recombinant lineages were also detected and designated, including lineage XB, which was detected in the United States, and lineage XC which was detected in Japan and is a recombinant of B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and the AY.29 sublineage of Delta.

It is important to track SARS-CoV-2 recombinant lineages as they could lead to the emergence of a lineage that is better than either of the parent lineages at infecting hosts or the ability to evade immunity elicited by vaccines.

 

6)Genomic surveillance for monitoring the emergence and prevalence of lineages is thus central to monitoring variants.

 

7)While Europe and North America are currently seeing an emergence of Omicron variants, especially BQ.1 and its sublineages, a recombinant lineage XBB has been emerging in Asia.

This lineage comes out of recombination of two Omicron sublineages BJ.1 and BA.2.75. Early data (yet to be peer-reviewed) suggest that this variant can evade a wide range of monoclonal antibodies as well as protection acquired through vaccination with or without previous infections, including with Omicron. While more research will be needed to conclusively assess the growth advantage of XBB lineage, initial data suggest that the lineage may potentially outcompete previously circulating Omicron sublineages.

While the XBB lineage is present in multiple countries including India, XBB has been significantly emerging concurrently with a surge in COVID-19 infections in Singapore.

 

8)While Singapore detected its earliest XBB variant in September 2022, XBB and its sublineages account for over 50% of the genomes from Singapore in recent weeks.

While health authorities in Singapore suggest that severe clinical outcomes are not very likely due to XBB, the hospitalisations have increased. It is probably too early to assess the clinical severity at this point.

The earliest genome sequence of XBB in global database was from Kolkata in August 2022. With a total of 94 genomes, India has the highest number of XBB genomes to date.

 

9)These genomes have been deposited from multiple States including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka; a majority of them are from Tamil Nadu. Unlike the observations in Singapore, the increasing prevalence of XBB across India has not been associated with a spike in infections yet. Monitoring the prevalence of XBB and its sublineages as well as the number of infections in the country will therefore be essential in the days ahead.

 

10)Apart from the recombinant variant XBB, other sub-lineages of Omicron have been emerging across the world.

Of the 300-odd sub-lineages of Omicron in circulation, recent weeks have seen BQ.1 sub-lineages emerging in Europe and the U.S. India has recently detected BQ.1 from Pune.

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

20)Consider the following :

 

1)Owing to the large-scale spread of Omicron and its sublineages across the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has added another category of variants referred to as ‘Omicron subvariants under monitoring’.

2)Currently, the Omicron subvariants being monitored under this category include BA.2.75, BA.4.6, XBB, BA.2.3.20 and sublineages of BA.5 including BF.7 and BQ.1.

 

3)While the first sample belonging to lineage BA.4.6 dates back to December 2021, lineage BA.2.3.20 was detected in multiple countries recently in August 2022

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

21)Consider the following  OTT  communication services :

 

1)The inclusion of Over The Top or OTT (Communication Services) within the ambit of the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 that was unveiled recently for public comments, is a feature that has drawn much attention and comment. What does this mean? And why is it a big deal? Is it a concern only for telcos and technology companies? Or are there larger implications that concern the average citizen? Besides, how will this affect the digital ecosystem in India?

2)The main argument behind its inclusion is the principle of “same service, same rules”.

3)Superficially, it seems logical that communication services, whether provided by telcos or OTTs, should be treated similarly. However, this is completely erroneous. Same service means that as a user, I should be able to substitute one for the other at my own volition. But no OTT provider including those providing communication services such as WhatsApp, Zoom, email, etc. can reach a customer without the intermediation and services of a telecom service provider. But the converse is not true. The absence of OTT is no impediment for a telco to provide its services.

4)OTT communication services are applications or value-added communication services that ride on the basic communication services that telcos provide. The latter is in the domain of carriage and the former is in the domain of applications such as group and video communication, encryption, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

22)Consider the following Prachand LCH  :

 

1)The Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is the only attack helicopter in the world that can land and take off at an altitude of 5,000 metres (16,400 ft).

 

2)The helicopter can fly at a maximum speed of 288 kmph and has a combat radius of 500 km, which can go up to a service ceiling of 21,000 feet, making it ideal to operate in Siachen. It incorporates several stealth features such as reduced radar and infra-red signatures.

 

3)It can be deployed to perform Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), bunker busting operations, counter-insurgency operations in the jungle and urban areas and support the ground forces.

 

 

4)The indigenously developed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Prachand, meaning fierce, was formally inducted into the Indian Air Force at the Jodhpur airbase on  2.10.2022 . The multi-role attack helicopter has been customised as per the requirements of the Indian armed forces to operate both in desert terrains and high-altitude sectors. The LCH is the only attack helicopter in the world that can land and take off at an altitude of 5,000 metres (16,400 ft). It is also capable of firing a range of air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles.

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

23)Consider the following Vyommitra  :

 

1)Vyommitra, the humanoid designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to fly aboard unmanned test missions ahead of the Gaganyaan human space-flight mission, is undergoing pre-flight ground tests at the ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU).

 

2)Over the past few months, the IISU has successfully integrated it with a computer “brain”, which enables it to “read” control panels aboard the unmanned test flights and communicate with the ISRO ground stations, IISU Director Sam Dayala Dev told.

 

3)The ISRO and the IISU were in the news when they unveiled Vyommitra, a “female” robot astronaut, in 2020. Vyommitra is a half-humanoid lacking lower limbs. The IISU was responsible for the design, development, and integration of the robot, while the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thumba here developed its fingers.

The AI-enabled robot is designed to fly aboard a rocket, withstanding vibrations and shock during the flight, he said. It has been designed to resemble a human with facial expressions and speech and sight capabilities, he said.

 

4)“It has a certain level of intelligence. What we intend is that it should operate and read the display panels and communicate back to us using its own voice,” Mr. Dev said. Vyommitra will fly aboard the first unmanned test flight ahead of the manned Gaganyaan flight expected in 2024.

 

5)The IISU, which designs and develops navigational systems for ISRO launch vehicles, had special teams working on the humanoid over the past several months. In the meantime, Vyommitra is set to get a digital twin. The “twin” will undergo computer simulations where the control systems are tested for microgravity conditions. The twin will be developed in collaboration with academic institutions such as the IITs.

In September, Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh indicated that the first unmanned test-flight of the Gaganyaan mission would take place this year. The Gaganyaan programme would demonstrate human spaceflight by sending a crew to a 400-km low earth orbit and bringing them back safely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

 

 

24)Consider the following ransomware :

 

1)Ransomware is a type of malicious software, used by cyber criminals, to infect a computer system by blocking access to the stored data by encrypting the files. A ransom is then demanded from the owner in exchange for the decryption key.

2)While it is not yet clear as to how exactly the AIIMS computer systems were targeted, the malware may usually be injected remotely by tricking the user into downloading it upon clicking an ostensibly safe web link sent via email or other means, including hacking. It can spread throughout the network by exploiting existing vulnerabilities.

3)Ransomware attacks can also be accompanied by theft of sensitive data for other sinister motives.

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

25)Consider the following :

 

1)To counter India’s reliance on China for imports of critical rare earth minerals, industry has urged the government to encourage private sector mining in the sector and diversify sources of supply for these strategic raw materials.

2)“Set up an ‘India Rare Earths Mission’, manned by professionals, like the India Semiconductor Mission and make their exploration a critical component of the Deep Ocean Mission plan of the government,” the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has submitted, suggesting steps to encourage private players to mine such minerals.

3)Though India has 6% of the world’s rare earth reserves, it only produces 1% of global output, and meets most of its requirements of such minerals from China, the industry grouping pointed out in a memorandum of suggestions for the Union Budget recently submitted to the Finance Ministry.

4)In 2018-19, for instance, 92% of rare earth metal imports by value and 97% by quantity were sourced from China. “Clearly there is a need to build domestic capability and broad-base supply sources for such an important and strategic raw material,” the CII said, making a pitch for harnessing the potential of the country’s own rare earth reserves.

5)Suggesting that such minerals should not be held captive to India’s civil nuclear programme, the industry body has recommended that the public sector firm Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), administered by the Department of Atomic Energy, should be split into two entities. While IREL primarily focuses on Thorium mining, CII has suggested that the second entity could pursue other minerals.

6)The industry group has also mooted making rare earth minerals a part of the ‘Make In India’ campaign, citing China’s ‘Made in China 2025’ initiative that focuses on new materials, including permanent magnets that are made using rare earth minerals

 

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

 

 

26)Consider the following :

1)The western areas, measuring 269 sq. km, are a particularly sensitive bone of contention given the proximity to India, especially after the 2017 stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Doklam. Since the stand-off, China has stepped up its military presence in the disputed plateau.

2)The Jakarlung and Pasamlung valleys along Bhutan’s northern borders with Tibet measure 495 sq. km.

3)Beijing has recently launched an infrastructure push in Tibet to build what it calls “xiaokang” (moderately prosperous) frontier villages, to establish civilian settlements in areas, including disputed ones, along the Tibet-Bhutan border.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

27)Consider the following :

1)Bhutan and China in October 2021 signed an agreement on a “Three-Step Roadmap For Expediting the Bhutan-China Boundary Negotiations”. Bhutan’s Foreign Ministry said then the MoU on the Three-Step Roadmap would “provide a fresh impetus to the Boundary Talks.”

2)So far, 11 expert group meetings and 24 rounds of talks have been held since the process began in 1984.

3)Negotiations in the 24 rounds have focused broadly on two areas of dispute — Doklam and areas along the western borders of Bhutan and near the India-China-Bhutan trijunction, and the Jakarlung and Pasamlung valleys along Bhutan’s northern borders

4)However, China has recently appeared to broaden the scope of the dispute by also bringing in areas along Bhutan’s eastern borders in Sakteng wildlife sanctuary, which borders India’s State of Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese Foreign Ministry subsequently referred to disputes in “western, middle and eastern” sections.

5)Some observers viewed that move as a pressure tactic to push Bhutan to accept China’s earlier reported offer of a swap of Doklam in the west, which Beijing views strategically, in exchange for Bhutan to retain its northern territories

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

28)Consider the following :

1)The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is divided into the western (Ladakh), middle (Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), and eastern (Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim) sectors.

2)India has also been significantly upgrading its infrastructure along the LAC in the last few years, with further ramping-up post the 2020 stand-off in Galwan

3)The Army’s recent statement giving details of the scuffle between Indian and Chinese troops  noted that, in certain areas along the LAC in the Tawang sector, there are areas of differing perception, where both sides patrol the area up to their claim lines. This “has been the trend since 2006,” it said.

4)India and China have mutually agreed disputed areas and areas of differing perception along the 3,488 km-long LAC.

5) For instance, in eastern Ladakh, there are two mutually agreed disputed areas, Trig Heights and Demchok, while there are 10 areas of differing perception. Similarly, Yangtse is one of the eight major friction points in the eastern sector.

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

29)Consider the following :

1)Another attempted transgression by the Chinese military, this time in the Tawang sector in the eastern section of the India-China boundary, has served a reminder of the precarious state of affairs along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

2)A crisis which began in April 2020, with PLA transgressions in Ladakh, in the western sector of the boundary, has now appeared to have widened to Arunachal Pradesh.

3)Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament that the Indian Army had forced the PLA to return to its posts. The Minister’s comments, on December 13, came four days after the incident, details of which were first reported  on December 12,2022.    An Army statement confirmed the clash. The Opposition, which has criticised the Narendra Modi government’s continuing reticence on the China border issue, staged a walkout after being denied a discussion.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

30)Consider the following :

1) China has set up a ropeway near the Torsa Nala on its side of the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction, and is strengthening roads and other infrastructure along the entire eastern sector, according to defence sources.

2)In the Yangtse area of Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh, which saw a scuffle last week, defence officials with knowledge of the area said China had stepped up patrols some years ago to assert its claims in the area, after finding that their grazers could not move in and out. “What irks the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is that the Indian Army holds the dominating heights which give a complete view of the bowl,” noted two of the sources.

3)The Chinese usually patrol two to three times a year, before and after winter, one of the sources said, adding that there are four major ingress points in the Yangtse area which the PLA uses to enter the region.

4)Yangtse is located 30-35 km northeast of Tawang and is at an altitude of around 17,000 feet.

5)The PLA has installed a ropeway close to the Torsa Nala on their side near the confluence point, and some new anchor points of the ropeway have been recently observed, said one of the sources cited above.

6)Officials said that there is also lot of activity near the Torsa Nala near Doklam, a location that saw a 73-day stand-off between Indian and Chinese forces in 2017.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. A

 

31)Consider the following :

1)To rewind, David Cameron called for a referendum in 2016 on whether Britain should remain in the European Union (EU).

2)In a badly-worded ballot, the electorate were offered two choices: Remain (in the EU), or Leave. There was no explanation about what ‘leaving’ meant, or indeed how any future relationship with Britain’s largest trading partner might be managed.

 

3)The country voted narrowly — 52% to 48% — in favour of Leave. The drafting of the referendum also indicated a one-off event. However, the subsequent six years have shown that Brexit could never be an event — it was a process, and one with a long tail.

 

4)Thereafter, Britain has cycled through four other Prime Ministers in an attempt to disentangle itself from all the trading, financial, legal, bureaucratic and cultural ties that bind Britain to the world’s largest single market.

 

5)David Cameron, who belatedly campaigned for Remain after opening the floodgates, was succeeded by Theresa May, another Remainer.

6)In order to win the party over, Ms. May tacked right, promising a harder divorce from Europe than might have been necessary. Ms. May could have opted for a Norway-type agreement, which would have allowed for Britain to remain in the European Economic Area and pursue a customs agreement with the EU, thereby protecting its most important trading relationship, while still nominally bringing political control back to Westminster. Instead, she pursued a complete break with the EU. Her appeasement of the hardline Brexiteers effectively shut off any path for a Remain supporter to become Prime Minister. Each leader after her adopted an increasingly harder stance on bringing back sovereignty, understood as some mythic regaining of control over immigration, trade, domestic workers rights, human rights and economic policy.

 

7)But disentangling an almost 50-year relationship was never going to be easy. Theresa May could not deliver, not least because peace in Northern Ireland after decades of sectarian violence was predicated on EU membership. This required the free movement of goods and people on the island of Ireland, which was incompatible with Brexit. Ms. May was ousted when she could not deliver the hard Brexit she promised

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

32)Consider the following :

 

1)Boris Johnson,UK succeeded Theresa May  as party leader and premier by promising to ‘get Brexit done’. When he was thwarted by Parliament over his willingness to renege on formal commitments already made to the EU, he called a general election, which he won easily. In this, he was aided by the pusillanimity of the Labour Party, which feared telling the truth to some of their Brexit-backing constituents in the north of England on the false promises of Brexit. Labour lost the election (and those voters), and with it an opportunity to question the wisdom of Brexit.

2)Boris Johnson’s electoral victory in 2019, with the largest majority in three decades, snuffed any debate on how to leave the EU. He survived a series of scandals that were a direct consequence of his attempt to push through Brexit, including lying to the Queen, trying to illegally prorogue Parliament, and eventually agreeing to a customs border between Northern Ireland and Britain — the issue that had contributed to Ms. May’s downfall. The summer he was ousted, there were hours-long queues at the port of Dover and the threat of empty supermarket shelves as a result of Brexit bottlenecks.

 

3)Liz Truss succeeded Mr. Johnson by pushing the myths of Brexit to their logical conclusion. Just as Brexit had been peddled on the fabled ‘return’ of millions to fund the National Health Service (NHS) — the NHS is now on its knees because of under-funding and a lack of staff; on the fairy-tale of turbo-charged growth once the constraining labour laws and financial regulations of the EU were discarded; and the comforting delusions that countries would be lining up to sign trade deals with a ‘free’ Britain, so too Liz Truss persuaded herself and enough of her party that all she had to do was to slash taxes for the rich, appeal to bankers and their high risk strategies, and all would be fine with the British economy.

4)Unfortunately for Ms. Truss, international investors do not buy into myths: declining confidence in the long-term prospects for Britain was signalled from 2016 with the fall of the pound. The promised trade deals came with strings attached in the form of what countries wanted in return — in the case of India, a more favourable visa regime for its workers, which clashed with the vow of cracking down on immigration. Sometimes sovereignty is not all that it is cranked up to be

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

33)Consider the following :

1)Rishi Sunak has claimed several records this week (Octoer,2022) — Britain’s first Asian Prime Minister, the youngest in two centuries, and certainly the wealthiest in living memory.

2)His predecessor, Liz Truss, leaves with the record of the shortest serving Prime Minister, resigning after 45 days; the premier with the least support of her parliamentary colleagues; the leader who oversaw one of the worst declines in the value of the pound; perhaps even the leader who almost wrecked the British economy with her ideologically driven fiscal policies.

3)But the story of Liz Truss’ rise and fall, and of Rishi Sunak’s rise to become Britain’s fifth Prime Minister in six years is also the story of Brexit Britain. This is the story of a country that voted to pull up the drawbridge in exchange for honeyed promises of ‘taking back control’ of immigration and its economy. Brexit Britain’s challenges remain.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. A

 GIST: David Camaron, Theresa May , Boris Johnson, , Liz Tuss, Rishi Sunak : PMs of England

 

 

 

34)Consider the following :

1)The Black Sea Grain deal endeavours to tackle escalating food prices emanating from supply chain disruptions because of Russia’s actions in the world’s ‘breadbasket’.

 

2)The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey, was signed in Istanbul on July 22 this year,2022.

 

3)Initially stipulated for a period of 120 days, with an option to extend or terminate after November, the deal was to provide for a safe maritime humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian exports (particularly for food grains) from three of its key ports, namely, Chornomorsk, Odesa and Yuzhny/Pivdennyi.

 

4)The central idea was to calm markets by ensuring an adequate supply of grains, thereby limiting food price inflation.

 

5)Ukraine is among the largest exporters of wheat, maize, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil, globally. Its access to the deep-sea ports in the Black Sea enables it to directly approach Russia and Europe along with grain importers from West Asia and North Africa.

 

6)Russia’s actions in the East European country had disturbed this route which earlier used to ship 75% of its agricultural exports — precisely what the initiative sought to address.

 

7)Russia has re-joined the Black Sea Grain deal. “The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees it has received currently appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement,” the Russian Defence Ministry stated. It added that the mediation of the UN and Turkey had secured the continued cooperation.

8)The Black Sea Grain deal endeavours to tackle escalating food prices emanating from supply chain disruptions because of Russia’s actions in the world’s ‘breadbasket’. Ukraine is among the largest exporters of wheat, maize, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil, globally.

9)As per the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, approximately 10.1 million tonnes of grains have been shipped since the initiative commenced. The deal has also been credited for having made a “huge difference” to the global cost of living crisis.

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

35)Consider the following :

1)Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral, Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), an intergovernmental organisation established in 1997.

2)BIMSTEC comprises five South Asian nations (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka) and two ASEAN countries (Myanmar and Thailand).

3)Importantly, Pakistan is not a BIMSTEC member.

4) In recent years, India seems to have moved its diplomatic energy away from SAARC to BIMSTEC. This resulted in BIMSTEC, after 25 years, finally adopting its Charter earlier this year.

5) The BIMSTEC Charter is significantly better than the SAARC Charter. For instance, unlike the SAARC Charter, Article 6 of the BIMSTEC Charter talks about the ‘Admission of new members’ to the group. This paves the way for the admission of countries such as the Maldives.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

36)Consider the following :

 

 

1)The Biden administration has said that maintaining a competitive edge over China and constraining Russia are priorities for the U.S. strategy, as it released the administration’s first National Security Strategy

 

2)The document — which every administration is required to release, by law — was delayed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It lists great power competition and transnational challenges as the two premises on which the strategy is built.

 

3)The strategy is based on “building strength at home” as well as building coalitions abroad to deal with the challenges.

 

 

 

4)China and Russia are increasingly aligned with each other, the document notes, but the challenges they pose are different. “We will prioritize maintaining an enduring competitive edge over the PRC while constraining a still profoundly dangerous Russia,” it says.

5)However, the U.S. did not want to see the world just through the prism of strategic competition, nor have that competition become a Cold War or confrontation with others, such as China, which remains America’s “most consequential geopolitical challenge”, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters, during  briefing call.

Mr. Sullivan said the U.S. had entered a “decisive decade” with respect to the “two fundamental strategic challenges” as he highlighted major power competition and issues like climate change, food insecurity, communicable diseases, terrorism, the energy transition and inflation.

 

6)These challenges are “not secondary to geopolitics, but they operate on a plane alongside the competition, the geopolitical competition with major powers,” Mr. Sullivan said.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

37)Consider the following :

1)The plan calls for an immediate end to violence in the country; dialogue among all parties; the appointment of a special envoy; humanitarian assistance by ASEAN; and the special envoy’s visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties.

2)“Our message to ASEAN partners is, please support the ASEAN efforts — because if you do differently, then that will not help us be effective and to help Myanmar out of this political crisis,” Ms. Marsudi told when asked about India’s policy of direct engagement with the military rulers.

 

3)“We repeat again and again, please respect ASEAN, please support the five point consensus,” Ms. Marsudi added, saying that she had last discussed the issue with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Earlier in the year, ASEAN members and the U.S. had also conveyed their concerns to New Delhi and Colombo about their invitation to the Myanmar Foreign Minister for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) virtual summit in March.

4)In late November, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had visited Nay Pyi Taw, and in a departure from the past, did not meet with members of the deposed political parties. Nor did an official release refer to the ASEAN consensus, which previous releases from the Ministry of External Affairs had mentioned. Government officials have maintained that India’s ties with Myanmar are important given that they share a porous border with incursions by militants, and need to engage the military leadership as regional rivals like China do.

5)India and Indonesia are expected to strengthen their engagement in the next year given that India has now assumed the presidency of the G-20, where Indonesia is a member of the “troika” as the immediate past president.

6)Indonesia has just assumed chairmanship of the ASEAN grouping as well.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

38)Consider the following :

1)In his book The India Way, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar offered a critique of India’s traditional policy of “non-alignment” where he distinguishes between the “optimistic non-alignment” of the past, which he feels has failed, that must give way to more realistic “multiple engagements of the future”. He writes, “This is a game best played on the front foot, appreciating that progress on any one front strengthens that on all others.”

2)By announcing his visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan  (September 15 and 16), Prime Minister Narendra Modi has certainly spoken with his feet, as have the other leaders attending the event, at a time when lingering strains of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian war in Ukraine, the upcoming Chinese Party Congress (in October), and floods in Pakistan could well have given them reason to hold the summit virtually — as they have for the past two years.

 

3)Instead, the Uzbekistan SCO summit will host a full house: 15 leaders including eight member states from four Central Asian States, China, India, Pakistan and Russia, the observer states: Belarus, Mongolia and Iran (which will become member this year) — Afghanistan is not invited — and leaders of guest countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

 

4)Even before the summit begins, Mr. Modi, by his plans to attend, is sending the world a number of messages.

 

5)To begin with, the visit reinforces his commitment to an Indian foreign policy that balances various blocs — pitting India’s membership of the SCO and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) against its membership of the Quad (Australia, India, Japan, the U.S.), groups such as the I2U2 ( India-Israel-U.S.-UAE), and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). This was highlighted more recently with India joining the Russian-led ‘Vostok’ Army Exercises along with China, and plans to host SCO-RATS (or the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) counterterror exercises while the Indian Air Force took part in the Australian ‘Pitch Black’ exercises, and the Indian Army is planning exercises with the U.S. (Yudh Abhyas) next month close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

 

6)In a Venn diagram, India is the only country that would form the intersection, a part of all of those groupings.

 

7)Another juxtaposition is that of values over interests, or that of the western brand of a “coalition of democracies”, against a more Eurasian brand of a “coalition of common goals”. It is worth noting that the SCO membership is not premised on India’s traditional non-aligned posture. While Mr. Modi has skipped all the Non-Aligned Movement summits in his tenure (the only Indian Prime Minister to do so, apart from caretaker Prime Minister Charan Singh in 1979), he chose to lead India into the SCO in 2017.

 

8)Next year, India will host the SCO summit, and is expected to invite all members — this includes Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — showing how far New Delhi will be willing to go in its commitment to the SCO.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

39)Consider the following :

1)Other organisations such as the G-20 may step up to take a more prominent role in international affairs than the United Nations if the global body fails to introduce reforms in the UN Security Council, Ruchira Kamboj, the Permanent Representative of India at the United Nations, said.

2)Speaking on the issues — reformed multilateralism and counterterrorism during the December Presidency of India at the UNSC — Ms. Kamboj said that the reformation of the United Nations is the “most complex process” of the UN system.

3)“It involves several aspects. It requires all the P-5 [permanent members of the UNSC] to be on board. It requires that no P-5 should veto the matter and all of that and much more. There are many who aspire to be in a reformed council but there are many who would not like to see those in the council. Therefore, the process is indeed very complex,” Ms. Kamboj said, stressing that the complexities, however, do not mean that “change cannot happen”.

4)Ms. Kamboj said that there is a lot of “pessimism and cynicism” about the possibility of reform of the UN Security Council as the item of reform has remained on the agenda of the UNSC for nearly three decades without any substantive progress.

5)Harsh V. Pant, who moderated the session, raised the possibility of “minilaterals” playing a more active role in global affairs to which Ms. Kamboj said that it is a possibility if the reform of the UNSC refuses to make any progress.

6)“Today, you have almost 200 member states. Their voices are not being heard any more. Let’s say, the voice of the voiceless, the smaller states, the countries from Africa. Who hears them? Everything is being scripted for them in many ways,” Ms. Kamboj said, warning that “may be the UN will be overtaken by other institutions for example that are more democratic such as the G-20”. The envoy, however, urged not to rush to any conclusion on such possibilities

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

40)Consider the following :

1)The era of classifying terrorists as “bad” or “good” on the basis of “political convenience” must end immediately, a concept note circulated by India in the UN Security Council here has said, underlining that categorising terror acts by intent as religious or ideologically motivated will dilute the shared global commitment to fighting terrorism.

2)Stressing that terrorism cannot be associated with any religion, nationality, civilisation or ethnic group, the note said all acts of terrorism were criminal. “Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations must be condemned. There cannot be an exception or justification for any act of terrorism, regardless of its motivation and wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed. The era of classifying terrorists as ‘bad’, ‘not so bad’ or ‘good’ on the basis of political convenience must end immediately,” it said.

3)India, the current President of the 15-nation Council, will hold two signature events on reformed multilateralism and counter-terrorism to be chaired by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (December,2022 )

4)India proposes to organise a briefing of the Security Council  on “Global counter-terrorism approach — principles and the way forward” under the “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts”. Ahead of the meeting, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, in a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, asked that a concept note intended to guide the discussions on the topic be circulated as a document of the Security Council.

5)“The terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 were a turning point in the global approach to counter-terrorism. Since then, London, Mumbai, Paris, many parts of West Asia and Africa have also experienced terrorist attacks,” the concept note last week said. It added that these attacks highlight that the threat of terrorism is universal and that terrorism in one part seriously impacts peace and security elsewhere

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

41)Consider the following :

 

1)India could cope with the first wave with its limited health infrastructure and invested a lot in R&D to develop diagnostic kits, therapeutics/ fight against SARS-CoV-2. India could start its vaccine programme on 16 January 2021. It also donated lakhs of doses to its neighbouring countries as goodwill gesture and vaccine diplomacy.

 

2)This set an example to show ʻvaccine liberalismʼ while the rest of the World was adamant on ʻvaccine nationalismʼ.

However, this didnʼt last long as the second wave caught India unaware, which created a sudden increased demand for vaccine, Oxygen, hospital beds, and timely diagnosis and suitable treatment against mucormycosis and SARS-CoV-2.

 

3)The country experienced a humanitarian crisis during the second wave. It was a dreadful example of a population that was yet to achieve COVID-19 herd immunity. There were several accounts of hospitalized patients running out of oxygen and bodies being burnt on pyres in the streets, which indicated a failing health system. In some hospitals, two or three patients had to be treated on a single bed with one oxygen cylinder with limited ventilators. Demand for portable oxygen concentrator also grew tremendously.

 

4)To meet up the demand for Oxygen, Indian Railways decided to run Oxygen Expresses. It started on 24 April 2021 to provide respite to Indian states requiring medical Oxygen. More than 35000 MT of LMO (Liquid medical oxygen) was transported to 15 states. Around 480 Oxygen Expresses were operationalized during that time.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

42)Consider the following :

1)Just as India was recovering from the horrors of the first wave, the second wave hit India in April 2021. It was attributed to the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2. Maharashtra was the first state to report this variant. It was found to be more lethal and capable of generating more severe symptoms, resulting in a higher rate of patient hospitalisation. India was the second-worst affected country (in terms of total number of cases).

 

 

2)B.1.617.2 (Delta) has been followed and monitored all around the world. Due to its enhanced transmissibility, WHO has called it a variant of concern (VOC).

 

3)The Delta variant spreads quickly and dangerously among people crossing the borders across the countries and expected to expand its geographical scope further. A variety of reasons are contributed to the growing propagation of the virus across the world. With more social mixing, increased mobility, relaxation or improper use of public health and social measures are a few reasons that can be attributed to its propagation. The existence of large numbers of unvaccinated persons is also posing a danger

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

43)Consider the following about digital agriculture revolution :

 

1)According to the World Bank, “The digital agriculture revolution holds a promise to build an agriculture and food system that is efficient, environmentally sustainable, and equitable, one that can help deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. ‘

2)Unlike past technological revolutions in agriculture, which began on farms, the current revolution is being sparked at multiple points along the agri-food value chain. The change is driven by the ability to collect, use, and analyse massive amounts of machine-readable data related to practically every aspect of the value chain, and by the emergence of digital platforms disrupting existing business models. All this allows for drastically reduced transaction costs and pervasive information asymmetries that plague the agri-food system.

 

3)As mentioned earlier, the power of information in its various forms and shapes, can be put to use in diverse situations and scenarios linked with agriculture. The World Bank explores this further by saying- “Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System investigates how digital technologies can accelerate the transformation of the agrifood system by increasing efficiency on the farm; improving farmers’ access to output, input, and financial markets; strengthening quality control and traceability; and improving the design and delivery of agriculture policies. It also identifies a key role for the public sector in maximising the benefits of this process while minimising its risks, through enabling an innovative ecosystem featuring open datasets, digital platforms, digital entrepreneurship, digital payment systems, and digital skills and encouraging equitable technology adoption.

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

44)Consider the following ABOUT Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia :

 

1)Hydrogen and Ammonia are envisaged to be the future fuels to replace fossil fuels.

2) Production of these fuels by using power from renewable energy, termed as green hydrogen and green ammonia, is one of the major requirements towards environmentally sustainable energy security of the nation.

3)Government of India is taking various measures to facilitate the transition from fossil fuel / fossil fuel based feed stocks to green hydrogen / green ammonia. The notification of this policy is one of the major steps in this endeavour

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

45)Consider the following about Blue Hydrogen  :

1)Currently, hydrogen is being largely produced from conventional fuels through processes like steam-methane reforming, coal gasification, etc., which is known as Blue Hydrogen. But these technologies also produce CO₂.

2)According to a study, the Blue Hydrogen production is responsible for the emission of around 830 million tons of CO2 per year.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) Both 1 and 2
(b) 1 only
(c) 2 only  
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer. a

 

46)Consider the following Green Hydrogen :

1)On the other hand, the water electrolysis process produces hydrogen known as Green Hydrogen and it contributes to only 4% Hydrogen generation and energy demand for the process and cost associated are quite high.

2)We thus need alternative methods for Green Hydrogen production, which are cost-effective, sustainable, and efficient. Among the renewables sources, solar energy is readily available to us in abundance (1,73,000 TW).

3)Currently, solar energy is being stored in the form of electrical energy, i.e., through solar panels into batteries. But this technology has concern related to toxic electronic waste product generation, poor efficiency, high cost, etc. Hence the scientists are trying to tap solar energy storage in the form of chemical bonds, i.e., Solar energy to Hydrogen energy. This method of hydrogen production from water using solar energy is known as Solar Water Splitting or Photo Catalytic Water Splitting.

4)However, if some electrical energy is used along with photo (solar) energy, then it is known as Photo electrocatalytic (PEC) water splitting. The latter method is better, because, it gives us the advantage to produce hydrogen and oxygen in separate chambers. The capacity of a PEC system to produce hydrogen from water highly depends upon the type of the electrodes in the system.

5)More recently,our Honʻble Prime Minister launched Hydrogen Mission for India on 75th Independence Day to make India a green hydrogen hub as well as meet its climate targets. Ministry of Power, Government of India  released Green Hydrogen Policy for the country on 17 February 2022. India has envisioned to be a global leader to develop hydrogen generation, storage, and utilisation technologies for the benefit of humankind and the environment.

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

47)Consider the following :

 

1)From the Afghan Wars to the Battle of Saragarhi where a small band of Sikh soldiers wreaked havoc during a siege mounted by a numerically superior adversary to the two great wars, and in numerous British campaigns across Asia and Africa, the Indian sepoy set the highest standards in valour.

2)Even the apostle of peace and non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi, had served as a sergeant major of a medical ambulance corps that he had helped raise during the Second Boer War in 1899-1902 and Zulu War in 1906. There came a darker side too when the British used Gorkha and Baluchi troops against innocent civilians in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) Both 1 and 2
(b) 1 only
(c) 2 only  
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer. a

 

48)Consider the following :

 

1)The Himalaya, diversified mountain system both in terms of biological and physical attributes, is considered a life-support system for millions of people of India.

2)With geographical coverage of over 0.53 million km2 area, the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) constitutes nearly 17% of country's geographical area.

 

3)IHR is globally recognized as one of the biodiversity hotspots (known for its sensitive ecosystem), representing tropical, sub-tropical, temperate, subalpine vegetation and alpine forest types.

 

4)It holds a special position due to its unique culture, tradition, and value systems. The cultural practices and ancient traditions in IHR have sustained the biodiversity for generations. Literature reveals the services provided by  the mighty Himalayas sustain life much beyond its physical boundaries.

 

5) It acts as climate regulator and requires conservation and development interventions in sustainable manner.

 

6)IHR covers 11 Himalayan States/UTs fully, i.e., Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand; and 2 states partially, i.e., hill districts of Assam and West Bengal.

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4,5,6
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

49)Consider the following about bio-economy :

 

1)India is on the verge of becoming a part of the top 10 countries in biotechnology.

 

2)“India's bio-economy has grown eight times in the last eight years. We have

grown from $10 billion to $80 billion.

 

3)India is not too far off from reaching the league of top-10 countries in Biotech's

global ecosystem”, it is said. It is also said that today as we pledge for the

development of the country during the coming 25 years of ‘Amrit Kaal’, the role

of the biotech industry is very significant.

 

4)It is  noted that there were five big reasons why India is being considered

a land of opportunities in the field of biotech: diverse population and diverse

climatic zones; India's talented human capital pool; increasing efforts for

improving the ease of doing business in India; the steady increase in the demand

for biotech products; and the successful track record of Indiaʼs biotech sector.

Dr Jitendra Singh spoke about the achievements of the biotech sector in the

country.

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3,4
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a

 

 

50)Consider the following :

1)In India, the 1982-83 and 1997-98 El Nino events cost roughly 3 per cent and 1.5 per cent of the country’s GDP per capita, respectively. 

2)“These results indicate that, along with many other countries, India is more vulnerable to climate variability than we realised, even independent of climate change,” Callaha explained.

3)The impacts will be more pronounced in poor countries in the tropics

 

 

 

 

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

(a) 1,2,3
(b) 2 and 3 
(c) 1 and 3 
(d) None

Answer. a