Daily Current Affairs MCQ- October 10, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, health experts revealed all about Hemochromatosis or ‘bronze diabetes’.

• It is an inherited condition where iron levels in the body slowly build up over many years.
• This health condition is primarily classified into two types:
• Hereditary hemochromatosis: It is driven by a mutation in the HFE gene, resulting in individuals being homozygous for the C282Y variant.
• This genetic anomaly sets the stage for a lifelong struggle with excessive iron absorption within the intestines.
• Secondary hemochromatosis: It is typically caused by external factors like frequent blood transfusions, excessive iron supplementation, or certain medical conditions.
• The iron accumulation in secondary hemochromatosis is often more rapid and can have a similar impact on organ function
• Symptoms of haemochromatosis usually start between the ages of 30 and 60.
• Common symptoms include: Feeling very tired all the time (fatigue),weight loss,weakness and joint pain etc
• Treatment: 
• Phlebotomy is the standard treatment for primary hemochromatosis.
• Iron toxicity can be reduced by removing red blood cells, the body's main mobilizer of iron.
• Phlebotomy is usually performed once or twice a week.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, a juvenile reticulated python was sighted inside IIT Madras campus.

• It is a member of the family Pythonidae.
• These snakes come in a wide variety of color patterns, and many of the variations can be based on their location. 
• It is a heavy-bodied, very long snake with a proportionately large head.
• Like most other python species, it has heat-sensing pits.
• The pits are deep and well-developed, located on the front upper and lower labials and the lower rear labials. 
• This species, despite its striking color patterns, camouflage well within its environment.
• It’s an example of disruptive coloration, a type of camouflage where the animal’s pattern helps break up the outlines of its body. This pattern helps this giant snake disappear into the brush and allows it to ambush its prey.
• Distribution: This species has a broad range across southeastern Asia, including the Nicobar Islands, Myanmar, across to Indochina, Philippines, and Malaysia.
• Habitat: These tropical snakes are classically associated with lowland rainforests and wetlands.
• Conservation status
• IUCN: Least concern

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The 2023 edition of the Annual Joint HADR Exercise, CHAKRAVAT, is being hosted by the Indian Navy at Goa from 09 to 11 Oct 23.

• It is an Annual Joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise (AJHE)
• Since its first edition in 2015, the Annual Joint HADR Exercise, CHAKRAVAT has transformed itself into a multi-agency endeavour.
• It involves participation of all three Services, Paramilitary Forces, as well as several disaster response organisations, NGOs, academic institutions and international organisations.
• The 2023 edition would further synergise efforts at the national level among all stakeholders, as well as witness participation from eight countries of the Indian Ocean Region.
• The exercise has been conducted by Indian Army, Indian Navy (IN) and Indian Air Force (IAF) in rotation since 2016.
• The 2023 edition of the exercise is being hosted by the Indian Navy at Goa.
• The exercise will witness participation from various national agencies namely, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), National Institute for Disaster Management (NIDM), Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Coast Guard, Indian Metrological Department (IMD) and other organizations.
• Logo of the event: The Logo for this year’s exercise depicts crests and logos of all participating agencies and flags of all nations subsumed into one single entity to signify that HADR will hinge on joint and integrated action by the all the agencies.

Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Tanzanian President recently conveyed approval to join flagship Indian programmes like the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) and the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA).

About International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA):

• It was launched by India on April 9, 2023, for the conservation of seven big cats, namely Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar, and Puma harbouring our planet.
• Membership: It is open to 97 'range' countries, which contain the natural habitat of these big cats, as well as other interested nations, international organizations, etc.
• It will provide a platform for the member nations to share knowledge and expertise and extend support to recovery efforts in potential habitats.
• Its major activities will include advocacy, partnership, knowledge e-portal, capacity building, eco-tourism, partnerships between expert groups, and finance tapping.
• IBCA will also assist existing species-specific inter-governmental platforms to boost conservation efforts. 
• Funding: After the first five years, which will be supported by India's 'total grant assistance' of $100 million, the IBCA is expected to sustain itself through membership fees and contributions from bilateral and multilateral institutions and the private sector.
• Governance Structure:
• A General Assembly consisting of all member countries.
• A Council of at least seven but not more than 15 member countries elected by the General Assembly for a term of 5 years, and a Secretariat.
• Upon the recommendation of the Council, the General Assembly will appoint the IBCA Secretary General for a specific term.

Hence option d is correct.

The Elon Musk vs Mukesh Ambani battle on whether to auction or allocate satellite spectrum has attracted intervention from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

About Satellite Spectrum:

• The Satellite or orbit spectrum is a segment of radio spectrum made available when satellites are placed into orbit.
• This spectrum is part of the broader radio frequency spectrum, which encompasses all electromagnetic frequencies used for various wireless communications and broadcasting purposes.
• This spectrum is a limited resource for every country, utilised by firms to implement satellite broadcasting, communication satellites, and weather satellite services.
• This spectrum is divided into many different frequency bands. The choice of bands depends on many factors, including the specific applications.
• The frequency is an integral partof the satellite’s construction and doesn’t change after launch.
• How does frequency impact the data transfer?
• In simple terms, the frequency of a signal refers to the number of times the underlying wave oscillates per second.
• The higher the frequency, the faster the waves appear to move, and the more data can be transmitted per second.
• However, higher frequencies also mean shorter wavelengths (that is, the length between the start and end of each wave), which can lead to a reduction in the strength of the signal over a distance (called signal attenuation) and an increased risk of signal interference. 
• Satellites generally transmit on a frequency between 1.5 and 51.5 gigahertz (a gigahertz, or GHz, equals one billion hertz). High-speed broadband operates at the higher end of the spectrum.
• The International Telecommunication Union, or ITU, is the United Nations institution that coordinates the allocation of frequencies globally.
• The ITU has allocated parts of this spectrum range to specific categories of services, and has identified those frequencies best suited for transmissions via satellite.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

One soldier died and three are missing after a group of Indian Army mountaineers was recently caught in an avalanche on Mount Kun in Ladakh.

About Mount Kun:

• Mount Kun, with a height of 7077 meters, is the second-highest peak of the Nun Kun massif.
• The massif is located near Sankoo in the Suru valley, Kargil district, Ladakh.
• The twin peaks of Nun (7135 meters) and Kunare separated by a snow plateau that extends for around 4 kilometers.
• They are among the highest peaks in the Zanskar Range on the Indian side of the Line of Control.
• These two towering peaks and their satellites; Barmal, White Needle and Pinnacle Peak form a horseshoe above the Suru River on the border of Kashmir and Zanskar. 
• Mountaineering:
• The first person to climb the Kun peak was Italian mountaineer Mario Piacenza in the year 1913.
• However, it took 58 years for an Indian Army Expedition to successfully climb the mountain again.
• The climb to the summit is technically challenging and demands extensive knowledge of mountaineering techniques like using ice axes, roping up procedures, crampons, and jumar climbing. 

Key Facts about Zanskar Range:

• The Zanskar Range is situated in the Ladakh region of northern India.
• It lies to the north of the Great Himalayan Range and runs parallel to it.
• The range stretches for approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the western end of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the eastern border of Ladakh with Tibet.
• It separates Ladakh from the valleys of Kashmir and the Chenab River on one end, and Kinnaur from Spiti in the Himachal Pradesh region.
• Elevation:
• The average height is about 6,000 m (19,700 ft).
• The highest peak in the Zanskar Range is Kamet, which is 7,756 meters (25,446 feet) high.
• Passes: Most important passes are Zojila, Shipki, Lipu Lekh (Lipulieke), and Mana.
• Rivers:
• Many rivers originating in different branches of this range flow northward, and join the great Indus River.
• These rivers include Shingo River, Zanskar River, Hanle River, Suru River (Indus), and Khurna River.

Hence option b is the correct answer.

US labour economist Claudia Goldin was recently awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for her contributions to understanding women's labor market outcomes.

About 2023 Economics Nobel Prize:

• It has been awarded to economist Claudia Goldin for advancing the understanding of women’s labour market outcomes.
• The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences is also known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences.
• Goldin is only the third woman to win the prize since it was first introduced in 1969.
• Her Research:
• She provided the first comprehensive account of women’s earnings and labour market participation through the centuries. 
• Her research reveals the causes of change as well as the main sources of the remaining gender gap.
• She showed that female participation in the labour market did not have an upward trend over a 200-year period, but instead forms a U-shaped curve.
• The participation of married women decreased with the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society in the early nineteenth century, but then started to increase with the growth of the service sector in the early twentieth century.
• Goldin explained this pattern as the result of structural change and evolving social norms regarding women’s responsibilities for home and family.
• Historically, much of the gender gap in earnings could be explained by differences in education and occupational choices. 
• However, Goldin has shown that the bulk of this earnings difference is now between men and women in the same occupation, and that it largely arises with the birth of the first child.
• She highlighted the role played by marriage, parenthood, and contraceptive pills in women's education, career, and salary trajectories.

Hence option c is the correct answer.

Phonotaxis is observed during the evening or in the monsoon season might sound random or even annoying.

• Scientists call phonotaxis as the movement by an animal in response to a sound.
• It has mostly been observed among crickets, moths, frogs, and toads, among a few other creatures.
• There are two types of phonotaxis
• Positive phonotaxis: The purpose of positive phonotaxis is attraction. It usually happens when the females of a particular species – including those of crickets and frogs – are attracted to the sounds made by the males.
• Negative phonotaxis: It serves to repel or warn, such as when the sound of a predator nearby signals to an animal that it needs to move away. Crickets in particular have been found to steer themselves away from low-intensity ultrasound typically associated with bats (which use it for echolocation).
• In 1984, scientists found that Mediterranean house geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus) use positive phonotaxis to their advantage.
• The fields that these geckos inhabited were also home to male decorated crickets (Gryllodes supplicans), which used species-specific sounds to attract the females from their burrows.
• The geckos recognised and followed this call until they reached the burrow, where they consumed the female crickets.

Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Recently, the Chairman of Central Water Commission (CWC) launched the mobile application, FloodWatch.

• This app gives information related to the flood situation and forecasts up to 7 days on a real-time basis to the public.
• The in-house developed user-friendly app has readable and audio broadcast and all the information is available in 2 languages, viz. English and Hindi.
• Other feature of the app includes real-time flood monitoring where users can check up-to-date flood situation throughout the country.
• The app utilizes near real-time river flow data from various sources.
• The app also provides flood forecast at nearest location where users can check the flood advisory at the station nearest to them on the Home Page itself.
• The app will also provide State-wise/Basin-wise Flood Forecast (up to 24 hours) or Flood Advisory (up to 7 days) which can be accessed by selecting specific stations, state wise or basin wise from the dropdown menu.
• This app utilizes advanced technologies such as satellite data analysis, mathematical modelling, and real-time monitoring to deliver accurate and timely flood forecasts.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Matti banana variety, native to Kanniyakumari district was recently granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

• There are six known types of the Matti banana and they are indigenous to Kanniyakumari, Tamil Nadu, where it thrives in the unique climate and soil.
• They are known as ‘Baby Banana’ which flourishes mainly in Kalkulam and Vilavancode taluks.
• Even if it takes root and yields in other areas, the fruit will be without the sweet fragrance and honey-like taste unique to the Matti bananas grown in Kanniyakumari.
• Unlike typical banana bunches that grow straight, the Matti’s fingers exhibit a distinct wind-blown appearance.
• Its low total soluble solids content (TSSC) recommends it as a baby food.
• Types of Matti Banana
• Nal Matti boasts a yellowish-orange colour and fine aroma, while Theyn [honey] Matti’s pulp tastes like honey.
• Kal Matti gets its name from the calcium oxalate crystals forming in its pulp and black dots on the skin.
• Nei Matti exudes the aroma of ghee, and Sundari Matti, a Matti clone, with its elongated fingers, thick peel, and creamy white rind, is facing extinction.

Hence option (d) is the correct answer.