Daily Current Affairs MCQ- April 24, 2024 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) published the State of the Climate in Asia, 2023, report.

• It was launched by the World Meteorological Organisation.
• Highlights of the report:
• More than nine million people across Asia were affected by 79 extreme climate disasters reported on the continent in 2023.
• Asia and the Pacific was the most disaster-impacted region last year. 
• Atmospheric concentration of the three major greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – reached record highs in 2022, the latest year for which global data is available.
• Oceans have absorbed around 25% of annual man-made carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere between 1960 and 2021. The trend continues, and ocean heat content in 2023 was the highest on record.
• The tropical cyclone activity over the North Indian Ocean was slightly above average.
• Asia recorded its second-highest mean temperature on record in 2023. Japan and Kazakhstan observed record warm years.
• Glaciers continued to retreat at an accelerating rate in 2023. High temperatures and dry conditions in East Himalayas and Central Asia’s Tian Shan mountains accelerated glacial mass loss.

Key facts about the WMO

• It is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN).
• It is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans and the resulting distribution of water resources.
• It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. 
• Established in 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the UN for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.
• Headquarters:  Geneva, Switzerland.
• Member countries: Currently it has a membership of 187 countries.

Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Nuclear energy can be used to to spur ‘pink’ hydrogen generation in India by amending the respected law.

• Pink hydrogen is generated through electrolysis powered by nuclear energy.
• It can also be referred to as purple hydrogen or red hydrogen.
• In addition, the very high temperatures from nuclear reactors could be used in other hydrogen productions by producing steam for more efficient electrolysis or fossil gas-based steam methane reforming.
• Nuclear power offers significant advantages for pink hydrogen production, including reducing production costs and emissions, making it a sustainable and more cost-effective alternative to conventional methods.
• Applications: Pink hydrogen is a promising replacement for fossil fuels in the cement industry, steel industry, aviation, and heavy transportation, as it can be used as a feedstock and energy source with no greenhouse gas emissions.

What is Electrolysis?

• It is a promising option for carbon-free hydrogen production from renewable and nuclear resources.
• Electrolysis is the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This reaction takes place in a unit called an electrolyzer. 

Hence both statements are correct.

The Centre plans to upgrade the nine-year-old National Career Service (NCS) portal to link millions of youths with prospective employers in a bid to prepare a future-ready workforce.

• The Portal provides online career counselling and vocational guidance services to its registered users.
• This service aims to equip the jobseeker with necessary information that is required to make right career choices based on his/her qualification, skill set and interest. 
• It provides a nation-wide online platform for the job seekers and employers for job-matching in a dynamic, efficient and responsive manner and has a repository of career content to job seekers.

What is National Career Service?

• It is one of the mission-mode projects under the umbrella of the E-Governance Plan.
• It was launched in the year 2015.
• Objectives: It works towards bridging the gap between job-seekers and employers, candidates seeking training and career guidance and agencies providing training and career counselling by transforming the National Employment Service.
• It provides a host of career-related services such as dynamic job matching, career counselling, job notifications, vocational guidance, and information on skill development courses, internships and alike. 
• Focus areas:
• Enhancing Career and employment opportunities
• Counselling and guidance for career development
• Focusing on decent employment
• Enhancing female labour force participation
• Encouraging entrepreneurial endeavours
• Nodal Agency: The project is being implemented by the Directorate General of Employment, Ministry of Labour & Employment.

Hence both statements are correct.

Researchers of the ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) have succeeded in captive breeding of golden trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus).

• It is a high value marine fish also known as golden king fish.
• It is an ideal candidate species for mariculture due to its faster growth rates, good meat quality and huge market demand for both consumption and ornamental purposes.
• It is a reef-associated fish and lives in the company of larger fishes like skates, sharks, groupers etc.
• In India, the fish landing observations show that the golden trevally are landed predominantly at reef area fishing grounds in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Gujarat.

Key facts about Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute

• It was established by Government of India in 1947 under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• It joined the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in 1967.
• Mandate:
• To monitor the exploited and assess the under-exploited marine fisheries resources of the Exclusive Economic Zone.
• To understand the fluctuations in abundance of marine fisheries resources in relation to change in the environment.
• To develop suitable mariculture technologies for finfish, shellfish and other culturable organisms in open seas to supplement capture fishery production.
• One of the major achievements of CMFRI is the development and refinement of a unique method for estimation of fishery catch and effort from the over 8000 km coastline called the "Stratified Multistage Random Sampling Method”.
• Headquarters: Kochi, Kerala

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Researchers from National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom, reported the conditions that led to unprecedented hindrance in Antarctic ice expansion and ice retreat ahead of the annual ice maximum in 2023. 

• It is an autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) established in 1998.
• It is India’s premier R&D institution responsible for the country’s research activities in the Polar and Southern Ocean realms.
• It is tasked with planning and executing polar expeditions and scientific research in Antarctica, Arctic, Himalayas and Southern Ocean.
• It is the nodal agency for planning, promoting, coordinating, and executing the entire gamut of polar and southern ocean scientific research in the country and the associated logistics activities.
• It also undertakes research on some of the country’s strategically vital projects like mapping of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), continental shelf margins and the Deep Ocean Mission.
• The Center maintains a Research Advisory Committee (RAC) to help guide and concentrate the research activities.
• It is located in Vasco da Gama, Goa, and was formerly known as the National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has successfully carried out a test firing of the Crystal Maze 2 missile.

About Crystal Maze 2:

• Crystal Maze 2, also referred to as ROCKS, is an air-launched medium-range ballistic missile.
• It is of Israeli origin.
• It is designed to target high-value stationary and relocatable assets, such as long-range radars and air defense systems, of potential adversaries.
• Features:
• Distinguished from its predecessor, Crystal Maze 1, which has been inducted into the IAF from Israel previously, the Crystal Maze 2 boasts extended stand-off range capabilities as an air-to-surface missile.
• It is capable of hitting targets over 250 kilometers away.
• With options for either a penetration or blast fragmentation warhead, the missile is capable of destroying above-ground or well-protected underground targets.
• It is specifically effective in GPS-denied environments.
• The deployment strategy of the ROCKS involves releasing the missile well outside the surface-to-air-defended area, followed by a high-velocity trajectory to minimize the risk to aircraft and missiles.

Hence option d is the correct answer.

The recent surge in gold prices is due to the TINA (there is no alternative) factor in China, with retail shoppers, investors, futures traders, and central bank, all turning to the bullion in uncertain times.

About TINA Factor:

• TINA stands for There Is No Alternative.
• It refers to a situation where investors perceive a particular asset class or investment as the best option available given the prevailing market conditions.
• This perception arises when other investment options are deemed unattractive due to factors such as low returns, high volatility, or economic uncertainty.
• Essentially, people fearful of possible uncertainties in the future consider investing in the safest investment instrument.
• People feel that there is simply no other alternative. 
• The TINA effect can explain a price bubble. That is, prices rise to unrealistic heights due to a lack of reasonable alternatives.
• TINA has historically been a response to certain economic conditions where investments typically seen as safe have become less favorable.
• This might include bonds or real estate, which might offer lower returns due to low interest rates or an inflated real estate market.
• In these scenarios, TINA takes hold, with investors feeling as if their options have shrunk substantially.
• In periods when stock prices soar and bond returns languish, TINA has been used to justify investing in anything other than stocks or bonds, such as gold, cryptocurrencies, and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Hence option a is the correct answer.

Experts worry that the world's deadliest cave, Kitum, located in Mount Elgon National Park in Kenya, may be home to the next pandemic, the Marburg virus, with the WHO flagging Marburg as “epidemic-prone”.

About Marburg Virus Disease (MVD):

• It is a rare but severe hemorrhagic fever which affects both people and non-human primates.
• MVD is caused by the Marburg virus, a genetically unique zoonotic (or, animal-borne) RNA virus of the filovirus family. 
• It is in the same family as the virus that causes the Ebola virus disease. 
• It was initially detected in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany; and in Belgrade, Serbia.
• Transmission:
• Human infection with MVD initially results from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by Rousettus bats.
• Once an individual is infected with the virus, Marburg can spread through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g., bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids. 
• Symptoms:
• After an incubation period of 2-21 days, symptom onset is sudden and marked by fever, chills, headache, and myalgia.
• Around the fifth day after the onset of symptoms, a maculopapular rash, most prominent on the trunk (chest, back, stomach), may occur.
• Nausea, vomiting, chest pain, a sore throat, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea may appear.
• Symptoms become increasingly severe and can include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure, massive hemorrhaging, and multi-organ dysfunction.
• The average MVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks, depending on the virus strain and case management.
• Treatment:
• There is no specific treatment for MVD. 
• Early supportive care with rehydration, and symptomatic treatment improves survival. 

Hence both statements are correct.

A study has warned the warming planet may alter the characteristics of tundra environments and could transform them from carbon sinks to carbon sources.

• Tundra ecosystems are treeless regions found in the Arctic and on the tops of mountains, where the climate is cold and windy, and rainfall is scant. 
• Characteristics of Tundra Regions
• Low temperatures: The average temperature is -34 to -6 degrees Celsius (-30 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit) in tundra region.
• Short growing seasons: The summer growing season is just 50 to 60 days, when the sun shines up to 24 hours a day.
• Permafrost: A layer of permanently frozen soil lies beneath the surface, which can be a few inches to several feet thick.
• Minimal precipitation: Despite often being compared to deserts in terms of moisture, the tundra receives low levels of precipitation, often as snow.
• Limited biodiversity: The harsh conditions of the tundra result in fewer plant and animal species compared to other biomes.
• Carbon sink: The tundra acts as a significant carbon storage area due to slow decomposition rates in the cold environment.
• The world has three types of tundra:
• Arctic Tundra which occurs north of the taiga belt in the far Northern Hemisphere (It encompasses the land between the North Pole and the boreal forest, including parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland.)
• Alpine tundra which prevails above the tree line in mountains worldwide (in various mountain ranges such as the Rockies, the Andes, the Himalayas, and the Alps).
• Antarctic tundra which includes several sub-Antarctic islands and parts of the continent of Antarctica
• Flora:  Mosses, lichens, sedges, cotton grass, birches etc.
• Fauna: Arctic foxes, snow geese, polar bears etc.

Hence both statements are correct.

Trained National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers from 153 NSS units will offer their services to differently abled people and senior citizens in Kozhikode district on the day of polls.

• It was launched during 1969, the birth centenary year of Mahatma Gandhi.
• It is a Central Sector Scheme of the Government of India.
• It provides an opportunity to the student youth of the 11th & 12th Class of schools at +2 Board level and student youth of Technical Institution, Graduate & Post Graduate at colleges and University level of India to take part in various Government led community service activities & programmes.
• The NSS symbol
• It is based on the "Rath" wheel of the Konark Sun Temple situated in Odisha.
• The navy blue colour indicates the cosmos of which the NSS is a tiny part, ready to contribute its share for the welfare of the mankind.
• The Red colour in the badge indicates that the NSS volunteers are full of blood i.e. lively, active, energetic and full of high spirit.
• The giant wheels of the Sun Temple portray the cycle of creation, preservation and release, and signify the movement in life across time and space.
• Activities undertaken by NSS: National Integration Camp, Shramdaan. Blood donation, Immunisation, Plantation, Disaster Management and Adventure programs etc.
• Motto: The motto of National Service Scheme is NOT ME BUT YOU
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.

Hence both statements are correct.