Daily Current Affairs MCQ- January 19, 2024 - UPSC MCQ

After relocating deer from Cuttack, the Odisha state government is planning to introduce Sambar and Gaur (bison) in the Chandaka-Dampara wildlife sanctuary.

• It is located in Khurda district of Odisha represents the north-eastern limits of Eastern Ghats. 
• It is also a home to a number of threatened wild animals and birds.
• This landscape has got a sanctuary status in 1982.
• The climate of the area is tropical climate with three distinct and well marked seasons i.e. summer, Rainy season and winter.
• Vegetation: Flora is moderately diverse with intimate mixture of evergreen and deciduous elements. The area comes under semi-evergreen forest zone but the interplay of biotic factors has changed the original character of the vegetation.
• Flora: Dhaman (Grewia Tiliaefolia), Bankapasia (Kydia calycina), Jamu (Syzyggium Cuminii), Gandhana (Premna mucronata), Kansa (Hymenodictyon excelsum), Kusum (Schleichera oleosa), Marua (Vitex pinnata), Sidha (Lagerstroemia parviflora), Karanja,   Thorny bamboo  etc.
• Fauna: Elephants, Chital, Barking Deer, Wild Boar, Rhesus Monkey, Pangolin, Sloth Bear, Indian Wolf, Hyena and other mammals.

Hence option d is the correct answer.

Interest in indigenous cattle breeds like the Pulikulam is reviving which is famous for a local game called Jalikattu in Tamil Nadu.

• It is a popular draught and game breed of Tamil Nadu.
• The cattle originated from Pulikulam, a village located in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu.
• It is also known as Palingu maadu, Mani maadu, Jallikattu maadu, Mattu maadu and Kilakattu maadu.
• These are maintained as migratory herds, and its draught and manure capabilities play a significant role in the rural livelihood of the communities rearing them for draught and organic agricultural production.
• This breed of cattle is famous for a local game called Jalikattu where bulls are used as a bull-taming sport.
• It is commonly seen in Salem and Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu and part of Bangalore district of Karnataka.
• Pulikulam / Alambadi bulls are dark grey, almost black and cows grey or white.

Hence both statements are correct.

The recently launched Forgotten Trails: Foraging Wild Edibles, authored by Malemleima Ningombi and Harisha RP, chronicled the foods that Soligas and Yeravas tribes forage from the forests. 

• Indigenous groups Soligas and Yeravas have been living in the Cauvery Basin and the surrounding hills of peninsular India for thousands of years.
• Soligas, one of the oldest indigenous communities in the country, are the original inhabitants of Karnataka and live mostly in the Chamarajanagar and Mandya districts.
• Honey is an important part of the diet for the Soliga people, who still forage large parts of their food from the biodiversity-rich Ghats. 
• They reside in the peripheral forest areas near Biligiri Rangana Hills and Male Mahadeshwara.
• They are the first tribal community living inside the core area of a tiger reserve in India to get their forest rights officially recognised by a court of law.
• Soligas use Silver cockscomb as a nutritious leafy green vegetable, as it is high in nutrients such as beta-carotene and folic acids, and have vitamin E, calcium and iron.
• Also the scientific community has named a new genus (Soliga ecarinata) of wasp after this community.

Hence both statements are correct.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed an improvised Distress Alert Transmitter (DAT) with advanced capabilities and features for the fishermen at sea to send emergency messages from fishing boats.

• The first version of DAT has been operational since 2010.
• The fishermen at sea send emergency messages from fishing boats.
• The messages are sent through a communication satellite and received at a central control station (INMCC: Indian Mission Control Centre) where the alert signals are decoded for the identity and location of the fishing boat.
• The extracted information is forwarded to Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centres (MRCCs) under Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
• Using this information the MRCC co-ordinates to undertake Search and Rescue operations to save the fishermen at distress.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The Prime Minister, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala, offered prayers at Sreekrishna Temple, Guruvayur, recently.

About Guruvayur Temple:

• Guruvayoor Sree Krishna Swamy Temple, also known as the Dwarka of the South, is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and the young form of Lord Krishna.
• It is located in the small town of Guruvayur, in the Thrissur District of Kerala.
• The earliest temple records date back to the 17th century, but other literary texts and legends indicate that the temple may be around 5000 years old.
• Features:
• Lord Krishna, or Guruvayoorappan, is the chief deity of this temple.
• The temple is built in the traditional Kerala architectural style.
• The central shrine is believed to have been rebuilt in 1638 C.E. 
• Structures like the Nalambalam (temple structure surrounding the sanctum sanctorum), Balikkal (sacrificial stone), and Deepastambam (pillar of lights) are situated on the temple premises.
• The wall of the sanctum sanctorum is decked with ancient 17th-century murals.
• Another famous sight here is the Dwajasthamba. It is a flagstaff, around 70 feet tall, fully covered with gold.  
• One of the most popular offerings at Guruvayoor temple is Thulabharam, where devotees are weighed against bananas, sugar, jaggery, and coconuts equivalent to their weight on a giant pair of scales.
• The temple is also noted for being home to a large population of captive male Asian elephants.
• The Punnathur Kotta elephant sanctuary, where 56 elephants live, is very close to the temple.

Hence option c is the correct answer.

Telecom service providers have urged the Ministry of Finance to suspend the universal service obligation fund (USOF) levy until the existing corpus is exhausted.

About Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF):

• USOF was set up by an Act of Parliament in December 2003 by amending the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.
• The objective of the USOF is to provide access to telecom services in a nondiscriminatory manner to people in rural and remote areas at affordable and reasonable prices, thereby bridging the rural-urban digital divide.
• For commercially non-viable rural and remote areas, USOF provides subsidy support in the form of Net Cost or Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to incentivize telecom service providers for the expansion of telecommunications and broadband services in those areas.
• Funding Mechanism:
• The USOF is funded through a levy on the revenue earned by telecom operators.
• The government imposes a Universal Service Levy (USL) on the gross revenue of the telecom companies, which is a percentage of their Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).
• This levy is collected and deposited into the USOF.
• Administration:
• USOF is headed by the Administrator, USO Fund who is appointed by the Central Government, for the administration of the fund.
• It is an attached office of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications.

Hence option b is the correct answer.

Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park will soon be connected by rail as the proposed Jajpur Road-Dhamra railway line will pass through the park.

About Bhitarkanika National Park:

• Location: It is located in Kendrapara district in the state of Odisha.
• It is India’s second-largest mangrove ecosystem after the Sunderbans. 
• The national park that is sprawling across 672 km² of mangrove swamp is situated on a delta formed by rivers, namely Brahmani, Baitarani, and Dhamra.
• The national park was established in September 1998 and was built in the heart of the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, founded in 1975. 
• Proximity to the Bay of Bengal makes the soil of the area enriched with salts; the vegetation and species of the sanctuary are comprised of those that are mainly found in the tropical and subtropical intertidal regions.
• It is home to a multitude of mud huts, creeks, backwaters, and estuaries.
• The area was designated as the second Ramsar Site of the state in August 2002.
• Flora: 
• It houses various species of mangrove spread across its forest region, marshy lands, creeks, etc. 
• Thespia, casuarinas, sundari, and indigo bush grasses are some of the other varieties of flora that flourish in the area.
• Fauna:
• Bhitarkanika has one of the largest populations of endangered saltwater crocodiles in India.
• Gahirmatha Beach, which forms the boundary of the park in the east, is the largest colony of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles.
• Other mammals include monkeys, jackals, common langurs, otter, sambar deer, jungle cats, fox, Mongoose, wolfs, fishing cats, hyenas, etc.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

A recent Scientific Reports study investigated the association between migraine and the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

About Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD):

• IBD is a term that describes disorders involving long-standing (chronic) inflammation of tissues in your digestive tract. 
• For some people, IBD is only a mild illness. For others, it's a debilitating condition that can lead to life-threatening complications.
• Types of IBD include:
• Ulcerative colitis: This condition involves inflammation and sores (ulcers) along the lining of your large intestine (colon) and rectum.
• Crohn's disease. 
• This type of IBD is characterized by inflammation of the lining of your digestive tract, which often involves the deeper layers of the digestive tract.
• Crohn's disease most commonly affects the small intestine. However, it can also affect the large intestine and, uncommonly, the upper gastrointestinal tract.
• A third category, indeterminate colitis IBD, refers to IBD that has features of both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. 

Hence option c is the correct answer.

The Sargasso Sea near Bermuda is warmer, saltier and more acidic than it has ever been since measurements began in 1954 — and the impact of such significant changes could be far reaching, researchers have warned.

• The Sargasso Sea, located entirely within the Atlantic Ocean, is the only sea without a land boundary.
• The Sargasso Sea is named for Sargassum, a holopelagic, golden drift algae that can aggregate to form extensive floating mats on the surface of the ocean.
• This extraordinary open-ocean ecosystem is bounded by currents circulating around the North Atlantic sub-tropical gyre and is unique for supporting the center of distribution and abundance for a community of continuously pelagic drift algae.
• It provides habitats, spawning areas, migration pathways and feeding grounds to a diverse assortment of flora and fauna, including endemic, endangered, and commercially important species. 
• The Gulf Stream establishes the Sargasso Sea's western boundary, while the Sea is further defined to the north by the North Atlantic Current, to the east by the Canary Current, and to the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, Kerala government employee Shaikh Hassan Khan has climbed Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica. 

• It is the highest mountain in Antarctica.
• Mount Vinson rises 4,892 meters (16,050 feet) above sea level.
• It is part of the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, near the Ronne Ice Shelf.
• There are five other tall mountains in the same area as Mount Vinson—the next five highest summits on the continent of Antarctica—which are collectively referred to as Vinson Massif.
• It is located about 1,200 kilometres from the South Pole, one of the coldest places on Earth.

Hence option d is the correct answer.