Daily Current Affairs MCQ- January 21, 2024 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, the Prime Minister of India paid tributes to Lachit Borphukan on Lachit Diwas. 

• He has been revered in Assam as the warrior who defeated Mughal armies in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.
• He was commander of the Ahom armies during the battle of Saraighat – fought on the banks of Brahmaputra in Guwahati. 
• He was a brilliant military commander.
• He was chosen as one of the five Borphukans of the Ahom kingdom by king Charadhwaj Singha and given administrative, judicial, and military responsibilities. 
• Borphukan preferred guerrilla tactics which provided an edge to his smaller, but fast moving and capable forces.
• He died a year after the Battle of Saraighat from a long festering illness.

Key points about the AHOM Kingdom

• The Ahom kings ruled large parts of what is now known as Assam for nearly 600 years, from the early 13th century to the early 19th century.
• This was a prosperous, multi-ethnic kingdom which spread across the upper and lower reaches of the Brahmaputra valley, surviving on rice cultivation in its fertile lands.
• The Ahoms engaged in a series of conflicts with the Mughals from 1615-1682, starting from the reign of Jahangir till the reign of Aurangzeb.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, there is an outbreak of human cases of avian influenza virus (H9N2) and clusters of respiratory illness in children in northern China.

• H9N2 is a subtype of the influenza A virus which causes human influenza as well as bird flu.
• This virus is found worldwide in wild birds and is endemic in poultry in many areas.
• Poultry is considered a genetic incubator for the origin of the H9N2 novel avian influenza virus that infects humans.
• Symptoms
• Infections ranging from mild, flu-like symptoms or eye inflammation to severe, acute respiratory disease or death.
• The severity of the disease depends on the virus causing the infection and the characteristics of the infected individual.
• Prevention: Maintaining personal and hand hygiene, including washing hands with soap, before and after contact with animals is essential to avoid being infected by the virus

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Recently, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Amplifi 2.0 portal.

• Amplifi (Assessment and Monitoring Platform for Liveable, Inclusive and Future-ready urban India) portal aims to provide data on Indian cities.
• It is making raw data from Indian cities available on a single platform for academics, researchers, and stakeholders to help data-driven policy making.
• Currently, 258 urban local bodies (ULB) have been on-boarded, and data for 150 cities is available on the portal. 
• It provides data on a range of information for several cities, including, for example, the total diesel consumption; the number of samples tested for water quality; 

Hence both statements are correct.

According to the Emissions Gap report, delaying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction will further increase the future dependence on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere.

• Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is using technologies, practices, and approaches to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere through deliberate and intentional human actions.
• This includes traditional methods like afforestation, as well as more sophisticated technologies like direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS).
• Biochar
• It is the substance produced by burning organic waste from agricultural lands and forests in a controlled process called pyrolysis.
• Although it resembles common charcoal in appearance, the production of biochar reduces contamination and is a method to safely store carbon.
• Pyrolysis involves the burning of wood chips, leaves, dead plants, etc. with very little oxygen, and the process releases a significantly small quantity of fumes.
• Biochar is a stable form of carbon that cannot easily escape into the atmosphere.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

According to a new observational study, anti-rheumatic medicines used to treat rheumatoid arthritis may help reduce the development of autoimmune thyroid disease.

About Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA):

• It is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, which means that your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing inflammation (painful swelling) in the affected parts of the body.
• RA mainly attacks the joints, usually many joints at once. RA commonly affects joints in the hands, wrists, and knees.
• In a joint with RA, the lining of the joint becomes inflamed, causing damage to joint tissue. This tissue damage can cause long-lasting or chronic pain, unsteadiness (lack of balance), and deformity (misshapenness).
• RA can also affect other tissues throughout the body and cause problems in organs such as the lungs, heart, and eyes.
• Cause: RA is the result of an immune response in which the body’s immune system attacks its own healthy cells.  The specific causes of RA are unknown, but some factors can increase the risk of developing the disease.
• Treatment:
• RA can be effectively treated and managed with medication(s) and self-management strategies.
• Treatment for RA usually includes the use of medications that slow disease and prevent joint deformity, called disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

India celebrates Constitution Day or Samvidhan Divas on November 26. 

About Constitution Day:

• Constitution Day, also known as Samvidhan Divas or National Law Day, is celebrated in India on November 26th each year.
• This day commemorates the adoption of the Constitution of India on November 26, 1949. The Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950.
• In 2015, the government decided to celebrate this day to promote constitutional values among citizens.

Constituent Assembly (CA) of India:

• The Constituent Assembly (CA) was set up in 1946 under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946.
• The Assembly held its first meeting on December 9, 1946, and elected Dr. Sachhidanand Sinha, the oldest member of the Assembly, as the Provisional President.
• On December 11, 1946, the Assembly elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as its permanent Chairman.
• The CA took 3 years (1946-49) to complete the drafting.
• The CA had 299 elected members from provincial legislative assemblies.
• The CA had 13 committees, including the drafting committee headed by Dr B.R. Ambedkar.
• The Constitution was adopted in 1949 when 284 members signed it, marking the completion of the Constitution-making process.

Interesting Facts about Indian Constitution:

• It is the world’s longest: The original copy of the Indian Constitution is 251 pages long; it is the most detailed in the world.
• It is completely handwritten and designed.
• Sh. Prem Behari Narain Raizada, a master of calligraphic art, singlehandedly handwrote the Constitution.
• Sh. Nand Lal Bose, a pioneer of modern Indian art, designed the borders of every page of the Constitution and adorned it with art pieces.
• The original manuscript of the Constitution was written on parchment sheets measuring 16 X 22 inches, having a lifespan of a thousand years. It weighed 3.75 kg.

Hence both statements are not correct.

The Gujarat Forest Department recently presented its proposal to make Barda Wildlife Sanctuary (BWLS) the second home to lions before the national steering committee meeting held as part of "Project Lion @ 2047".

About Barda Wildlife Sanctuary (BWLS):

• Location:
• It is located in the state of Gujarat.
• It lies roughly 15 kilometers from Porbandar and 100 kilometers west of Gir Forest National Park.
• It has a hilly landscape, and the sanctuary sprawls over an area of 192.31 square kilometers.
• It lies at an altitude that ranges from 79.2 meters to 617.8 meters above the sea level.
• There are two waterways, the Bileshvary River and the Joghri River, and two dams, Khambala and Fodara.
• Ethnic races such as Maldharis, Bharvads, Rabaris, and Gadhvis live in this region.
• To develop Barda as the second home for the Asiatic lion, the State Government implemented the 'Gir-Barda Project' in 1979.
• Flora: 
• It is characteristically abundant in floral diversity, which consists of a good number of medicinal plants.
• The sanctuary boasts about 650 plant species, which comprise Rayan, Babul, Ber, Jamun, Amli, Gorad, Bamboo, Dhav, Dhudhlo, etc
• Fauna: Leopard, Hyena, Wild boar, wolf, Jackal, blue bull, rare and endangered spotted eagle, crested hawk eagle, etc.

Hence option c is the correct answer.

Scientists recently detected the most powerful cosmic ray seen in more than three decades, which has been named ‘Amaterasu’.

About Amaterasu:

• It is one of the highest-energy cosmic rays ever detected.
• It has been named Amaterasu after the Japanese sun goddess.
• It has an energy exceeding 240 exa-electron volts (EeV). That is millions of times more than particles produced in the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful accelerator ever built, and equivalent to the energy of a golf ball travelling at 95mph. 
• It comes only second to the Oh-My-God particle, another ultra-high-energy cosmic ray that came in at 320 EeV, detected in 1991.
• Amaterasu appears to have emerged from the Local Void, an empty area of space bordering the Milky Way galaxy.

What are Cosmic Rays?

• They are echoes of violent celestial events that have stripped matter of its subatomic structures and hurled it through the universe at nearly the speed of light.
• Essentially, cosmic rays are charged particles with a wide range of energies consisting of positive protons, negative electrons, or entire atomic nuclei that travel through space and rain down onto Earth nearly constantly.
• They hit Earth’s upper atmosphere and blast apart the nucleus of oxygen and nitrogen gas, generating many secondary particles.
• These travel a short distance in the atmosphere and repeat the process, building a shower of billions of secondary particles that scatter to the surface. 

Hence option b is the correct answer.

Recently, a study by the Indian Council for Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology has for the first time confirmed the presence of the Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) virus in two more districts of Karnataka.

• It is a zoonotic disease.
• The disease was first reported from Kyasanur Forest of Karnataka in India in 1957, hence it is known as Kyasanur Forest disease (KFD).
• It is also known as “monkey disease/monkey fever” because of its association with monkey deaths.
• This virus has spread along the entire stretch of the Western Ghats region, which also includes Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa.
• Symptoms
• Sudden onset of high grade fever, prostration, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and occasionally neurological & haemorrhagic manifestations.
• Transmission: It is transmitted through the bite of ticks and bonnet, and black-faced langur monkeys are highly susceptible to the infection. They play a significant role in the spread of the virus in the human population.
• Treatment
• No specific treatment for KFD is available; however, prompt symptomatic and supportive therapy including maintenance of hydration, hemodynamic stability and management of neurological symptoms decreases morbidity and mortality.

Hence both statements are correct.

Recently, chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched the Investor Risk Reduction Access platform.

• It has been developed to reduce risks faced by investors in the eventuality of technical glitches at the trading member’s end at both the primary site and disaster recovery site.
• Its purpose is to provide investors with an opportunity to square off/close their open positions and cancel pending orders using the IRRA platform in case of technical glitches or unforeseen outages that render the trading member’s site inaccessible.
• It has been designed to reduce risks for investors participating in the market.
• It is not meant for taking fresh positions or orders, but only to cancel the pending orders.
• This platform will be available to trading members supporting internet-based trading (IBT) and Security Trading through Wireless Technology (STWT) for their investors. However, it will not be accessible for algo trading and institutional clients.
• It has been jointly developed by all the stock exchanges – BSE, NSE, NCDEX, MCX and Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSE) 

Hence only statement 1 is correct.