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

Scientists using data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica believe they have potentially found the first evidence for astrophysical tau neutrinos, called "ghost particles"

• It is a device at the earth’s South Pole that detects subatomic particles called neutrinos.
• It was built and is maintained by the IceCube Collaboration, which consists of many universities worldwide led by the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
• It consists of thousands of sensors buried more than 1.4 km beneath the ice plus multiple detectors above the surface.
• IceCube is the world’s biggest ‘neutrino telescope’; its sensors are distributed throughout a cubic kilometre of ice.
• Working
• When a neutrino interacts with the ice surrounding the sensors, it may produce some charged particles and some radiation.
• The sensors detect the radiation to infer the detection of a neutrino and use the radiation’s properties to understand more about the particle.
• Neutrinos come in different types. IceCube can identify some of them in real-time.
• For others, IceCube collects data for many years and scientists then comb through them to find neutrino interaction events.

Hence both statements are correct.

Buguns, one of the major tribes, mainly living adjacent to Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh's have set an example by donating 1,470 hectares of forest land to the state forest department, giving a push to efforts for protection of Bugun Liocichla bird.

• It is a small babbler (only 20 cm) with olive-grey plumage and black cap.
• It has become an attraction of the birdwatchers since it was discovered as a new bird species in 2006.
• It is found only in the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary landscape and nowhere else in the world. 
• The avian species is critically endangered with only 14 individual birds spotted so far in the Braiduah village under the Singchung sub-division.
• As a major step towards conservation, the Arunachal Pradesh government finally notified Braiduah Community Reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• The reserve is situated adjacent to the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.

Hence both statements are correct.

Exercise Tiger Triumph is scheduled on the Eastern Seaboard from 18 to 31 March 2024.

• It is a bilateral tri-Service Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise between India and the USA.
• The exercise is aimed at developing interoperability for conducting HADR operations and refine Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to enable rapid and smooth coordination between forces of both countries.
• The Harbour Phase is scheduled from 18 to 25 Mar 24.
• Personnel from both navies would participate in Training Visits, Subject Matter Expert Exchanges, Sports Events and Social interactions.
• On completion of the Harbour Phase, the ships, with the troops embarked, would sail for the Sea Phase and undertake Maritime, Amphibious and HADR operations in accordance with injected situations.
• Indian Navy Ships with integral helicopters and landing crafts embarked, Indian Navy aircraft, Indian Army personnel and vehicles and Indian Air Force aircraft and helicopters along with the Rapid Action Medical Team (RAMT) would be participating in the exercise.
• The US would be represented by US Navy Ships with embarked troops of the US Marine Corps and US Army.

Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

The India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) is the latest in India’s recent Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which ventures into some uncharted territory.

• It is the latest in India’s Free Trade Agreements.
• Features
• Investment: TEPA sets out a target of a $100 billion investment into India from EFTA countries and consequent one million jobs over a 15-year period.
• It also provides India the ability to withdraw its tariff concessions if such expected investment is not achieved.
• If India is not satisfied, it can pull back its tariff concessions in a proportionate manner after 18 years.
• Trade in goods: India is mandated to eliminate tariff on most products within seven to 10 years.
• With regard to India’s exports to EFTA, there will be no material impact since most products face very low or zero tariff for nations which have the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status in EFTA countries.
• Trade in services: On services, both India and the EFTA members have committed to liberalisation across a wide range of sectors.
• Sustainable development: The TEPA’s chapter on Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD), comprising commitments on environment and labour aspects, represents a first for India in any FTA.
• The TSD chapter refers to a range of multilateral environmental agreements and labour conventions, whose implementation is based on a balance of rights and obligations.
• Intellectual Property Rights (IPR): The EFTA countries are home to several pharmaceutical and high technology MNCs, whose ask has been commitments on protection of IPRs that exceed the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
• The TEPA’s IPR Annex requires swift rejection of “prima facie unfounded” oppositions. This potentially opens up India’s internal regulatory process to external scrutiny on whether this standard was met.
• Similarly, a statutory requirement under Indian law is filing of an annual statement on working of a patent.
• The TEPA mandates that this periodicity be increased to three years, with annual statements to be required only in specified cases, which potentially raises the concern that the statutory requirement as it exists under Indian law, may need reconsideration to make it case specific.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Samsung officially announced the launch of a new smart ring-shaped wearable device, Galaxy Ring, as part of its Galaxy Unpacked event earlier this year.

• Wearable technology, also known as "wearables," is a category of electronic devices that can be worn as accessories, embedded in clothing, implanted in the user's body, or even tattooed on the skin.
• Wearable devices come in many shapes and sizes, including smart watches and sports watches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays, smart jewellery, smart clothing, and even implantable devices.
• At a minimum, wearable devices are equipped with sensors, software and connecting technology.
• Working
• The sensors gather information from the person wearing the device, and the software gathers the data and sends it to a device with processing capacity via a wireless connection.
• The ecosystem on which wearable technology works is known as the Internet of Things (IoT).
• It is the same principle as smart technology used at home, on devices such as thermostats that can be operated from a mobile device outside the home, or smart speakers, but applied at a personal level.
• What makes an IoT solution even more attractive is the interpretation of the data gathered by the sensors.
• Benefits
• Smart rings can provide more accurate readings than smartwatches, because they can use the capillaries (small blood vessels) in your finger to get their readings.
• Another advantage of smart rings is that they have a longer battery life than smartwatches.
• Drawbacks
• Smart rings can't and won't be able to replicate the functionality offered by a smartwatch.
• Smart rings are unlikely to come with GPS or a screen.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Scientists recently found signs of some of the earliest known earthquakes at the Barberton Greenstone Belt.

About Barberton Greenstone Belt:

• It is situated on the eastern edge of the Kaapvaal Craton in South Africa.
• It is known for its gold mineralisation and for its komatiites, an unusual type of ultramafic volcanic rock named after the Komati River that flows through the belt. 
• Some of the oldest exposed rocks on Earth (greater than 3.6 Ga) are located in the Barberton Greenstone Belt of the Eswatini–Barberton areas, and these contain some of the oldest traces of life on Earth, second only to the Isua Greenstone Belt of Western Greenland.
• The Makhonjwa Mountains make up 40% of the Baberton belt.
• Geological sampling indicates that some rock formations in these mountains are 3.2 to 3.6 billion years old.

What are ultramafic rocks?

• Ultramafic (or ultrabasic) rocks are dark-colored igneous and meta-igneous rocks that are rich in minerals containing magnesium and iron ("mafic" minerals) and have a relatively low content of silica.
• They are generally composed of more than 90 percent mafic minerals—that is, they have a high content of magnesium oxide (more than 18 percent MgO) and iron oxide (FeO). Their silica content is less than 45 percent, and their potassium content is low.
• The Earth's mantle is thought to be composed of ultramafic rocks.
• Most of the exposed ultramafic rocks have been found in orogenic (mountain-forming) belts. 

Hence option b is the correct answer.

Exporters seeking to avail duty concessions on shipments to the UK will have to adhere to the new British rules under the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).

About Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS):

• It is a scheme introduced by the United Kingdom (UK) Government to facilitate developing countries to integrate into the global economy, create stronger trade and investment partnerships and strengthen supply chains.
• It is a simpler and more generous preferential trading scheme which has been designed to boost trade with developing countries in order to support their development. 
• It reduces or removes rates of duty, or tariffs, on imports from eligible developing countries into the UK.
• It also enables UK businesses to access thousands of products from around the globe at lower prices, reducing costs for UK consumers.
• The DCTS applies to 65 countries, that are:
• least developed countries (LDCs) as defined by the United Nations.
• low-income countries (LIC) and lower middle-income countries (LMIC) as defined by the World Bank.
• DCTS will provide duty-free, quota-free trade to LDCs on everything but arms and duty-free, quota-free trade on 85% of eligible goods to most low LIC and LMIC countries.
• The DCTS does not extend to countries and territories deemed by the World Bank as ‘upper-middle income’ for three consecutive years, or to LICs and LMICs who have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK.

Hence option b is the correct answer.

Genetic rescue is proposed as a method to conserve Ranthambore National Park’s tiger population.

About Genetic Rescue:

• Genetic rescue is the process of increasing population growth with new genetic variation by migrating individuals into another small population (i.e., gene flow).
• In practice, wildlife managers take individuals from a larger, healthier population and bring them to a smaller population to introduce new variation and eventually help grow the population. 
• This conservation strategy aims to alleviate genetic load, decrease extinction risk, and enhance the viability of endangered species and populations. 
• It is often employed in conservation biology to mitigate the negative effects of inbreeding depression, which can occur when individuals within a population mate with close relatives, leading to decreased reproductive success and viability of offspring.
• Genetic rescue can have both beneficial and deleterious effects, depending on factors such as the magnitude and duration of gene flow, as well as the genetic and non-genetic factors influencing population dynamics.
• There can be risks involved with moving animals around, so it’s often thought of as a last resort.

Hence both statements are correct.

Karnataka has witnessed instances of human-sloth bear confrontations, raising concerns for both communities and wildlife enthusiasts.

• Scientific Name: Melursus ursinus
• Sloth bears are one of the eight bear species found across the world.
• They are myrmecophagous, meaning, they find bugs and termites to be their most sought after meal.
• Habitat: They live in a variety of dry and moist forests and in some tall grasslands, where boulders, scattered shrubs and trees provide shelter.
• Distribution: They mainly inhabit the region of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and presumably Bhutan.
• Appearance: They have long, shaggy dark brown or black fur and curved claws, which are the longest out of any of the bear species.
• Conservation Status
• IUCN: Vulnerable
• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule 1
• Key to mitigate human-sloth bear confrontations: Enhancing habitat connectivity, minimising human-wildlife interaction zones, and implementing responsible waste management practices.
• Sloth Bear Sanctuaries in India: Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary (Karnataka)
  , Jessore Sloth Bear Sanctuary (Gujarat).

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

In a major boost of ties the militaries of India and Saudi Arabia are conducting their first Joint Military Exercise named as Sada Tanseeq.

• It is the inaugural edition of India-Saudi Arabia Joint Military Exercise ‘SADA TANSEEQ’ commenced at Mahajan, Rajasthan.
• The Exercise is scheduled to be conducted from 29th January to 10th February 2024.
• Aim of the Exercise is to train troops of both sides for Joint Operations in Semi Desert terrain under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
• The Exercise will enable both the sides to share their best practices in the tactics, techniques and procedures of conducting operations in sub-conventional domain.
• It will facilitate developing interoperability, bonhomie and camaraderie between troops from both the sides.
• The Exercise will involve Establishment of Mobile Vehicle Check Post, Cordon & Search Operation, House Intervention Drill, Reflex Shooting, Slithering and Sniper Firing. 
• The Exercise will provide an opportunity to both the contingents to strengthen their bond. 

Hence option d is the correct answer.