Daily Current Affairs MCQ- November 20, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

Recently, the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development 2022 was jointly awarded to the Indian Medical Association and the Trained Nurses Association of India as representatives of the COVID-19 warriors in the country.

• The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development was instituted in the memory of the former prime minister by a trust in her name in 1986.
• It consists of a monetary award of 25 lakh rupees along with a citation.
• The award is given to individuals or organisations who work towards ensuring international peace and development, ensuring that scientific discoveries are used to further the scope of freedom and better humanity, and creating new international economic order.
• Past recipients of this award include:
• Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of Soviet Union (1987);
• UNICEF (1989)
• Jimmy Carter, former president of the US (1997)
• UN and its secretary-general Kofi Annan (2003)
• Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany (2013)
• Indian Space Research Organisation (2014)
• Former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh (2017)
• Sir David Attenborough (2019)
• Pratham NGO (2021)

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Efforts are being made by the Kerala state authorities to expand the cultivation of geographical indication (GI)-tagged Onattukara sesame.

• It is cultivated in the state of Kerala.
• Onattukara Ellu and its oil are famous for its unique health benefits.
• Relatively higher antioxidant content in Onattukara Ellu helps in fighting the free radicals, which destroy the body cells.
• It has the high content of unsaturated fat makes it beneficial for heart patients.
• This sesame grown in the region contains high levels of Vitamin E and antioxidants.
• It also contains oleic acid, linoleic acid, palmitoleic acid and so on which help maintain good health.

Key facts about Geographical Indication (GI) tag

• It is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
• This is typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, wine and spirit drinks, handicrafts and industrial products.
• The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 seeks to provide for the registration and better protection of geographical indications relating to goods in India.
• This GI tag is valid for 10 years following which it can be renewed.

Hence option d is the correct answer.

In agricultural settings, freemartins can’t reproduce; farmers often identify them through physical and/or behavioural traits.

• In animal husbandry, cattle that are born exhibiting characteristics of both sexes are called freemartins.
• Freemartins are sterile female cattle that result from the twinning of a male and a female within the same uterus.
• This phenomenon occurs in approximately 90% of such twin pregnancies in cattle.
• The key reason is the exchange of blood between the male and the female foetuses during gestation.
• Genetically, freemartinism is attributed to the sharing of cells carrying the Y chromosome from the male twin with the female twin.
• This chromosome triggers the development of male reproductive organs in the male foetus, while the female foetus affected by the presence of male hormones, experiences incomplete development of its reproductive system.
• The end result is that the freemartin has an underdeveloped or non-functional reproductive tract.
• Freemartins can’t reproduce farmers often identify them through physical and/or behavioural traits to cull them from the breeding herd to improve reproductive efficiency.

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

The Myristica swamps which are endemic to many species are critically in need of conservation, currently there is no consistent monitoring system in place to detect changes.

• These are called live fossils, a biodiversity hotspot dominated by evergreen trees belonging to Myristicaceae family, one of the oldest flowering plants on earth.
• These are freshwater swamps.
• These forests are characterized by trees with large protruding roots jutting out of waterlogged soil which remains inundated throughout the year.
• They have evolved over millions of years and are comprised of old-growth trees.
• Geographical distribution: In India, these unique habitats occur in the Western Ghats and a smaller distribution exists in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Climatic conditions: The formation of these swamps is dependent on abiotic conditions like the shape of the valley between the forested hills, the amount of rainfall a place receives (with an average of 3000 mm), and water availability throughout the year.
• Typically, Myristica swamps are seen next to rivers and help in retaining water and act as a sponge, ensuring perennial water availability.
• These swamps are home to many vertebrate and invertebrate faunal species. This is due to stable macroecological conditions like high humidity, moderate temperature, and macrohabitat availability.

Hence both statements are correct.

Physicists use the fractal geometry approach to study quantum systems.

About Fractals:

• A fractal is a never-ending pattern.
• Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales.
• In essence, a fractal is a pattern that repeats forever, and every part of the fractal, regardless of how zoomed in or zoomed out you are, it looks very similar to the whole image.
• They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. 
• Driven by recursion, fractals are images of dynamic systems.
• Fractals are distinct from the simple figures of classical, or Euclidean, geometry—the square, the circle, the sphere, and so forth.
• Fractal patterns are extremely familiar, since nature is full of fractals. For instance, trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, seashells, hurricanes, etc.
• They are capable of describing many irregularly shaped objects or spatially nonuniform phenomena in nature, such as coastlines and mountain ranges. 
• Applications: Fractals are useful in modeling structures (such as eroded coastlines or snowflakes) in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth, fluid turbulence, and galaxy formation.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Centre’s move to cancel a call for proposals under the Department of Science and Technology (DST)’s SATHI programme has sparked fears among higher education institutions 

About Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI):

• It is an initiative by the Department of Science and Technology to boost access to research and testing facilities and address problems of accessibility, maintenance, redundancy, and duplication of expensive equipment in Institutions.
• It aims to set up a shared, professionally managed Science and Technology (S&T) infrastructure facility which can be readily accessible to academia, start-ups, manufacturing units, industries, and R&D labs. 
• Such S&T infrastructure will be known as the Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institute (SATHI).
• These Centres will be equipped with major analytical instruments and advanced manufacturing facilities which are usually not available at Institutes / Organisations.
• It would encourage and ensure the establishment of a National Network of Laboratories and testing facilities tightly linked to global standards. 
• SATHI facilities will be used for 80% of their available time by external users i.e. out-side of the host institutes and the remaining 20% of their available time by internal users of the host institute.
• The usage of the facility will be guided by the basic principle of maximum and effective utilization and accessibility for all.
• The facilities provided by the SATHI may be utilized by any user or organization upon payment of nominal charges. 
• Funding:
• Proposals from well-established, internationally competitive S&T host institutes / R&D Centres / Organizations irrespective of their status as Government / NonGovernment, from State/ Central Universities are invited through networking and a cluster approach. 
• The upper limit of funding support from DST would be Rs 60.0 crores for duration of 4 years, for acquiring only state-of-the-art national facilities.
• A not-for-profit Section-8 company as well as Governing Body (GB) formation is compulsory in consortium mode before the support of granting agency.
• Duration: The duration of support for the SATHI Project will be for a period not exceeding 4 years.

Hence both statements are correct.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently issued a warning to organizations about a hacking group called Scattered Spiders.

About Scattered Spiders:

• It is a hacking group notorious for invading various organizations across the world.
• This hacker group is known by other aliases as well, including Starfraud, UNC3944, Scatter Swine, and Muddled Libra. 
• The members are as young as 16 years old and primary English speakers.
• They break into the IT environments of victims, exfiltrates as much valuable data as possible, and then demand payment to keep a lid on that information and not leak or sell it.
• Modus operandi:
• They use fake profiles and impersonations to trick a victim organisation's help desk into giving them access.
• After gaining access to an organisation's systems, hackers keep an eye on internal communication channels.
• They also keep a tab on emails or conversations that might show if their breach has been discovered.
• The criminals “frequently join incident remediation and response calls and teleconferences, likely to identify how security teams are hunting them and proactively develop new avenues of intrusion in response to victim defenses.
• How to stay safe?
• Maintain offline backups of data
• Require all accounts to have password logins
• Use longer passwords consisting of at least eight characters and no more than 64 characters in length
• Require phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA)
• Keep all operating systems, software, and firmware up to date
• Disable hyperlinks in emails
• Keep all data encrypted.

Hence option c is the correct answer.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) recently proposed guidelines that aim to check Greenwashing in ads.

About Greenwashing:

• What is it? It is the process of conveying a false impression or misleading information about how a company’s products are environmentally sound.
• Greenwashing involves making an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly or have a greater positive environmental impact than they actually do.
• In addition, greenwashing may occur when a company attempts to emphasize sustainable aspects of a product to overshadow its involvement in environmentally damaging practices. 
• Companies can also greenwash initiatives with vague claims that don't provide real data or scientific validation for the claims.
• For example, a car vendor claims that a vehicle is eco-friendly because it is more fuel-efficient, while failing to mention or consider the larger industrial impact of vehicle manufacturing on the environment.

Hence option b is the correct answer.

• Recently, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Summit 2023 took place in San Francisco, United States.
  • The APEC 2023 summit's theme is "Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All".
• APEC reaffirmed their commitment to free, fair, and open trade and investment, and to advancing inclusive and sustainable growth in the region.
• The summit concluded with the adoption of the Golden Gate Declaration.
  • The declaration underscores the commitment to creating a resilient and sustainable future for all member economies.
• Hence, option B is correct.

• Somalia is situated in the Horn of Africa, bordered by the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, Kenya and Ethiopia to the west, and Djibouti to the northwest. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
  • Mogadishu is the capital and largest city in Somalia.
• The country features diverse landscapes including arid plains, plateaus, highlands, and mountain ranges.
  • The northern part of Somalia includes the Golis Mountains, while the southern region is characterized by savannas and grasslands.
• Somalia has several islands off its coast, including the Bajuni Islands and the Socotra Archipelago, which includes islands like Socotra, Abd al Kuri, and Samha. However, the Socotra Archipelago is administered by Yemen. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.