Daily Current Affairs MCQ- September 29, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

The Pink Bollworm is more widespread and serious than ever before in the states of Rajasthan and Haryana which is affecting cotton crop.

• Pink bollworm (PBW)is one of the most destructive pests of cotton.
• Distribution: Originally native to India, it is now recorded in nearly all the cotton-growing countries of the world.
• Description:
• The adults are small moths about 3/8 inch long and are dark brown with markings on the fore wing.
• The larval stage is the destructive and identifiable stage.
• The larvae have distinctive pink bands and can reach a length of ½ inches right before they pupate.
• Ecological Threat:
• Adults lay eggs on cotton bolls; once hatched, the larvae eat the seeds and damage the fibers of the cotton, reducing the yield and quality.
• When the larvae mature, they cut out the boll and drop to the ground and cocoon near the soil surface. 
• It has also been observed to attack hibiscus, okra, and hollyhock plants.
• The PBW larvae burrow into the developing fruits (bolls) of cotton plants, and the damage affects both the weight and quality of the harvested bolls containing the lint fibre and seeds inside.

Hence both statements are correct.

The recent allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau linking the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil to the Indian government have put the spotlight on the intelligence-sharing alliance ‘Five Eyes’ (or FVEY).

• Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance is a multilateral intelligence-sharing network shared by over 20 different agencies of five English-speaking countries — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.  
• It is both surveillance-based and signals intelligence (SIGINT).
• Intelligence documents shared between the members countries are classified ‘Secret—AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US Eyes Only,’ which gave the group its title ‘Five Eyes.’
• Background of the alliance
• The alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. evolved around the Second World War to counter the Cold War Soviet threat.
• The two countries, which had successfully deciphered German and Japanese codes during the World War, forged a collaboration to share intelligence related to signals such as radio, satellite and internet communications.
• In the aftermath of the war in 1946, the alliance was formalised through an agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence. 
• The treaty called the British-U.S. Communication Intelligence Agreement, or BRUSA (now known as the UKUSA Agreement), was signed between the State-Army-Navy Communication Intelligence Board (STANCIB) of the U.S. and the London Signal Intelligence Board (SIGINT) of Britain.
• Its scope was limited to “communication intelligence matters only” related to “unrestricted” exchange of intelligence products in six areas: collection of traffic; acquisition of communication documents and equipment; traffic analysis; cryptanalysis; decryption and translation; and acquisition of information regarding communication organisations, practices, procedures, and equipment.
• The arrangement was later extended to ‘second party’ countries —Canada joined in 1948, while Australia and New Zealand became part of the alliance in 1956.

Hence option (d) is the correct answer.

Recently, the Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship launched ‘CRIIIO 4 GOOD’.

• It is a new online life skills learning module.
• It consists of series of 8 cricket-based animation films to promote gender parity, equip girls with life skills and encourage their participation in sports.
• Using the popularity and passion of cricket young audiences, ICC and UNICEF released these modules to inspire children and youth to adopt critical life skills and appreciate the importance of gender equality.
• The programme is in three languages: English, Hindi and Gujarati.  
• The themes of the eight modules are: leadership, problem-solving, confidence, decision-making, negotiation, empathy, teamwork and goal setting and are visualized through state-of-the-art animation using cricketing examples.
• The programme was launched in association with the International Cricket Council, UNICEF, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India. 

Hence only statement 1 is correct.

Recently, Tripura Chief Minister launched an e-cabinet system at Agartala to promote digital infrastructure development and digitisation of government services and information.

• E -Cabinet is a powerful software portal for State Governments to conduct Cabinet meetings electronically and online mode.
• It is developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY).
• Tripura has become the fourth state—and second in the Northeast—after Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, to have introduced an e-cabinet system. 
• Features
• It maximizes usage of technology in meetings and reduces paper use.
• It automates workflow activities of meetings; before, during and after. 
• It is designed for smart tablets, with rich UI and UX elements, for ease of use.
• Push & Pull mechanism built in portal ensures high security needed for Cabinet matters.
• Build institutional memory & knowledge repository, enabling quick search & retrieval.
• For virtual meetings eCabinet is integrated with Bharat VC solution of NIC.

Hence both statements are correct.

India retains 40th rank out of 132 economies in the Global Innovation Index 2023 rankings.

• It is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
• It is a reliable tool for governments across the world to assess the innovation-led social and economic changes in their respective countries.
• This year, the NITI Aayog, in partnership with the CII and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), is hosting, virtually, the India Launch of the GII 2023 on 29th September 2023.
• Key findings
• The Global Innovation Index is built on a rich dataset– the collection of 80 indicators from international public and private sources – going beyond the traditional measures of innovation since the definition of innovation has broadened.
• Top 5 countries: Switzerland, Sweden, United States United Kingdom (4th) and Singapore (5th).
• It listed India as among the 21 economies that outperformed for a 13th consecutive year on innovation relative to level of development. 

Hence option (a) is the correct answer.

Iran recently launched Noor-3 imaging satellite into space.

About Noor-3 Satellite:

• It is an imaging satellite developed by Iran.
• It is a satellite with potential spying capabilities, boosting Iran’s abilities in space.
• It has been put in an orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above the Earth's surface.
• It was launched by the three-stage Qased, or messenger carrier.
• The spacecraft's two predecessors, Noor-1 and Noor-2, launched in April 2020 and March 2022, respectively, also atop Qased rockets.
• Noor-1 fell back to Earth in April 2022, but Noor-2 remains operational and may work in concert with Noor 3 when the latter satellite comes online.
• Who carried out the launch?
• The launch was carried out by the aerospace arm of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
• The Guard operates its own space program parallel to Iran's regular armed forces and answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
• It launched its first satellite into space in April 2020 (Noor-1). 

Hence option c is the correct answer.

The Prime Minister is set to inaugurate a unique week-long initiative, ‘Sankalp Saptaah,’ at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.

About ‘Sankalp Saptah’:

• It is linked to the effective implementation of the Aspirational Blocks Programme (ABP). 
• To implement the ABP and prepare an effective block development strategy, “chintan shivirs (brainstorming sessions)” were organized at village and block levels across the country. The Sankalp Saptah is the culmination of these chintan shivirs.
• Sankalp Saptah will be observed in all 500 aspirational blocks.
• Each day in Sankalp Saptah will be dedicated to a specific development theme on which all aspirational blocks will work.
• The themes for the first six days are “Sampoorna Swasthya”, “Suposhit Parivar”, “Swachhta”, “Krishi”, “Shiksha”, and “Samridhi Diwas”.
• The last day of the week will be a celebration of the work conducted during the entire week, as “Sankalp Saptah – Samavesh Samaroh”.
• The inaugural programme will witness the participation of about 3,000 panchayat and block-level people’s representatives and functionaries from across the country at the Bharat Mandapam.

Key Facts about Aspirational Blocks Programme (ABP):

• ABP was launched on January 7, 2023, on the lines of the Aspirational District Programme that was launched in 2018 and covers 112 districts across the country.
• Aim: Enhancing governance and improving the quality of life in 500 Aspirational Blocks spanning 329 districts across India.
• Over half of these blocks are in 6 states: Uttar Pradesh (68 blocks), Bihar (61), Madhya Pradesh (42), Jharkhand (34), Odisha (29) and West Bengal (29). 
• It will be attained by converging existing schemes, defining outcomes, and monitoring them on a constant basis, enabling holistic development in areas that require added assistance.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.

The CALIPSO mission that analysed climate, weather, and air quality ended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced recently.

About CALIPSO Mission:

• CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) is a mission dedicated to studying how clouds and aerosols impact the Earth’s climate. 
• It is a joint project between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales), the French space agency.
• Launched in 2006, CALIPSO is a satellite-based observatory.
• Scientists are using data from CALIPSO to construct 3D models of the atmosphere that improve our ability to predict future climate change. 
• CALIPSO has been part of a constellation of spacecraft called the "A-Train," including Aqua, Aura, and PARASOL spacecraft, dedicated to studying the Earth’s weather and environment.
• Instrumentation:
  • It carries CALIOP, a two-wavelength, polarization-sensitive lidar, along with two passive sensors operating in the visible and thermal infrared spectral regions.
  • The lidar emitted pulses of laser light and measured the amount of light that was scattered back by clouds and aerosols. This information was used to create vertical profiles of cloud and aerosol properties, such as their height, thickness, and optical depth.
  • CALIOP is the first lidar to provide long-term atmospheric measurements from Earth's orbit.
  • This information helps scientists create three-dimensional profiles of cloud and aerosol distributions.
  • The mission recorded more than 10 billion LIDAR measurements and helped create thousands of scientific reports over its 17 years of operation. 

Hence both statements are not correct.

Recent experiments at CERN have demonstrated that antimatter falls, validating yet another aspect of the general theory.

About Antimatter:

• Antimatter is the same as ordinary matter except that it has the opposite electric charge.
• It is also known as “mirror” matter.
• For instance, an electron, which has a negative charge, has an antimatter partner known as a positron. A positron is a particle with the same mass as an electron but a positive charge. 
• The antimatter particles corresponding to electrons, protons, and neutrons are called positrons, antiprotons, and antineutrons; collectively they are referred to as antiparticles.
• These anti-particles can combine to form anti-atoms and, in principle, could even form anti-matter regions of our universe.
• Matter and antimatter cannot coexist at close range for more than a small fraction of a second because they collide with and annihilate each other, releasing large quantities of energy in the form of gamma rays or elementary particles.
• Antimatter was created along with matter after the Big Bang. 
• Humans have created antimatter particles using ultra-high-speed collisions at huge particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider, which is located outside Geneva and operated by CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research).
• There are also naturally produced antiparticles made sporadically throughout the universe.

Hence option b is the correct answer.

A recent study has found that the human brain's cerebellum is more vulnerable to Covid infections than other brain regions.

About Cerebellum:

• The cerebellum, which stands for “little brain”, is a structure of the central nervous system.
• Location: It is a part of your brain located at the back of your head, just above and behind, where your spinal cord connects to your brain itself.
• It only accounts for around 10% of total brain weight but contains as many as 80% of all neurons in the brain.
• Functions:
• Maintaining balance: The cerebellum has special sensors that detect shifts in balance and movement. It sends signals for the body to adjust and move.
• Coordinating movement: Most body movements require the coordination of multiple muscle groups. The cerebellum times muscle actions so that the body can move smoothly.
• Vision: The cerebellum coordinates eye movements.
• Motor learning: The cerebellum helps the body to learn movements that require practice and fine-tuning. For example, the cerebellum plays a role in learning to ride a bicycle or play a musical instrument.
• Other functions: Researchers believe the cerebellum has some role in thinking, including processing language and mood.

Hence only statement 2 is correct.