Test: Weekly Current Affairs: December 15 to 21, 2023 - UPSC MCQ

Option 1, 2 and 3 is correct.
The Nordic countries are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden; the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland; and the autonomous region of Åland.

Statement 3 is incorrect.

• The PM Vishwakarma Scheme, launched by the Centre on September 17, has received over 21 lakh applications in two and a half months, data from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) show. The scheme, aimed at supporting and providing skill-upgradation training to artisans and craftspeople.
• The Vishwakarma Scheme provides formal training for upgradation and modernisation of traditional skills amid a changing economic landscape. It also offers financial assistance and creates avenues of “market linkage” for persons working in 18 trades and crafts. These include carpenter, boat-maker, armourer, blacksmith, hammer and tool kit maker, locksmith, goldsmith, potter, sculptor, cobbler, mason, basket-maker, doll and toy-maker, barber, garland maker, washerman, tailor, and fishing net-maker.

Statement 3 is incorrect.

• The SCO is an intergovernmental organisation founded on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai, China. It was established as a multilateral association to ensure security and maintain stability across the vast Eurasian region, join forces to counteract emerging challenges and threats, and enhance trade, as well as cultural and humanitarian cooperation.
• The SCO was founded with the primary aim to address security-related concerns, with addressing regional terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism top in its list of priorities. In 2004, at the SCO Summit held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) was established. Through RATS, SCO members share crucial intelligence, know-how, legal expertise as well as allow for extradition of terrorists.
• The SCO promotes cooperation in the fields of economics and culture, with the aim of promoting regional development as a part of a holistic approach towards tackling security issues. To that end, it has signed various treaties to promote trade and cultural exchanges within members.

Only Statement 2 is correct.

• Talks about TEPA (Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement) and a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between India, and four European countries who make up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), outside the European Union (EU): Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, began 15 years ago, and despite 20 rounds of negotiations, they have not yet been closed.
• European Free Trade Association (EFTA) operates in parallel with the European Union (EU), and all four member states participate in the European Single Market and are part of the Schengen Area. They are not, however, party to the European Union Customs Union.

Remote Sensing: It is the science of obtaining information about objects or areas from a distance, typically from aircraft or satellites. It collects data by detecting the reflected energy from the Earth. Hyperspectral imaging, sonar, and seismograms are common application of the remote sensing.

• Tactical nuclear weapons are intended to destroy enemy troops and weapons on the battlefield. They have a relatively short range and a much lower yield than nuclear warheads fitted to long-range strategic missiles that are capable of obliterating whole cities.
• Unlike strategic weapons, which have been subject to arms control agreements between Moscow and Washington, tactical weapons never have been limited by any such pacts, and Russia hasn’t released their numbers or any other specifics related to them.
• The U.S. government believes Russia has about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, which include bombs that can be carried by aircraft, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery rounds.

Statement 2 is incorrect.

• Along with Harappa, Mohenjo Daro is the best known site of the bronze age urban civilization that flourished in the valley of the Indus between roughly 3,300 BC and 1,300 BC, with its ‘mature’ phase spanning the period 2,600 BC to 1,900 BC.
• The indus valley civilization was first identified in 1921 at Harappa in the Punjab region and then in 1922 at Mohenjo-daro, near the Indus River in the Sindh region.
• Mohenjo Daro is famous for its elaborate town planning with street grids with brick pavements, developed water supply, drainage, and covered sewerage systems, homes with toilets, and monumental buildings such as the Great Granary and the Great Bath. 

Option 2 is incorrect.

• The Po is the longest river in Italy. 
• Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy.
• Danube River does not flow through Italy.

Option 4 is incorrect.

• The disqualification of an MP convicted for an offence can happen in two instances.
• First, if the offence for which he is convicted is listed in Section 8(1) of the Representation of the People Act of 1951. This includes certain specific offences such as promoting enmity between two groups, bribery and undue influence or personation at an election. Defamation does not fall under this list.
• Second, if the lawmaker is convicted for any other offence but is sentenced for a period of two years or more. Section 8(3) of the RPA mandates that an MP can be disqualified if convicted and sentenced to not less than two years of imprisonment.

• Carbon dating cannot be applied in all circumstances. Specifically, it cannot be used to determine the age of non-living things. Also, the age of things that are more than 40,000-50,000 years cannot be arrived at through carbon dating.
• There are other methods to calculate the age of inanimate things, but carbon dating can also be used in an indirect way in certain circumstances. For example, the age of the ice cores in glaciers and polar regions is determined using carbon dating by studying the carbon dioxide molecules trapped inside large ice sheets. The trapped molecules have no interaction with the outside atmosphere and are found in the same state as when they were trapped.

Statement 4 is incorrect.
Article 102 deals with the disqualification of MPs from either house of the Parliament.
Part (1) of the article lists the reasons why an MP can be disqualified. These include,
(a) if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State, other than an office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder;
(b) if he is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court;
(c) if he is an undischarged insolvent;
(d) if he is not a citizen of India, or has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a foreign State, or is under any acknowledgment of allegiance or adherence to a foreign State;
(e) if he is so disqualified by or under any law made by Parliament.

Option 1 and 4 are correct.

• A number of regional, multilateral and global legal frameworks exist to govern the activities in the oceans, the most important of which is the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS), a 1982 agreement that has near-universal acceptance.
• Among other things, UNCLOS defined the rights and duties of countries in the oceans, the extent of ocean areas over which countries could claim sovereignty, and the legal status of marine resources. It also specified a set of general rules for a range of activities in the oceans including navigation, scientific research, and deep-sea mining.
• The treaty established exclusive economic zones (EEZ), ocean areas up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastline, where a country would have exclusive rights overall economic resources such as fish, oil, minerals, and gas. The high seas are the areas beyond the EEZ of any country.
• The UNCLOS came into being much before climate change and biodiversity became major global concerns.

Even the movement of workforce from agriculture that India has witnessed over the past three decades or more does not qualify as what economists call “structural transformation”. Such transformation would involve the transfer of labour from farming to sectors – particularly manufacturing and modern services – where productivity, value-addition and average incomes are higher.

Prehistoric rock paintings:

The term ‘Prehistory’ refers to the distant past when there was no paper or language, and hence painting and drawing were the oldest art forms practised by human beings to express themselves, using the cave walls as their canvas. The first discovery of rock paintings was made in India in 1867–68 by an archaeologist, Archibold Carlleyle, twelve years before the discovery of Altamira in Spain.

• The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) (HQ: Patancheru, Hyderabad; founded 1972 with support from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations) is an international organization that conducts agricultural research for rural development.
• It has regional centres in Mali and Kenya, along with research stations in several African countries. ICRISAT operates under the charters of the FAO and UNDP. It holds a special status as a UN organization in India, granting it certain immunities and tax privileges.

Statement 2 is incorrect.

The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. An epeiric sea (on the continental plate and having a very low depth avg. of 90m) on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north.

Statement 2 is incorrect.

What is the concept of foetal viability?

It refers to the stage of pregnancy at which a foetus has developed sufficiently to potentially survive outside the womb with medical assistance. It varies with advancements in medical technology and typically falls between 23 to 24 weeks of gestation in modern healthcare settings. This concept influences decisions related to late-stage abortions and the rights of the unborn child.

In the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023, India has been ranked 111th out of 125 countries, indicating a serious level of hunger.

• The GHI score is based on four indicators, including under-nourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality.
• The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is an annual report that measures and tracks hunger at the global, regional, and country levels. The GHI is published by the Irish NGO Concern Worldwide and the German NGO Welthungerhilfe. The GHI’s goal is to trigger action to reduce hunger around the world

Statement 1 is incorrect.

The Indian government has introduced a national protocol called the ‘Protocol for Management of Malnutrition in Children’ aimed at identifying and providing comprehensive care for malnourished children in the country.
The protocol was launched by the Union Minister for Women and Child Development.

Features:

• It outlines a 10-step process for identifying and managing malnutrition in children at the Anganwadi level, incorporating aspects such as growth monitoring, appetite testing, nutritional management, and follow-up care.
• The protocol also introduces innovative approaches, such as the “Buddy mother” concept, where a mother with a healthy child guides the mother of a malnourished child at an Anganwadi centre.
• This initiative is part of the government’s efforts to combat malnutrition through the ‘Poshan Abhiyan,’with a focus on treating malnourished children and promoting their healthy growth.

Statement 1 is incorrect.
UNICEF’s Passport to Earning (P2E) Initiative has achieved a significant milestone by certifying over one million young people in India in the areas of financial literacy and digital productivity.

About the initiative:

• P2E is an e-learning solution, launched in 2022, by UNICEF India, YuWaah and partners. This initiative aligns with the National Education Policyand provides free access to certificate courses in relevant skills. It aims to empower 5 million youth between the ages of 14-29 with skills (by 2024) and connect them to job and self-employment opportunities to achieve financial independence.
• 62 per cent of all young learnerswho benefitted from P2E courses in India are adolescent girls and young women.

• Under NBS, the government fixed a per-kg subsidy for each fertiliser nutrient: Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S). This was as against the earlier product-specific subsidy regime.
• Linking subsidy to nutrient content was intended to promote balanced fertilisation by discouraging farmers from applying too much urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP). These are fertilisers with high content of a single nutrient: Urea (46% N), DAP (46% P plus 18% N) and MOP (60% K).
• NBS was expected to induce product innovation, besides more use of complex fertilisers (having lower concentrations of N, P, K and S in different proportions) and SSP (containing only 16% P but also 11% S).

Statement 3 is incorrect.

• Intimate partner violence is also recognised under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA) as a kind of domestic violence. 
• Domestic violence is a punishable offence under Indian law. It is a violation of human rights.

• As many as 41.5 crore people exited poverty in India during the 15-year period between 2005-06 and 2019-21, out of which two-thirds exited in the first 10 years, and one-third in the next five years, according to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
• The report is produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). 

Statement 3 is incorrect.

The Defence Cyber Agency (DCyA) is a tri-service command of the Indian Armed Forces. Headquartered in New Delhi, the agency is tasked with handling cyber security threats. The DCyA draws personnel from all three branches of the Armed Forces. The head of the DCyA is an officer of two-star rank, and reports to the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) through the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS).