Test: September 2023 Weekly Current Affair - 4 - UPSC MCQ

Only statement 2 is correct.

• The Dementia India Alliance (DIA) has launched a national dementia support line and an online memory screening clinic called DemClinic.
• Dementia is a general term for a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking, and social abilities. Dementia is not a specific disease, but rather a result of various diseases and injuries that affect the brain. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and may contribute to 60–70% of cases.

• Organised by the University Grants Commission, in association with the Ministry of Education, the Malaviya Mission – Teacher Training Programme aims to provide tailored training programmes for teachers. This programme will work for the capacity building of faculty members in higher educational institutions.
• The Programme is an endeavour to make our educators future-ready with a deeper understanding of Indian values. It aims to improve the quality of teachers’ training, build leadership skills in teachers and help realise the goals of NEP.

• The freedom of speech is one of the most cherished freedoms. The Constitution of India, too, declares that Indians possess this freedom, but makes it subject to the interest of public order, or the sovereignty and integrity of India.
• The right to freedom of expression has been recognised as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law by the United Nations. 
• The Court concluded that such fundamental rights can be enforced even against persons other than the state and its instrumentalities.

• Aluminum-26, a radioactive isotope that decays over time and is crucial for understanding the formation of the Solar System.
• Aluminum-26’s decay played a significant role in heating small rocks in the early Solar System, leading to the formation of planets

Statement 2 is incorrect.

• ASEAN’s core principles include regional cooperation in various fields, promotion of regional peace and stability, and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.
• India is part of the ASEAN Plus Six grouping, which includes China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and Australia.
• India and ASEAN signed a Free Trade Agreement in 2010 and have seen trade growth, except during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

Only statement 2 is correct.

• Rajya Sabha is a permanent House and cannot be dissolved. To ensure continuity, one-third of its members retire after every second year, under Article 83(1) of the Constitution, and “biennial elections” are held to fill these vacancies. The term of a member is six years.
• Vacancies arising due to resignation, death or disqualification are filled up through bypolls, and those elected serve out the remainder of their predecessors’ term.
• Any Bill, barring those designated as Money Bills by the Lok Sabha Speaker, needs the assent of the second chamber to become law.

• A recent study has identified the cause of the decline in Arctic Ocean Sea ice since 2007. Researchers found that the periodic reversal of an atmospheric phenomenon known as the Arctic dipole plays a significant role in driving drops in sea ice.
• The study, published in the journal Science, explores the ecosystem responses to the Arctic dipole and its impact on the Arctic Ocean climate, a phenomenon referred to as Atlantification.
• The Arctic dipole follows a roughly 15-year cycle, and data spanning several decades suggest that it is approaching the end of its current regime.
• The current “positive” phase of the Arctic dipole, which has been in place since 2007, involves high pressure over the Canadian Arctic and low pressure over the Siberian Arctic.
• This wind pattern drives upper ocean currents and has year-round impacts on air temperatures, heat exchanges, sea-ice drift, and ecological consequences.

• India is planning to build a large barrage on the Siang River to protect it from a Chinese dam being built in Tibet.
• Barrages are primarily used for flow control and water diversion, while Dams are designed for water storage and regulation on a larger scale.
• Yarlung Tsangpo River (Brahmaputra) breaks through the Himalayas in great gorges (including the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon) and enters into Arunachal Pradesh, where it is known as Dihang or Siang.

The Camp David summit between the United States, Japan, and South Korea offers a unique opportunity for India to enhance its strategic partnership with South Korea, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.

Camp David Summit

• Camp David summit is a series of meetings held at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, USA. It’s where world leaders, meet and negotiate agreements with the USA. E.g., The USA, Israel and Egypt negotiated and eventually reached the Camp David Accords in 1978, leading to a peace treaty between the two countries in 1979.

Statement 3 is incorrect. 

• A study (by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and ICAR-AICRP) reveals that climate change has shifted India’s core pearl millet (bajra) production zone from arid regions in Rajasthan to eastern Rajasthan and Haryana due to increased rainfall caused by human-induced climate change.

What is Pearl millet?

It is commonly known as bajra, a drought-tolerant cereal grain widely cultivated in arid and semi-arid regions of India and Africa. It is known for its resilience to adverse growing conditions, including low rainfall.

India classifies pearl millet cultivation zones based on rainfall patterns and soil types.
Zone ‘A1’: The arid regions of Rajasthan, which receive less than 400 millimetres (mm) of rainfall, are categorised as Zone ‘A1’.
Zone ‘A’: Semi-arid regions in north and central India, including southern Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, which receive more than 400 mm of rainfall per year, form Zone ‘A’.
Zone ‘B’: Semi-arid regions with heavy soils in southern India and central western India with over 400 mm of rainfall from Zone B.

The West Bengal Assembly has declared Poila Baishakh (April 15), the first day of the Bengali calendar, as the statehood day and designated Rabindranath Tagore’s “Banglar mati, Banglar jol” as the state anthem.

Significance of the song: The song was written by Tagore in 1905 in response to Lord Curzon’s partition of Bengal, which was a divisive colonial strategy to weaken the nationalist movement.

• The Union government has released draft guidelines aimed at curbing “dark patterns” employed by online platforms.
• These dark patterns are deceptive strategies used to mislead users into taking actions they did not intend, such as making unwanted purchases or subscriptions.
• The draft guidelines identify ten types of dark patterns, including false urgency, basket sneaking (adding extra items without user consent during checkout), confirm shaming (using fear or shame to nudge user actions), forced action (compelling additional purchases), and subscription traps (making cancellation difficult).

• X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) and Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) were successfully launched by Japan.
• XRISM is focused on studying X-ray emissions from celestial objects to better understand the universe’s structure and evolution. It will observe phenomena like black holes, neutron stars, and galaxy clusters.
• SLIM aims to demonstrate precision landing capabilities on the Moon, allowing for targeted scientific investigations and safe placements of future landers.

The Climate Ambition Summit (CAS) in New York, as part of the United Nations General Assembly, that concluded on September 21, was marked by the absence of major economies whose actions significantly influence the future of global emissions.

Statement 1 is incorrect.

About Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV)

It is a Central University established through an Act of Parliament in 2022. It replaces the National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI) and is sponsored by the Ministry of Railways. The Chancellor of GSV is the Union Minister of Railways. GSV is the first-of-its-kind university with a mandate to create high-quality talent for the transportation and logistics sectors. Its significance lies in fulfilling the objectives of the National Developmental Plans, including the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan 2021 and National Logistics Policy 2022, covering railways, shipping, ports, highways, roads, waterways, and aviation.

Statement 1 is incorrect.

• Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) are regular, periodic fluctuations or ripples in the distribution of matter (primarily baryonic matter, which includes protons and neutrons) in the universe.
• These oscillations are a fundamental feature of the large-scale structure of the cosmos and provide important clues about its geometry, expansion rate, and the distribution of dark matter and dark energy.

• Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) continue to disproportionately impact the most impoverished members of the international community, living in areas with inadequate water safety, sanitation and access to health care, said a new World Health Organization (WHO) report.
• NTDs are a diverse group of 20 conditions mainly prevalent in tropical areas — caused by various pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins.

Statement 2 is incorrect.

• The Bhakti movement, which began in the 7th century in South India, had begun to spread across north India in the 14th and the 15th centuries. The movement was characterized by popular poet-saints who sang devotional songs to God in vernacular languages, with many preaching for the abolishing the Varna system and some kind of Hindu-Muslim unity. They emphasized an intense emotional attachment with God.
• One school within the Bhakti movement was the Nirguni tradition and Sant Kabir was a prominent member of it. In this tradition, God was understood to be a universal and formless being.

Parliament has the absolute power to change the name of the country at any time by amending the Constitution. Article 368 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to amend any provision of the Constitution which includes the name of the country, as mentioned in Article 1.

• Association for Democratic Reforms is a non-partisan, non-governmental organization which works in the area of electoral and political reforms since 1999.
• The National Election Watch (NEW) is a nationwide campaign comprising of more than 1200 NGOs and other citizen led organizations working together on electoral reforms, improving democracy and governance in India. The campaign is active in almost all states of India and has been doing election watches for the State Assembly and Lok Sabha Elections since 2002.

Statement 1 is incorrect.

• The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union.
• At the 18th G20 (Group of 20) meeting, held in Delhi, the African Union was admitted as a member to the G20 like the European Union.

Statement 2 is incorrect.

Hallmarking

• Hallmarking is like a quality stamp for jewellery and precious metal items. It tells you how pure or good the metal is.
• The principal objectives of the Hallmarking Scheme are to protect the public against adulteration and to obligate manufacturers to maintain legal standards of fineness.

Hallmarking in India:

• At present two precious metals namely gold and silver have been brought under the purview of Hallmarking.
• Mandatory hallmarking order is applicable on 14, 18 and 22 carats of gold jewellery/artefacts only.
• BIS assigns a unique HUID (Hallmarking Unique ID) number to all hallmarked items
• Consumers can verify the authenticity of hallmarked items using the ‘verify HUID’ feature in the BIS Care app.

Only statement 1 is correct.

• Leucism is a genetic condition that affects the pigmentation of an animal’s skin, feathers, scales, or fur. Unlike albinism, which causes a complete absence of pigment, leucism results in a partial loss of pigment, leading to white or pale colouration in affected areas.

Government initiatives for the Cotton sector in India:

• Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS)
• Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme
• SAMARTH (Scheme for Capacity Building in the Textile Sector)
• Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA)
• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme to promote the production of MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and Products of Technical Textiles