Plutus IAS ‘Weekly Current Affairs: Quizzes, 02 to 07 January, 2023

EXPLANATION:

• PMadhya Pradesh Wildlife Board on Friday approved a new reserve for tigers of Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR), one-fourth of which will get submerged due to the linking of the Ken-Betwa rivers. Hence statement 1 is incorrect and statement 2 is correct.
• Board approved a proposal to notify 1,414 sq km area as core area and 925 sq km as a buffer in the new tiger reserve.
• Nauradehi wildlife sanctuary, which has five tigers, is a corridor between Satpura and PTR, while Durgavati Wildlife Sanctuary is a green corridor for Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.This new reserve will also accommodate excess tigers from Bandhavgarh.

EXPLANATION:

• Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) is the world’s first satellite for the global survey of Earth’s surface water. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The satellite is expected to be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, US, in April 2021.
• SWOT is being developed under the oceanography programme by NASA and CNES, following their previous oceanographic missions, which were carried out using satellites Jason 1, 2 and 3, and TOPEX/Poseidon. Hence statement 2 is incorrect.
• SWOT satellite will survey approximately 90% of the Earth’s surface, including lakes, rivers, reservoirs and oceans. The study will develop freshwater management and aid in ocean circulation models, as well as help in developing models for weather and climate predictions. Hence statement 3 is incorrect.

EXPLANATION:

• The Ministry of Ayush is running a Central Sector Scheme namely, AYURSWASTHYA Yojana with two components (i) AYUSH and Public Health (PHI) and (ii) Centre of Excellence (CoE) from the Financial Year 2021-22 by merging two erstwhile schemes of this Ministry namely (i) Central Sector Scheme of Grant-in-Aid for Promotion of AYUSH Intervention in Public Health Initiatives (PHI) and (ii) Central Sector Scheme for assistance to AYUSH organizations (Government / Non-Government Non-Profit) engaged in AYUSH Education/ Drug Development & Research / Clinical Research etc. for upgradation to Centre of Excellence (CoE). Hence statement 1 & 2 are incorrect.
• Under the Centre of Excellence component of AYURSWASTHYA Yojana, financial assistance is provided to eligible individual organizations/institutes for establishing and upgrading their functions & facilities and/or for research & development activities in AYUSH.
• The objectives of the Centre of Excellence component of AYURSWASTHYA Yojana are as under: -
  1. To support establishment of advanced/ specialized AYUSH medical health units in reputed AYUSH and Allopathic institutions both in Government and Non-Government sector.
  Hence statement (3) is correct.
  2. To support creative and innovative proposals for establishment and upgradation of both functions and facilities of reputed institutions to strengthen competencies of AYUSH professionals in education technology, research & innovation and such other fields necessary for promotion of AYUSH at national as well as international level.
  3. To support creative and innovative proposals for prestigious organizations which have well-established buildings and infrastructure, and wish to work for AYUSH systems to the level of Centre of Excellence.

EXPLANATION:

• ‘Arnala’, the first of 08 x ASW SWC Project, being built by GRSE for the Indian Navy was launched on 20 Dec 22 at M/s L&T, Kattupalli, Chennai.
• The ship has been named Arnala to signify the strategic maritime importance accorded to the island of Arnala (located about 13 Km north of Vasai, Maharashtra) by the great Maratha warrior, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Hence both statements 1 & 2 are incorrect.
• Arnala class of ships will replace the Abhay class ASW Ships of Indian Navy and are designed to undertake anti-submarine operations in coastal waters and Low Intensity Maritime Operations (LIMO) including subsurface surveillance in littoral waters.
• The 77.6m ASW SWC ships have a displacement of 900 tons with a maximum speed of 25 knots and endurance of 1800 NM

EXPLANATION:

• The current dispute over the inter-state border between Karnataka and Maharashtra over Belagavi can be traced back to the States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
• The Act redrew boundaries of Indian states and Union territories along linguistic lines. The Maharashtra government claims that hundreds of villages where the dominant language was supposedly Marathi – the language on which Maharashtra was formed – were wrongly handed over to the Mysore state, where Kannada was the dominant language.
• At Maharashtra's insistence, the Union government constituted the Mahajan Commission in 1966. The commission, headed by former Chief Justice of India Meher Chand Mahajan, recommended that Belagavi should remain in Karnataka. Hence statement (d) is correct.
• Faced with an adverse recommendation, the Maharashtra government rejected the commission’s report and continued to demand Belagavi’s integration. The Karnataka government sought status quo or implementation of the Mahajan Commission report which it viewed favourably.

EXPLANATION:

• • HIMARS - the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System - is a missile launcher mounted on a five-tonne truck which can fire six guided missiles in quick succession. Hence statement (a) is correct.

• The missiles supplied to Ukraine have a range of up to 50 miles (80 km), which is over twice the range of the howitzer guns.
• Himars can also fire a single Army Tactical Missile System missile, which has a range of 186 miles (300 km).
• The 50-mile range is roughly similar to that of Russian Smerch missiles, but Himars fires GPS-guided missiles which can be more accurately targeted.

EXPLANATION:

• The central government formed a committee chaired by Nidhi Khare, additional secretary in the department of Consumer Affairs, to develop a framework for the right-to-repair portal. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• The committee designed the portal to give the consumers proprietary product control. The initiative is being lauded as the country has taken a step forward to empower consumers.
• According to the new rules and regulations, the consumers will receive the manual of product details so that they can independently repair the product by themselves or get them repaired by third parties following the product manual instructions. Hence statement 2 is incorrect.

EXPLANATION:

• • Purse seines are used in the open ocean to target dense schools of single-species pelagic (midwater) fish like tuna and mackerel. Hence statement (a) is correct.
  • A vertical net ‘curtain’ is used to surround the school of fish, the bottom of which is then drawn together to enclose the fish, rather like tightening the cords of a drawstring purse.
  • Purse-seine fishing in open water is generally considered to be an efficient form of fishing. It has no contact with the seabed and can have low levels of bycatch (accidental catch of unwanted species).
  • Purse seines can also be used to catch fish congregating around fish aggregating devices. This fishing method can result in higher levels of bycatch.

EXPLANATION:

• India celebrated a historical milestone as it commissioned its first ever Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)- Vikrant. Designed by Indian Navy's in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Vikrant has been built with state-of-the-art automation features and is the largest ship ever built in the maritime history of India. Hence point A is correct.
• Russia’s refurbished Admiral Gorshkov was commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Vikramaditya at Severodvinsk, Russia on November 16, 2013. It is a state-of-the-art ship, capable of operating a versatile range of high-performance aircrafts, such as the MiG 29K fighters, KM 31 AEW helicopters, multi-role Seakings and utility Chetaks. The ship is over 285 meters long and 60 meters wide, making it the biggest ship in the Indian Navy. Her 23 decks scale a height of 60 meters. Hence point B is incorrect.
• INS Viraat was originally commissioned by the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes on November 18, 1959. It served the Royal Navy in three different avatars- 1959-1970: as the Strike Carrier, 1970-1980- as a Commando Anti-Submarine Warfare Carrier, and 1980 onwards it was a V/STOL Carrier, for which it underwent major structural modifications. This included a 12-degree ramp designed to optimally launch Sea Harrier Operations. Hence point C is incorrect.

EXPLANATION:

• The bill seeks to decriminalise minor offences to promote ease of business.
• The statement of objects and reasons of the Bill states, “To amend certain enactments for decriminalizing and rationalizing minor offenses to further enhance trust-based governance for ease of living and doing business.” Hence statement (a) is correct.
• A unique feature of the proposal is an increase of 10% of the minimum amount of fine and penalty levied, after the expiry of every three years, once the bill becomes a law.
• The Bill will seek to amend acts such as the Press and Registration of Books Act 1867, the Boilers Act 1923, the Public Debt Act 1944, and the Indian Forest Act 1927.

EXPLANATION:

• The kafala system regulates the lives of tens of millions of migrant laborers in the Middle East, but growing outrage over human rights abuses, racism, and gender discrimination has fueled calls for reform. Hence statement (a) is correct.
• The kafala, or sponsorship, system gives private citizens and companies in Jordan, Lebanon, and most Arab Gulf countries almost total control over migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.
• The system arose from growing demand in Gulf economies for cheap labor, and the desperation of many migrants in search of work and the opportunity to send money home to their families.

EXPLANATION:

• Replacement level fertility is the level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next. Hence statement 1 is correct
• In countries like India replacement level fertility can be taken as requiring an average of 2.1 children per woman. Hence statement 2 is incorrect.
• In countries with high infant and child mortality rates, however, the average number of births may need to be much higher.
• Replacement level fertility is not associated with an unique set of age-specific birth rates. When a country reaches replacement level fertility, other conditions must be met for zero population growth to also be attained.
• Replacement level fertility will lead to zero population growth only if mortality rates remain constant and migration has no effect.
• The momentum of past and current demographic trends may also take several generations to work itself out.
• A change to replacement level fertility therefore leads to zero population growth only in the long run.