Weekly Current Affairs: Quizzes 06/06/2022 to 10/06/2022

EXPLANATION:

• About  Gallantry medals in India-Wartime gallantry awards  Established on 26 January 1950 with effect from 15th August, 1947.

• Param Vir Chakra — Highest-military award in India. Awarded for national bravery in the presence of the enemy.
• Maha Vir Chakra – Maha Vir Chakra is the second-highest military decoration in India and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air.
• Vir Chakra – Third in precedence in the awards for wartime gallantry. Hence option (2), (3) and (6) are incorrect.

Peacetime awards

• Ashoka Chakra
• Kirti Chakra
• Shaurya Chakra 
• Wartime/peacetime service awards: Sena Medal (Army), Nau Sena Medal (Navy) and Vayu Sena Medal (Air Force). Hence statements (1), (4) and (5) are correct.
• Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM):  PVSM is mostly awarded to officers of the Lieutenant General rank and equivalent, and rarely to officers of lower ranks, and even less so to Junior Commissioned Officers.

EXPLANATION:

• Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) or Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs) are areas in India notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India around Protected Areas, National Parks, and Wildlife Sanctuaries.The recent SC verdict declared all places within a kilometer (km) around protected areas (PA) as eco-sensitive zones (ESZ). Hence statement (1) is incorrect.
• The Supreme Court directed that every protected forest, national park, and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of a minimum of one km starting from their demarcated boundaries.These zones would act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to those involving lesser protection. Hence statement (2) is correct. 

EXPLANATION:

• FRB are intense but brief flashes of radio frequency emissions and these typically last milliseconds.Astronomers have detected a new Fast Radio Burst (FRB) termed as FRB 20190520B.It is co-located with a compact, persistent radio source and associated with a dwarf host galaxy of high specific-star-formation.the first fast radio burst ever seen from within our Milky Way galaxy was detected. Hence statement (1) is correct.
• The source of that FRB is a very powerful magnetic neutron star, referred to as a magnetar, which is located in the constellation Vulpecula and is estimated to be between 14,000-41,000 light-years away. Hence statement (2) is correct. 

EXPLANATION:

• The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment consists of large, cylindrical particle detectors immersed in pools of water in three underground caverns.It is operating in Guangdong, China.It detects light signals generated by antineutrinos streaming from nearby nuclear power plants.Antineutrinos are the antiparticles of neutrinos, and produced in abundance by nuclear reactors. 
• One of their defining characteristics is their ability to oscillate between three distinct "flavours": muon neutrino, tau neutrino, and electron neutrino.The experiment was designed to investigate the properties that dictate the probability of those oscillations, or what are known as mixing angles and mass splittings. Hence statement (c) is correct.

EXPLANATION:

• An artillery rocket is a weapon that is typically propelled by a solid-fuel motor and can carry a variety of warheads.Most artillery rockets were unguided and imprecise during the Cold War when fired at greater distances. Hence statement (1) is incorrect.
• In the 1970s, the United States invested in a new weapon it called MLRS, for the Multiple Launch Rocket System, designed for use in the event that Russian armoured vehicles massed for World War III on the border of Western Europe.Unlike its predecessor, the M142 HIMARS truck carries only one pod of munitions, but it can move much faster on and off-road and can be shipped on a C-130 cargo plane. Hence statement (2) is correct.
• Using the HIMARS and GMLRS together can offer an amount of firepower that is similar to an airstrike - all from a mobile platform. Hence statement (3) is correct.

EXPLANATION

• The Four-meter International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) saw the first light recently, gazing out from its vantage on Devasthal, a hill in Uttarakhand.A thin sheet of mylar protects the mercury from the wind. Hence statement (1) is incorrect.
• The telescope has been built by a collaboration of scientists from Canada, Belgium, and India and is located at an altitude of 2,450 meters at the Devasthal Observatory campus of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES). A large pool of mercury placed in a vessel is spun around so fast that it curves into a parabolic shape. Hence statement (2) is correct. 

EXPLANATION:

• India has reached a landmark figure of 100 unicorns with a valuation of more than $300 billion.Unicorns are privately held, venture-capital-backed startups that have reached a value of $1 billion.The valuation of unicorns is not expressly linked to their current financial performance but is largely based on their growth potential as perceived by investors and venture capitalists who have taken part in various funding rounds. Hence statement (1) is correct.
• The term was first popularised in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures.India is the third-largest unicorn hub behind the US and China and ahead of the UK. Hence statement (2) is incorrect.

EXPLANATION:

• India has produced over 350 lakh tonnes of sugar this year.Despite being the highest producer and second-largest exporter of sugar, the government has announced restrictions on its export. Hence statement (1) is correct.
• The Directorate of General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), export of sugar - raw, refined, and white has been placed under a restricted category. India's economy produced 28.9 million metric tons of sugar. That is about 17% of the world's total sugar production of 166.18 million metric tons. Hence statement  (2) is correct.
• DGFT works under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Hence statement  (3) is correct. 

EXPLANATION:

• Gun licence applicants in India must be at least 21 years.The applicant has to contact the designated licensing authority in their respective taluka, Mandal, city, district, or State. The authority is usually the police station, and the application forms and fee details are also available with them. Hence statement (1) is incorrect.
• Any act of conversion(such as shortening the barrel of a firearm or converting an imitation firearm into a firearm) or unlawful import-export is punishable with an imprisonment term of seven years, which may extend to life imprisonment and be liable to monetary fines. Hence statement (2) is correct. 

EXPLANATION:

• The valley of flowers in Uttarakhand is home to over 600 flowering species, including some exotic varieties like Brahma Kamal, which is also the state flower of Uttarakhand.Other varieties include Blue poppy, described as the Queen of Flowers, Bluebell, Primula, Potentilla, Aster, Lilium, Himalayan Blue Poppy, Delphinium, and Ranunculus. The region also has a rich faunal diversity with species like the leopard, musk deer, and blue sheep.This wildflower is easily distinguished from a buttercup because, although its leaves are similar to those of buttercups, the flowers of Tormentil have just four petals, unlike most other members of the botanical family Rosaceae, which have five. (Buttercupsare members of the family Ranunculaceae, and they have five petals on each flower.) Hence option (a) is correct. 

EXPLANATION:

• Cantor's giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii)also known commonly as Asian giant softshell turtle and the frog-faced softshell turtle is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Trionychidae.The Asian giant softshell turtle, also known commonly as Cantor's giant softshell turtle and the frog-faced softshell turtle, is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Trionychidae. The species is native to Southeast Asia. Hence statement (1) is correct.
• Its habitat ranges from Malaysia to India. Its presence in India has been recorded only a dozen times in 20 years with sightings being reported anecdotally from Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Hence statement (2) is correct.
• It is listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN red list of species.The species is endangered and in the 20th century has disappeared from much of its former range.Hence statement (3) is incorrect. 

EXPLANATION:

• Direct-to-Mobile’(D2M) Broadcasting technology allows broadcast of video and other forms of multimedia content directly to mobile phones, without needing an active internet connection.The technology, called ‘direct-to-mobile’ (D2M) broadcasting, promises to improve consumption of broadband and utilisation of spectrum. Hence statement (1) is correct.
• One of the advantages of D2M technology is that it can enable telecom service providers to offload video traffic from their mobile network onto the broadcast network thus helping them to decongest valuable mobile spectrum. This will also improve usage of mobile spectrum and free up bandwidth which will help reduce call drops, increase data speeds etc.Hence statement (2) is correct.