UPSC Weekly Quiz — February 27 to March 5, 2023

(a) United Kingdom and EU

(b) United Kingdom and Northern Ireland

(c) United Kingdom and NATO

(d) EU and Canada

Question 2

With reference to CITES consider the following statements:

1) CITES is an international agreement between governments which aims is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.

2) Currently, there are 184 parties to the convention, including India.

Which of the above statements are correct?

(a) Only 1

(b) Only 2

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question 3

Ales Bialiatski who was recently in news is:

(a) a Nobel Prize Winner

(b) the new US Ambassador to India

(c) a Booker Prize winner

(d) the Head of Mission and Chief Military Observer for the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP)

Question 4

Consider the following statements with reference to coral reefs:

1. Coral reefs cover less than 0.5 per cent of the earth’s surface, but they are home to about 25 per cent of all marine species.

2. Coral reefs act like low-crested breakwaters and absorb 97 per cent of wave energy and substantially reduces coastal flooding and erosion.

Which of the above statements are correct?

(a) Only 1

(b) Only 2

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question 5

With reference to whip in a parliamentary system, consider the following statements:

1. A three-line whip is the strongest whip, employed on important occasions such as the second reading of a Bill or a no-confidence motion, and places an obligation on members to toe the party line.

2. In India, rebelling against a three-line whip can put a lawmaker’s membership of the House at risk.

3. A two-line whip, underlined once, is usually issued to inform party members of a vote, and allows them to abstain in case they decide not to follow the party line.

4. A one-line whip directs them to be present during the vote.

How many of the above statements are correct?

(a) Only one of the four statements

(b) Only two of the four statements

(c) Only three of the four statements

(d) All four statements

Question 6

With reference to the recent Methane Global Tracker report, the incorrect statements is:

(a) It is published by International Energy Agency.

(b) Fossil fuel companies emitted 120 million metric tonnes of methane into the atmosphere in 2022 which is higher than seen in 2019.

(c) The energy sector accounts for around 40 per cent of the total average methane emissions from human activity, as oil and natural gas companies are known to release methane into the atmosphere when natural gas is flared or vented.

(d) More than 260 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas (mostly composed of methane) is wasted through flaring and methane leaks globally today.

Question 7

The Government of India designated February 28 as National Science Day, to commemorate:

(a) the winning of Nobel Prize by Satyendra Nath Bose for his concepts of the boson.

(b) the announcement of the discovery of the “Raman effect”.

(c) the occasion of the launch of first satellite, “Aryabhatta”.

(d) the establishment of first nuclear reactor in Apsara (Maharashtra).

Question 8

With reference to the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA), consider the following statements:

1. It is a thermonuclear devise.

2. It is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.

Which of the above statements are incorrect?

(a) Only 1

(b) Only 2

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question 9

Which of the following is not a stringed instrument?

(a) Sursingar

(b) Mandolin

(c) Karakattam

(d) Esraj

Question 10

Which of the following national parks is widely considered as the world’s oldest/first national park?

(a) Yellowstone National Park

(b) Kruger National Park

(c) Grand Canyon National Park

(d) None of the above

ANSWERS TO MCQs

1 (a)

FYI

The UK government under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Monday (February 27) reached a landmark deal with the European Union (EU) on post-Brexit trade rules that will govern Northern Ireland.

3 (a)

FYI

Belarus court jails Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski for 10 years

Bialiatski has been convicted on charges of “smuggling by an organised group” and “financing of group actions grossly violating the public order”, in a move that his been criticised by various human rights organisations as “grossly unjust” and “politically motivated”.

4 (c)

FYI

Coral reefs are essentially just big limestone structures built by thousands of tiny coral creatures called polyps. They’re found in more than 100 countries, and just like pina coladas, they belong in tropical areas. But they’re not looking too healthy.

Increased ocean temperature caused by climate change is the main cause of coral bleaching events. That’s when reefs expel the symbiotic algae responsible for their color. If that happens over longer periods, the corals can eventually die.

The planet has already lost about half of its shallow water corals in in the past three decades. And at the current rate, up to 90% of them will disappear by the middle of the century.

That really is a big deal, and not just because it would mean fewer BeReal posts from the Great Barrier Reef.

What are reefs good for?

Let’s start with flood protection. Some 200 million people around the world depend on reefs to protect their coastal communities from storm surges and waves. Many of those people live in the US.

Coral reefs act like low-crested breakwaters and absorb 97% of wave energy. This substantially reduces coastal flooding and erosion.

According to the United States Geological Survey, reefs help avert $1.8 billion in damage each year in areas like Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. And if those reefs lose just 1 meter in height, $5 billion in property and economic damage is at risk.

With coastal flooding predicted to worsen this century, reefs will play an even more important role.

Maybe you’re thinking, “But that’s only relevant for people who live by the sea.”

That’s already a lot of people. And besides, coastal defense is not the only thing reefs do for us.

What else do reefs do then?

Coral reefs cover less than 0.5% of the earth’s surface, but they are home to about 25% of all marine species. Kind of like the rainforests of the sea. But without the snakes. Well, there might be some snakes.

With biodiversity, more is better. It provides planetary resilience, a vast resource of potential scientific discoveries, and is the result of millions of years of evolution. Biodiversity underpins a healthy planet and social well-being.

5 (b)

Only first two statements are correct

FYI

What is a ‘whip’ in the House?

In parliamentary parlance, a whip may refer to both a written order to members of a party in the House to abide by a certain direction, and to a designated official of the party who is authorised to issue such a direction. The term is derived from the old British practice of “whipping in” lawmakers to follow the party line.

A whip may require that party members be present in the House for an important vote, or that they vote only in a particular way. In India, all parties can issue whips to their members. Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips — this member is called a chief whip, and he/ she is assisted by additional whips.

How serious are whips issued by parties?

Whips can be of varying degrees of seriousness. The importance of a whip can be inferred from the number of times an order is underlined.

A one-line whip, underlined once, is usually issued to inform party members of a vote, and allows them to abstain in case they decide not to follow the party line.

A two-line whip directs them to be present during the vote.

A three-line whip is the strongest, employed on important occasions such as the second reading of a Bill or a no-confidence motion, and places an obligation on members to toe the party line.

What can happen if a whip is defied?

The penalty for defying a whip varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, an MP can lose membership of the party for defying the whip, but can keep her/ his House seat as an Independent.

In the US, as per a note published by PRS Legislative Research, “the party whip’s role is to gauge how many legislators are in support of a Bill and how many are opposed to it — and to the extent possible, persuade them to vote according to the party line on the issue”.

In India, rebelling against a three-line whip can put a lawmaker’s membership of the House at risk. The anti-defection law allows the Speaker/ Chairperson to disqualify such a member; the only exception is when more than a third of legislators vote against a directive, effectively splitting the party.

6 (b)

FYI

Fossil fuel companies emitted 120 million metric tonnes of methane into the atmosphere in 2022 which is higher than seen in 2019.

7 (b)

FYI

In 1986, the Government of India designated February 28 as National Science Day, to commemorate the announcement of the discovery of the “Raman effect”.

8 (a)

FYI

The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) — a radio telescope comprising 66 antennas located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile — is set to get software and hardware upgrades that will help it collect much more data and produce sharper images than ever before, the journal Science reported recently. It added that the upgrades would take around five years to finish and cost $37 million.

9 (c)

FYI

Karakattam is an ancient folk dance of Tamil Nadu in which performers in colourful saris dance with a pot (karakam) on their head to invoke Mariamman, the goddess of rain. The dance form became well known with the success of the Tamil film Karakattakkaran (1989), but has been criticised by purists for becoming allegedly low-brow and vulgar of late. V Durga Devi of Salem is a well known Karakattam dancer. The PM said, “This list doesn’t just pertain to music artistes: V Durga Devi ji has won this award for Karakattam, an ancient dance form. The Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai tweeted about Durga Devi, along with her pictures on Sunday.

10 (a)

FYI

Yellowstone National Park, which celebrated its 151st anniversary earlier this week, is widely considered to be the first national park in the world.

NOTE: CSAT Comprehension Passage will be published as a separate article from this week onwards till UPSC CSE preliminary examination 2023. 

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