UPSC Weekly Quiz— November 27 to December 3, 2022

a) It tracks the search history for trip advice

b) It sends all flights info to airport, to avoid queues

c) It does facial recognition to link to the boarding pass

d) It lets the phone tap to share tickets with security

Question 2

Which of the following pairs are not correctly matched?
     

      Volcano                        Location

a) Krakatoa                      Indonesia

b) Mount Vesuvius        Italy

c) Eyjafjallajökull          Iceland

d) Mauna Loa                  Brazil

Question 3

Which of the following are not India’s intangible cultural symbols on the UNESCO list yet?

a) Kolkata’s Durga Puja

b) Garba

c) Buddhist chanting of Ladakh

d) Sankirtana

Question 4

With reference to The Great Barrier Reef, consider the following statements

1. It is located off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

2. It is the world’s largest coral reef system.

Which of the following statements is/are not true?

a) Only 1

b) Only 2

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question 5

With reference to the Great Indian Bustard, consider the following statements 

1. This large bird, found mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, has been categorised as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

2. Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct

a) Only 1

b) Only 2

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

Question 6

Which of the following space missions are not related to Mars?

a) The Viking missions

b) Mariner 4

c) ARTEMIS

d) MAVEN

Question 7

With reference to the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) — digital rupee or e-rupee (e₹) — for the common man, consider the following statements

1. It is a legal tender issued by the RBI in digital form.

2. It is exchangeable one-to-one with the fiat currency.

3. It will appear as ‘liability’ (currency in circulation) on the RBI’s balance sheet.

a) Only one of the above statements is correct

b) Only two of the above statements are correct

c) All three above statements are correct

d) None of the statement is correct

Question 8

With reference to the Migration and Development Brief of the World Bank, consider the following statements

1. India’s remittance will grow 12 per cent from 7.5 per cent last year.

2. Due to global challenges in 2022, remittances to low- and middle-income countries will decline by 5%.

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

a) Only 1

b) Only 2

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

ANSWERS

1 (c)

FYI

The government has introduced paperless entry at select airports to make air travel hassle-free. Under this initiative, airports will use a facial recognition software called ‘DigiYatra’ for entry. This means, passengers won’t need to carry their ID card and boarding pass.

2 (d)

FYI

Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, erupted after 38 years on Sunday (November 27), spewing ash and debris, and covering the night sky of Hawaii’s Big Island in an incandescent red hue.

3 (b)

FYI

Baguette — the staple French bread — was inscribed into the UN’s list of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) on November 30. UNESCO, the international body which aims at promoting peace and cooperation among nations through education, arts, sciences and culture, recognized the “Artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread” as a world cultural heritage.

What are the criteria for the selection?

There are three criteria for an intangible cultural heritage to be inscribed in the United Nations list. The entity must “(1) be recognized by communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals as part of their cultural heritage, (2) be transmitted from generation to generation and be constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history and (3) provide them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity,” according to UNESCO report.

What are India’s intangible cultural symbols on the UNESCO list?

This year, India nominated Garba, a traditional dance form that originated in the state of Gujarat, for inscription on UNESCO’s ICH list.

The elements which have been on the representative list of intangible cultural heritage from India in the past decade include Kolkata’s Durga Puja (2021), Kumbh Mela (2017), Navroz (2016), Yoga (2016), traditional brass and copper craft of utensil-making among coppersmiths of Punjab (2014), Sankirtana, a ritual musical performance of Manipur (2013), and the Buddhist chanting of Ladakh (2012).

Before 2011, the list included Chhau dance, Kalbelia folk songs and dance of Rajasthan, and Mudiyettu, a dance drama from Kerala (2010), Ramman, a religious festival and theatre performance of Garhwal in the Himalayas (2009), and Kutiyattam or Sanskrit theatre, and Vedic chanting (2008).

Ramlila, a traditional performance of Ramayana, was also included in 2008.

4 (d)

FYI

On Tuesday (November 29), a joint report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (WHC) expressed concern about the status of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia, recommending that it “be inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger.”

Located off the coast of Queensland, Australia, the GBR is the world’s largest coral reef system with over 2,900 individual reefs, 900 islands and an area covering approximately 344,400 square kilometres. An irreplaceable part of the global ecosystem, the GBR is one of the biggest biodiversity hotspots in the world as well as one of its largest carbon sinks. For Australia, the GBR is a crucial contributor to the economy, supporting over 64,000 jobs and bringing in billions of annual revenue.

5 (b)

FYI

This large bird, found mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, has been categorised as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats. The terrestrial birds spend most of their time on the ground, feeding on insects, lizards, grass seeds, etc. GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland and hence barometers of the health of grassland ecosystems.

6 (c)

ARTEMIS is related to Moon

FYI

Commemorating the day one of the most significant space missions to Mars was launched, November 28 is marked as Red Planet Day. On this day in 1964, the United States launched the space probe Mariner 4 on a course towards Mars, which it flew past in July 1965, sending back pictures of the red planet.

All other options are related to Mars.

7 (c)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday launched the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) — digital rupee or e-rupee (e₹) — for the common man.