Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the sixth part of target 2020 series by Shankaray's Academy. In the previous parts we have seen more than 250 topics of current affairs in prelims perspective from the months of July 2019 to November 2019. Now in this current video we will discuss these 50 important topics belonging to the current affairs of the month of December 2019 and we will discuss these topics from the prelims perspective and in the MCQ format. These topics have been sourced from the Hindi newspaper, business standard, live mint and also some government sources like PIP etc. And the content for these topics have been sourced from reliable government sources like ministry websites, various reports, e-guesset, public information bureau etc. The MCQs and their contents are provided as a PDF for the benefit of aspirants. You can download the PDF from the link provided in the sessions description box and the comment section. Now let us move on to the first question discussion. The first question for the December series is about Eklavvya Model residential schools or in short EMRS. Now it was in news in December because the government announced that more than 400 Eklavvya Model residential schools will be built in the next three years. Now know that EMRS was started in the year 1997 to 1998 and the objective of these schools is to impart quality education that is middle level education and high level education to the children belonging to the scheduled tribe communities in the remote areas. This is to enable the children to avail opportunities in high and professional educational courses and also to get employment in various sectors in the future. And these schools not only focus on academic education but they also focus on all-round development of the students. So remember that Eklavvya Model residential schools are for the children belonging to scheduled tribe communities in the remote areas. So that means the first statement is incorrect. It mentions that it is for the children belonging to rural areas. Now this statement partially talks about the Jawahar Navodya Vidyalayas because admission to this Jawahar Navodya Vidyalayas is primarily for children from the rural areas and they have a provision of at least 75 percentage seats for rural children and even the seats are also reserved for the children from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities. Now coming back to the EMRS these schools have a capacity of 480 students and they cater to students from class 6 to class 12. Now for the construction of these schools grants and recurring expenses are given to the state governments under the grants which are provided under article 275 clause 1 of Indian constitution. Now we know that this article is with respect to grants from the union to certain states and remember that these grants are paid out of the consolidated fund of India. Now in the beginning we saw that government will build more than 400 schools in the next three years. Apart from this in the budget of 2018 to 2019 government also decided to give further impetus or momentum to this EMRS. It was decided by the government that by the year 2022 every block with more than 50 percentage of scheduled tribe population and at least 20,000 tribal persons will have an EMRS and to achieve that only the government has announced that more than 400 schools will be built. Now these are some of the features of the school as you can see they will be on par with Navodya Vidyalayas which is nothing but the Java and Navodya Vidyalayas which we saw in the beginning. Then they will also provide training in sports and skill development and most importantly in these schools education will be entirely free and the number of seats for boys and girls will be equal. Now the second statement of this question is with respect to the implementation of the scheme. The question says it is implemented by department of school education and literacy under the ministry of human resource development. It is incorrect this scheme is implemented by the ministry of tribal affairs under government of India. So both these statements are incorrect in this question and the question asks for the correct statements. So the correct answer to this question is option D neither one nor two. This next question is based on international relations. The question asks power of Siberia recently seen in news is related to transfer of natural gas from Russia to China through pipeline, militant group of Russia, trans boundary water sharing agreement between Russia and China, world's first floating nuclear power plant in Russia. Now remember that the first floating nuclear power plant is academic Lomonasov which we discussed in our September series. So it is not the correct option. This power of Siberia project is a unified gas transmission system and it involves the development of a 3000 kilometer long gas pipeline to transfer natural gas from eastern Russia to the far east of Russia and also to China. So that means option A is the correct answer. Now let us see other information about this project. The natural gas will be transferred from the Yakutya and Irkutsk gas production centers which are present in the east Russia. The Yakutya gas production center has the change in school field as you can see in this map and additionally in the late 2022 the power of Siberia project will also start to receive gas from one more field which is the Kaun-Tinskava field. This field serves as the basis for Irkutsk gas production center and this project is being developed by Russia's state owned company Gasprom and it is one of the world's biggest natural gas producer. Now this project was in news because on December 2nd the power of Siberia gas pipeline became active and it is the first direct Sino-Russian Gasling. Its construction actually began in 2014. The construction started after the Gasprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation which is Gasprom's Chinese counterpart agreed for a 30 year gas supply deal. Now also know that this power of Siberia has an annual maximum capacity of 38 billion cubic meters. Now if you see the significance of this project for Russia power of Siberia provides a sizable new export route and export market for its gas because Russia has the world's largest proven reserves. It is important because currently Russia's largest gas export market is Europe and now this pipeline allows for some diversification. Now next it is important for China because it is one of the world's largest gas importer and this power of Siberia provides new gas supply to the northwestern territories of China because these territories still lack gas pipeline distribution network and they rely on coal. So this project is a win-win situation for both Russia and China and it is a historical event in their bilateral relations. So to answer such kind of questions you should first know what that project is related to then you can easily arrive at the correct answer like the power of Siberia project is related to transfer of natural gas. Now let us take the next question. This next question is about Paika Rebellion. The question asks which one of the following observations is not true about the Paika Rebellion of 1817. So to answer this question you should know about the Paika Rebellion. Now this was in news because in December 2019 our president laid the foundation stone in Odisha for a memorial to mark the completion of 200 years of Paika Rebellion and this proposed project will come up at the foothills of Barunay Hills in Khurdah district of Odisha. Now know that Paika Rebellion is also known as Paika Bidroha. It is a valiant uprising of Paikas in the 1817 against the British rule. This uprising is often termed as the first war of independence. This rebellion briefly shook the foundations of British rule in the eastern parts of India. Now whether to know first statement is correct or incorrect you should know who are these Paikas. Paikas were the peasant militias of Gajapati rulers of Odisha. They rendered military service to the king during times of war and during times of peace they took up cultivation and that is why they were known as peasant militias. So that means statement A is correct and statement B is incorrect because it took place in Odisha not in Bihar. Now also know that the Paikas took the banner of rebellion against British under the leadership of Bakshi Jagbandhu Bidadra. He was the hereditary chief of militia army of the Gajapati king and he rose in rebellion by taking support of the tribals and even other sections of the society. And as you already saw the rebellion started in 1817 particularly in March 1817 and it spread quickly to other areas. Now in this rebellion even the tribals of Ghumusar division of Odisha which is now a part of present day Gajam and Kanmal districts of Odisha and also other sections of the population actively took part in the rebellion. And it is said that the Paika rebellion got the opportune movement to spread when the 400 tribals of Ghumusar entered the kurdha by protesting against the British rule. So in this rebellion the Paikas attacked British symbols of power. They set ablaze police stations, administrative offices and even they looted the treasury during the march towards kurdha. So that means option C is correct. This rebellion saw the active involvement of tribal communities and their option D is both B and C. Both B and C are not incorrect about this rebellion. So the correct answer to this question is option B. It took place in Bihar. It is the incorrect observation about Paika rebellion. Now apart from the tribal communities the Paikas were also supported by the Rajas of Kanika, Kujang, Nayagard and Ghumusar and even the Zamindars, village heads and ordinary peasants also supported Paikas. And because of this the rebellion quickly spread to Puri, Pipli, Katak and other parts of the province. Now because of this attack initially the British were taken back and then they tried to regain the lost ground but they faced stiff resistance from the Paikas. Now even though Paikas had some victories but at the end British finally managed to defeat them within three months. And after the victory of British there was widespread suppression by British where many rebels were killed, imprisoned and tortured. It is said that some rebels fought a guerrilla war till 1890 but they were also later captured and killed. And the leader of this rebellion Bakshi Jagbandhu was arrested in 1825 and he died in captivity in 1829. So you can see that the Paika Bidroha or Paika rebellion marks the first move towards independence but unfortunately it has received less attention at the national level. But to rectify that only the government of India gave this historical event its due recognition by commemorating its 200th anniversary in 2017. So remember that Paika rebellion was not only the rebellion of Paikas rather it was a national war waged by ordinary people at the grassroot level. And here we have given the other important warriors of this rebellion just know these names from examination point of view. Now let us take the next question. Now this next question is based on an index the question asks which of the following indicators are used by the global organization save the children to compute end of childhood index. Now first know that this index reveals where and how children are being robbed of their childhood which they deserve and which they are entitled to. Actually this index does not capture the full extent of deprivations or hardships affecting the children instead it focuses on some key rights or guarantees of childhood such as life healthy growth and development education and protection from harm. So if a child experiences all of these then her or his childhood is considered to be intact and this index tracks a series of events that mark the end of an intact childhood and these events are called as childhood enders by this index and these enders include as you can see here death of the child malnutrition because it permanently impairs child's development then child leaves or fails to enter school child begins work life child marries child has a child and child is a victim of extreme violence and these ender events erode childhood. So countries have scored and ranked according to the performance across this set of enders and thus it is revealed where childhood is most threatened and where it is least threatened. Now based on these enders only eight indicators for this index are based as you can see here. So you can note that child stunting is present child labor is present child marriage is present under five mortality rate is also present but child wasting is not included in this index for calculating malnourishment as you know child stunting is low height for age and child wasting is low weight for height. So the correct answer to this question is option C one three four and five. Now from examination point of view know that this index is released as a part of global childhood report which is released by the global not for profit organization save the children which we already saw in the beginning and this index compares 176 countries and assesses where the most infuse children are missing out on childhood. So this index scores the countries on a scale of 1 to 1000 and you can see here what these scores actually mean. Now let us see some of the important findings of this 2019 index according to the 2019 index Singapore tops the ranking with a score of 989 and even eight western european countries and south korea also rank in the top 10 and they have attained the very high scores for children's health education and protection status but the central african republic ranks last among the countries which were surveyed and among the 10 bottom ranked countries eight are from western central africa. So that means children in these countries are the least likely to experience the childhood. Now if we consider india india's score is increased by 137 points if we compare 2000 and 2019 scores in 2000 the score was 632 and in 2019 the score was 769. So that means in india some children are missing out on childhood and according to this index this improvement is largely because of improvements in child health and child survival in our country and along with this india has also greatly reduced child marriage through legal reforms through programs to educated empower girls and also through public awareness campaigns. The whole report actually lords india's efforts to curb child marriage. Now if you see these given indicators you can remember another index which is global hunger index the global hunger index is calculated based on four indicators which involves child stunting under five child mortality and also child wasting and apart from this it has another indicator which is undernourishment. So whenever an index is related to children these are the common indicators. So just to know which indicators are present in which index. Now let us take the next question. This next question is about seed initiative which of the following best describes the seed initiative sometimes seen in news. Now as I always say if you know what the initiative is about you can easily arrive at the correct answer. Now first know that this initiative was in use because as a part of energy conservation week the bureau of energy efficiency conducted an internal workshop in December 2019 and the team was energy efficient cooling. It was a two-day international workshop and it was organized in association with international energy agency under the seed initiative. Now if you know the full form you can mostly arrive at the correct answer. The full form is super efficient equipment and appliance deployment initiative and here only one option is related to appliances and equipment which is option D and it is the correct answer. This initiative is a voluntary collaboration among the governments which are working to promote the manufacture purchase and use of energy efficient appliances energy efficient lighting and equipment worldwide and the seed is an initiative under the clean energy ministerial. The clean energy ministerial is a global forum where major economies and forward leaning countries work together to share best practices and to promote policies and program that encourage and facilitate the transition to a global clean energy economy. So it is an initiative under clean energy ministerial and it is a task of the international partnership for energy efficiency corporation. So we can say that seed is about governments working together to save energy and turning knowledge into action to advance the global market transformation for energy efficient products. So if you see energy efficient it is related to seed initiative. Also know that this initiative has 18 participating governments and the 17 are member governments and one is an observer country as you can see it is China and India is also a member government. Here note that the US Department of Energy and India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency co-lead this initiative. Now you can ask how this initiative actually supports. It supports the efforts of the governments by providing knowledge tools that help to impact policy change. They provide technical expertise and best practices to stakeholders etc etc. Now the importance of such an initiative is that if all the seed governments were to adopt current policy best practices for product energy efficiency standards then 2000 terawatt hour of annual electricity could be saved in 2030. This is the prediction of this initiative and it also says more importantly all the measures of the initiative collectively would decrease carbon dioxide emissions over the next two decades by 11 billion tons. So the correct answer is option D. Now know that option A talks about the seed village concept and option B talks about core banking solution and option C talks about green India mission of Government of India. Now let us take the next question. Now this question is about National Sports Development Fund. This fund is often in news and especially it was in news in December because it was found that the National Sports Development Fund or this NSDF is not receiving enough money. This was found in a reply to the looks about question. So first know that this fund was established in 1998 under the Charitable Endowment Act of 1890 and the purpose of creation of such a fund is to impart momentum and flexibility to assist the cause of sports. Now let us see how it is done. This fund helps sports person to excel by providing them opportunities to train under coaches of international repute and the coaches provide technical scientific and psychological support and they also give the sports persons the required exposure to the international competitions. In addition to this the fund also provides financial assistance for development of infrastructure and other activities for the promotion of sports. So this means statement one is incorrect because it mentions the fund exclusively provides sports persons with opportunities to train under coaches of international repute. Here the word exclusively means only. This is not the only objective of this fund. Here for your reference we have given you the other objectives of this one as you can see it is also to construct and maintain infrastructure for promotion of sports and games then the fund is also to supply sports equipment to organizations and individuals for promotion of sports and games. Now the second statement is it is managed by a council under the chairmanship of prime minister of India. Now this statement is also incorrect. It is because the fund is managed by a council which is constituted by the central government and this council is headed by a chairperson who is the unit minister in charge of youth affairs and sports ministry and the chairperson is not the prime minister of India and we have also given you the members of this council. This council decides all policy matters relating to the fund and some changes were made to this council in December 2019 like who are all the ex official members and who are all the members to this council. Now here the question asks for the correct statements and statement one and two are incorrect so by that you can easily arrive at the final answer which is option C three only which mentions that donations to the fund is a fulfillment of corporate social responsibility obligations of companies under the companies act of 2013. Now this statement is correct because it is one of the advantages offered to the donor. See these sports activities like training to promote sports and creation and maintenance of sports infrastructure are covered under the corporate social responsibility under the 2013 companies act. So donating to this fund also means to promote sports so that is why donation to this fund is considered as a fulfillment of CSR. Apart from this it is also permissible for a donor to indicate a project along with any specific location or aspect for funding and the donor can also indicate an executing agency for execution of such project. If the amount which is being contributed by the donor is either rupees five lakh or above rupees five lakh. Now here we have also given you other advantages for the donor as you can see the contribution to the fund is exempted from the income tax and the donors will also be considered for Raj Sri Akhil Protsahan Praskar which is nothing but national sports promotion award. So these are some of the advantages given to the donor for contributing to this fund. Now let us take the next question. Now this question is a very direct question. The question asks which of the above diseases are zoonotic diseases. Three diseases are given rabies anthrax brucellosis. Now to answer this you should first you know what is a zoonotic disease. First remember that it is also known as zoonosis and they are caused by germs that spread between animals and people. See animals carry harmful germs that can spread to people and they can cause illness and they are caused by harmful germs like viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi and they can cause illness ranging from mild to serious illness and sometimes they can even cause death and these germs spread between animals and people because of close connection between people and animals and the common ways in which people get infected with germs which can cause zoonotic diseases include direct contact, indirect contact, vector bone, food bone, water bone as you can see here. Now coming to the given options the first one is rabies. Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease that causes progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. So that means rabies should be in the option. Also remember that rabies is a vaccine preventable viral disease which occurs in more than 150 countries and territories in the world and dogs are the main source of human rabies death. It is said that they contribute up to 99 percentage of all rabies transmissions to humans. Now the second one is anthrax. Anthrax is caused by a bacterium called as bacillus anthraxus and it is an infectious zoonotic disease and just remember that there are three types of anthrax in humans. One is cutaneous anthrax or the skin anthrax. The next one is gastrointestinal anthrax which is developed by eating meat from an infected animal and the next type of anthrax is the most severe form of human anthrax. It is called as inhalation or pulmonary anthrax. It is the most severe and it is also the rarest form of human anthrax. Now the next disease given is brussellosis. This brussellosis is a bacterial disease caused by various brussellor species which mainly infect cattle, swine, goats, sheep and dogs. Humans generally acquire this disease through direct contact with infected animals or by eating or drinking contaminated animal products or even by inhaling airborne agents and the majority of brussellosis cases are caused by ingesting unpasteurized milk or cheese from the infected goats or sheep and also it is said that person to person transmission is rare. Now from this discussion you can easily say that it is transmitted from animals to humans so it is a zoonotic disease. So all the three are zoonotic disease. So the correct answer to this question is option A, 1, 2 and 3. This next question is a pair based question. Different operations are given and on the other side its purpose is given. These are some of the operations which were in news recently. The first operation given is operation clean art. Now remember that it is a raid conducted by the wildlife crime control bureau. The wildlife crime control bureau is a statutory body constituted under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Now the aim of this operation clean art was to end the illegal trade of mongoose hair because mongoose hair was widely used in paint brushes. So that means this pair is correct. Here for your reference we have also given you the protection status of mongoose. Now the second pair is operation greens. Now this operation was announced in budget 2018 to 2019. It aims to enhance the value realization of tomato, onion and potato farmers. Now the tomato, onion and potato in short is known as TOP and the enhancing of value realization of TOP farmers will be done by targeted interventions to strengthen the TOP production clusters and also by strengthening the farmer producer organizations and connecting them with the market. Now this operation greens also aims to bring price stabilization for producers and consumers by proper production planning in the TOP clusters and these two are the other two objectives. So you can say that operation greens is related to TOP crops that is tomato, onion and potato crops. So that means second pair is also correct. Now the third operation is operation Samadhan. This operation was launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2017 and it was launched during the review meeting of left wing extremism affected states. Now this operation aims to find a solution to the problem of left-wing extremism. Here you can see that Samadhan is a mnemonic, his main smart leadership, a aggressive strategy and like that end for no access to financing. So we can say that it is an all-encompassing strategy to solve the Naxal problem. It focuses on providing strong leadership. It aims to provide sufficient training. It aims to establish intelligence network with local people and it also aims to use latest technology and finally it focuses on choking the financial resources of the left-wing extremist organizations. So that means this pair is also correct. If you know all the three pairs are correct, you can arrive at the correct answer which is option D123 and 4. Operation twist is open market operation of RBI. See this operation twist is an informal term to represent the recently conducted OMO by RBI. Actually if you see this operation twist is a move by US Federal Reserve which is the Central Bank of USA. In 2011 to 2012 the US Federal Reserve conducted operation twist to make long-term borrowing cheaper for the government and recently the Central Bank of India which is RBI had conducted simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities and we know that purchase and sale of government securities is nothing but open market operations and in this RBI purchased government securities with long-term maturities and sold the short-term government securities. So in this question we have covered four different operations. Now let us take the next question. This next question is based on torrefaction which is recently seen in news. See it is one of the methods being tested by the government of India to curb stubble burning that is burning of crop residues. As you know stubble burning is one of the reasons for worsening air quality in North India especially in Delhi. So a pilot plant has been set up at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute in Mohali and this pilot plant is to convert the paddy straw into green bio coal and this bio coal can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels. This pilot project is an outcome of Indo-Sweden collaboration as this institute has signed the MOU with Swedish company Bioendiv AB. This plant uses the torrefaction technology which converts the agri-waste like paddy straw, corn stover, sugarcane bagassi, sorghum stover and wheat straw etc into high energy density bio coal. So in short this plant at NABI is for the conversion of agri-waste into bio coal and it is expected that this project will help to curb the carbon emission which has caused it through stubble burning and it is expected that it will curb up to 95 percentage. So from this itself you can arrive at the correct answer which is option C process for making high energy bio coal from agri-waste. So what is this technology actually? See what we saw was the outcome of this technology. This technology is a Swedish technology and what it is actually is it is thermochemical process that involves heating of biomass in the absence of air at a 200 degree Celsius temperature to 350 degree Celsius temperature and in this picture you can see how crop residues are converted into final torrified biomass or bio coal. See this torrified biomass has combustion characteristics which are similar to coal and it also exactly looks like coal which you can see here and that is why it is termed as bio coal. This bio coal produces lower emissions than conventional coal. We are saying this because normally the sulphur dioxide emissions from power plants occur as a result of high sulphur content of coal but the torrification process reduces the sulphur content of biomass by 30 to 80 percentage and it also reduces the chloride content of the biomass by 20 to 70 percentage. So the final product of bio coal which is got through torrification process is safe for the environment. Additionally it has one more advantage. This torrified biomass or bio coal are hydrophobic in nature that is they repel water. So that means they are less prone to degradation and they can be stored for a longer period. So this torrified bio coal addresses the storage issues also. So that is why now our government is testing this technology. Now if you want to know more about this torrification technology you can visit our December 4th Indian News Analysis where we have in detail explained about this technology and the process involved in it. Now let us take the next question. This next question is a very simple question. It is based on organization of petroleum exporting countries that is OPEC. The first statement is it functions under the ages of United Nations. It is incorrect because OPEC is a permanent intergovernmental organization and it does not function under United Nations and here the question asks for the correct statements. So that means you can eliminate option A and B because all the above means 1, 2 and 3 only. Now this organization was created at the Baghdad conference in 1960. It was created by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and they are the founding members which means statement 2 is also incorrect because it mentions United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are its founding members. UAE is not a founding member but rather it later joined this organization. So that means statement 2 is also incorrect so you can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option D none of the above. Statement 3 mentions that recently in 2020 Qatar terminated its membership. Now first know that in addition to the five founding members some other countries also joined this organization. They are Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Congo but among these members many withdrew from membership like Indonesia suspended its membership in November 2016 itself and Qatar terminated its membership in January 2019 itself and very recently Ecuador withdrew its membership which is effective from 1st January 2020 and that is why statement 3 is incorrect. Recently Ecuador withdrew its membership. So as of now this organization has 13 member countries. So from this you can say that often members are terminating their membership and sometimes they again join this organization. So that is why it becomes crucial to know which countries terminate at what point and remember India is not a member of OPEC and obviously as the name suggests OPEC's objective first is to coordinate and unify petroleum policies among member countries and this is to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers and also to have an efficient economic and regular supply of petroleum to the consuming nations and more importantly it aims to secure a steady income to producers and also a fair return on capital to those who are investing in the petroleum industry. So these are the objectives of OPEC. Now let us take the next question. This next question is about international veiling commission. This commission was in news because in December Japan passed a law to financially support commercial veiling and to promote the consumption of whale meat and this controversial practice was resumed by Japan in July 2019 itself after a period of more than 30 year moratorium. When Japan resumed commercial veiling it eventually led to Japan's withdrawal from the international veiling commission and then when Japan passed the law to financially support commercial veiling again this commission was in news. So what is this commission is about? This international veiling commission was set up under the international convention for the regulation of veiling. It was signed in Washington DC in 1946. According to the preamble of the convention the purpose of this commission is to provide for proper conservation of whale stocks which is nothing but all whale species and populations and thus making it possible for the orderly development of veiling industry. And if you look at the first statement it mentions it was set up under the United Nations international convention for regulation of veiling. This statement is incorrect because this convention of 1946 is not a united nations convention. Also remember that the most important part of this convention is a legally binding schedule. This schedule sets out specific measures which were collectively decided by the commission and these measures are necessary in order to regulate veiling to conserve whale stocks and these measures include catch limits by species and area then designating specified areas as whale sanctuaries and also putting restrictions on hunting methods. Now if you see the third statement it mentions that India is a member of the commission. Now in this commission the member country is also known as contracting government and it is represented by a commissioner who is assisted by experts and advisors. And the statement is correct because India is a member of this commission since 1981. And as you can see in this map none of our neighbors except for China are members of this commission. And as you can see Japan has been marked in green because in 2019 Japan withdrew from this commission as we saw in the beginning. So third statement is correct and if you see this question asks for not correct statements. So that means three should not be in the answer. So if you eliminate three in all the options that is options A, B and D you can arrive at the correct answer which is option C one and two. That means statement two is also incorrect. It mentions that recently the moratorium on the commercial wailing has been lifted. See we saw that this international wailing commission is responsible for setting catch limits for commercial wailing. So in 1982 the IWC decided to pause the commercial wailing on all whale species and populations from the 1985-1986 season onwards. And this pause is what is often referred to as commercial wailing moratorium and it still remains in place today. That means it has not been lifted yet. I know that this moratorium is binding on all members of IWC but there are also exceptions like Norway and Iceland they take whales commercially at present because they have objection to this moratorium decision by IWC. So remember the moratorium has not been lifted yet. It is continuing even after 30 years. Now let us take the next question. This question is about national organ and tissue transplant organization. Two statements are given and we have to choose the correct statement. This organization was in news because it gave awards to hospitals and states for their outstanding contribution towards the promotion of organ donation. And this award was given to celebrate the 10th Indian organ donation day which is observed on 30th November every year. Now the first statement is it is a national level organization set up under direct trade general of health services ministry of health and family welfare. This statement is correct. Nato functions under DG of health services only. Now know that Nato has two divisions one is national human organ and tissue removal and storage network and the second one is national biomaterial center. Now this network has been mandated as per the transplantation of human organs amendment act of 2011. Now this network has been established initially for Delhi and gradually it is being expanded to include other states and regions of the country. Now currently if you say Nato has five regional networks which is known as ROTO that is regional organ and tissue transplant organization and each region of the country has SOTO which is state organ and tissue transplant organization in every state and union territory. So this division of Nato is the nodal networking agency for Delhi and it is the network for procurement allocation and distribution of organs and tissues in Delhi. Along with this this national network division would function as the apex center for all India activities of coordination and networking for the procurement and distribution of organs and tissues and also for the coordination and networking of registry of organs and tissue donation and transplantation in our country. Now this national biomaterial center or the national tissue bank was formed because the transplantation of human organs amendment act of 2011 has included the component of tissue donation and registration of tissue banks. So here just know that the tissues that can be donated are cornea, bone, skin, heart valve, blood vessels, nerves and tendon etc. Now the main objective of establishing this center is to fill up the gap between demand and supply as well as quality assurance in the availability of various issues. So just remember this. Now the second statement is in India buying or selling of organs in any way is punishable and has significant financial as well as judicial punishment. This statement is also correct because as per this 2011 act that is the transplant of human organ act buying or selling of organs in any ways punishable in our country and it attracts significant financial as well as judicial punishment. Now here the question asked for the correct statements and both the statements are correct. So the correct answer to this question is option C both 1 and 2. Now let us take the next question. The difficulty level for this question has been increased. This question talks about a particular insect which has these characteristics. They are members of grasshopper family, highly migratory in nature and voracious feeding behavior. Adults may congregate or form swarm. Swarm means a large or dense group of flying insects and 4 to 1 is cause great devastation to natural and cultivated vegetation. Now as you know in our September target 2020 series we saw about fall omnivom which also had these three characteristics but do they belong to grasshopper family? No. These characteristics belong to a locust known as Cystocirca gregaria. So the correct answer is option C. Now this locust was a news because in December 2019 the state of Gujarat was under attack from newborn locusts which ravaged the farms in several border districts of Gujarat. They affected crops such as caster, cumin, jatropa, cotton and fodder grass. Even in the past also Gujarat along with Rajasthan have suffered from locust forms but it is said that the current swarm in Gujarat is the largest in recent times and that is why this question has been framed. Now as the question mentions locust species are members of grasshopper family Acrididae and this family includes most of short horned grasshoppers but remember locust species differ from grasshoppers because these species have the unique capability to change its behavior and physiology in response to the changes in population density and even other factors such as relative humidity, soil moisture, rainfall, temperature and availability of food and because of this only these locusts are highly migratory in nature and they have more ratios feeding behavior and not only that they are polyfagus feeder that is they feed on various kinds of food and if they have favorable ecological conditions the adult locusts may also congregate or form swarm and one such condition is the availability of heavy rainfall and these locusts forms may contain millions of individuals which have the tendency to migrate in a unit along the wind movement. Apart from this because of their voracious feeding behavior they cause great devastation to natural and cultivated vegetation so they have the potential to cause a national emergency of food and fodder as they are threat to food security and there are different types of locusts which are found in the world and among them only four species are found in India they are desert locust, bombay locust, migratory locust, tree locust and as you can see sisto sarca gregaria is the desert locust it is one of the most important pest species in India as well as in the intercontinental context now whenever you study about locust just remember that we have locust warning organization it is headed by a plant protection advisor this organization comes under the department of agriculture and cooperation which is under ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare this organization gives warnings about the possibility of locust swarm incursion movement and breeding now according to this organization as of march 2020 it has been observed that India is free from desert locusts activities but if you see the situation remains extremely alarming in the horn of Africa specifically the countries like Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia where widespread breeding of desert locust is still in progress and new swarms are starting to form in these regions so remember the scientific name of desert locust also and if you see option a and b both talk about fall army bomb only because spudoptera frugipeda is the scientific name of fall army bomb now let us take the next question this next question is about lokpal two statements are given and we have to choose the correct statement as you know lokpal is established under the lokpal and lokaikta's act of 2013 the main function of lokpal is to inquire and investigate into allegations of corruption against the public functionaries who fall within the scope and habit of this 2013 act but lokpal was in news because even after six years after this act came into existence several key provisions of this act have still not been operationalized for example one such provision is the section 11 and section 12 of this act section 11 is about constituting an inquiry wing and section 12 is about constituting a prosecution wing even now the process of constituting lokpal's inquiry wing and prosecution wing has not yet begun now the first statement mentions that only the former or present chief justice of India can be appointed as the chairperson of lokpal now as you know lokpal consists of a chairperson four judicial members and four non-judicial members that is chairperson plus members who shall not be more than 18 number and out of the non-judicial members of lokpal not less than 50 percent of the members shall be from the persons belonging to schedule cast schedule tribes other backward classes minorities and women now here remember that the chairpersons and the judicial members are appointed by the president after obtaining the recommendations of selection committee and this selection committee consists of these members and just remember that the chairperson of this selection committee is prime minister of India but this statement talks about chairperson of lokpal which mentions that only former or present chief justice of India can be appointed as chairperson this is incorrect because even a former or present judge of supreme court or even an eminent person who fulfills the eligibility is eligible to be appointed as chairperson of lokpal so statement one is incorrect now the second statement is it has powers to inquire complaints on allegations of corruption against the incumbent president and prime minister of India so this statement talks about the jurisdiction of lokpal it has jurisdiction to inquire into allegations of corruptions of the functionaries who are presently in the office or who have been in the office and these functionaries include prime minister minister in the union government member of parliament group a bcd officers of union government and all these functionaries as you can see here so that means president is not brought under the purview of lokpal so that means this statement is incorrect so always remember with respect to lokpal prime minister of India whether the present prime minister or the former prime minister can be subjected to inquiry if complaints against them is received with respect to corruption and here the question asks for the correct statements and both the statements are incorrect so the correct answer to this question is option d neither one nor two now this is a very direct question the question asks with the objective of providing a comprehensive legal framework to combat terrorism a draft comprehensive convention on international terrorism was proposed at the united nations in 1996 it was proposed by which of these countries now this comprehensive convention on international terrorism or ccit was proposed by india to the united nations general assembly so the correct answer is option c india now due to india's proposal a draft text of ccit emerged in 2007 and this draft was agreed by most states but few states still have a problem over few issues mentioned in the draft hence negotiations for resolution are still undergoing but according to the government sources several countries including the five permanent members of un security council have voiced their support for this convention and even leaders at various summit also called upon all the nations to work together to expedite the adoption of ccit without any further delay so you can see that even after two decades still negotiations are undergoing and it is still a draft so that is no other official information is available which will be useful for examination so just know that this was proposed by india in 1996 and it is still under negotiation let's move on to the next question this question is about the report the question asks the production gap report provides a metric for assessing the world's current pace of fossil fuel extraction and details the steps which countries can take to align fossil fuel supply with paris agreement goals it is released by the correct answer to this question is united nations environment program which is option a this report has been produced by unep in collaboration with the leading research organizations such as stock home environment institute the international institute for sustainable development etc now remember that this report follows the footsteps of unep's emissions gap report which we discussed in november target 2020 series we discussed that emissions gap report assesses the current and estimated future greenhouse gas emissions and it then compares these with the emission levels that is permissible for the world to progress on a least cost pathway to achieve the goals of paris agreement and also know that this production gap report is the first assessment of the gap between the targets of paris agreement that is limiting global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius or 2 degree Celsius and countries planned production of coal oil and gas which is nothing but countries planned fossil fuel production and as the question mentions it provides a metric for assessing the world's current pace of fossil fuel extraction now coal oil and gas has been chosen because the coal oil and natural gas remain the world's dominant sources of energy and they account for 81 percentage of total primary energy supply and these fuels are by far the largest contributor to global climate change because they account for over 75 percentage of global greenhouse gas emissions and also they contribute to 90 percentage of all carbon dioxide emissions and these are the findings of the report like it says that the world is on track to produce far more coal oil and gas than being consistent with what is necessary for limiting global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius or 2 degree Celsius and this report has assessed that this will lead to emission of 39 billion tons of carbon dioxide by the year 2030 it also notes that the production gap is largest for coal because by the year 2030 countries plan to produce 150 percentage of more coal than what would be consistent with the 2 degree Celsius pathway and they plan to produce 280 percentage more than what would be consistent with the 1.5 degree Celsius pathway and this report has also noted with respect to India it notes that India is the world's fourth largest coal producer not only India is largest coal producer India is also the world's second largest coal importer so that means it reflects the country's significant level of coal consumption the report notes that India's coal production has more than doubled in the last two decades and compared to coal India produces far less oil and gas so India seeks to increase production of both oil and gas but it is expected to remain a major importer in the coming decades especially for oil so that means on a whole India's support to fossil fuel production is expected to increase in the future according to this report so these are some of the extra information provided by this report now let us take the next question this question is about geo textiles recently seen in news three statements are given and we have to choose the correct statement now geo textiles was in use because in december kerala government had organized the annual international event known as koir kerala at alapura this event is to promote koir and natural fiber and this event aims at exploring and expanding the international market for koir products from kerala and it also aimed to promote koir geo textiles as an alternative to the synthetic geo textiles so that is why this topic is important see we know that textile is a fabric that is knitted or woven and made from yarn now this geo textile is a permeable textile material which is used to improve the soil characteristics we know that permeable means it allows liquids or gases to pass through it now this geo textile has the ability to separate filter reinforce protect and drain when they are used in association with soils and these geo textiles are of two types that is synthetic and natural geo textiles which means statement one is correct because it mentions geo textiles are natural permeable textile material and here the word only is missing that is why the statement is correct if only would have been mentioned then would have been an incorrect statement because geo textiles are also of synthetic material now in synthetic geo textiles mostly polymers are used but in case of natural geo textiles natural fibers like koir or jute are used in making of the geo textiles as you know koir is nothing but the coconut fiber and it has low decomposition rate so this acts as a key advantage for making durable geo textiles so where are these geo textiles used they're used in construction of roads used in railway works they're used as erosion control blankets and also for soil conservation etc so that means statement two and three are also correct so the correct answer to this question is option d one two and three now this next question is about hera mission see it is a mission of european space agency and the target of this mission is diddy moose pair of near earth asteroids it is nothing but a binary asteroid in the near earth orbit and as you can see here this is the primary body and it has a diameter of around 780 meter and this secondary body is called as diddy moon it is the moon to the primary object as it rotates around the primary body and it has a diameter of around 160 meter now remember this hera mission is the european contribution to the international double spacecraft collaboration and the collaboration is between nasa and esa so that means statement two is incorrect because it mentions it is part of an international double spacecraft collaboration which is correct but the collaboration is not between isro and esa rather it is between nasa and esa so statement two is incorrect now in this nasa will first perform a kinetic impact on the smaller of the two bodies that is on diddy moon and then hera will follow up with a detailed post impact survey this survey will turn this grand scale experiment into a well understood and repeatable planetary defense technique so that means statement one is correct it will conduct post impact survey on the binary asteroid in near earth orbit now in this the nasa's mission is called as double asteroid redirection test or in short dart and the dart of nasa and hera of esa were conceived together as part of international asteroid impact deflection assessment experiment or in short aida this aida aims to send a pair of spacecrafts to study the impacts of crashing on an asteroid moon and here in our case it is the diddy moon so remember nasa's mission is dart and esa's mission is hera and hera will carry out post impact survey now this nasa's dart is expected to crash on diddy moon in 2022 this impact of collision will lead to a change in the duration of diddy moon's orbit around the main body which is diddymos now in such a case diddy moon will become the first object in the solar system to have its orbit shifted by a human effort in a measurable way so remember this fact so when will hera will be launched according to esa hera will be launched in 2023 or 2024 and it is expected to reach diddymos in 2026 as we saw it will carry out detailed post impact survey of diddy moon and hera will demonstrate multiple novel technologies such as autonomous navigation around the asteroid it will gather crucial scientific data to help scientists and future mission planners to better understand asteroid compositions and structures so in short we can say hera will be performing a close crash scene investigation of the asteroid moon and by that hera will build detailed maps of the asteroid moon surface and also its interior structure and this will be done by using laser and radio science mapping and not only this for the first time this will allow humans to study the impact of such collision on asteroids so why this is important it's important because it will help the scientists to find a way to deflect asteroids from a collision with earth in the future so that is why it is said that hera will help us strengthen the planetary defense mechanism to ward off an asteroid threat in the future so as you can see it is a much needed experiment so the correct answer to this question is option a because the question asks for correct statements now let's take the next question this next question is about nirbhaya fund this fund was in news because it was found in a reply to loksoba question that the states had utilized very less fund which were sanctioned or allocated under the nirbhaya fund it was found that some states didn't even spend a single penny or they spent less than one percentage of the money dispersed this fund that is the nirbhaya fund was created in 2013 by the government of india as a dedicated fund to ensure the safety of women this fund aims for the implementation of initiatives which aims at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country so that means statement one is correct or in other words it can be said that the fund can be utilized for projects which are specifically designed to improve the safety and security of women and this fund is administered by department of economic affairs which functions under the ministry of finance so statement three is incorrect now since this fund is for the safety and security of women don't think it is administered by ministry of women and child development but also remember the ministry of women and child development is involved because it is the nodal ministry to appraise or evaluate and to recommend the proposals and schemes that has to be funded under the nirbhaya fund and the ministry of women and child development also has the responsibility to review and monitor the progress of sanctioned schemes along with the respective ministries or department now since statement three is incorrect you can eliminate option cnd because question asked for the correct statements now this nirbhaya fund is a non-lapsable corpus fund this means that the fund which is allocated will be spent entirely to the specified item that is it will be spent only to increase the safety and security of women and here we have given you the funding pattern now the second statement is emergency response supports system and one stop center scheme or key schemes for which states or uts have been allocated fund we saw that the fund can be utilized for projects which are specifically designed to improve the safety and security of women and these are two of the key schemes under which the states or union territories have been allocated money under the nirbhaya fund this statement is correct in this the emergency response support system was introduced by ministry of home affairs it aims to integrate all the emergency numbers to 112 it envisages an integrated computer aided emergency response platform that responds to distress calls and it also aims to ensure speedy assistance to the distressed persons and then this one stop center scheme is also known as sake scheme it was introduced by ministry of woman and child development and this scheme aims at establishing centers to facilitate women who are affected by violence it provides first aid medical aid police assistance legal aid and also counseling support to women who are affected by violence apart from this there are also other schemes which are funded by nirbhaya fund like central victim compensation fund mahala police volunteers universalization of female helpline scheme etc we have given the details here for your reference so the correct answer to this question is option b 1 and 2 now this question is regarding the cop 14 of united nations convention to combat the certification we know that cop means conference of parties and the cop 14 was held in new delhi in september 2019 because india is president of cop 2 this un ccd india took over the cop presidency from china for two years so india will be president till 2021 and one of the important outcomes of this cop 14 is that more than 120 countries agree to achieve the sustainable development goal target of achieving the land degradation neutrality by 2030 so that means statement one is correct the sdg target which is mentioned here is target 15.3 it aims to combat the certification it aims to restore degraded land and soil it also aims to restore the land affected by the certification drought and floods and further it aims to achieve a land degradation neutral world by 2030 so what is this land degradation neutrality it is a agreement which the countries have pledged to halt the degradation of land and this halting will be carried out in the land where ecosystems and land use can no longer be supported and this land degradation neutrality or ldn responds to intensifying the production of food fuel and fiber to meet the future demand without further degrading our finite land resource space or limited land resource space in other words ldn demands the world to be a place where human activity has a neutral impact on the land and apart from this the cop 14 adopted the deli declaration and through this declaration party's expressed commitment for a range of issues which is mentioned here and further india agreed for the recovery of 26 million hectares of degraded land by the year 2030 so this is an important fact remember it so these were the outcomes of cop 14 of u and ccd now this u and ccd is an unprecedented global campaign to save productive land and it is one of the three real conventions see the 1992 real earth summit gave rise to three real conventions and one among them is this united nations convention to combat the certification and the other two are the convention on biological diversity and the united nations framework convention on climate change but here just remember that u and ccd was adopted in paris in 1994 only and india ratified this u and ccd convention in 1996 so even though u and ccd was adopted in paris it is known as real convention because the 1992 real earth summit gave rise to this convention and this convention is also sometimes called as the mother convention of the other two real conventions now unlike this u and ccd the other two conventions were adopted in 1992 real earth summit itself we are discussing this because the second statement is based on this only it mentions that by hosting cop 14 of u and ccd india became one of the few countries to have hosted the cop of all three real conventions on climate change biodiversity and land this statement is correct because in 2019 india has hosted u and ccd and in 2002 india hosted cop 8 of unf ccc and india also hosted cop 11 of cbd in 2012 so india has hosted all the three real conventions on climate change biodiversity and land so that means both the statements are correct and here the question asks for the correct statements so option c is the correct answer this 21st question is about silver line project four statements are given and we have to choose the incorrect statements this question might seem difficult but if you know to which state this project belongs to then it will be easy to arrive at the correct answer this silver line project is a project of kerala government it was in use because the kerala rail development corporation board had approved the detailed project report of this project it is because the kerala rail development corporation is the implementation agency for this project so if you know this then you can eliminate option two and four because statement two mentions it aims to connect all the north eastern states of india so it is not a project of connecting all the north eastern states fourth statement mentions it is an extension of eastern dedicated freight corridor we know that dedicated freight corridor is a broad gauge freight corridor which is under construction in india by the indian railways and there are two corridors in this one is western freight corridor and the second one is eastern freight corridor these corridors are being constructed to augment the rail transport capacity so as to meet the growing requirement of movement of freight traffic and as you can see here the eastern dedicated freight corridor will be from ludhiana in panjag to dampuni which is near kulkata so as of now the eastern most end is near kulkata only it is not extending beyond that and even the western dedicated freight corridor is from javarlal nehru port in mumbai to tuklaka barad and dadri near delhi now here question asks for the incorrect statements so that means two and four should be an option so you can eliminate option a and d now we have to just see whether statement three is incorrect or not and from the remaining options you can easily say that statement one is a correct answer it is a semi high speed rail corridor we'll come back to that later let's first see about the third statement it is a part of diamond quadrilateral network of indian railways you know that in railway budget 2014 to 15 it was announced by the government to undertake the planning of high speed rail connectivity on the diamond quadrilateral network which will be connecting major metros and the growth centers of the country and so for that six corridors have been identified and these are the six corridors so in these six corridors feasibility studies for high speed rail connectivity is being carried out and even recently they have said that more corridors have been identified by the indian railways and as you can see the major metropolitan cities which this diamond quadrilateral is aiming to connect is delhi mumbai chennai kulkata and no city of kerala is present so from this also you can arrive at the answer that it is not a part of diamond quadrilateral network so the correct answer to this question is option c 2 3 and 4 now from examination point of view let us know some facts about this project it is a semi high speed rail corridor and it will be a 532 kilometer rail corridor it will be connecting kasaragod and thiruvannapuram which are the north and south ends of the state as you can see in this map and it is said that this rail will have a maximum speed of up to 200 kilometer per hour so this corridor will reduce the total travel time from kasaragod to thiruvannapuram to less than four hours and currently if you see the present time taken is 12 to 14 hours and these are the features of this project it aims to decongestion the roads and thus it aims for faster transport substantial reduction road accidents and further it also aims to provide clean mode of transport and to mitigate noise it is a clean mode of transport because it is 100% reliant on renewable energy sources and because of this silver line there will be reduction in greenhouse gas emissions because the state is shifting from conventional transport to silver line and further this also aims to integrate the thiruvannapuram international airport and kocchin international airport and as we already saw in the beginning kerala rail development corporation or k rail is the implementing agency this corporation is a joint venture company of government of kerala and ministry of railways even though this is a state level project you should know at least some facts about this project because as you know already in mains 2019 there was a question based on a project of government of kerala which is the cyber dome project so at least you know something about everything like in this question you should know to which state this project belongs to and what the project is actually about and if you know that you can easily arrive at the correct answer now let us take the next question this next question is based on india state level disease burden initiative two statements are given and we have to choose the correct statement we know that health status and the drivers of health laws vary between different parts of the country and also between these states so accordingly the effective efforts or policies so as to improve the population's health in each state requires some systematic knowledge of the local health status and trends so to address this crucial knowledge gap this initiative was launched it was launched in 2015 with the support from ministry of health and family welfare and this initiative is a collaborative effort between the indian council of medical research public health foundation of india institute for health metrics and evaluation and also exports and stakeholders from about 100 institutions across india and this report describes the distribution and trends of diseases and the risk factors for every state of india from the year 1990 to 2016 and these are some of the findings of this report as you can see it mentions that air pollution caused one in eight deaths in india in 2017 and also air pollution contributed more to the disease burden of indians as compared to consuming tobacco etc etc so if you look at the first statement it is correct one of its objectives is to provide systematic knowledge of health status and trends in different parts of india now the second statement is it releases the national health profile every year now the national health profile provides vital information on all major health sector related indicators such as demographic socio-economic health status health finance health infrastructure and human resources and all these are provided in a comprehensive manner and this national health profile is also an important source of information on various communicable and non-communicable diseases but it is not released by india state level disease burden initiative rather it is released by the central bureau of health intelligence which functions under the ministry of health and family welfare and the recent national health profile for 2019 was released which was the 14th edition of nhb and here we have also given some key findings of this national health profile you can take note of it so the correct answer to this question is option a one only because the question asked for the correct statements now this question asks recently india has acceded to the international maritime organizations hong kong convention this convention is aimed at four options are given the hong kong convention mentioned in the question is nothing but the hong kong international convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships of 2009 this convention was adopted at a diplomatic conference which was held in hong kong china in the year 2009 and this convention is aimed at ensuring that ships when they are being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives they do not pose any unnecessary risks to the human health human safety and also to the environment so that means hong kong convention is related to ship recycling practices so that means the correct answer is option b setting global standards for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling practices now the text of this convention was developed with the inputs from imo member states and relevant non-governmental organizations and it was developed in cooperation with the international labor organization and also in cooperation with the parties to the basal convention we know that the basal convention is about the control of trans boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal and it is the most comprehensive environmental treaty on hazardous and other wastes so all their inputs were taken to frame the text of this convention but this convention hasn't come into force yet because there are some conditions to be fulfilled for this convention to come into force now when this convention comes into force then the ships which has to be sent for recycling will be required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials which is specific to each ship so why was this convention in news so before that you should know that the recycling of ships bill of 2019 which is an indian legislation received ascent of indian president and became an act in november 2019 the union cabinet gave approval for the enactment of this act and the union cabinet also gave approval for accession to the hong kong convention so based on that india acceded to the hong kong convention on 28th november 2019 so that is why it was in news and as you know india is a member of international maritime organization since 1959 now here the point to be noted is that when this convention comes into force then its provisions will be implemented under the provisions of this 2019 act and it will be implemented based on the rules and regulations which will be framed under this 2019 act just know that this act provides regulation of recycling of ships by setting certain international standards and also by laying down the statutory mechanism for the enforcement of such standards this act restricts and prohibits the use of hazardous materials it also prohibits and restricts the installation of hazardous materials and this condition applies irrespective of whether a ship is meant for recycling or not and for the new ships these restrictions or prohibitions on use of hazardous materials will be immediate that is it is applicable from the date when the legislation came into force but for the existing ships a period of five years has been given for compliance one more point you should remember is restriction or prohibition on use of hazardous materials would not be applied to warships and non-commercial ships that are operated by the government and these are some of the provisions of this act now accession to this hong kong convention and the enactment of this 2019 act has raised the profile of Indian ship recycling industry as being environment friendly and safety conscious and thus it will help us in strengthening India's position as a market leader in the ship recycling industry as of now know that India is the leader in the global ship recycling industry with a share of over 30 percentage of the market now this next question asks the term smog tower recently seen in news is related to which among the following now the smog tower was in use because in December 2019 the supreme court of India has told the central government and the government of Delhi to finish the pilot project of setting up a smog tower within three months and it has to be set up to combat air pollution see initially a Beijing based Dutch designer designed an air purifier in 2016 he then temporarily located this air purifier in a former industrial area in Beijing China and this air purifier is what is called as smog free tower as you can see in this picture it is a seven meter tall aluminum high tower this tower inhales polluted air and it cleans at a nano level using a patented technology this technology is nothing but the positive ionization technology and this air purifier runs on wind power so we can tell that it is based on green electricity and this smog free tower captures and collects roughly about 50 percentage of pm 2.5 that is particulate matter 2.5 and 70 percentage of pm 10 which are present in the polluted air and then it releases clean air around the tower this tower has a 360 degree coverage so it creates an almost circular zone of clean air in its surrounding so providing clean air is the first part of this smog tower project now this polluted air which is collected by this smog tower contains mainly carbon particles so these carbon particles are turned into diamonds which is the second part of this project now after seeing this project China came up with a similar smog tower project in the city of Xi'an scientists at China's institute of earth environment have constructed this tall tower which is said to be world's largest air purifier because this tower is over 100 meters tall so from the given options you can easily say that option b is the correct answer it mentions large scale air purifiers to clean the pollutants in the air as it passes through them let us move on to the next question in this question three pairs are given on one side archaeological sites are given and on the other side the states where they are present is given and we have to choose the incorrectly matched pair the first pair given is Kerala this is an incorrect pair because Kerala is an archaeological site present in the Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu the archaeological survey of India has carried out excavation and it has unearthed some artifacts which points to an ancient civilization that thrived on the banks of river Vaigai and even the carbon dating of charcoal that were found at the Kerala site has established that the settlements present there belong to 200 BC so the excavations have proved that urban civilization had existed in Tamil Nadu since the Sangam age so first pair is incorrect so it should be in the answer now the second pair given is Sadikpur Sinauli Uttar Pradesh this is a correct pair it is in the Bhagpath district of Uttar Pradesh it is an ancient site where chariots swords and other objects were unearthed by the archaeological survey of India these objects points to the presence of a warrior class around 4,000 years ago in Uttar Pradesh and this site is spread over 28 acres and even in June 2019 the archaeological survey of India started the process of declaring this particular site as a site of national importance and currently in this site the excavations and preservation work is going on which started in 2018 and among the treasures which were unearthed in this site there are three chariots legged coffins shields swords and helmets and all of these point towards a warrior class that must have existed around 2000 BCE and according to ASI it is the largest necropolis of the late Harappan period which is dateable to around early part of second millennium BCE so second pair is correct so it should not be in the answer so you can eliminate option A C and D hence the correct answer is option B 1 and 3 Rakhigadi is not in Gujarat it is in Haryana we know that it is one of the most important Indus valley civilization site or the Harappan site the site of Rakhigadi is one of the five known biggest townships of Harappan civilization on the Indian subcontinent the other four biggest townships are Harappa Mohanjadaro and Ghanveriwala in Pakistan and then Dholavira which is present in Gujarat this is in India finally we have finished one half of this series now let us move on to the next half this question is based on net zero asset owner alliance it is also known as united nations convened net zero asset owner alliance this alliance represents an international group of institutional investors who are representing 4.6 trillion US dollars in assets and through this alliance they have committed to transition their investment portfolios to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050 in simple terms what we are meaning is some of the world's largest investors have committed to shift their investment portfolios away from the carbon intensive industries this will help to achieve a net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 also the members of this alliance will immediately start to engage with the companies in which they are investing so as to ensure that they decarbonize their business models so the investment portfolios of the alliance members will be consistent with the goal to achieve a maximum temperature rise of 1.5 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial temperatures so that means the correct answer to this question is option c an international group of investors who have committed to transition their investment portfolios to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 now this alliance was initiated by global investors like folksome group pension danmark zurek and alliance etc and this was convened by the united nations environment programs finance initiative or in short unepfi and also by the principles for responsible investment in addition to these the alliance is also supported by the worldwide fund for nature that is wwf now from examination point of view just know that this unep finance initiative is a partnership between unep and the global financial sector such as banks insurers and investors it aims to mobilize private sector finance for sustainable development and then this pra or principles for responsible investment is a un supported international network of investors it works to understand the investment implications of environmental factors social factors and governance factors and it works to incorporate these factors while making investment and ownership decisions now let us move on to the next question this question asks as part of human development report several composite indices are released each year which among the following are these indices five different indices are given here we know that human development report is released by unep that is united nations development program and this report is released annually since 1990 and for the first time it was released by a pakistan economist maibu bullock and an indian economist amrit yasain now the human development report office it releases five composite indices each year in this human development report and these indices are human development index the inequality adjusted human development index the gender development index the gender inequality index the multi-dimensional poverty index so that means one is correct three is correct and four is correct so the correct answer to this question is option d one three and four now the other two inclusive development index and global gender gap index both are released by world's economic forum now let us see about these indices in brief now this human development index was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country and the development should not only be assessed based on economic growth so that is why hdi is a summary measure of average achievement in three key dimensions of human development they are a long and a healthy life being knowledgeable and having a decent standard of living these are the three key dimensions of hdi the next one is inequality adjusted human development index or i hdi now this index combines a country's hdi that is average achievements in health education and income with how these achievements are distributed among country's population according to the levels of inequality which is prevalent in each dimension thus the i hdi is distribution sensitive average level of human development now here you should note that if a country has a high hdi it does not mean that all people in the country enjoy the same human development because of inequality so this i hdi measures the overall loss to human development due to inequality so under perfect equality the i hdi is equal to the hdi but it will be below hdi when the inequality rises now the next one is gender inequality index it measures gender inequalities in three important aspects of human development they are reproductive health empowerment and economic status here the reproductive health is measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates and then empowerment is measured by proportion of parliamentary seeds that is occupied by females and proportion of adult females and males who are aged 25 years and older with at least some secondary education and then the economic status it is expressed as labor market participation and it is measured by labor force participation rate of female and male populations who are aged 15 years and older so the higher the gender inequality index value then there is more disparity between females and males and there is more loss to human development and the next one is gender development index it measures gender gaps in human development achievements by accounting for disparities between women and men in three basic dimensions of human development they are health knowledge and living standards so this gender development index is a direct measure of gender gap which shows the female human development index as a percentage of male human development index and it shows how much women are lagging behind their male counterparts and then the final one is multi-dimensional poverty index it identifies multiple deprivations at the household level and at the individual level in health education and standard of living and we have discussed about this MPI in detail in our July series so keep in mind the key dimensions of these indices let's move on to the next question now this question is about ecosystem restoration two statements are given and we have to choose the correct statements now first what is ecosystem ecosystem is a system that includes all living organisms in an area as well as its physical environment both functioning together as a unit so an ecosystem is made of plants animals microorganisms soil rocks minerals and water sources interacting with one another but the ecosystems all over the world are facing degradations mainly because of anthropogenic factors that is human factors and currently about 20 percentage of planet's vegetated surface is showing declining trends in productivity and this declining trend is along with fertility losses which is linked to erosion depletion and pollution in all parts of the world so according to united nations by the year 2050 degradation and climate change could reduce crop yields by 10 percentage globally and in some regions the reduction in crop yields could be even up to 50 percentage so this is where the ecosystem restoration concept comes in because this ecosystem restoration is aimed to reverse this degrading trend ecosystem restoration is defined as a process of reversing the degradation of ecosystems such as landscapes lakes and oceans to regain their ecological functionality or in other words it aims to improve the productivity and capacity of ecosystems to meet the needs of society and this can be done by allowing the natural regeneration of over exploited ecosystems or it can be even done by planting trees or other plants so that means statement one is incorrect because it mentions ecosystem restoration can only be done through natural regeneration of over exploited ecosystems it is not the only way ecosystem restoration can also be achieved through artificial methods for regeneration like planting trees and other plants so why is this important it is believed that restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded land between now and between the year 2030 could generate nine trillion u.s dollars in the ecosystem services and additional 13 to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases will be taken out of the atmosphere if this restoration happens so with this objective only the united nations general assembly declared the decade 2020 2030 as the UN decade on ecosystem restoration so that means first half of second statement is correct now this idea was led by El Salvador country with the support of more than 70 countries and the aim of this idea is to massively scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems so that means the second half of the second statement is also correct so this statement is a correct statement by doing this it will help to fight the climate crisis and it will help to enhance food security water supply and biodiversity and it is important to know which organizations lead this implementation two important organizations are tasked to lead the implementation they are the united nations environment program and then FAO that is food and agriculture organization now also know that this UN decade on ecosystem restoration also aligns with the decade of action for sustainable development goals this decade of action aims to assure in a decade of ambitious action to deliver the sustainable development goals by the year 2030 so the correct answer to this question is option b2 only because the question asks for the correct statement now in addition to this we have also given you other international decades which are currently observed by the united nations now let us take the next question now this next question is about IBM graph the new global high resolution atmospheric forecasting system now in this graph there's nothing but the global high resolution atmospheric forecasting system and as you know IBM is the international business machines corporation which is an american multinational information technology company now this weather forecast system aims to tap users phone for weather data it can generate forecasts at the resolution of three kilometers and this is significantly higher resolution than the 12 kilometer models which is currently used by the Indian meteorological department to generate the forecasts now this kind of forecasting system is important because most of the locations around the world have not had access to timely and reliable weather information and this is due to a lack of specialized weather equipment and models that update infrequently and they lack the required resolution to capture the all-weather activities so here is where IBM graph comes in because it aims to overcome all these shortcomings this IBM graph is a high precision rapidly updating global weather model it is because graph updates on an hourly basis and at a three kilometer resolution to provide a clearer picture of weather activity around the globe so that means first statement is correct it is a high precision rapidly updating global weather model here the question asks for the correct statements and statement one is correct so you can eliminate option b now the second statement is it is partnered with Indian meteorological department now this statement is incorrect because IBM graph is partnered with the national center for atmospheric research or NCAR which is a world-class research center of USA in earth sciences so the partnership is going to improve its latest generation global weather model which uses state-of-the-art science to forecast the atmosphere at a truly global scale so that means graph will provide improved global mapping of the atmosphere and then better data and observations is its next feature because it has the capability to incorporate the previously untapped data sources from airplane sensors and also the pressure sensor readings from the smartphone users that is this IBM graph is going to tap mobile users data but with their consent and the next feature is it uses the same technology that offer powerful supercomputer so this enables IBM graph to handle the increased resolution and to increase the frequency of updates also so therefore once the system is operationalized it will improve the resolution from the existing 10 kilometer to 12 kilometer to the 3 kilometer to 4 kilometer and then there will be also increase in frequency of updates because the updates will be of every hour instead of the existing 6 to 12 hours now since IBM graph uses the state-of-the-art technology it helps to democratize weather forecast so that people businesses and governments virtually anywhere can make better decisions so in this way it is going to empower companies airlines broadcasters and farmers because of its high resolution and frequency in updates see it is said that IBM graph forecasts are 30 percentage more accurate than those generated by a 12 kilometer resolution models so once this system is operationalized then it will help airlines because the airlines can effectively maintain their air traffic services it will also benefit farmers because farmers can be prepared for the dramatic shifts in weather and it will help the broadcasters because they can keep their audiences more informed and engaged about the latest updates so that means third statement is correct so the correct answer is option c 1 and 3 or you could have arrived at the correct answer when you know that statement 2 is incorrect by that you could have eliminated options a b and d now let us take the next question now this next question is based on un 75 initiatives four options are given and we have to choose the correct answer now before that just remember that united nations is an international organization which was formed in 1945 and at present it has 193 member states and the un was formed to support the collective action to realize peace development and human rights for all now we are discussing about un because the 2020 year that is the current year marks the 75th anniversary of united nations and this un 75 initiative is associated with this this initiative is a global listening exercise this initiative seeks to spark dialogue and action on how we can build a better world despite the many challenges that we face so the un 75 initiative itself is about the future and how we can shape it together it is about dialogue it is about you and listening and learning responding and engaging with as many different people and constituencies as possible based on this only un has said that the year 2020 must be a year of dialogue so we have to come together to discuss our priorities as a human family and how we can build a better future for all hence officially this dialogue was started and launched in january 2020 but in december itself un started giving invites for the dialogues so what is the aim of this initiative it aims to reach as many people as possible to listen to their hopes and fears and to learn from their ideas and experiences it has also created a one-minute survey that is quick and easy to complete so anybody can join the global conversation they can join physically or online they can join individually or as a group so anyone in every region of the world can join this conversation so why such an initiative is important it is important because to tackle issues such as climate crisis inequality new patterns of violence and also to achieve the sustainable development goals of un we require cooperation across the borders across sectors and across generations but at a time when we need collective action more than ever the support for global cooperation is actually declining in many countries public trust in traditional institutions is in decline and even the relations between countries are under strain so that is why there is a urgent need for dialogue and action on global issues now through these conversations the un aims to build a global vision of 2045 which is the centenary year of un that is it will be the 100th anniversary of un this is to increase the understanding of threats to the future and also to drive collective action to realize that 2045 vision so the ideas and views which are generated through this initiative will be presented to the world leaders and senior UN officials and this will be done at a high-profile event during the 75th session of united nations general assembly which will happen in september 2020 so from this you can say that it is a UN initiative with an aim to build a global vision for its centenary year 2045 so the correct answer is option b now let's take the next question moving on to the next question this question is about urban green mobility scheme of 2017 or the green urban mobility scheme of 2017 two statements are given and we have to choose the correct statement the first important point of this scheme to remember is that it is implemented by the ministry of housing and urban affairs so that means statement two is incorrect it is not implemented by ministry of road transport and highways this scheme focuses on cities with a population greater than 5 lakh as per the 2011 census and it also focuses on the state capitals so together the scheme will be applicable for 103 cities so what are the objectives of this scheme this scheme aims to address the infrastructure for bus-based transport such as depots maintenance facilities etc so that means first half of first statement is correct and the scheme also aims to bring in private entrepreneurial spirit in its operations so that means second half of the first statement is also correct so statement one is totally correct so the correct answer to this question is option a one only now additionally know that this scheme also aims to promote non-motorized transport for the last mile connectivity it aims to promote alternate fuels then to promote electric mobility for better environment and it also focuses on urban freight and addresses the high fatalities of pedestrians so these are the objectives of this scheme now this scheme has called for several reforms in the states such as establishment and operationalization of unified metropolitan transportation authority then adoption and implementation of transit oriented development then establishment of an urban transportation fund etc now for this scheme the cities are selected through a green mobility challenge and there are three groups of cities in this group one group two and group three and the group one cities consist of cities in the hilly regions and cities in northeastern states and then cities in union territories except nct deli and chandigarh because they are included in the group three then group two is cities with population less than one million and group three is cities with population more than one million along with national capital directory of deli and chandigarh let's move on to the next question now this next question is about international financial services centers or ifsc but these centers enables bringing back to india the financial services and transactions that are currently carried out in offshore financial centers by the indian corporate entities and this is done by offering business and regulatory environment that is comparable to other leading international financial centers in the world like those exist in london and singapore does these ifsc provide indian corporates and easier access to the global financial markets so that means first statement is correct they offer business and regulatory environments that are comparable to other leading international financial centers along with this these centers would also complement and promote the development of financial markets in india also now to operationalize these centers rba issues a notification under the fema act of 1999 that is the foreign exchange management act of 1999 and through these notifications regulations relating to the financial institutions which are set up in the ifsc now the key features of these regulations will be that any financial institution which is set up in the ifsc shall be treated as a non-resident indian located outside india so that means statement two is correct and also these financial institutions shall conduct business in such foreign currency and with such entities which the regulatory authority may determine and this condition is applicable to a resident or even non-resident now if you look at the question the question asks for the incorrect statements and statement one and two are correct so you can eliminate option bc and d so the correct answer is option a three only india's first ifsc was started in new delhi is an incorrect statement because the first ifsc in india has been set up at gift city which is present in the gandhi nagar of gujarat now these centers were in use because recently our government has enacted international financial services centers authority act of 2019 to set up the international financial services centers authority and this act was enacted in december only and this is the regulatory authority for the ifsc's it is because until 2019 the banking capital markets and insurance sectors in ifsc are regulated by multiple regulators that is rba sebi and irda i now since ifsc's have a very dynamic nature of business there was a need for a high degree of inter regulatory coordination and hence a unified financial regulator was warranted now to fulfill that only this 2019 act was enacted by government of india so this is the composition of this authority it consists of one chairperson and one member to be nominated by rba and one by sebi and one by insurance regulatory and development authority of india that is irda and one member to be nominated by the pension fund regulatory and development authority and additionally two members will be nominated by the central government and two other members have to be appointed by the central government on recommendations of a selection committee so the function of this authority is that this authority takes care of all the regulator issues with respect to international financial services centers now let us move on to the next question now this next question is based on polar satellite launch vehicle that is pslv now the pslv was in news in december because on december 11th of 2019 the pslv c48 marked its 50th launch and this launch injected india's advanced radar imaging earth observation satellite that is rizat 2bri along with nine commercial satellites of israel italy japan and usa so this makes statement 3 as incorrect statement it mentions recently pslv completed its 100th flight no it just completed its 50th flight here the question asks for the correct statements so you can eliminate option a and c now as you know pslv is one of the two operational launchers of india launchers are nothing but the launch vehicles which are used to carry spacecraft to the space and the other operational launcher is gslv that is geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle now this pslv is a third generation launch vehicle of india the first generation was the satellite launch vehicle slv and the second generation was the augmented satellite launch vehicle that is slv and more importantly pslv is a four-stage launch vehicle the first and third stage uses solid rocket motors and the second and fourth stages uses liquid rocket engines this is important because pslv is the first indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages so that means statement one is also incorrect it is not a three-stage launch vehicle it is a four-stage launch vehicle now remember that pslv is one of the reliable launch vehicles of india and during the 1994 to 2017 period pslv has launched 48 indian satellites and 209 satellites for customers from abroad and that is why pslv has also earned a title which is the work horse of isro now these pslvs are used for delivering satellites to low earth orbits it is designed mainly to deliver the earth observation satellites or remote sensing satellites with the lift of mass of up to about 10750 kilograms and they will be delivered to the sun synchronous orbits or the polar orbits of 600 to 900 kilometer altitude now the statement two is with respect to a mission of pslv this statement is a very simple statement but in a hurry you may tend to attempt it incorrectly chandrayan 2 spacecraft was launched by pslv it is incorrect statement because chandrayan one was launched by pslv in 2008 whereas chandrayan two was launched by gslv mark 3 in 2019 and chandrayan one was launched in pslv c11 in addition to this pslv is also a part in another important mission which is the mars orbiter mission of india because the spacecraft for the mars orbiter mission was launched by pslv c25 in 2013 along with this the pslv c37 is also a unique mission because it has launched 104 satellites into a polar sun synchronous orbit cartosat 2 series satellite for earth observation and also it has another 103 core passenger satellites and along with this as we saw already pslv c48 recently marked its 50th launch by injecting rise at 2b r1 now since statement two is also incorrect so the correct answer to this question is none of the above because all the statements given in this question are incorrect now let us take the next question now this question is about biodiversity finance initiative so first let us know about this initiative see in 2012 at an international level an understanding emerged that is the preservation of biodiversity can only be achieved by taking environmental issues into the heart of economic and financial decision making in other words it was felt that finance is important to preserve biodiversity so many countries felt that financial support is required to enhance their financial management for biodiversity and ecosystems and for this purpose only this initiative was launched in 2012 and it was launched at the 11th COP of convention on biological diversity now this 11th COP of CBD is special for india because this COP was hosted by India in Hyderabad and we already discussed this fact in another question because CBD is one of the Rio conventions now the first statement is it is coordinated and managed by United Nations Development Program this is a correct statement because the major player in this initiative is UNDP as it coordinates and manages this initiative and UNDP is supported by European Commission governments of Germany Norway Sweden and other partners so in a simple manner we can say that this initiative is a global partnership that develops and implements an evidence-based methodology to improve biodiversity outcomes by using finance and economics now the second statement is the initiative is implemented in five phases this statement is incorrect because this initiative has two phases the first phase was from 2012 2018 and the second phase is currently going on it is from 2018 to 2022 now since we are in the second phase of this initiative this initiative is in news often now this first phase focused mainly on carrying out assessments in target countries other than this it also focused on initial implementation of finance plan elements in target countries but in the second phase this initiative will mainly focus on the implementation of prioritized finance solutions in target countries at the same time it will also allow additional countries to undertake the initial assessments and also to create a finance plan in the second phase so statement two is incorrect so you can eliminate b and d but statement one is correct so you can eliminate option a also so the correct answer to this question is option c one and three india is one of the participating countries in this initiative actually more than 30 countries are participating and india is one among them now this initiative in india is led by ministry of environment forest and climate change and it is hosted by the national biodiversity authority of comment of india now as you know this national biodiversity authority was established by the central government in 2003 to implement india's biological diversity act of 2002 now this biofin initiative is implemented at the national level obviously and along with this it is also implemented at the state level in three states these states are Maharashtra Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh now let us move on to the next question now this next question is about indian ocean rim association now it was in news in december because the sixth indian ocean dialogue of aero was held in december 2019 in new delhi along with this another dialogue which is 11th delhi dialogue of india asian also happened and this is the first time that these two dialogues that is the sixth indian ocean dialogue and the 11th delhi dialogue are being held simultaneously so from this you can say that indian ocean dialogue is a flagship initiative of aero so third statement is correct and this indian ocean dialogue is aero's premier 1.5 track forum for dialogue between academicians and officials on strategic issues of the association now here the term track 1.5 indicates the dialogue involving mix of official and non-official actors together to resolve conflicting issues and this was the theme of sixth iod and as you already saw it held in new delhi and it was hosted by ministry of external affairs of government of india with the assistance of indian council for world affairs so third statement is correct and the question asks for the incorrect statements so you can eliminate option d now the first statement mentions about indian ocean rim association it is an intergovernmental organization that aims at strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the indo pacific region yes it is a dynamic intergovernmental organization it was established in march 1997 and it is aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development but within the indian ocean region not within indo pacific region so statement one is incorrect so you can eliminate option c also now this association has 22 member states and nine dialogue partners as you can see in this map now the second statement is based on members only it mentions all the members of sarca members of ayura now here we have given you the names of the countries which are members of ayura and here are the members of sarca and as you can see afghanistan is not a member of ayura and even pakistan which shares border with indian ocean is not a member of ayura so you can say all the members of sarca are not members of ayura but there are certain members like bangladesh india maldives shrilanka who are members of both the association so the correct answer to this question is option b 1 and 2 because the question asks for the incorrect statements now let us move on to the next question this next question is based on two indices one is government restrictions index and the next one is good governance index and both the statements are related to who releases these indices now the first one is government restrictions index is released by few research center a non-partisan american think tank now this is a correct statement this research center informs the public about the issues attitudes and trends which are shaping the world it conducts public opinion polling demographic research content analysis and other data-driven social science research now this government restrictions index measures laws policies and actions by the officials that restrict religious beliefs and practices and it is measured in a 10-point scale therefore if index value is higher then it indicates more persecution now here persecution means unfair or cruel treatment over a period of time on the grounds of race religion political beliefs ethnicity sexual orientation gender social status etc so whenever we talk about one index we see what is the score of India in this particular index India has scored higher which means there is more persecution in our country and this index has noted that Dalit persecution has been recorded under Hinduism apart from this the data also shows that except our neighboring countries Bhutan and Nepal every other neighboring country of India had higher jr a score which indicates that there is greater persecution of minorities in our neighboring countries also now the second index given is good governance index and this statement is correct because it is released by the department of administrative reform and public revances and this department functions under the ministry of personal public revances and pensions and this department has a technical partner which is the center for good governance it is situated in Hyderabad now as we have discussed many times during our Indian news analysis good governance index is a uniform tool across states to assess the state of governance and impact of various interventions that is taken up by the state governments and union territories and this index takes these 10 sectors into consideration and these are the rankings of states now here keep in mind that the states have been categorized into three groups because of the variations in size and diversity of the states and the first group is the northeast and hill states it has 11 states and the second group is union territories and the third group is big remaining states now even though jamun kishmir has been bifurcated into two union territories for the purpose of this index the union territory of jamun kishmir has been categorized under the northeast and hill states for the 2019 index and the union territory of ladakh has not been taken for ranking so as you can see under the big states category tamilado has backed the top position which indicates there is a good level of governance in the state and in the northeast and hill states category himachal pradesh has stopped and under the union territories category buddhicherry has got the first position so that means in this question both the statements are correct so the correct answer to this question is option c because the question also asks for the correct statements only now let us move on to the next question now this next question asks the high mountain summit was held in 2019 in jeniva it gave a roadmap of priority activities to support more sustainable development disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in high mountain areas and downstream regions it was convened by now this high mountain summit was convened by the world meteorological organization that is wmo so the correct answer is option d and this summit happened in october 2019 and it was held at the headquarters of wmo which is in jeniva switzerland now the aim of this summit is to foster high-level dialogue and engage decision makers and the local actors to develop a roadmap to a science-based user-driven knowledge and information systems and also that system should support sustainable development and risk reduction in mountain and downstream regions so why the mountain regions are important it is because mountain regions cover about a quarter of earth's land surface and they are also important source of fresh water they are centers of biological and cultural diversity and they are home to a quarter of world's population and also river basins with headwaters in the mountains supply fresh water to over half of humanity headwaters are nothing but a tributary stream of river which is close to the source or which is a path of the source and because of these reasons mountains are often even referred to as the water towers of the world so that is why the mountain regions are important but as you know due to rising global temperatures several changes are occurring in mountain meteorology hydrology and ecology including the cryosphere that is the snow glaciers and frozen grounds are also experiencing changes now the loss of critical mountain ecosystems along with natural hazards environmental alterations all these are increasing the risk of local disasters and downstream disasters the increase in uncertainty in water availability from mountain rivers is also a significant risk factor for local and downstream agriculture forestry food production fisheries hydropower production transportation etc so that is why this summit has focused on the mountain regions and this summit was concluded with a call to action and a roadmap of priority activities the priority actions aim to support more sustainable development they support disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in high mountain areas and downstream regions and the call to action which was concluded in the summit includes a roadmap to science-based user-driven knowledge and information systems which will be supporting sustainable development and risk reduction in mountain and downstream regions apart from this the summit participants also committed to opening access to a hydrological meteorological and climate information services for people living in mountains and even in the downstream of mountains this would help to address those people's needs to adapt to and also to manage the threats caused by unprecedented anthropogenic climate change now from examination point of view also remember that WMO is an intergovernmental organization and it is a specialized agency of united nations for meteorology operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences now let us move on to the next question now this next question is based on a charmerl shake declaration the question asks which of the following conventions conference of parties is related to charmerl shakes declaration now first know that the full name of this declaration is charmerl shake declaration investing in biodiversity for people and planet now this declaration was announced during the 2018 un biodiversity conference now this conference of 2018 combines the 14th conference of parties to the convention on biological diversity that is the 14th COP to CBD and it has combined it with meetings of CBD's two protocols and these two protocols are the cartagena protocol on biosafety and then the nagoya protocol on access and benefit sharing so if you look at the given options the correct answer is option D it is related to the COP to convention on biological diversity so the correct answer is option D now this declaration has been named after a city in Egypt where this UN biodiversity conference of 2018 was held and this charmerl shake is a coastal city present in the Sinai peninsula of Egypt as you can see here now this declaration was launched in ministerial high level segment of COP of CBD the high level segment engaged with the international community in the transformational path which is needed for the new global biodiversity framework that has to be adopted in 2020 because the ICHI targets are expiring in 2020 as we know ICHI biodiversity targets has different goals where it aims to address the underlying causes of biodiversity laws by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society it also aims to reduce the direct pressure on biodiversity and promote sustainable use so like that it has different goals and under these goals there are different targets now also know that the theme for this United Nations biodiversity conference of 2018 is investing in biodiversity for people and planet and that is why the full name of this declaration has this theme also and already we have discussed one another initiative like this which is the biofin initiative which also aims to develop and implement an evidence-based methodology to improve biodiversity outcomes by using finance and economics so now since this is a declaration the governments have committed to certain actions the governments have committed to mainstream the biodiversity through actions like integrating biodiversity values in legislative and policy frameworks and like phasing out or reforming subsidies and other harmful incentives and they have committed to actions for strengthening ecosystem based approaches for climate change mitigation and adaptation and they have also committed to promote sustainable consumption and production and our circular economy now if you see the question three other conventions are mentioned the first one is United Nations Convention to Combat Decertification we have already discussed about this convention in another question it is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to a sustainable land management now the next one is stock home convention on persistent organic pollutants it is a global convention to protect human health and the environment from POPs that is persistent organic pollutants these are the chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods they become widely distributed geographically they accumulate in the fatty tissues of humans and wildlife and they have harmful impacts on human health and also have harmful impact on the environment so the stock home convention is related to persistent organic pollutants now the Rotterdam convention it was adopted in 1998 in Rotterdam of Netherlands this convention creates legally binding obligations for the implementation of prior informed consent procedure the convention covers pesticides and industrial chemicals that have been banned or severely restricted for health reasons or environmental reasons by parties and the pesticides and industrial chemicals which have been notified by parties for inclusion in the PIC procedure now let us take the next question this question is based on seventh Indian economic census two statements are given and we have to choose the incorrect statement now this seventh economic census was in use because in December 2019 it was launched in national capital territory of Delhi but the nationwide data collection already started in July 2019 now the first statement is it is being conducted by ministry of statistics and program implementation this statement is correct in this economic census this ministry has partnered with CSE governance services in their limited now the CSE governance services in their limited reserves special purpose vehicle which functions under the ministry of electronics and information technology and also remember it is also the implementing agency for this seventh economic census that is when the data collection is done this company will implement it now in the seventh economic census an IT based digital platform for data capture validation report generation and dissemination will be used and also know that the process of economic census was first held in the year 1978 now this economic census will cover all establishments including household enterprises which are engaged in production or distribution of goods or services in the non-farm agricultural and non-agricultural sector so all households or establishments engaged in non-agricultural economic activities including construction except public administration defense and compulsory social security are proposed to be covered in the seventh economic census and the data is collected through door-to-door survey of each household and commercial establishment under the provisions of collection of statistics act of 2008 this is the seventh census which will provide disaggregated information on various operational and structural aspects of all the establishments in the country the census will provide valuable insights into geographical spread and geographical clusters of economic activities ownership patterns persons who are engaged etc these informations about the establishments which are engaged in the economic activity will be provided by the census now the second statement is it aims to prepare a national population register and as you know national population register is a register of usual residents of the country and the objective of national population register is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country and this NPR is to be maintained by the registrar general and census commissioner of India but if you see the data for NPR was first collected in 2010 itself along with the house listing phase of census of India 2011 and the updation of this data was done during 2015 by conducting door-to-door survey and even recently the updation process was also going on but this register is not being prepared by the seventh economic census rather this census aims to prepare national business register this register contains the details of all business establishments in the country and this can be linked to with existing databases at the central government level and at the state government levels also and additionally the census is the source of information on the significantly large unorganized sector in the country and also know that as on April 2020 the government has extended the data collection period for this seventh economic census by six months so the second statement is incorrect and the question asks for the incorrect statements only so the correct answer to this question is option B2 only now this question is a pair based question on one side agreement or deals are given and on the other side the purpose and objective of such agreement and deal is given and we have to choose the correctly matched pair as you can see the Paris agreement Kyoto protocol European green deal are the significant steps that were taken at the global level which were initiated to check the deleterious consequences of global warming and as you know Kyoto protocol operationalizes the united nations framework convention on climate change it aims to prevent the dangerous human interference with the climate system now the Kyoto protocol commits industrialized countries to limit and reduce greenhouse gases emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets it was adopted in 1997 but it entered into force in 2005 only and the Paris agreement as you know was signed in 2015 and the main aim of this agreement is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change and this agreement aims to limit the raising global temperature by two degree Celsius as compared to the pre-industrial levels by the end of this century and it also aims to continue the efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degree Celsius by the end of this century that is by the year 2100 now this Paris agreement was often in use in December 2019 because the COP 25 was held at Madrid in December and the key objective of the COP 25 was to complete several matters with respect to the full operationalization of Paris climate change agreement so the delegates of the summit even called for the early conclusion of the rules for carbon trading but as you have heard COP 25 failed to frame the rules for carbon trading under the article 6 of this Paris deal so the first pair is correct carbon trading is related to Paris agreement see carbon trading or emissions trading is a market based system which allows the trading of carbon credits that is buying or selling of the carbon credits carbon trading allows nations who are unable to meet their reduction targets to purchase the carbon credits under a unified regulatory framework the carbon credits can be purchased from other member nations who have unused permits or unused carbon credits now for example if you look at this diagram it demonstrates the simple form of carbon trading in this figure the country B is exceeding its emissions cap but country A is having unused permits or carbon credits because it has not exceeded its emissions cap so in this case country B can purchase carbon credits from country A therefore the carbon trading mechanism allows the nations to meet their emissions target so the first pair should be in the answer so you can eliminate option C and D now from the remaining options you can say pair two is incorrect let us first see about pair three european green deal clean development mechanism this pair is also incorrect because like the carbon trading under the Paris agreement there is a clean development mechanism under the Kyoto protocol which should have been paired with Kyoto protocol this CDM allows a country which has an emission reduction commitment or emission limitation commitment to implement emission reduction projects in developing countries this clean development mechanism is the first global environmental investment and credit scheme of its kind so the projects under this CDM can earn saleable certified emission reduction credits each certified emission reduction credit is equivalent to one ton of the carbon dioxide which can be countered towards meeting the Kyoto protocol targets the second pair is incorrect because the climate neutral by 2050 is related to european green deal the european green deal aims to make the 28 countries in the european union as climate neutral by the year 2015 here the climate neutrality means emissions will yield no net impact on the climate now this deal is important because the european union has committed under the Paris agreement to curb its emissions to 40 percentage below the 1990 levels by the year 2013 but there is no definite goal for the year 2050 under the Paris climate agreement as we know but such kind of target is provided by this deal the european green deal raises the 2030 target to 50 percentage reductions and it sets the 2050 target at 100 percentage therefore it is a drastic increase in the climate change ambition from the european union to accomplish climate neutrality by the year 2050 so the correct answer is option a one only let us move on to the next question now finally we have come to the last 10 questions for the December target 2020 series this question is a map based question three pairs are given on one side islands are given and on the other side the oceans in which they are located in is given and these islands were often seen in news so that is why we can expect a question on these islands now the first pair is voyganville island in deno