 Welcome to the fifth part of target 2020 prelim series of Shankarayesh Academy. So far, we have published four videos representing more than 200 important topics in current affairs for the months of July, August, September and October 2019. In this video for November 2019, we will be discussing and solving a set of 55 important topics. These topics were sourced from important sources like Hindu newspaper, business standard, live mint, etc. and information for these topics were sourced from authentic and government sources like government gasset, press information bureau, government websites, reports of various ministries, etc. And these are the list of 55 topics that we have selected to represent the current affairs of November 2019. All these topics we are going to discuss in MCQ format for better understanding and also to reflect the civil services preliminary examination. The PDF link of this November 2019 session has been given in the description box and also in the comment section. We advise the viewers to utilize better all the videos that we publish as part of target 2020 prelim series. Now let's move on to the session. Now see this question. Two statements have been given. They're asking which of the statements given above are correct. India and Saudi Arabia have recently signed strategic partnership council agreement. Both India and Saudi Arabia are members of G20. Both these statements have impact with respect to current affairs of 2019 and 2020. See in the last week of October 2019, Indian Prime Minister, he paid an official visit to Saudi Arabia. During the visit, this strategic partnership council agreement was signed between India and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has similar arrangements of partnership council with United Kingdom, France and China. So India signing such an agreement is very significant and in fact a strategic move for Indian diplomacy. Saudi Arabia is not only a major oil producer, it is also one of the three power centers in West Asia, other two are Iran and Israel. And Saudi Arabia is important because it supplies 18% of India's crude oil requirement and 30% of India's LPG needs are liquefied petroleum gas needs. And this agreement which was signed, it has two parallel tracks. One is political, security, culture and society track. This will be headed by foreign ministers of both sides. And the second track is economy and investment track. This will be headed in the appropriate side for India by minister of commerce and industry and for Saudi by their energy minister. And Saudi Arabia with respect to G20 is important for this year as G20 Summit 2020 is scheduled to be conducted in November 2020 in Saudi Arabia in its capital Riyadh. India and Saudi both of them are G20 members and India has planned to host G20 Summit in the year 2022. Now let's come to the geographical features with respect to Saudi Arabia. See it shares border with Red Sea, it shares land border with seven countries Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen. And Bahrain has maritime boundary with Saudi Arabia and there is a roadway or causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia that serves as only land link that Bahrain has with the outside world. This causeway is called as King Fahad causeway. And one more thing we can say tropic of cancer it passes through both Saudi Arabia and our country. Last year a map based question was asked. See this question by the appearance of it you may think it is a tough question. There is one shortcut or one knack to arrive at the correct answer. This is the knowledge that Croatia and Black Sea have no border connection. Anyone who has clearly observed Croatia and maps and Black Sea maps with understanding they can easily say that both Croatia and Black Sea have no border connection. So by this knowledge we can eliminate options A, C and D to arrive at the correct answer. Here our point is that even if you learn a single point make sure you learn clearly and that the point is stored in your permanent memory by frequent revisions and in-depth understanding. Croatia was in news as it is the country that has joined European Union lastly in the year 2030 and recently UK lift your opinion. So in this question both the statements are correct. Therefore the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2. See this question is with reference to Raman religious festival. This festival has been recognized as a cultural heritage or intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. Earlier in 2017 prelims there was a question on Manipuri Sankirtana which was also included as intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. So what do we mean when we say intangible cultural heritage? See these are traditions or living expressions that are inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants. These include oral traditions or arts or social practices, rituals, festivals, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe and knowledge and skills with respect to producing traditional crafts. So all these refers to intangible cultural heritage. We actually have an international convention called as convention for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. See India has a state party to this convention. This convention was adopted in October 2003 and it came into force in April 2006 and based on articles 16 and 17 of this convention UNESCO is maintaining two lists. First list is called as representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The second list is called as intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. Now in addition to these lists UNESCO is maintaining a register called as register of good safeguarding practices. Now from India a total of 13 intangible cultural heritages they have been inscribed under the representative list of intangible cultural heritage and no heritage from India have been so far included in the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding and also know that we could not find any practices from Indian side found a mention in the register of good safeguarding practices maintained by UNESCO as well. Now which organization serves as nodal office with respect to matters relating to intangible cultural heritage. See there is an autonomous organization called as Sankith Natak Academy. It comes under Ministry of Culture. It is this academy that serves as nodal office with respect to intangible cultural heritage. Now there is also a government scheme which is implemented by Ministry of Culture since the year 2013-14. This scheme is called as scheme for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and diverse cultural traditions of India. The aim of this scheme is to increase awareness and interest in these cultural heritages and also safeguarding promoting and propagating them systematically. Now we have given you a list of intangible cultural heritages included from India in the representative list for your reference. Now you come to this question. Two statements are given in the context of Raman a religious festival consider the following statements which of the statements given above are not correct. The first statement it is celebrated in the honor of a local divinity in the state of Kerala. Now this statement is incorrect. This is because Raman is a religious festival that is celebrated in Uttarakhand particularly in villages Saluran, Dungra. In the month of April they will be celebrating this festival. The festival is celebrated in honor of a local deity or a local protector deity called as Bhumial Depta. In this festival it is made up of highly complex rituals. There will be recitation of version of epica of Rama and various other legends and there is also performance of songs and performance of masked dancers. Now from the state of Kerala we have an intangible cultural heritage called as Mudiyattu. It is a ritual dance drama which is based on mythological tale of battle between goddess Kali and demon Dharika. Now coming to the second statement it is inscribed under UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. No cultural heritage from India have been included in this list. So second statement is also incorrect. So the correct answer here is both 1 and 2 because they are asking which of the statements are not correct. Both the statements are not correct. Now let's move on to next question. This question is with reference to GST compensation fund and GST compensation to states. We know that the goods and services tax was rolled out on July 1 2017 and this day is called as GST day. However before the enforcement of GST various states expressed concerns about loss of revenue because of the new taxation system. So therefore to deal with expected loss of revenues to the states a legislation was enacted called as GST compensation to states act of 2017. Now as per section 7 of this legislation the loss of revenue to the states because of implementation of GST shall be payable during the transition period. Now what is this transition period? See it refers to a period of five years from the transition date. What is transition date? It refers to date on which the state GST act of a concerned state comes into force. Now the compensation payable to the state will be provisionally calculated and it will be released at the end of every two months during the transition period. So how will this compensation will be calculated? See as per section 7 subsection C of this legislation. The total compensation payable in a financial year it is the difference between projected revenue and actual revenue collected by a state in a financial year during the transition period. Now how the projected revenue will be calculated? For this they are using a base year. This base year as per section 4 of this legislation it is financial year 2015-16 or in other words the financial year that ends with 31st March of 2016 and the projected revenue is calculated using two important parameters. One is the base year revenue for 2015-16 for a particular state and the other parameter is the projected nominal growth rate of revenue which is to be 14 percent per year. So you just note these two things that are used for the calculation of projected revenue. The calculation of base year revenue is actually done as per section 5 of this act and it is technical in nature. Now there is one question. Can there be a compensation cess on select goods and services so as to fund states for the loss of revenue on account of implementation of GST taxation system? For this the answer is yes. This is as per section 8 of this legislation such a compensation cess shall be levied and collected with effect from the date on which the provisions of Central GST Tax Act comes into force and such a cess shall be levied and collected for a period of five years from the coming into force of Central GST Tax Act or for such period as may be prescribed on the recommendations of GST council. So there is a GST compensation fund. It is a non-lapsable fund. The compensation cess collections are deposited in this fund and note that this fund becomes part of public account of India as per this 2017 legislation. Now while these are some of the basic information with reference to GST compensation to states act, there is a recent development which we have to know. This is an amendment that was made to GST compensation to states act of 2017. This amendment was made by finance act of 2020 that was published in the GASET recently on March 27, 2020. So what is this amendment? See as per section 14 of this GST compensation to states act 2017, the central government on the recommendations of GST council it may issue orders to remove any difficulty that arise in giving effect to the provisions of this act. Before the amendment section 14 stated that central government can issue such orders only for a period of three years from the commencement of this act. Now this time frame has been increased from three years to five years by section 140 of finance act of 2020. Now what it has actually done is it has relaxed the earlier restriction placed on the central government in terms of time with respect to passing orders to remove difficulties. So this is the recent development with reference to this 2017 legislation on GST compensation to states act. Now let's come to this question. Consider the following statements with reference to GST compensation fund and GST compensation to states. Two statements are there which of the statements given above are correct. First statement it is a statutory fund established as per provisions of GST compensation to states act of 2017. This statement is correct as per section 10 of this act can eliminate option B and option D because they do not say statement one is correct. Now the second statement financial year 2016-17 has been taken as base year for calculating compensation amount payable to states for the loss of revenue during transition period with the projected nominal growth rate of revenue of states at 14 per annum. Well the other part of the statement is correct. The very first part financial year 2016-17 is incorrect. This is because as per section 4 of this 2017 legislation it is financial year 2015-16 to be taken as base year for the calculation of compensation payable to states. So here statement 2 is incorrect. Only the first statement is correct. Therefore the correct answer is option A one only. This question is with reference to the codon wages 2019. This law was in news in November 2019 because on 1st of November 2019 central government released a preliminary draft of codon wages central rules 2019. In this context we will see some developments that led to this codon wages the definition of the term employees and also few information about floor wages and minimum rate of wages. See way back in 1998 second national labor commission was constituted. It was given only two tasks one to recommend a comprehensive legislation for the protection of interest of workers in unorganized sector and two to recommend a rationalization of labor loss in the organized sector. It submitted its recommendations in the year 2002 and in line with the recommendations of the second national commission on labor the ministry of labor and employment has taken steps to draft four labor codes. These codes were to be made by simplifying by amalgamating and by rationalizing various provisions of 44 central labor laws. Of the four codes the codon wages 2019 stands apart. This is mainly because of one reason that it has become an enforceable legislation whereas the other three codes are in various stages of enactment of a legislation. This codon wages was made by simplifying amalgamating and rationalizing relevant provisions of four central legislations. They are the payment of wages act, minimum wages act, payment of bonus act, equal remuneration act. So for these matters now we have the codon wages 2019 and therefore as per section 69 of the code all these four laws were repealed. Now let's see who are defined as employees under this code. Here first you should know that two sets of persons are exempted from the ambit of this definition. One is apprentices engaged under Apprentices Act of 1961. Then any member of armed forces of the union. These set of persons are exempted. Here we can observe that other than these two sets of individuals any person employed on wages to do diverse natures of works they are included in the definition. It includes skilled, semi-skilled, managerial, administrative, etc. In addition to these this code also talks about floor wage and minimum wage or minimum rates of wage. It says that there shall be a national floor wage which shall be fixed by the central government and there shall be minimum wages or minimum rate of wages that shall be fixed by appropriate governments. Here the minimum rate of wages or the minimum wages shall not be less than floor wage fixed by the central government and in this discussion the term appropriate government takes the meaning of both central government and state governments where it comes for central establishments it would mean central government and for state establishments it would mean state government. Now you come to this question the code on wages 2019 which seeks to regulate wages and bonuses and timely payment of wages of which of the following employees. Unskilled, semi-skilled, managers, any member of the armed forces of the union. First we have to eliminate options that have number four. So thereby we can eliminate option D. From the given set of individuals we know that one two three all of them are included in the definition of employees therefore the correct answer is option B one two and three only. Now let's move on to next question. This question is with reference to Cyclone Bulbul which affected eastern India in November 2019. It was mentioned in news that the mangroves in Sundarbans they shielded the coasts of west Bengal from gusty winds of very severe cyclonic storm Bulbul. In relation to this a news item titled as they save people from cyclones but who's saving the Sundarbans mangroves have appeared in the Hindu newspaper. This news item highlighted the constant degradation of mangrove forest in Sundarbans and gave a description about Indian Sundarbans where it mentioned about the line called as Dambia Hodges Line. So in this context let us see in brief about this line. See this line was a creation of the British in the 19th century that is in 1828 to 1830 AD. This line is considered as the northern boundary of Sundarbans region in our country. In other words we can say that this line separates the Sundarbans from rest of the west Bengal. We can find that Sundarbans region is demarcated by River Hoogly in the west, Bay of Bengal in the south and in the north by Dambia Hodges Line. This Sundarbans region it comprises of 13 blocks in south 24 Parganas district and around six blocks in north 24 Parganas district. Both are districts in west Bengal. So who's Dambia and who's Hodges and why this line was drawn? See this line was drawn to demarcate Khaas Mahal or in other words to demarcate government's own estate. Why was the necessity to demarcate government's own estate? Because the British felt that the landlords of the Zamindars they were encroaching into non-leased forest areas that are adjacent to the own estates meaning the estates of the landlords. This was resorted to avoid paying revenues. So to streamline revenue collection and to demarcate government's own estate a commission was formed. This commission was called the Sundarbans commission. The surveyor of this commission was Lieutenant Hodges and the commissioner of Sundarbans was Mr. William Dampier. Since this line was drawn under their authority this line is called as Dampier Hodges line. This line starts from the south 24 Parganas district or from the south from Kulpi area on River Hooghly to north 24 Parganas district. Specifically the area called as Basirhet on River Khamati. So south of this line we can see Indian Sundarbans delta. So if you see the question the correct answer for this question is option C Sundarbans. We have given a map highlighting the mangroves location in India for a reference. See the region Sundarbans is known for various special information. Sundarbans National Park is a natural UNESCO World Heritage site. Sundarbans wetland was designated as a Ramsar site on 30th January 2019. Sundarbans biosphere reserve is a UNESCO designated biosphere reserve that is included in the list of world network of biosphere reserves under the man and biosphere program of UNESCO. Coming to option A we can say that there is line of control that marks control line or conformity line for military troops of India and Pakistan when it comes to the border between Indian Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh and Pakistan occupied Kashmir. And the border between India and China is called as line of actual control in all the three sectors be it eastern sector, be it middle sector or western sector. Eastern sector corresponds to Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Middle sector corresponds to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and western sector corresponds to Union Territory of Ladakh. And prime meridian is the line of zero degree longitude and it separates eastern hemisphere from the western hemisphere. It runs through Greenwich in England. Now let's move on to next question. This question is with reference to East Asia Summit. It was in news in November 2019 because 14th East Asia Summit was held in Bangkok in Thailand in November 2019. In this context it is important for us to know about this summit the members involved in this summit whose initiative is this and some other important points in relation with it. See it is an initiative of ASEAN organization. It is a leader's led forum and it is based on the premise of ASEAN centrality. It was established in the year 2005. It has 18 countries in the Asia Pacific region as members. We can break the 18 countries as 10 ASEAN member states, then India-China, Japan-South Korea, New Zealand-Australia, then Russia-United States. These members you can remember by remembering 10 ASEAN countries, then 6 countries that partnered in ASEAN agreement till November 2019 because during the 3rd ASEAN leader summit in Bangkok on November 4, India announced that it will not join ASEAN partnership in the current format. And then this membership includes two power poles of the world. We can say at least the poles till 1990 which are United States and the present day Russian Federation. Now this summit it has very important role in the regional architecture because it has the objectives of regional peace, security and regional prosperity. So it has now evolved as a forum for strategic dialogue and strategic cooperation on not only political and economic but also security issues of Indo-Pacific region. The priority areas have been highlighted here for a reference. The chair of ASEAN is also the chair of East Asia Summit and the chair rotates on annual basis or yearly basis among the 10 member countries of ASEAN organization. So for the year 2020 the chair is Vietnam, 2021 it is Brunei and last year it was Thailand that is why it was held in Bangkok. Now you come to this question. They are asking which among the following countries are not members of East Asia Summit? If you see India, we know India as part of it. So two should not be there. Obviously you can arrive at the correct answer by eliminating options A, B and C. The correct answer is option D, 3 and 5 only. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, they are not members of East Asia Summit. Now let's move on to next question. This question is based on Telila scheme. See Telila refers to use of communications and information technology for the delivery of legal services such as legal information and legal advice. The scheme was launched in the year 2017 to make legal aid easily accessible to the marginalized communities and those citizens who are living in rural areas. Under the scheme legal aid services will be provided at the panchayat level through common service centers. So for the scheme the Ministry of Law and Justice has partnered with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. In other words, we can say that Department of Justice of Ministry of Law and Justice has partnered with NALSA and CSE Government Service India Ltd of NIT. CSE Government Services India Ltd is a special purpose vehicle which was set up by Ministry of Electronics and IT under Companies Act of 1956 so as to oversee the implementation of common service center scheme. So two ministries are involved Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Now under this concept of Telila, citizens will be connected with a panel of lawyers who will be available at state legal service authorities and common service centers. These panel of lawyers will be provided by National Legal Services Authority and citizens will be connected with the lawyers through video conferencing facilities which will be assisted by para legal volunteers. The scheme was launched to serve in 1800 panchayats identified in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and also in northeastern region. There is also a portal called as Telila under this scheme which will be available across the common service center network. To further strengthen the access of justice to the marginalized communities under this Telila scheme, law school clinics, district legal service authorities, voluntary service providers and even NGOs who are working on legal aid and empowerment, they also can be connected anywhere and anytime. They saw about para legal volunteer under this scheme. They will be the first point of contact for the citizens and they will help them in understanding legal issues. They will explain the advice given by lawyers and they will assist in various actions further required as per the advice of the lawyer. Preference to become para legal volunteer will be given for women so as to promote women entrepreneurship and empowerment and to ensure women participation. So these are some of the essential features of this Telila scheme. Now let's come to the question which one of the following statements is correct about Telila in India. Video recordings of Supreme Court and High Court proceedings, free online law courses to rural and marginalized people, video conference enabling people to seek legal advice. Option D legislation of parliament to establish foreigners tribunal in every state. Here the correct answer is option C. Now let's move on to next question. This question is with reference to Assam Roof Turtle. This topic was in news in November 2019 because conservationists they used Assamese cultural identity to create awareness and conservation of this freshwater turtle. In this context it is important for us to know about this turtle and also the cultural identity used for the purpose of conservation. See Assam Roof Turtle is a small freshwater turtle. It is found primarily in rivers or running waters in hills of northeastern India, say in states of Assam Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya and also in northeastern and southeastern Bangladesh. So its presence is not restricted to a single country and in this context it is also important for us to know about the threats faced by this turtle. See this species is threatened by deforestation by which soil stability is lost and as a result this increases siltation in rivers or in the running waters which acts as a threat for this species. They are also captured or poached for food and also for pet trade. One of the major threats faced by this species is incidental or accidental capture in the fishing years. Because of this cooperation from fishermen is required and in some cases restriction is placed on fishermen to stop fishing for a particular period in a year. This measure has been resorted to to considerably address this major threat of accidental capture in the fishing years. It is here the conservationist brought the Assamese cultural identity of G8 tagged Assamese Gomosas or Gomochas. Here let's see a few information about Gomosas. See Gomosas are hand-woven white cotton towel with red border and floral decorative designs or floral motifs. They are cultural identity in Assam and they are integral part of most of the socio-religious ceremonies in Assam. Here for conservation the Gomosas were woven with turtle images to help in conservation efforts. On the one side it directly acts in conservation because of the images woven and on the other hand the revenue generated by selling the Gomosas and revenue generated by selling few other hand-loom products. These revenue were to be given for those families who are dependent on fishing and who are not practicing fishing to help in the conservation. The conservation status of the Assam roof turtle has been given here for your reference and to the best of our efforts we could not confirm protection of this Assam roof turtle under the schedules of Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Now let's come to the question. Consider the following statements with reference to Assam roof turtle. It is a freshwater turtle. It is found only in the Indian state of Assam. We are asked to select the correct statements. The first statement is correct. You can eliminate option B and option D. Now the second statement it is incorrect because it is found in India and also in Bangladesh even within India it is not only found in the state of Assam but also in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. So the correct answer for this question is option A one only. Now let's move on to next question. This question is based on different categories of IUCN red list and criteria for inclusion in different categories. We know that the red list is the initiative of IUCN taken in the year 1964 and it is the world's most comprehensive information source on global conservation status of animals, fungi and plant species. Sometimes UPSC may go deeper into a particular topic that is in news for a long period of time. See IUCN red list categories they define the extinction risk of species that are assessed. There are nine categories from non-evaluated to extinct and the species in these three categories say critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable they are considered to be threatened with extinction. Here when we say extinct it refers that the last individual has died and extinct in the wild means a particular animal or a particular taxon it survives only in captivity or only in outside its natural habitat. Now for fixing species into categories like vulnerable, critically endangered and endangered there are prescribed set of parameters. These parameters have been given here for your reference. See these criteria are broadly based on reduction in population size, geographic range, population size and probability of extinction in the wild. Now see the question consider the following criteria for the conservation of wild species. Area of occupancy estimated to be less than 2000 square kilometer. Estimated population of species is fewer than 10,000 mature individuals. Probability of extinction in the wild is at least 10% within 100 years. If such a species is found with the above given characteristic features then that species could be considered as the correct answer for this question is option B vulnerable. We can find these three characteristic features in the criteria to declare an animal as vulnerable. Now when we say near threatened it refers that particular taxon did not qualify for critically endangered or endangered or vulnerable as of now but it is close to qualifying for a threatened category in the near future. And least concern it means those taxon that did not qualify for threatened category or near threatened. Note that widespread and abundant taxa they are included in least concerned category only. So the correct answer is option B. Now let's move on to next question. See this question is with reference to carbon brief. Carbon brief was in news in November 2019 as it published its observations on India's carbon dioxide emissions. It stated that India's CO2 emissions in the first eight months of 2019 grow only by two percentage which is the lowest annual increase or which is the slowest since the year 2001. The main reason was a slowdown in the expansion of coal fired electricity generation. Now let's see few information about carbon brief. See it is a UK based website similar to a think tank that covers latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy. It is not an intergovernmental organization. Articles of this website it is data driven and it uses graphics to improve understanding of climate change. See with reference to energy to have significant impact on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. We have two important intended nationally determined contributions that we have committed to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Now with reference to emission intensity by December 2019 India has achieved reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 21 percentage and for the second one India's present achievement as on December 2019 is 83 gigawatts of renewable energy out of 175 gigawatt target of renewable energy capacity. These are as per the statements made by Union Minister of Environment. Now in the sidelines of the discussion of this topic let us also see in brief about international energy agency which also serves in the field of energy at the international level. See this energy agency was found in the year 1974 as a response to oil crisis of 1973-1974. The objective was to ensure the security of oil supplies. See the crisis was that major producers of oil they imposed oil embargo. As a result the prices of oil went to historically high levels and industrialized countries they were not adequately equipped to deal with the oil crisis. So with a broad mandate on energy security and energy policy cooperation international energy agency was created in 1974 by organization of economic cooperation and development. One important fact is that it releases a publication titled as World Energy Outlook. This IEA is actually a group of 30 member countries in which India is not a part. India's relation with IEA is in the level of association country along with other BRICS nations except Russia. Russia is not a member country in this agency as well. Now with respect to climate change issues there is also green peace it makes efforts towards issues on climate change deforestation motion pollution food supply etc it was founded in the year 1971 prior to formation of international energy agency and it campaigns to protect and conserve the environment and to prevent environmental degradation. So coming to the question here the correct answer is option B UK based website covering latest developments in climate science climate policy and energy policy. Option C corresponds to United Nations Environment Program. Now let's move on to next question. This question is with reference to emissions gap report of 2019. It was in news in November 2019 as it was released in that month. See this is the 10th edition of emissions gap report. We may expect a question like this who is releasing this report. See the correct answer for this question is United Nations Environment Program. Now in addition to emissions gap report we should also know that UNEP also releases Global Environment Outlook. Now coming to emissions gap report simply we can say it gives latest assessment on greenhouse gas emissions. To be specific it provides latest assessment of scientific studies on current greenhouse gas emissions and estimated future greenhouse gas emissions. After computing this it compares with emission levels that are required for the world to achieve the goals of Paris Agreement. So what do we mean by emissions gap. See it is the difference between where we are likely to be by the year 2030 and where we should be by 2030. If the emissions gap is less things are positive and progressive if the emissions gap is huge the world is not heading towards a sustainable future. Important findings from this report has been given here for your reference. We will see few major findings. One is that the greenhouse gas emissions have risen at a rate of 1.5 percent every year in the last decade. Now this report projected that if we have to limit global warming to below two degrees Celsius as per Paris Agreement then emissions have to be 25 percent lower than the emission levels in the year 2018. Now these targets are very important particularly in the context of island nations and coastal ecosystems which are facing the threat of sea level rise. Then the report has special focus on G20 countries because these 20 countries together they account for 78 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. And the report states that with respect to progress towards NDC targets six numbers of G20 are projected to meet their unconditional targets with their current policies. Here the highlight is one of the six countries is India. Others are China, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and European Union also treated as a single entity in this report. In addition to this the report calls for further dramatic strengthening of NDCs of countries and India is among top four greenhouse gas emissions in the world. It accounts for seven percent of global emissions but India is found to be on the safer side when it comes to per capita emissions because it is just half of G20 average. Now with respect to the steps taken by India related to NDCs and the Paris Climate Change Agreement these are quantifiable steps taken by India to minimize and to address emissions in the world. Now the correct answer for this question it is option A United Nations Environment Program. Now with respect to international energy agency it releases world energy outlook and monthly oil market report with reference to IMF it releases world economic outlook global financial stability report both world economic outlook and global financial stability report were already asked in UPSC prelims examination. In addition it also releases I mean the IMF also releases fiscal monitor and external sector report. World Bank releases world development report international debt statistics and it also releases ease of doing business index. Now let's move on to next question. This question is with reference to India Internet 2019 report. This report was jointly released by Internet and Mobile Association of India and Nailson Company. Nailson is a global measurement and data analytics company. I'm coming to Internet and Mobile Association of India it is a not-for-profit industry body established in the year 2004. Its mandate is to expand and enhance online and mobile value added services sector. It represents the entire gamut of digital business in our country. It was also in news recently in February as well as it organized its flagship annual summit in February called us India Digital Summit. This report is important as it gives information on internet size, internet penetration, profile of internet users and various other parameters with reference to internet in India. It states that as on first quarter of 2019 India had almost 45 crore active internet users and around 6.6 crore users are in the age group of 5 to 11 years. These children they access internet through the devices of their family members and around two-third of internet users in our country they are in the age group of 12 to 29 years. This report states there is higher penetration of internet in urban India because of better internet connectivity to be specific the penetration in urban India is twice that of rural India. A similar thing we can observe also with reference to the number of female internet users in India compared to males. The female internet population is only half of male internet population and this inequality or imbalance or disparity it is clearer in rural areas and if you come to state or unit territory level NCT Delhi has registered highest internet penetration at 69% followed by Kerala with 54% of internet penetration. Nationally the average internet penetration is 36%. Here the correct answer for this question it is option D internet and mobile association of India. Now let's move on to next question now see this question it is an eastward moving pulse of clouds rainfall winds and pressure that typically recurs every 30 to 60 days it is most prominent over the Indian and Pacific oceans the above description is related to which of the following phenomena Indian Ocean Dipole El Nino La Nina Madden Julian Oscillation let's see in brief about El Nino and La Nina see both these are interactions between atmosphere and ocean in the tropical belt of Pacific Ocean these interactions they alter global weather and climate patterns when it is El Nino what happens is the sea surface temperature in central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean it becomes substantially higher than normal and this increase in sea surface temperature it is associated with changes in pressure pattern in the southern oceans and the changes in the pressure pattern in the southern oceans is called as Southern Oscillation therefore El Nino Southern Oscillation together called as Yenso now because of changes in the pressure pattern and associated atmospheric air circulation several regions receive lesser or no rainfall unusually and several regions receive extreme rainfall unusually both having extreme consequences and whenever it is El Nino with reference to India it affects summer monsoon as El Nino is associated for weakening of trade winds trade winds are driving factor for Indian summer monsoon winds so since it is associated with weakening of trade winds El Nino is connected with increased propensity of droughts in India what is La Nina during La Nina the sea surface temperatures in the same region central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean it becomes substantially lower than normal therefore it is called as cold phase of Enso and whenever it is La Nina India experiences extreme rainfall and also associated floods now researchers are saying there is one another phenomena called as Indian Ocean Dipole which has two phases positive phase and negative phase of which positive IOD they are often associated with El Nino and negative IOD they are often associated with La Nina now let's come to Indian Ocean Dipole mode see it is similar to El Nino Southern Oscillation but in the equatorial Indian Ocean here it is the difference in sea surface temperatures in two areas in Indian Ocean one area is tropical western Indian Ocean area this area is called as western pole in Arabian sea and the other is tropical southeastern Indian Ocean area which is south of Indonesia so this Indian Ocean Dipole mode it involves oscillation of sea surface temperatures between positive phase and negative phase now let's see what is positive phase positive phase means cooling of waters in eastern Indian Ocean or eastern pole during this time western pole is warmer this leads to droughts in Indonesian region but it brings heavy rainfall in India but what happens in negative phase during negative phase eastern pole is warmer or western pole is cooler negative phase brings warmer water and greater precipitation in eastern near equatorial Indian Ocean region and negative phase during April May is associated with early monsoon onset over Kerala in other hand we can say positive IOD during April May is associated with delayed monsoon onset over Kerala these are the results given by Indian Meteorological Department and negative IOD during March April is said to have associated with enhanced seasonal summer monsoon rainfall over peninsula India than over the central and northern Indian regions now you observe how they have asked a question on Indian Ocean Dipole in 2017 problems by reading the first statement we can easily say that it is an incorrect statement this is because this phenomena is characterized by differences in sea surface temperature between tropical western Indian Ocean and tropical eastern Indian Ocean it should not be pacific and second statement is correct IOD phenomena can influence and Ellino's impact on the monsoon they have given very general statement they did not say IOD positive IOD negative and all here reports are saying even though Ellino is there in a particular year if there is positive Indian dipole it can influence Ellino and it can lead to expected rainfall in India so here the correct answer is option B now let's come to know about madden julian oscillation see two individuals they studied oscillations over the regions of tropical Indian Ocean and tropical pacific Ocean they were carrying out this research in 1971 the individuals were Roland Madden and Paul Julian they observed oscillations or repetition of events in the time scale of 40 to 50 days or 30 to 60 days because of the time scale and other factors they are also observed as intracesional variations variation within a season these variations were observed in wind cloudiness rainfall and also sea surface temperatures in the tropics and there is a zone of enhanced convection there will be rainfall in this area there will be cloudiness this zone it propagates slowly in the eastward direction and the sea surface in this zone is warm and this madden julian oscillation it has eight phases in phase one there will be a zone of enhanced convection it will develop over western Indian Ocean and during phase two and three this zone of enhanced convection it moves slowly eastwards and then in phase four and five it reaches indonesia and west pacific and in phases six seven and eight this zone further moves eastward over western pacific and eventually dies out in cool waters of central pacific or eastern pacific and this cycle repeats or the next mjo cycle begins in somewhere in indian ocean region again the zone of enhanced convection is followed by a dry phase where there will be no rainfall so this is about this madden julian oscillation and because of the time scale this oscillation is also called as 30 60 day oscillation 30 60 day wave or even intracesional oscillation it's a traversing phenomena or it is a moving phenomena this we have to keep in mind with respect to madden julian oscillation and one main thing about madden julian oscillation is it is prominent or mainly observed in indian and pacific oceans rarely it may come also in other oceans but mainly observed in indian and pacific oceans now let's come to the question the description is well associated with madden julian oscillation option d which is the correct answer for this question now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to global microscope for financial inclusion in this context it is important for us to know what is this who releases this what are the major domains covered by this microscope and also one or two important india specific findings or other major findings see this global microscope it is a tool to be specific it can be also called as an index a benchmarking index that assesses the enabling environment for financial access in around 55 countries this report is released by economist intelligence unit which is the research arm of the economist group the economist group is the publisher of the economist newspaper it is one of the world's leading provider of country intelligence and it also helps governments institutions and businesses by providing analysis of economic and development strategies now this economic intelligence unit has released the 2019 report which is titled as global microscope 2019 the enabling environment for financial inclusion now this microscope it covers five domains these domains are important they may ask a question giving four options asking us to find which one of the following domains is not covered under this report one option they may give like law and order environment like that and one specialty with respect to 2019 microscopes they had some new indicators to better assess the steps taken by government to address gender gap in financial inclusion major findings at the global level are highlighted here two points are important with reference to india one is that there is a overall framework for promoting digital financial inclusion for which they identified four basic enablers one is allowing non-bands to issue e-money like say having facilities like online valence digital currencies mostly to facilitate more online transactions then second enabler is the presence of financial service agents and proportionate customer due diligence then effective financial consumer protection only four countries scored perfectly across all four enablers and one among them is india the other countries are columbia jamaica and uruguay the second important point is that india has been ranked at fifth position with an overall score of 71 we have given you the areas where india has performed well and areas where india requires improvement now with respect to exam point of view we should also know that economist intelligence unit it also releases two other important indices called as democracy index global livability index now come to this question consider the following statements with reference to global microscope for financial inclusion report two statements have been given which of the statements given above are correct first statement global microscope is a benchmarking index or tool that assesses the enabling environment for financial access in countries the statement is correct in around 55 countries this assessment was made you can eliminate option b and option d come to the second statement it is released by international monetary fund which is incorrect it is released by economist intelligence unit which is a research arm of the economist group so here the correct answer is option a one only because only the first statement is correct now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to wastelands at less 2019 it was news as it was released in november 2019 see the 2019 edition is fifth edition of wastelands at less it is jointly published by department of land resources of ministry of rural development along with national remote sensing center of isro of department of space which is under the prime minister what it does is it gives robust geospatial information on wastelands the information given by this at less it is helpful in utilizing wastelands for productive use and for planning such productive use which could be done through various programs of land development one of the main help is that it will help in addressing land degradation the 2019 at less it provides distribution statewide and district wise for different categories of wastelands area in our country the last year's edition is also special as it has mapped about 12 million hectares of unmapped area of jamun kashmir it also gives spatial changes of different wastelands categories between the years 2008 2009 and 2015 16 according to this at less wastelands are classified into 23 categories that are displayed here coming to important findings see total wastelands area in our country is 55.76 million hectares for the year 2015 16 for which recent assessment was made by the settlers and this amounts to almost 17 percent of geographic area in the country to be very specific 16.96 percentage earlier the total wastelands area in the country was 56.6 million hectares 17.21 percentage of geographical area of country by this numbers what we are trying to say is between this period there is a reduction in wastelands because some wastelands were converted into non wastelands categories we want to know what are non wastelands categories built up area industrial area crop land fallow land plantation dense forest or open forest forest plantation grasslands water bodies all these come under non wasteland categories so there is a net reduction of different wasteland categories in the country between 2008 9 to 2015 16 that less highlights that a major positive change is observed in the state of Rajasthan and this is followed by Bihar Uttar Pradesh Shantar Pradesh Mizoram Madhya Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal when we say positive change here it means in these states more wastelands are diverted to non wasteland categories or for other productive use we could see increase in wastelands in the states of Odisha Assam Telangana and Chattisgarh now come to this question the wasteland atlas 2019 it provides robust geospatial information on wasteland which is helpful in rolling back the wastelands for productive use which of the following statements about wasteland atlas 2019 is or are not correct first statement there is net increase of wastelands in the country this is incorrect there is net decrease of wastelands in the country now second statement a major positive change of wasteland area to non wasteland has been observed in Rajasthan this statement is correct third statement it is released by forest survey of India this statement is not correct because it is released by ministry of rural development and national remote sensing center so here statement one and statement three are incorrect question asks for incorrect statements or not correct statements so the correct answer is option b one and three this question is with reference to spyware see spyware is a type of malicious software malicious software is shortly called us malware and spyware here it collects information from a computing system by spying without the consent of the owner of the computing system or the user of the computing system it can capture key strokes screenshots authentication credentials and a lot of other personal information the data collected through the spyware it will be delivered to online attackers they may sell it to others or they may use it for marketing purposes or they may use them to execute certain crimes like financial crimes or identity theft in some cases spywares were found to be used even by marketing organizations organized crimes indicate trusted insiders and few others when we say trusted insiders it refers to those individuals who have physical access to a computer system in an organization or in an work environment for legitimate purposes so even they can use spyware to steal data now come to the question first statement spyware is one type of malware that collects information from a computing system without consent of the owner this statement is correct the second statement pegasus and vana cry are examples of spyware see pegasus was in news in november 2019 because at that time it was reported that personal information of members of indian civil society were compromised through an application called as whatsapp and it is alleged that an israeli technology firm called as nso group has developed this spyware using this spyware they exploited a vulnerability in whatsapp's video call feature through that vulnerability cyber attackers were able to inject spywares into the mobile phones and it was injected simply by making a call to a targeted device once it is installed it can access the private data passwords contact list text messages even live voice calls from various applications such as facebook without the consent of the user so pegasus is a spyware first part of the statement is correct but vana cry is not a spyware it is a ransomware when we say ransomware it is a type of malware that is designed to deny access to a computer system it will give or it will restore the access to a particular system only when a ransom amount is paid that is the reason why it is called as a ransomware and vana cry was in news in the year 2017 because of various cyber attacks using this malware and this vana cry typically spreads through phishing emails or by unknowingly visiting an infected website now you may be thinking how much importance are these terms with respect to our exam preparation see earlier in prelims 2018 they have asked this question here to select the correct answer you have to just know at least one of these three terms and what they refer to now coming to our question here only the first statement is correct vana cry is not a spyware rather a ransomware so the correct answer is option a one only now this question is with reference to gagan which is an acronym for gps aided geo augmented navigation now it is a space based augmentation system gagan means space it is jointly developed by indian space research organization and airports authority of india see this topic was in news in november 2019 as around 500 passenger locomotives of south central railway they have been fitted with real-time train information system this train information system was required to monitor precise speeds and movement of these locomotives throughout their journey and this real-time train information system was developed by center for railway information systems with the help of gagan system what is gagan see it is a system of satellites and ground stations that provide gps signal corrections so as to get better position accuracy it is developed to provide best possible navigational services over indian flight information region and it has the capability of expanding to neighboring flight information regions as well now what actually gagan does is it corrects gps signal errors that are caused by timing or ionospheric disturbances and it also corrects satellite orbit errors and in addition to this it also provides information regarding health of each satellite as well so this gagan consists of three geostationary satellites g sat 8 g sat 10 and g sat 15 they simultaneously transmit gagan signal in space and gagan geofood print it expands from africa to australia one significant feature about this gagan is that it provides benefits in addition to all phases of aviation to all other modes of transportation like maritime highways and also in railroads in maritime in addition to traffic management and navigation operations it also helps in offshore exploration and also in exploitation of fisheries and gagan can help farmers in aerial crop spraying or precision farming and it also used for forest and wildlife resource management system in addition to all these it also provides benefits to other segments like intelligent transportation surveying security agencies telecom industry personal users of position location applications etc now come to the question cancel the following statements with reference to gagan system jointly developed by isro and airport authority of india three statements have been given which among the statements given above are correct it is gps aided satellite navigation system the statement is correct eliminate option d now come to statement 3 it provides benefits to aviation to other modes of transportation including maritime highways and railroads this statement is also correct now actually once you confirm the third statement is correct you can easily arrive at the correct answer option c now come to second statement they are saying it is a part of navigation with indian constellation navik this statement is incorrect see navik corresponds to india's indigenous navigation satellite system it is established by isro and it is functional it has two segments space segment and ground segment the space segment of navik consists of a constellation of more than seven irns satellites it helps in providing positioning navigation and timing service and one of its satellite it provides messaging service see this navik is related to indian regional navigation satellite system and the constellation of indian regional navigation satellite system was named as navik navigation with indian constellation by the indian prime minister it also helps in terrestrial aerial and marine navigation disaster management vehicle tracking visual and voice navigation for drivers etc here the correct answer is option c 1 and 3 now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to diabetes or diabetes militus why it was in news in november 2019 see world diabetes day comes on november 14 so ahead of this day of november 14 in 2019 world health organization launched an initiative to expand access to affordable insulin so in this context let us see few information with reference to diabetes see diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs because of three reasons one the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces to manage the level of blood sugar or because of combination of these two reasons diabetes is majorly classified into three types type 1 type 2 and gestational diabetes type 1 diabetes is because of body's malfunction to produce insulin in the body since there is not required production of insulin it requires the person to inject insulin there is insulin deficiency in this case what happens is the immune system attacks and destroys the cells in pancreas that make insulin this form was earlier referred to as insulin dependent diabetes militus or juvenile diabetes juvenile simply means youth all right so type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults but not that it can appear at any age but commonly diagnosed among children and young adults so people with type 1 diabetes they need to take insulin every day to stay alive now coming to type 2 diabetes most important point is that it is the most common type of diabetes that is type 2 diabetes affects the majority of people who have diabetes around the world this is because of insulin resistance it is a condition where cells fail to use insulin properly to maintain blood sugar level sometimes it is also combined with absolute insulin deficiency this type 2 is previously also referred to as non-insulin dependent diabetes militus or adult onset diabetes why it is called adult onset diabetes because this type of diabetes occurs most frequently in middle aged and older people though it may come at any age even during childhood this type of diabetes is reportedly stated that it is largely the result of excess body weight and physical inactivity now let's come to the third type of diabetes called as gestational diabetes develops in some women who are pregnant the pregnant women here without the previous diagnosis of diabetes they develop high blood glucose level and most of the time this type of diabetes goes away when the baby was born however for women who had gestational diabetes there is a risk factor for them and their children for type 2 diabetes in the future so with this information let us take this question with reference to diabetes militus which one of the following statements is correct type 1 diabetes is due to insulin resistance or failure of the cells to use insulin effectively this was wrong it is type 2 diabetes the statement corresponds to type 2 diabetes option b type 2 diabetes is due to human body's malfunction to produce insulin in the body this statement is wrong it corresponds to type 1 diabetes option c type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes this statement is correct of all the persons who are affected by diabetes militus most of them are affected by type 2 diabetes and option d gestational diabetes occurs in children due to malnutrition this statement is incorrect gestational diabetes occurs among pregnant women here the correct answer is option c now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to swach nirmal that abhyan first let us see the meaning of these words all are hindi terms swach means cleanliness or clean nirmal means serene spotless stainless ultra clean that means coast or shore so swach nirmal that abhyan is a mass cleanliness drive and awareness drive in 50 identified beaches it is a seven day campaign it was in use as this campaign happened from 11th to 17th of november 29th the awareness drive among citizens is to create the knowledge of importance of coastal ecosystems whose initiative is this and who's responsible for overall coordination see it is initiative of ministry of environment forest and climate change and environment education division of this ministry and sycom or society of integrated coastal management which is under the ages of environment ministry they are responsible for the overall coordination of this abhyan they identified beaches in eight coastal states and in two coastal union territories the beaches were identified after the consultation with states or union territories the cleaning drives in these beaches they were undertaken by the involvement of school students college students eco clubs volunteers local communities district administration and various other stakeholders so it is a collective drive every day for a duration of two hours beach cleaning activities will happen under the abhyan under which a minimum of one kilometer stretch of a particular beach was identified for cleaning now come to the question consider the following statements with reference to swatch nirmal that abhyan two statements were given which of the statements given above are correct first statement the mission aims to attain hundred percent open defecation free in india by 2025 now the statement is pertaining to swatchabharath abhyan and the target year for hundred percent open defecation free in that scheme was 2019 not 2025 so first statement is not correct with reference to nirmal that abhyan now second statement it is implemented by ministry of housing and urban affairs government of india the statement is incorrect because it comes under the overall ages of ministry of environment forest and climate change and since both the statements are incorrect the correct answer is option d neither one and with respect to the society of integrated coastal management it is also playing a very important role in an initiative of government of india with respect to blue flag certification of beaches as well this initiative is called as beach environment and aesthetic management system under this this society has commenced a pilot project of blue flag beach program way back in 2017 itself so here the correct answer is option d now let's move on to next question now this question is based on the initiatives of indian customs which among the following initiatives have been launched by indian customs for improved monitoring and pace of customs clearing e sanjith ice dash atiti see ice dash and atiti both of them were launched in the month of november 2019 they were launched for improved monitoring and for improving the pace of customs clearance so the correct option should have two and three so we can eliminate options a and b now coming to these two initiatives they are initiatives of indian customs in other words central board of indirect taxes and customs earlier it was called as central board of excise and customs see this central board functions under department of revenue of ministry of finance it's obvious because it deals with collection of tax revenue and both the initiatives are taken to leverage technology for providing better taxpayer services now in this ice dash ice stands for indian customs electronic and dash stands for dashboard so simply we can say that indian customs electronic dashboard it is a monitoring dashboard for ease of doing business it is an interactive dashboard that helps public to compare the time taken for daily customs clearance that is to compare the time taken for daily customs clearance of import cargo at various ports and airports one of the advantage of this comparison is it will help the businesses because based on time taken for daily customs clearance they can plan their logistics and this dashboard has been developed by indian customs in collaboration with national informatics center next let's come to atiti see first of all atiti in tamil and also in hindi the meaning of the word is guest here it refers to international travelers so atiti is a customs mobile application for international travelers it is developed by directorate general of systems under the central board of indirect taxes and customs it is developed to drive digital governance in country in relation to these matters so as a platform it helps all the visitors traveling to india to file their baggage to file item and currency declaration and also provides few other services it helps to file customs declaration in advance in advance means even before boarding the flight to india so it aims to reduce the time taken for customs declaration and it helps in easing the arrival process at indian airports of international travelers so end of the day this atiti mobile customs application for international travelers is facilitating hassle free and faster clearance by customs authorities and the airports this in turn enhances the experience of international tourists and other visitors at our airports both these initiatives atiti and ice dash they are appreciated because they reduce interface and it increases transparency of customs functioning now the remaining initiative is e sanjith now it stands for e storage and computerized handling of indirect tax documents we have discussed about this initiative in the september 2019 series this is also an initiative of indian customs launched on a pilot basis introduced for import cargo the objective is to reduce physical interface between customs and the clearing agents this is also is expected to significantly reduce import clearance time as it involves paperless processing uploading of digitally signed documents and therefore it facilitates in trading across borders so these are some of the information with reference to these three initiatives if you see this question all the three initiatives leads to improved monitoring and increased pace of customs clearance so the correct answer is option c one two and three now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to definitions of three terms od of od of plus od of plus plus they have given three statements asking which of the statements given above are correct we know that india has launched swachh Bharat mission on the birth anniversary of mahatma gandhi on 2nd october 2014 so as to accelerate efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and also to put focus on sanitation the mission had two submissions swachh Bharat mission gramming and swachh Bharat mission urban this mission aim to achieve 100% od of free status for india by the year 2019 so as to give a fitting tribute to mahatma gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary now let's see the definition for these three terms see when we say od of it means open defecation free relates to an area where not even a single person is found defecating in the open at any point of the day and when we come to od of plus in addition to the criteria of od of not even a single person should be found urinating in the open as well and all community and public toilets should be functional and they should be well maintained and for od of plus plus any area that is already declared as od of plus and if in such area fecal sludge or septage and sewage if they are safely managed and treated then this area can be called as od of plus plus and note that in these areas there should not be any discharge or dumping of untreated fecal sludge and sewage in the open drains or water bodies now come to first statement an area can be notified or declared as open defecation free if at any point of the day not even a single person is found defecating in the open first statement is correct so you can eliminate options b and c second statement an area can be notified or declared as open defecation free plus if at any point of the time not a single person is found defecating and or urinating in the open second statement is wrong because it also requires that all community and public toilets have to be functional and well maintained once you find the second statement is wrong you can eliminate option b you can arrive at the correct answer option a one only now let's move on to next question this question is about indian military exercises with other countries they are asking which of the pairs given above are correctly matched here zair al bahar it is a bilateral maritime exercise between india and kathar in november 2019 it was in news as it was conducted in doha so the first pair is incorrectly matched so you can eliminate option c and option d now mitra shakti it is a military exercise between armies of india and srilanka seventh edition of mitra shakti was conducted in 2019 in december in pune the objective was to enhance interoperability among the armies of both these countries when they are to be deployed as part of united nations peacekeeping forces so both the first and second are incorrectly matched thereby we can arrive at the correct answer option a three only by eliminating b c and d now this surya kiran it is a joint military exercise between india and napal it was also recently held in december 2019 and this exercise focused on counter insurgency counter terrorism operation and also on various humanitarian assistance missions the year 2019 was special with respect to military exercise between india and usbekistan as first ever joint military exercise titled as dust lick 2019 was launched last year and with reference to exercise shakti it is a biennial joint military exercise between india and france conducted alternately in india and france and indra is a tri services exercise between india and russia first joint tri services exercise was conducted in 2017 and the second edition was conducted last year and samudra shakti it is a bilateral maritime exercise between the navies of india and indonesia when the option we have omen with respect to omen we have exercises such as al naga nasi malbhagar eastern bridge these three exercises correspond to omen now we have given you a list of military exercises where indian armed force conducts or it participates with around 28 foreign countries for your reference so here the correct answer is option a three only now let's move on to next question now consider this question which among the following joint exercises was exclusively based on earthquake search and rescue in 2019 the correct answer for this question is option b seo joint exercise 2019 seo stands for shankai cooperation organization and 2019 exercise was dedicated to urban earthquake search and rescue the reason why they gave importance to earthquakes is because more than two lakh people have lost their lives because of earthquakes in seo member countries during the period 1996 to 2015 and this number accounts for around 67 percent when it comes to disaster related deaths in seo countries now why it was in news in november 2019 because it is a four day long simulation exercise that held in fourth to seventh november of 2019 at new delhi this joint exercise was hosted by indian national disaster response force see it is a joint exercise of all eight seo member countries two sark countries are also present in seo india and pakistan then it has china kazakhstan kirkistan tajagistan uzbekistan and russia so the aim of this joint exercise was to rehearse the disaster response mechanism to share knowledge experience and technology with respect to earthquakes and how to enhance coordination and cooperation when we involved in multi agency operations in an earthquake scenario so the main focus was to test the preparedness and resilience of this region to achieve effective activation of intergovernmental coordination or interaction when it comes to quick response or immediate response to earthquakes now in the options you can see tiger triumph beamstuck milux 18 os index 2019 here tiger triumph is special as it is first-ever exercise between united states and india that involved three armed forces and it is a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise it aimed at developing interoperability for conducting hidr operations see this was also conducted in november 2019 now beamstuck milux 2018 is not an exercise of the year 2019 it corresponds to beamstuck nation's military field training exercise which was conducted in the year 2018 the focus was on counter-terrorism activities by beamstuck nations now os index 2019 is a once in two years exercise between indian navy and australian navy os index 2019 was held in vishaka patnam in 2019 in the month of april so here the correct answer is option b now let's move on to next question this question is based on the disputed region of kala pani see kala pani is a disputed territory between india and napal recently it was in news when napal raised objections with respect to india releasing political maps on second november after the reorganization of jamoon keshmer and actually this dispute is much technical in nature even for countries to resolve the issue 1981 india napal formed joint technical boundary committee 1994 a joint working group was formed to resolve this issue and some reports also say that kala pani dispute was also discussed during indian prime ministers visit to napal in 2014 as well however note that it is an unresolved dispute between india and napal now in this context let us know few information associated with this site see both india and napal are claiming kala pani as an integral part of their territories india claims it as it is part of utrakhand in its district pithoragar napal claims it as a part of dharsula district in its side in this context we have to keep in mind three things one is that kala pani is a tri-junction point as well where indian napalis and tibetian borders meet it is actually a place in northeastern part of utrakhand or it is in northwest corner if we see it from napal the strategic importance of this location is almost the same as doklam that lies in the tri-junction point between butan india and china the second thing that we have to keep in mind is this issue has its root in a treaty that was signed in 1816 ad between british india and napal see this treaty is called as treaty of sugauli or treaty of segauli it is reported that this treaty has defined river mahakali as the western border of napal however the disputed site is interpreted differently by india and napal with reference to mahakali river so the third thing is river mahakali is connected with this kala pani site now let's come to the question kala pani which has recently been in news is a disputed territory between india and napal now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to upav convention this convention was in news last year because it was taught in association with the impacts that india may face if india joins regional comprehensive economic partnership see upav is the short form of french translation of international union for the protection of new varieties of plants see this international union it is a inter-governmental body established in 1961 by an international convention which is called as international convention for protection of new varieties of plants therefore this convention is called as upav convention it was adopted in december 1961 in paris at a diplomatic conference and it came into force in august 1968 now this convention it provides the basis for members to encourage plant breeding how it encourages plant breeding by giving breeders an intellectual property right for new plant varieties this right is given for breeders and not the users of the new plant variety a best example for users could be farmers now why they made intellectual property right for breeders one of the objectives is to recover the investment made by the breeder in developing or coming up with a new plant variety by breeding process and note that for the varieties that are protected by a breeders right or for the varieties that are protected by ipr usage of those varieties for commercial purposes cannot be done without the authorization of the breeder now coming to india's status it is not a member of upav convention or this international union however india is an observer in this organization now in last year with reference to the developments on whether india will join arsap or not several farmers and farmer affiliated organizations they appeal to government not to sign the arsap deal and one of the reasons for not joining arsap is because if we sign arsap it will lead india to adopt this upav convention that favors breeders rights on plant varieties over the rights of farmers and as of now both india as a state and our farmers they are not equipped or safeguarded to adopt this convention and this is how this convention is related to arsap negotiations to be very simple upavs focuses on patents for plant varieties and not the farmers because it does not allow farmers to use seeds that they will naturally get by the cultivation of upav ipr protected varieties now we come to this question consider the following statements with reference to international union for the protection of new varieties of plants three statements have been given they're asking which of the statements given above are correct you see the third statement they're saying india is also a member of upav convention which is wrong india as an observer so you can eliminate options b and b now we have to find out whether first statement is correct or not because the remaining options anyway the second statement is correct first statement upav was established by international convention for the protection of new varieties of plants of united nations see upav convention is not a convention of united nations rather it is a convention adopted by some countries at a diplomatic conference in paris first statement is wrong so the correct answer for this question is option c2 only now let's move on to next question now this question is with reference to agreement on rules of origin this term rules of origin was in news last day several times with reference to the discussion on should india join regional comprehensive economic partnership see this agreement on rules of origin is related to world trade organization in other words it's a wto agreement when we say rules of origin they are criteria which are helpful to define in which country a particular product was made and these criteria will be helpful to implement trade policy measures say for example trade preferences quotas anti-dumping measures and countervailing duties as well in addition to this they are also helpful in trade statistics to determine whether imported products should receive most favored nation treatment which is equal treatment or whether a particular product should receive a preferential treatment the agreement on rules of origin will be helpful in preventing misuse of tariffs because many countries of the world do not follow uniform tariffs so some country may try to exploit the tariff systems available now this agreement on rules of origin it has established world customs organization technical committee on rules of origin this committee was established in the year 1995 and it has carried out the main work of harmonizing non-preferential rules of origin so what do we mean by non-preferential rules of origin see these are those rules of origin that apply in the absence of any trade preference or in other words these are rules of origin that is applicable when trade is conducted on most favored nation status basis now rules of origin is important to prevent misuse of tariffs available say for example take three countries India Myanmar and China the tariff for importing good a from china to india is 30% say for example from Myanmar it is 10% and take the tariff for importing the same good from china to Myanmar as 5% so the good is directly exported by china to india then the tariff is 30% but if it is routed through Myanmar then the tariff will be cumulatively only 15% but if there is rules of origin specifically mentioned then we can ensure that china cannot misuse the tariff system by having goods labeled specifically the place of origin now one of the reasons why india had not joined our partnership the present draft agreement format is because of concerns on dumping of chinese products in india and result in damage to domestic or local industries so here the correct answer is option c world trade organization now let's move on to next question this question is based on india's membership in some of the international organizations and forums that were recently been in use in which of the following international organizations forums agreements india is not a member asia-pacific economic cooperation epic chiang mai initiative trans-specific partnership select the correct answer by using the code given below such a question can be asked or they may ask a question where we will be asked to identify members of an organization in the 2014 prilams they gave five countries and asked which of the given countries are members of arctic council here you should note that india was not given as one of the countries and for this question anyone who know that united states and Russia are members of arctic council they were able to arrive at the correct answer option d and with respect to arctic council we know that since 2013 india is an observer in this council now let's come to the question see here let's see few information with respect to trans-specific partnership see this partnership is also called as comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-specific partnership what it is see it is a trade agreement or a trade partnership between 11 countries geographically located around pacific ring it was in news since 2017 because united states has pulled itself out from this partnership in the year 2017 earlier in 2005 a set of four countries they formed trans-specific strategic economic partnership agreement the four countries were brunoy daru salam chili new Zealand and singapore now the trans-specific partnership it began as an expansion of this trans-specific strategic economic partnership agreement between these four countries now the present partners or members or signatories to the trans-specific partnership has been given here and you can identify india is not one among them now as a trade agreement this trans-specific partnership it eliminates or reduces tariff and non-tariff barriers this is visible substantially in almost all trade and goods and services in addition to this this partnership also deals with the investment so as to create new opportunities and benefits for businesses workers and consumers now let's come to chiang mai initiative see it was launched by asian plus three countries it was launched in may 2000 it is called as the first regional currencies swap agreement the three countries other than asian members are china japan and south korea now in addition to australia new Zealand these three countries they are also involved in r sub partnership discussions as well now come to chiang mai initiative the initiative launched in may 2000 with asian plus three has now evolved into chiang mai initiative multi lateralization and this evolution as chiang mai initiative multi lateralization was signed in december 2009 and entered into force on march 2010 subsequently some of the credential with respect to cm im has been amended as per the requirement of the partner countries so what is this chiang mai initiative multi lateralization while chiang mai initiative is a first regional currency swap agreement see cm im is a multi lateral arrangement where finance ministries and central banks of asian plus three countries and hong kong monetary authority are involved this arrangement was made to complement international monetary fund so as to give emergency infusions of foreign currency to member countries whenever they suffer from liquidity crisis so this is how the currencies swap agreement has evolved now here also you can understand that india is not a partner or not a member now let's come to asia pacific economic cooperation it is the premier asia pacific economic forum the primary goal of this forum is to support sustainable economic growth and prosperity in asia pacific region it was established in 1989 as a regional economic forum and since 1998 till now there are 21 member economies in epak and india is not one among them and you can see the timeline of countries joining epak and in this forum china hong kong and chinese Taipei all these three parts of china they have been treated as separate member economies so now coming to the question india is not a member in all the three so the correct answer is option d one two one three now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to new development bank see new development bank is an initiative of briggs nations briggs nations were in news in november 2019 because the 11th briggs annual summit took place in brazil in november so before entering into new development bank and the declaration associated with it let's see few information about briggs see the coordination between four countries brazil russia india and china called us brick it began in an informal manner in the year 2006 how it began it began with the working meeting of foreign ministers of these four countries who will meet on the sidelines of united nations general assembly but since 2009 the heads of state and heads of government of this group they started to meet annually and this brick group it became bricks by the addition of south africa in 2011 at the sanya summit in china so here we have given you a list of summits associated with bricks that have held so far and also their venues here from the sixth summit to tenth summit you can observe a pattern the where in the venues correspond with the acronym that is sixth summit took place in brazil then the seventh summit in russia then india then china and south africa and in the same order the 12th summit as per the brazilia declaration of november 2019 was scheduled to be held in st petersburg in russia now let's come to new development bank see during the sixth brick summit which took place in fort aliza in brazil leaders signed an agreement to establish this bank in this context you should know the importance of this fort aliza declaration see this declaration gave the core organizational structure of new development bank the important points about the bank mentioned in the declaration has been given here here note that the first president of the bank shall be from india the headquarters of the bank shall be located in shanghai in china and the ndb africa regional center shall be established in south africa now come to the question consider the following statements with reference to new development bank four statements are there we have to select the correct statements first statement as a multilateral development bank its objective is financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in briggs nations only this statement is incorrect this is because according to this bank it will finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects not only in briggs nations but also in other emerging economies and developing countries so once the first statement is incorrect you can eliminate option b and option d the second statement the initial subscribed capital in ndb shall be equally shared among founding members this statement is correct all the five members of briggs nations are the founding members now we have to confirm whether the third statement is correct or not to arrive at the correct answer we need not look at the fourth statement as fourth statement anyway becomes correct the headquarters of ndb is in shanghai china this statement is correct so the correct answer is option c 2 3 and 4 only now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to defense security and strategic relations between india and united states which of the following agreements are not signed between india and u s a general security of military information agreement logistics exchange memorandum of agreement communications compatibility and security agreement basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial cooperation so the general security on military information agreement was signed between india and usa in 2002 it helps in sharing of military intelligence between two countries and very recently in december 2019 india and usa signed industrial security annex this agreement or this industrial security annex will help the us defense companies to partner with indian private sector and it will also help smooth transfer of classified or undisclosed technology and information between private sector of india and united states see isa is a part of general security of military information agreement which was signed in 2002 now lemo is the india specific version of logistics support agreement that us has with many countries it was signed in august 2016 between india and usa it gives access to designated military facilities on both sides for purpose of refuelling or replenishment see this agreement gives reciprocal provision of logistics support supplies and services between armed forces of india and armed forces of united states reciprocal logistics support here would be used exclusively during authorized port visits joint exercises joint training and also for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations now coming to kam kasa it was signed between india and usa in september 2018 it is an india specific version of sismo agreement of us with other countries sismo stands for communication and information on security memorandum of agreement now this agreement is valid for a period of 10 years and kam kasa allows india to procure and transfer specialized equipment for encrypted communications now coming to berka basic exchange and cooperation agreement of geospatial cooperation it is not yet signed between india and usa because of differences over reciprocity in exchange of geospatial information in other words there are concerns over one partner reciprocating the actions of another partner on matters related to this agreement say if india is committed to share its geospatial data us has to reciprocate in sharing its geospatial data there are concerns over this matter and if signed it will allow india and usa to share geospatial and satellite data with each other so here the correct answer for this question is option d because it is not yet signed between india and usa now let's move on to next question this question is based on the riyadh agreement which was signed in november 2019 the famous riyadh agreement was in news recently it was signed to address civil war related to which of the following country see the correct answer for this question is option c m n see m n is located in southwest corner of arabian peninsula it has borders with south arabia woman then red sea and also the gulf of edin for a long period of time two different sects of islam they were fighting for power in yemen the northern part of yemen is dominated by shia islamic sect called as zaidis southern yemen is dominated by sunni sect of islam one of the sects is hadis and majority of the islamic population in yemen belong to sunni sect 1990 ali abdulla sala who was from shia sent he became president of yemen by unifying north yemen and south yemen he was president since 1990 even until 2012 when he stepped down from the post of president because of an arab spring induced popular uprising in 2011 12 after the stepping down of selah abdullabu mansoor hadi he became the president he belonged to sunni muslim sect he has earlier served as vice president for a period of 17 years when sale was the president and during the period between 1990 to 2012 yemen also witnessed healthy insurgency how these who belong to shia sect of islam they were also protesting against marginalization of local saidi shiai muslim sect in the north yemen so at present we can see south arabia and iran they are fighting each other in yemen and by last year the third dimension to this conflict was added by united arab Emirates as well the pro hadis and hadis they are supported by south arabia and united states that is the sunni sect is being supported by south arabia and united states how the rebels they are being supported by iran in the south yemen there is an insurgency by southern transitional council and it acts against the plans of south arabia this southern transitional council is supported by united arab Emirates and yemen has reported has become a playground for these regional players so to resolve the present issues on november 5 2019 a power sharing agreement was signed in the capital of south arabia riyadh therefore this agreement is called as riyadh agreement this agreement was between the south yemen abdullabu mansoor hadi government and the UAE backed southern transitional council so it provides power sharing between north and the south and it also covers a range of political issues economic issues military and security issues and implementation of this agreement will be overseen by south arabia so here the correct answer is option c mn and with reference to mn there is an operation of international significance launched by india called as operation rahata it is an operation of indian armed forces to evacuate indian citizens and foreign nationals from mn during the year 2015 when south arabia and its allies intervened in mn through military during this operation rahat india has successfully saved the lives of thousands of indian nationals and hundreds of foreign nationals so these are some of the important information pertaining to the facts related to this question now let us move on to next question this question is with reference to unathi program unathi program sometimes seen in news is related to a national strategy for accelerating energy efficiency in india a flagship program of ministry of human resource development to link higher education institutions with villages a capacity building program or nano satellite development a program to replace incandescent lamps with led bulbs to promote energy efficiency the correct answer for this question among the options is option c a capacity building program on nano satellite development see here unathi stands for unispace nano satellite assembly and training by isro launched by isro to celebrate or to commemorate 50th anniversary of first unispace conference the full form of unispaces united nations conference on exploration and peaceful users of outer space the first conference was held in the year 1968 subsequent conferences were held in 1982 and 1999 so marking the 50th anniversary of first unispaces conference in 2018 isro launched this unathi program in january 2019 so under this program participants from developing countries they will be invited and their capabilities will be strengthened in assembling integrating and testing nano satellites it was in news in november because the second batch of unathi was inaugurated on october 15 2019 and the second batch was conducted till december 15 of 2019 so it appears like a two month training initially it was announced that such training will be for three batches covering three years the lead agency within isro for this unathi program is urow satellite center so the correct answer is capacity building program on nano satellite development there is also a unathi project under ministry of rural development this project aims to provide training to unskilled narega laborers by providing training they can move towards full-time employment and there is also a unathi project in ministry of shipping it aims to improve operational performance and financial performance of ports in our country now the first option option a it corresponds to unathi the full form is unlocking national energy efficiency potential it's a national strategy document for accelerating energy efficiency in our country it aims to link energy supply and demand scenario with energy efficiency opportunities this document it provides a comprehensive roadmap to use energy efficiency measures in addressing climate change and environmental issues and option b corresponds to unath barath abhyan see it is a flagship program of ministry of human resource development it aims to link higher education institutions with villages so that these higher education institutions they can contribute through their knowledge base in the economic and social betterment of village communities and option d corresponds to ujjala program ujjala stands for unath jyoti by affordable leds for all now let's move on to next question see this question a particular animal in india can be described as following it is also called as chiru it is protected under schedule one of wildlife protection act of 1972 the animal faces threat as it is skilled for the making of sha to shals which among the following animal is known for all the above descriptions see the correct answer for this question is option a tibetan antelope it is also called as chiru it is a scheduler an animal in india it is found in ladak in our country actually it is a migratory animal it will be found in large numbers in the summers in northeastern corner of ladak and sha twos it is the name given to the wool taken from tibetan antelopes and these animals actually as of now are near threatened if you see ios and red list and for the weaving of sha to shals these animals are trapped killed and skinned for their short fine fleas and therefore the weaving of sha to shals in our country and in ladak has been banned to save this endangered animal if you see other options we can see Siberian i-bucks Himalayan i-bucks and also greater one-horned rhinoceros see Siberian i-bucks is also called as Himalayan i-bucks if you see the schedule of wildlife protection act in schedule one we can find the name as Siberian i-bucks though both are the common names of the same species as per international union for conservation of nature it is also a schedule one protected animal and this is associated in the making of pashmina shals and here the difference is that the animal is not killed this animal is categorized as least concerned in ioc and red list now coming to greater one-horned rhinoceros which is also a schedule one animal it is on the endangered list mainly because of killing it for the trade in horn and it is said that the horn fetches about two to three lakhs in India and even more in international illegal market the meats and bones of this animal is also used for medicinal purposes and therefore it is killed and there is also astronomical prices in the international market for the greater one-horned rhinoceros horns as of now in ioc and red list we can find this animal being placed in vulnerable category so the correct answer here is thibbadan antelope now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to indian brain atlas it was in news in november 2019 because this atlas was released in the last week of october 2019 this is reported as first attempt by indians to build a brain atlas for indians this atlas was developed by researchers at the international institute of information technology in hydra bird and when we say brain atlas it refers to a brain template or a brain map that becomes a standard or reference source to help in the measurement of brain abnormalities this atlas is important because it would be helpful in deciding the line of treatment using the process of magnetic resonance imaging scans or MRI scans so far the references which were used with respect to these treatments are based on caucasin or european brains which was created by montreal neurological institute which is in canada montreal is a place in canada before coming to the most important finding of this atlas we'll see the earliest known brain atlas called us talairak and tunaw atlas which was created by manually drawing the brain sections of a 60-year-old french woman by doing post-mortem later in 1993 world's first digital human brain atlas was developed by the collaboration of montreal neurological institute and international consortium for brain mapping and this brain atlas this indian brain atlas codenamed as iba 100 it has found that indian brain on an average is smaller when it comes to height width and volume if we compare it with western population and also with eastern population after finding this developers mentioned that standard brain templates earlier created using caucasian brains or european brains they are not ideal to analyze indian brain abnormalities or differences so our own brain atlas will help in enhancing the treatment outcomes of neurological problems and brain related ailments like say dementia alzheimer's disease parkinson's disease etc now coming to this question two statements were given they're asking which of the statements are correct it was found that indian brain on average is bigger in height width and volume as compared to the brains of western population this is incorrect it is smaller in height width and volume when we compare it with western as well as eastern population second statement atlas was developed by international institute of information technology hydra but this statement is correct so the correct answer for this question is option b two only this question is with reference to a project titled as a barathea poshaan kraseekosh this scheme was launched in november 2019 by the union ministry of women and child development in association or in collaboration with bill and melinda gates foundation so it's a new project launched by the government of india it has two components one is to develop a full atlas and then to document best practices or promising practices for people's movement for social behavioral change for poshaan abhyan for nutrition program people's movement in hindi called as jan andola we know that under poshaan abhyan india is aiming through multi ministerial convergence a vision to achieve malnutrition free india by the year 2022 under poshaan abhyan we have quantitative targets with reference to reducing stunting reducing under nutrition it is this poshaan abhyan which was earlier known as national nutrition mission and with reference to reducing anemia it aims to reduce anemia among young children and also among women and adolescent girls now coming to barathea poshaan kraseekosh they will be developing a agro food atlas to act as a repository or a database of diverse crops across 128 agro climatic zones of the country most of the government sources say 128 agro climatic zones very few sources they also say 127 this atlas will have three parts one it will have details of crops currently being grown then it will have agro ecological conditions like soil organic carbon content groundwater availability etc and it will also have details on guidance on how a greater diversity of crops can be encouraged in a particular district or block with the objective to promote dietary diversity and proper nutrition along with union ministry of imminent child development two other important partners are there bill and melinda gates foundation and harvard chance school of public health they will be involved in the project activities now come to the question two statements are there they're asking which of the statements are correct the project includes development of a food atlas across more than 100 agro climatic zones of the country ministry of women and child development has collaborated with bill and melinda gates foundation for this project both the statements are correct correct answer option see both one and two now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to mahadai river which is also called as mandavi river in koa it was in news in november and also several times in last year with reference to dispute on this river between goa and karnataka see this river it originates in western guards in karnataka the river basin or the catchment area of this river is present in three states karnataka goa and also maharastra so this means whenever there is some kind of dispute settlement arrangement all these three states will be consulted and reports say that the river also briefly flows through maharastra though most of the length of the river is in karnataka and goa only since it is a west flowing interstate river it finally drains into arabian sea now the reason why it became a dispute between goa and karnataka is because the karnataka government proposed a project called as kalasa bandhuri nala project see kalasa and bandhuri nala they are tributaries of mahadai river state government of karnataka proposes to build dams and canals across these two tributaries of mahadai the objective is to divert water from these two tributaries into malaprabha river where there is requirement of water so as to feed at least important cities and districts that are drought-prone in karnataka and when we say malaprabha river it is a tributary of krishna river so this is the background now let's come to the question in which of the following states river mahadai flows tamilnadu karnataka goa odisha correct answer is option a 2 and 3 now let's move on to next question now consider this description based question it rises in the manipur hills and enters the plains near lakimpur lakimpur nasam the river enters bangladesh as surma and kushyara later the river is called the magna and receives the combined flow of the ganga and brahmaputra the above is the description of the correct answer for this question is option c river barak see the length of the river is more than 560 kilometers close to around 564 kilometers it originates in the manipur hills in the state of manipur then it shortly flows through mesoram and enters the state of asam finally it enters bangladesh as river surma and river kushyara later the river is called as magna and it receives the combined flow of river ganga and brahmaputra and with reference to river barak we should also know that there is a festival that is aimed to pay respect to this river called as namami barak festival it was organized earlier in the year 2017 in the month of november now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to a recently discovered species called us polypedates bangalensis see polypedates is a genus of tree frogs that are found in south asia and southeast asia this term it relates to a recently discovered frog which was discovered from two districts of west bangal a surprising fact here is that specimens of this frog were not discovered in jungles rather it were discovered from residential areas in west bangal and because of the dark brown blotches or patches on the frog's skin they have given a common name as brown blotched bengal tree frog the frog's body color is yellowish brown to greenish brown and the discovery of this it served as a classic case of an amphibian escaping the attention of human beings till the discovery polypedates bangalensis recently seen in news is a amphibian now when we say crustaceans they have a hard external shell for example we can say crabs lobster when we come to arachnids they have two body parts and they have four pairs of legs for example spiders scorpions ticks we study ticks with reference to chiasanod forest disease right so these are some examples of arachnids so correct answer is amphibian now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to a recent decision taken by wto on certain export promotion schemes in india in 2018 united states filed a complaint against india alleging that some of india schemes violated global trade norms of wto and in november 2019 wto upheld claims made by united states and asked india to withdraw subsidies that are inconsistent with scem agreement and this has to be adhered within a period of 92 or 90 days now this scem agreement or agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures it has one special article called us article 27 titled as special and differential treatment of developing country members and know that this scem agreement has come into force on 1st january 1995 here there is a criteria for developing country when this special and differential treatment has to be terminated the text of the agreement states that once a developing country attains gross national product per capita of thousand dollars per annum then for such country the differential and special treatment shall be terminated with respect to certain subsidies within a period of eight years from the date of entry into force of wto agreement now u s alleges that since india's export performance is very well in certain areas and globally competitive and since india has attained gross national product per capita of thousand dollars per annum india should not have such subsidies measures as a form of certain export promotion schemes u s states that india should have stopped its support as subsidies for some schemes with effect from 1st january 2003 because eight year period completes on that day but india's claim is that or india's argument is that this eight year period has to be interpreted in a way that it should start from the year when our country achieves thousand dollars per annum gross national product per capita india achieved it in 2017 and therefore india asks a eight year transition period to face out export subsidies until the year 2025 but this request of india was not considered in the recent wto panel decision and india is now challenging the decision of wto panel at appellate body of wto's dispute settlement mechanism so this is the background of this question so you know that there is a special and differential treatment for developing countries in this scm agreement now in the decision taken by wto these set of schemes of india were found to be inconsistent with the scm agreement and it has asked india to withdraw providing subsidies under these programs so note these set of schemes there might be a question in this matter all these schemes are in one way or other aimed at promoting exports from india now come to the question consider the following export incentive schemes or programs of india five schemes are there which of the above schemes were declared as inconsistent with global trade norms by wto the correct answer is option d all the five schemes were declared as such now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to un genocide convention or the convention on the prevention of crime of genocide and punishment of the crime of genocide it was in news in november 2019 because gambia on behalf of organization of islamic cooperation it filed an application at international court of justice against mianmar the application was with reference to mianmar violating certain obligations under the un genocide convention with reference to rohingyas see it is a un convention that is based on a resolution of un general assembly in december 1948 it came into force in january 1951 and with respect to the status about india we have signed this convention in 1949 and within 10 years we have ratified this convention as well so india is a full-fledged party with respect to this convention and four important articles are very relevant and very important with respect to this genocide convention article 1 to 4 article 1 states that genocide whether committed in time of peace or in time of war is a crime under international law and genocide is defined in article 2 and a set of punishable acts are mentioned in article 3 article 4 states that even though these acts mentioned article 3 if done by constitutionally responsible rulers or public officials or even private individuals they shall be punished now the information pertaining to international court of justice the principal judicial organ of united nations has been highlighted here for your reference now let's come to the question consider the following statements about the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide two statements are given which of the statements given above are correct first statement genocide whether committed in time of peace or in time of war is a crime under international law second statement india is a non-signatory to this convention here the second statement is incorrect because india is a full-fledged member in this convention by becoming a signatory in 1949 and we're ratifying this convention in 1959 so the answer should not contain the statement too so you can eliminate option b and option c now first statement is correct as per article one of this convention therefore the correct answer is option a one only this question is with reference to the proposed agreement on reciprocal logistic support this agreement was renews in november 2019 because of expectation that it will be signed in the month of november last year see this agreement on reciprocal logistic support it's a proposed arrangement between india and russia the purpose is to allow both countries to each other's military facilities for supplies for fuel and also to expand logistic support in a reciprocal manner now the benefits of signing this agreement one is that it will be beneficial for indian navy as it uses a large number of ships and vessels of russian origin and russia also can access indian military facilities and this agreement if signed will also become a major milestone in the bilateral relations of india and russia this agreement is similar to four other logistics agreements that india had signed with four partner countries with usa in 2016 with singapore and france both countries in 2018 and with republic of korea i also called the south korea last year now let's come to the question the agreement on reciprocal logistic support a proposed logistic support agreement is between india and which other country the correct answer is option c russia now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to s 400 air defense system of russia it has been in use frequently last year and even in the coming days as well and in october 2018 india signed a deal with russia to buy five units or squadrons of s 400 air defense missile systems earlier in october 2016 both india and russia they signed an agreement on supply of s 400 triumph air defense missile systems to india here the main important thing is that it is a surface to air defense system and it's a mobile multi-channel air defense missile system which is designed to engage both current and future air threats now this s 400 system it is capable of destroying aircraft or cruise missiles or combat blocks that are flying at a speed of up to 4.8 kilometers per second at a distance of up to 400 kilometers which is the range that is why it is called as s 400 and one of the special feature is that it can shoot down more than 50 targets at the same time and it has a long range surveillance radar that tracks objects and gives the information to command vehicle which assesses the potential target once the target is identified then the command vehicle will order missile launch the launch data will be sent to the launch vehicle which releases surface to air missiles the engagement radar it helps to guide the missiles toward the identified target which is moving target the steel was considered as an important move from the indian side for russia to assure russia that it is an important defense and strategic partner for india and china having the same system it is necessary for india to boost our defense capabilities and these developments have created tensions from the side of united states as united states pressurized india to discontinue the deal with russia and it also pressurized india that it will put sanctions on india under its karsa act or countering america's adversaries through sanctions act primarily this lost purpose is to target russia iran and north korea with economic and political sanctions as they are considered as adversaries under this legislation and reports were saying that earlier in september 2019 china was also sanctioned under this act for buying s 400 triumph system from russia the news reports were also saying that india has forwarded advanced payment for the purchase of five squadrons of s 400 air defense system from russia and us has not received it in the right spirit india has been requesting a waiver from the united states with respect to this deal from russia now let's come to the question two statements are there which of the statements are correct first statement it is an air to air missile and is a mobile multi-channel air defense missile system it is developed by russia and india has signed a deal with russia to purchase the missile system second statement is correct second half of first statement is correct first half of first statement is wrong because it is surface to air missile therefore the correct answer is option b2 only now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to sea flows chennai see it was in news as it was launched by the vice president in november 2019 sea flows sounds like the sea flows is actually a coastal flood warning system application for chennai it is a web based gis based disaster preparedness decision support system with reference to coastal flooding in urban areas this is developed with the chief involvement of two agencies ministry of earth sciences and the state government of tamil nadu because they have developed the sea flows for chennai which is to be helpful in relief and mitigation operations the system will be getting meteorological data from imd national center for medium range weather forecasting national center for ocean information services and other relevant stakeholders now let's come to this question two statements are given which of the statements are correct it is a gis based flood warning system it is a correct statement it is developed by isro in association with government of tamil nadu second statement is incorrect as it is developed by ministry of earth sciences with the chief involvement of two of its agencies national center for coastal research and also national institute of ocean technology chennai correct answer is option a one only this question is with reference to adjusted gross revenue we have been seeing this topic in news since last year with reference to telecom companies paying their levies and charges and dues to the central government that is the department of telecommunications now see this adjusted gross revenue means the gross revenue that is adjusted after some specific deductions this amount of agr is taxable by the government that is from this amount levies and charges can be made on the telecom companies or telecom operators the core issue was what constitutes adjusted gross revenue and there was dispute between the central government that is between department of telecommunications and the telecom operators and the matter had been in litigation for around 14 years telecom companies argued that it should only comprise revenue from telecom services but central government argued that it should even include revenues earned by an operator from non-core telecom operations as well for example money earned by rent profit earned on sale of fixed assets real estate transactions etc now in october 2019 supreme court judgment came with respect to this matter and the judgment of the final verdict upheld the definition claimed by department of telecommunications this was seen as a big blow to the telecom operators mainly because when the constituents of adjusted gross revenue increases the telecom operators have to pay more money to department of telecommunications as levies and charges now come to this question two statements are there asking to select correct statement agr includes revenue earned by an operator even from non-core telecom operations this statement is correct increase in adjusted gross revenue increases levies and charges that telecom operators have to pay this is also correct statement when agr increases obviously levies and charges will also increase both the statements are correct correct answer option see both one and two now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to consumer expenditure survey or in other words household consumption expenditure survey this topic was in news in november 2019 because earlier for the period july 2017 to 2018 the national statistical office of ministry of statistics and program implementation they carried out an all-india survey on household consumption expenditure but in november 2019 the union ministry decided not to release the results of consumer expenditure survey of 2017-18 because of data quality issues and in this context let us know few information about the consumer expenditure survey see it is usually conducted once in five years or in other words in quinquennial intervals the last survey on consumer expenditure was conducted for the period july 2011 to june 2012 as a ministry it is carried out by ministry of statistics and program implementation see this survey it collects information on consumption expenditure for goods and services by households the survey generally estimates monthly per capita consumer expenditure at the level of households and also estimates distribution of households and persons over the monthly per capita consumer expenditure classes and usually the results of the consumer expenditure survey they are used for rebasing of gdp and other macroeconomic indicators that is the results will be considered for taking a decision with respect to changing the base year for gdp and other macroeconomic indicators so with the recent consumer expenditure survey results of 2017-18 not to be published the ministry is examining feasibility to conduct consumer expenditure survey in the present and next financial year after taking into consideration all data quality refinements in the survey process now come to the question with reference to consumer expenditure survey consider the following statements two statements are there which of the statements given above are correct first statement usually the results of the survey are used for rebasing of the gdp and other macroeconomic indicators the survey is usually conducted at quinquennial intervals both the statements are correct the second statement is also correct because it stays usually not always so the correct answer is option see both one and two this question is with reference to prime minister matru vandana yojana see this program it aims treating women during the period of pregnancy and lactation by giving them financial incentives or monetary benefits it came into effect on 1st january 2017 see it is a centrally sponsored scheme meaning the funding will be shared between center and the states and not totally taken by the center at the national level the nodal ministry for the scheme is ministry of women and child development see the objective of the scheme is to ensure that pregnant and lactating women they should take adequate rest before and after the delivery of first living child so for taking rest women have to be at home without going to work so if they are not going to work there will be wage loss so what the scheme does is it partially compensates the wage loss by giving a cash incentive of a total of rupees 5000 so this scheme aims to result into improved health status of pregnant women and lactating mothers so all pregnant women and lactating mothers who have their pregnancy on or after 1st of january 2017 for the first child in family or eligible under the scheme note that a beneficiary is eligible to receive the entire set of benefit under the scheme only once if there is miscarriage or stillbirth then the beneficiary would be eligible to claim set of remaining installments or installment in future pregnancy and the beneficiary is eligible to receive cash incentive under the scheme they are also eligible to receive cash incentive for institutional delivery under Janani Shuraksha Yojana as well now let's come to the question two statements are there they're asking which of the statements are correct it provides a cash incentive directly to pregnant women and lactating mothers for first living child of the family subject to fulfilling specific conditions related to maternal and child health first statement is correct and coming to the specific conditions these are conditions like early registration of pregnancy like undergoing anti natal checkup then undergoing childbirth registration and completing first cycle of vaccinations after the birth and these conditions are set up to take care of the health status of mother and child so the first statement is correct second statement is incorrect because it is a centrally sponsored scheme where the cost sharing ratio between center and states is 60 is to 40 the same is the case also with uts with legislature then for northeastern states in Himalayan states 90 is to 10 then for uts without legislature 100 percent so here only the first statement is correct correct answer option a one only now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to a project called as dam rehabilitation and improvement project this project at present comes under ministry of jal shakti it was initiated in april 2012 now the objective of this project is to improve safety and operational performance of selected dams along with institutional strengthening actually it is a six year project from 2012 to 18 implemented through central water commission coming to the funding of the project see this project is a mainly externally aided project this is because 80 percent of the total project cost is provided by world bank as loan and remaining 20 percent is given by the states or the central government for the central water commission originally the project was to be implemented in selected dams in four states only kerala madhipadesh odisha and tamil nadu but later even karnataka utrak and damodar valley corporation were included in this drip project with reference to our prelims examination there is one more term associated with this project this term is called as dharma dharma stands for dam health and rehabilitation monitoring application it is a web-based asset management tool here asset is dam or we can say web-based dam management tool so this tool this dharma tool it supports collection and management of data of dams and data of health of large dams in our country development of this tool is also part of this project now let's come to this question consider the following statements regarding drip project two statements are there which of the statements given above are correct it is an externally aided project with 80 percent of total cost being funded by asian development bank the statement is wrong because it is funded by world bank so eliminate option a and option c second statement dharma is a web-based asset management software to support effective collection and management of health data of large dams the statement is correct so the correct answer is option b two only this question is with reference to kare system two statements are given they're asking which of the statements given above correct see it was in news in november 2019 with reference to its inclusion in world's monument watch list for the year 2020 along with 24 other monuments from world in news the suranga bawadi kare system of deccan plateau was reported it is an ancient system where water is supplied through underground or subterranean tunnels and the kare system in deccan plateau they were called as historic water systems of deccan plateau see there are times when water could not be collected from the surface level say for example a desert places like iran balochistan and afghanistan are known for the system where the system is also called as kanad system in such situations groundwater provides as an alternative source or as a viable source so underground tunnels were developed to harness the underground water these tunnels are called as kare or kanad or fallage so in the system there is a gently sloping underground tunnel and this tunnel allows groundwater from a large area to flow in a single outlet the gentle slope of the tunnel is in such a way that it facilitates the entire system to function to collect water and in the origin of the tunnel there is a large well called as mother well or source well and there are series of narrower vertical shafts and these are dug up for ventilation and maintenance purposes individuals go through these shafts and work in tunnel and maintain them and these shafts are also helpful to mark the root of the subterranean tunnel over the ground so with respect to kare system in india world monuments fund it states that the kare system of bijapo in the deccan plateau was created by adil shahi rulers in the 16th century and reports say that this kare's underground system was built in 16th century by ali adil shah one later his successor ibrahim adil shah two added more structures to strengthen it and world monument fund it states that kare system was used extensively in the deccan region now with reference to this note that there is one another monument from india which was selected for 2020 world monument watch list which is the sardar vallabai patel stadium located in akmadabad the inclusion of these sites or these systems in the monument watch list is a measure to provide financial and technical assistance for maintenance of these locations we have given a short note about world monuments fund and the global program called us world monuments watch now come to the question two statements are there they're asking to select correct statements first statement the kare system or the subterranean tunnels used to harness underground water this statement is correct the second statement the kare's of bijapu was promoted by adil shahi dynasty during the 16th century both the statements are correct correct answer option see both one and two now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to siseri river bridge the bridge was in news in november 2019 as union defense minister inaugurated this bridge at the lower debunk valley district in the state of arunachal pradesh see it's a 200 meter long bridge it provides connectivity between debunk valley and siang in the state of arunachal pradesh this bridge was constructed by border roads organization under the project titled as project brahman see there are four important projects of border roads organization in the state of arunachal pradesh called us vartak arunank brahman kand udhayak these are projects that not only meet india's strategic requirement in the state of arunachal pradesh but also significantly contribute to the socioeconomic development of the region and this bridge will also be a part of trans arunachal highway see trans arunachal highway is a two lane highway project aiming to connect tavang in the west of arunachal pradesh to kanubari in the east of arunachal pradesh see kanubari is a place in thirap district we can find in the eastern side and this trans arunachal highway project was conceived in the year 2008 we have given you important and relevant information with reference to border roads organization and border area development program now let's come to the question sisseri river bridge recently seen in news is located in the state of arunachal pradesh now let's move on to next question now consider this question two statements have been given they're asking which of the statements given above are correct first statement section 6a of citizenship act of 1955 contains special provisions as to citizenship of persons covered by the asam accord this statement is correct this section 6a was inserted by citizenship amendment act of 1985 after the signing of asam accord on the independence day of 1985 first statement is correct second statement the central government may compulsorily register every citizen of india and issue national identity card see this statement is also correct this is as per section 14 capital a of citizenship act of 1955 one of the subsections also say that central government may maintain a national register of indian citizens and for that purpose it may establish national registration authority the first statement is with reference to the developments related to the updation of national register of citizens in the state of asam see the nrc means the register that has names of indian citizens it was prepared for the first time after the census 1951 as per the directive from ministry of home affairs and this process of updation was launched only in the state of asam in the year 2015 based on supreme court's order in 2013 there were around 3.29 crore applicants and the final nrc was published on august 31 2019 and it was found that around 19 lakh applicants name were excluded from the final published list so here both the statements are correct therefore the correct answer is option c both one and two now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to solar spicules it was in news in november because a research study published that solar spicules are reason why parts of sun's atmosphere and corona is hotter than the sun's surface we can see regions in the sun and around the sun here photosphere chromosphere and corona they are above sun's surface the research found out that jet like solar plasma they erupt from the sun's surface and punctuate the sun's atmosphere at any given moment a million gazer like hot spicules they erupt from sun's surface and they bring in the solar plasma until the corona which is in the outermost region of sun's atmosphere and this is explained as a reason why the temperature in corona is more than the temperature at the surface of the sun it is a highly dynamic solar phenomena we have been observing it from earth for more than a century but studying solar spicules is considered to be difficult by scientists for the main reason because each spicule they last only a few minutes from its formation and the collapse so see this question with reference to solar spicules often seen in news which of the following statements are correct they are gazer like spicules erupting from the sun's surface they are jet like plasma features that punctuate sun's atmosphere they last only a few minutes from formation to collapse correct answer is option d all the above now let's move on to next question this question is about sans campaign this campaign was in news in november 2019 because it was launched in that month by ministry of health and family welfare the purpose of this campaign is to combat pneumonia now it stands for social awareness and action to neutralize pneumonia successfully when we say pneumonia see it is a respiratory or a breathing condition where there is an infection of the lung the infection can come from bacteria or virus or even fungi for that matter and in this campaign there is a goal to be achieved by the year 2025 this goal is to reduce child mortality due to pneumonia to less than 3 per thousand live birds there is also a device that is called as pulse oximeter that is used at health and wellness centers so as to identify low oxygen levels in the blood now let's come to the question sans campaign recently seen in news is related to actually the word sans in hindi the meaning is breath to breathe so here the correct answer for this question is option a a government mission launched to combat pneumonia now let's move on to next question see this question with reference to tuberculosis elimination in india three statements are there they're asking which of the statements given above are correct before taking this question let us see few information pertaining to tuberculosis with special reference to our country see tuberculosis is a bacterial disease caused by bacterium called as mycobacterium tuber clausus usually it attacks lungs but they can also damage other parts of the body this tuber clausus it spreads through air this is visible particularly when a person with tb of lungs or throat cause or sweeces see tuber clausus is curable and also preventable according to world health organization now with reference to tb who has initiated a strategy called as end tb strategy this strategy aims to end the global tb epidemic and it aims to reduce tuber clausus deaths by 95 between 2015 to 2035 and it aims to cut new infections or new cases by 90 percent between 2015 to 2035 with reference to tb india here we have an ambitious goal to eliminate or to end tuber clausus by the year 2025 now about tuber clausus control activities in our country way back in 1962 india launched national tb program to control tuber clausus and in the year 1993 when world health organization declared tb as a global emergency and when it devised directly observed treatment short course in the same year india revitalized national tuber clausus program as revised national tb control program and we have also launched dots treatment there is a recent development that is from january 1 2020 the program against tuber clausus has been renamed from revised national tb control program to national tuber clausus elimination program the idea is to shift the focus from controlling tuber clausus to eliminate tuber clausus we already saw that india aims to eliminate tb by the year 2025 this ambitious goal is given in national strategic plan for tuber clausus elimination 2017 to 2025 in the context of tuber clausus elimination there is a web-based tb surveillance system called as niksha it is a portal which has the details of tb infections across the country the details can be fed by both government and private health care facilities and recently a battery operated device was invented by indian researchers it is this battery operated device that was in news in november 2019 and this device allows quick identification of mycobacterium tuber clausus so this device is said to minimize the time and also the cost for detection and diagnosis of tb so now let's come to the question first statement government of india has launched national strategic plan for tuber clausus under which it plans to eliminate tb by 2030 the statement one is incorrect because we are planning to eliminate tb by 20 25 itself once this fact you understand immediately you can arrive at the correct answer two and three only by eliminating options a b and d we have just saw the second and third statements which are correct correct answer option c two and three only now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to remote sensing data policy 2011 see this policy addresses acquisition and distribution of remote sensing satellite data from both indian and foreign satellites and these data can be acquired and distributed to civilian users in india and also to users outside india so the policy streamlines distribution of satellite data to government users then to private users who are involved in developmental activities with the government then also to other private users academic users and also including foreign users now the nodal agency for implementing this policy is department of space that functions under the overall control of the prime minister now there are two agencies responsible for two different roles national remote sensing center given the authority with respect to acquisition and disseminating remote sensing satellite data within india then antrix corporation given the authority to receive applications for grant of license for acquiring and distribution of remote sensing data outside of india this policy was in use in november 2019 because of launch of cartosat 3 in november 2019 cartosat 3 is a third generation advanced agile satellite agile means it can move quickly and easily it obtains pan chromatic and multi spectral imagery pan chromatic means it can sense all visible colors of spectrum multi spectral refers to operating in several regions of electromagnetic spectrum or involving several regions of electromagnetic spectrum the specialty of cartosat 3 is the high resolution imaging capability as it has resolution of 25 centimeter this makes it as one among the few sharpest civil earth images that are available in the world and whether all the images captured by cartosat 3 will be available to all of us this is not so because according to 2011 remote sensing data policy all data of resolutions up to one meter or poorer than one meter can be distributed on a non-discriminatory basis and also on requested basis better resolution means resolution less than one meter for resolution less than one meter for such images the data can be denied this is because to protect national security the policy ensures that such data better than one meter resolution shall be screened and cleared by the appropriate agency before distribution so now coming to the question two statements are given we are asked to select incorrect statements first statement the policy is for the acquisition and distribution of remote sensing satellite data from Indian and foreign satellites only for the Indian users this statement is incorrect because the policy also deals with acquisition and distribution for foreign users as well so first statement is incorrect second statement antrix corporation limited of department of space is vested with the authority to acquire and disseminate all remote sensing satellite data in India in India it is done by national remote sensing center and with respect to outside of India it is done by antrix corporation limited so both the statements are incorrect correct answer option see both one and two are incorrect now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to reverse osmosis systems the aro systems were in news last year since may 2019 itself because national green tribunal directed union environment ministry in the month of may 2019 so as to issue a notification to prohibit aro purifiers where the supplied water is already meeting bas drinking water standards the order also asked to cover in the notification so as to ensure a recovery of water from aro membrane to be more than 60 percent of input after taking some time after requesting some timeframe to publish a notification the union environment ministry in february it released a draft notification for this purpose this draft notification it prescribes prohibition in domestic sector where water quality meets indian standards of bas and it also prescribes water recovery efficiency and also complains date for such recovery efficiency to be achieved with respect to three categories domestic category commercial category and industrial category when we say osmosis it means water moves from low salt concentration into a region with higher salt concentration under natural conditions this is done to equalize the concentrations on both the sides in other words we can also say that in osmosis water moves from higher water concentration to low water concentration now in case of reverse osmosis external pressure is supplied to overcome osmotic pressure so as to force water from higher salt concentration to low salt concentration through a semi permeable membrane see we know that reverse osmosis is used in purification purposes so initially water will be having high salt concentration after purification water will have low salt concentration in this way you can keep it in mind and the systems that are based on aro process are known as aro systems the recovery efficiency that is if we put 100 liters of water the present aro systems their efficiency ranges between 20 to 60 percentage that is in some cases only 20 liters are recovered 80 liters of water are wasted in addition to wastage of water one another disadvantage is that when a water that meets quality standards is treated with aro processes then needed nutrients for human health are also found to be removed by the aro filters so to address these two concerns n gt and union ministry have taken several steps the recent step being issuing a draft notification for public consultation the draft notifications also asks the commercial bottlers who use aro systems to purify water so as to store the wasted water in safe and hygienic conditions for the purpose of reuse for users other than drinking water purposes for home purification systems aro manufacturers have to ensure water wastages 25% or less by the year 2022 and aro systems should inform the TDS levels at the inlet and also the water outlet and note that as per drinking water standards in India permissible limit of pH of drinking water is 6.5 to 8.5 and permissible limit of TDS total dissolved solids in water is 500 milligram per liter these things you have to know or come to the question three statements are given choose the correct statements from the codes given below aro systems are based on reverse osmosis process in which under external pressure water moves from low salt concentration region to high salt concentration the statement is wrong under reverse osmosis water moves from high salt concentration to low salt concentration eliminate options a and d now you have to check whether the third statement is correct or not the aro purifiers remove only unwanted salts it is not so even needed nutrients for human health are also removed in the process so three is also wrong only the second statement is correct which states aro systems are used in the purification of impure water correct answer option c2 only now let's move on to next question this question is with reference to open general export licenses see this was in news in last week of october 2019 and in early november 2019 because union defense minister approved issuing two open general export licenses while one is with reference to export of parts and components one is with reference to intra company transfer of technology these measures are such open general export licensing policy is considered to be important in the light of promoting defense exports from our country and also enhancing ease of doing business in the domain of defense exports in this context it is important for us to know what do we mean by this license who considers the applications for the applicant exporter and who authorizes such licenses and other essential features of these licenses as we have mentioned already there are two open general export licenses one is for export of parts and components other is for intra company transfer of technology and if an applicant is having license for parts and components then the license holder can export permitted items and components to designated countries and if a license holder is holding license for transfer of technology then only intra company transfer of technology is allowed meaning that an indian subsidiary can transfer technology to its foreign parent company or the indian subsidiary can transfer technology to other subsidiaries of foreign parent company only these two things are allowed and once an application is made for such license by an applicant exporter it is the department of defense production which comes into ministry of defense that exhibits the application and that provides authorization the authorization or the license will be valid for a period of two years from the date of issue consideration and application of these licenses are carried out only on case to case basis and for acquiring licenses one of the most important criteria is that the applicant should have import to export certificate here we have to know the restricted parts and components and the restricted technologies that cannot be exported under these licenses with respect to parts and components there are a set of items that are allowed say for example firing control systems firing related alerting and warning equipment body protective items components of omniscient and few sitting device without energetic and explosive material these things are allowed while the restricted parts we have highlighted here for your reference we have to know what are the countries that are designated as beneficiaries or allowed for exports under these licenses if we come from north america usa canada and mexico then in europe we can find uk france germany then we can find spain sweden belgium italy poland then japan and south africa here what we have to infer is russia and china are not there none of our sarg partners are there no west asian nations are there say for example israel is not there and note that export of items and technologies are not allowed for special economic zones of even the allowed countries so these are the important points with respect to this open general export licenses now come to the question two statements are given they're asking which of the statements are correct first let's read the second statement as of now export under ogl are allowed only to usa and russia this statement is incorrect russia is nowhere there usa is there but not only to usa there is a set of 13 countries including usa so the second statement is incorrect you eliminate option b and option c first statement it is a one-time export license granted by department of defense production to a company for a specific period as of now two years for the export of certain parts and components and intra company transfer of technology to select countries first statement is correct and is the crisp definition of open general export licenses correct answer option a one only with this we come to the end of this session on target problem series for the month of november 2019 if you like the video click the like button comment share it among your friends and subscribe to shankarai's academy youtube channel for more updates on civil service exam preparation