TEST-7- INSIGHTS IAS REVISION PLAN FOR PRELIMS 2019 – DAILY REVISION TESTS: 21 March 2019

Solution: D

Corals are not located in Sunderban region due to the high influx of freshwater. Coral needs sea water of optimum salinity, which is diluted by the influx of fresh water from Ganga and Brahmaputra in Sunderbans.

Solution: B

The Living Planet Report is published every two years by the World Wide Fund for Nature since 1998. It is based on the Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculations.

The Living Planet Report is the world’s leading, science-based analysis on the health of our only planet and the impact of human activity.

Solution: C

Vegetation density, botanical importance, adaptation of flora and fauna are not considered while recognizing hot spots of biodiversity.

Solution: A

Promotion of vegetarianism doesn’t threat biodiversity of geographical area.

Solution: C

There are 4 biodiversity hotspots in India:

Himalaya: Includes the entire Indian Himalayan region (and that falling in Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar)

Indo-Burma: Includes entire North-eastern India, except Assam and Andaman group of Islands (and Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and southern China)

Sundalands: Includes Nicobar group of Islands (and Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines)

Western Ghats and Sri Lanka: Includes entire Western Ghats (and Sri Lanka)

Solution: C

Biodiversity normally varies with latitude and altitude. Lower latitude and altitude has relatively higher biodiversity.

Solution: C

Acidification of ocean mainly occurs due to the carbon compounds, nitrogenous compounds contribute fraction to ocean acidification.

Productivity of corals may increase due to the availability of nitrogenous compounds and sea grass has ability to control ocean acidification.

Solution: B

Humus is less susceptible to microbial action and act as a reservoir of nutrients.

Solution: D

Biosphere reserve focuses on conservation of whole biome rather than a species.  Great Rann of Kutch biosphere is located in Gujurat.

Solution: D

All the above activities leads to desertification.

Solution: D

High fresh water influx and sediments are unfavorable conditions for coral reef formations

Solution: C

All the above mentioned habitats are Ecotones.

Solution: A

Option A best suits the definition of edge effect, however option B restricts itself to aquatic and terrestrial.

Solution: A

Provision of natural medicines doesn’t constitute regulating services of ecosystem.

Solution: B

All the above are the adaptations of desert animals.

Solution: C

Haryana and Gujarat doesn’t include tropical evergreen forests.

Solution: D

History was made on 29 April 1997 with the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)—the world’s first multilateral disarmament agreement to provide for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction within a fixed time frame.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is the
implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force on
29 April 1997.

The OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavor to permanently
and verifiably eliminate chemical weapons.

The 2013 Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to the Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons on 10 December 2013 for ‘its extensive efforts to eliminate
chemical weapons’.

Solution: C

The Kuiper Belt is a disk-shaped region past the orbit of Neptune extending roughly from 30 to 50 AU from the Sun containing many small icy bodies. It is now considered to be the source of the short-period comets.

Ceres is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt. OSIRIS-REx is a NASA’s asteroid study and sample-return mission

Solution: C

The Billion Tree Tsunami was launched in 2014, by the government of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan, as a response to the challenge of global
warming. Pakistan’s Billion Tree Tsunami restores 350,000 hectares of forests
and degraded land to surpass its Bonn Challenge commitment.

The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to restore 150 million hectares of the world’s degraded and deforested lands by 2020.

The 2020 target was launched at a high level event in Bonn in 2011 organised by the Government of Germany and IUCN, and was later endorsed and extended to 2030 by the New York Declaration on Forests of the 2014 UN Climate Summit.

To date, 56 governments, private associations and companies have pledged over 168 million hectares to the Challenge.

Solution: b)

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.

The Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central & state regulators for regulation of drugs & cosmetics.

The regulation of manufacture, sale and distribution of Drugs is primarily the concern of the State authorities while the Central Authorities are responsible for approval of New Drugs, Clinical Trials in the country, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs, coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organisations and providing expert advice with a view of bring about the uniformity in the enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

Source

Solution: A

Saddle Peak or Saddle Hill is located on North Andaman Island in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
At 731 m, it is the highest point of the archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. It is surrounded by Saddle Peak
National Park. It is located near Diglipur, a town in North Andaman Island.

Orissa have maximum number of PVTGs(13).

Coco Channel separates an Andaman & Nicobar Islands from Myanmar.

Solution: B

Somalia is a member of Indian Ocean Rim Association

Socotra, also called Soqotra, located between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, is the largest of four islands of the Socotra archipelago. The territory is located near major shipping routes and is officially part of Yemen, and had long been a subdivision of the Aden Governorate.

In 1974, Katchatheevu was ceded to Sri Lanka by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi through the Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement to settle the maritime boundary in the Palk Strait with her counterpart Srimavo Bandaranaike.

Though ceded to Sri Lanka, the agreement, which did not specify fishing rights, allowed Indian fishermen to fish around Katchatheevu and to dry their nets on the island.

Solution: D

Key Facts of Nipah Virus:

• Nipah virus infection in humans causes a range of clinical presentations, from asymptomatic infection (subclinical) to acute respiratory infection and fatal encephalitis.
• The case fatality rate is estimated at 40% to 75%. This rate can vary by outbreak depending on local capabilities for epidemiological surveillance and clinical management.
• Nipah virus can be transmitted to humans from animals (such as bats or pigs), or contaminated foods and can also be transmitted directly from human-to-human.
• Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are the natural host of Nipah virus.
• There is no treatment or vaccine available for either people or animals. The primary treatment for humans is supportive care.
• The 2018 annual review of the WHO R&D Blueprint list of priority diseases indicates that there is an urgent need for accelerated research and development for the Nipah virus.

Solution: C

Lao PDR shares a 505 km border with China to the north, 435 km of border with Cambodia to the south, 2,069 km of border with Vietnam to the east, 1,835 km of border with Thailand to the west, and a 236 km border with Myanmar to the northwest.

It flows through many countries: China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and finally Vietnam. The Mekong begins in the Lasagongma Spring which is in the plateaus of Tibet, disputed part of China, and flows about 2,703 miles (4,350 km) south-east to the South China Sea.

Solution: A

Two state resolution is proposed by UN for resolving conflicts between Israel and Palestine.