Daily Current Affairs (MCQ's) | 02-12-2022

Q1. Which of the following countries receives the highest amount of remittances in the world?

1. Mexico
2. China
3. India
4. Bangladesh

Answer (c)

Explanation:

In 2022, world-topping $100bn in remittances head to India

• Migrant workers from India are on track to send home a record amount of money this year, boosting the finances of Asia’s third largest economy poised to retain its spot as the world’s top recipient of remittances.

• Remittance flows to India will rise 12% to reach $100 billion this year, according to a World Bank report. That puts its inflows far ahead of countries including Mexico, China and the Philippines.
• Highly-skilled Indian migrants living in wealthy nations such as the US, UK, and Singapore were sending more money home, according to the report.
• Over the years, Indians have moved away from doing lower paid work in places like the Gulf. Wage hikes, record-high employment and a weakening rupee also supported growth.
• Inflows from the world’s largest diaspora are a key source of cash for India, which lost almost $100 billion of foreign exchange reserves in the past year amid tightening global conditions that weakened currencies including the rupee against the Remittances, accounting for nearly 3% of India’s gross domestic product, are also important for filling fiscal gaps.

Q2. The Sela pass is situated in the state of

1. Sikkim
2. Meghalaya
3. Mizoram
4. Arunachal Pradesh

Answer (d)

Explanation:

Delay hits the Sela tunnel project in Arunachal

• The Sela tunnel project in China-bordering Arunachal Pradesh, one of the key elements of India’s big infrastructure push in forward areas, has been delayed and is now expected to be completed only by April 2023.
• The tunnel will allow faster deployment of weapons and soldiers to forward areas in the Tawang sector.
• The Sela tunnel, announced by the government in 2018, will be the longest twin-lane tunnel above 13,000 feet in the world, and will cut down travel time to Tawang by at least one hour as well as provide all-weather connectivity.

• It is being executed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). BRO does not want to push the finishing work as construction quality is the foremost priority, the officials said.
• Winter connectivity to Tawang over the 14,000-foot pass, Sela, posed a logistics challenge for the army for decades, with the movement of men, weapons and stores severely affected for at least three to four months in a year.
• India is building infrastructure at a rapid pace in eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh with focus on better living experience and improved facilities for soldiers, conservation of modern weapons and equipment deployed there, and supporting faster movement of men and material to deal with any contingency in the midst of the lingering border standoff with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
• The Sela tunnel is a part of the Balipara-Chariduar-Tawang road, one of the key strategic projects near the Chinese border.

Q3. Which of the following are benefits of bioremediation of garbage dump sites

1. Recovery of enriched soil
2. Refuse derived fuel
3. Compost

Select the correct answer from the codes given below

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Answer (d)

Explanation:

Bioremediation of legacy dumpsites:

1. Bioremediation of old waste is the process of dismantling old waste heaps, sieving the material to recover bio earth (enriched soil) and refuse-derived fuel which can be used as heating material in cement kilns.
2. As per the SBM 2.0 guidelines, the total quantity of waste generated by urban areas in India is about 32 lakh tonnes daily. This adds up to 4.8 crore tonnes per annum. Of this only about 25% is being processed; the rest is disposed of in landfills every year.

1. Given that the waste dumpsites have been operational since the early 2000s, more than 72 crore tonnes of waste need to be processed. This is where SBM 2.0 could be an important intervention.

Opportunity:

1. The transformation of waste disposal sites to processing sites is likely to produce 72 lakh tonnes of organic compost per annum from 4.8 crore tonnes of waste generated across all ULBs in the country.
2. Organic compost recovered from the wet waste, which is 60% of the total waste, can be used to enrich the soil quality and can meet about 10-12% of the country’s fertiliser demand.
3. That will reduce the amount of chemical fertiliser imported and save about ₹2,600 crores of subsidy paid by the government.

Q4. The Shola forests are found in

1. The Nilgiris
2. Anamalai hills
3. Palani hills

Select the correct answer using the code given below

1. 1 and 2 only
2. 1 and 3 only
3. 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Answer (d)

Explanation:

• Longwood Shola, the only urban shola forest in the Nilgiris, is a 116- hectare forest patch interspersed with grasslands.
• The shola forest has proven to maintain the hydrological regime of the region, capturing rainwater through marshes and releasing it via streams..
• Home to the threatened Nilgiri marten and other rare fauna and flora, the forest patch is rich in biodiversity.

The Longwood Shola, the last and the only urban shola forest in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu was recently granted the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) accreditation, a forest conservation programme across the commonwealth countries to conserve unique indigenous forest patches. Even before this accreditation, Longwood Shola, a reserve forest patch in the heart of the Kotagiri town in the Nilgiris has played a significant role in maintaining the biodiversity and hydrological cycle of the town.

Classified as ‘southern montane wet temperate forest’ in the book A Revised Survey of the Forest Types of India (P278), the sholas are found in the upper reaches of the Nilgiris, Anamalai hills, Palani hills, Kalakadu, Mundanthurai and Kanyakumari in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This is a unique system, seen at an elevation range of 1400-2700 km, where “the vast grassland is interspersed with forest made up of evergreen native trees which are dwarf in nature and hill slopes covered with native grass species.” The vegetation is a double-layered storey with a closed canopy. Various features of shola (shola derived from Tamil solai meaning tropical rainforest) forests, such as persistent cloud cover, and moisture-capturing capabilities, make them play a critical role in hydrology and biogeochemistry.

Longwood Shola is home to 74 plants, 35 birds, and around 13 animal species, including the Nilgiri marten and Nilgiri tahr.

Q5. The Galathea National Park is situated in the state/union territory of

1. Lakshadweep
2. Kerala
3. TamilNadu
4. Andaman and Nicobar

Answer (d)

Explanation:

• A major infrastructure and tourism project planned in Great Nicobar island has received the green signal from the Union Environment Ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee.
• The Committee has mandated certain conditions and mitigation measures while doing so.
• Maps and satellite data provide an insight into the scale of the topographical changes in the offing. The island is set for irreversible ecological change if the project is implemented.