Current Affairs MCQ for UPSC Exams - 16 August 2019

Q1. The Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES), during its conference held in Johannesburg in 2016, decided that all species of rosewood and palisander under the genus Dalbergia will be protected under CITES Appendix II.

Which of the following statements regarding the same stands true ?

1) Globally and nationally, any species listed in CITES appendices cannot be traded internationally without a valid CITES permit.
2) Dalbergia is native to tropical monsoon forests of south-east India. However, Dalbergiasissoo, commonly known as Shisham or North Indian Rosewood, is a common species, freely traded so far within and across Indian borders.
3) By virtue of being extremely durable least susceptible to dry-wood termites in India, it is widely used for high-quality furniture, cabinets, marine and aircraft grade plywood, ornamental turnery, tool handles and sporting goods.

a) 1 & 2 only
b) 2 & 3 only
c) 1 & 3 only
d) all of the above

Q2. Consider the following pairs of tribes in India and their respective habitat locations :

1) Apatanis : Arunachal Pradesh
2) Arandan : Andhra Pradesh
3) Dhodia : Nagaland
4) Barda : Gujarat
5) Mawasi :Chattisgarh

Which of the above pairs are correctly matched ?

a) 1,2& 3 only
b) 3,4 & 5 only
c) 1,4 & 5 only
d) all of the above

Q3. With respect to the newly released report “Agritech In India: Emerging Trends in 2019” by NASSCOM, which of the following statements are true ?

1) India’s agriculture sector is advancing steadily towards its digital transformation and the start-up ecosystem is playing a critical role here, bringing innovation and disruption in much-needed areas.
2) Funding to these booming agritech sectors has been lower in 2019 than in 2018.
3) According to government data, post-harvest losses are highest in the fruit and vegetable sector with as much as 16% of produce going waste which can be solved by the agritech sectors.

a) 1 & 2 only
b) 2 & 3 only
c) 1 & 3 only
d) all of the above

Q4. Consider the following statements :

1) Every year, several million tonnes of plastic litter course through rivers and out to the oceans, where they are gradually broken down into smaller fragments through the motion of waves and the ultraviolet light of the sun.
2) Studies have found that microplastic particles can be transported tremendous distances through the atmosphere which are later washed out of the air by precipitation, particularly snow.
3) Scientists claim that concentrations of the microparticles in the Arctic were significantly higher than in the European sites.

Which of the above statements are true ?

a) 1 & 2 only
b) 2 & 3 only
c) 1 & 3 only
d) all of the above

Q5. The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar and Peninsular Spain in Europe and which of the following countries of Africa ?

a) Egypt
b) Morocco
c) Chad
d) Niger

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Answer:

1. (d) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5.(b)