UPSC Daily Quiz | 17 April 2024

Explanation: Correct answer is : 

• Stromboli: Italy
• Hekla:  Iceland
• Sakurajima: Japan
• Whakaari: New Zealand

Explanation: 

• The government has come up with a new platform to disburse subsidies to horticulture farmers under the Cluster Development Programme (CDP) — the Centre’s initiative to promote horticulture crops.
•  The CDP-SURAKSHA is essentially a digital platform. SURAKSHA stands for “System for Unified Resource Allocation, Knowledge, and Secure Horticulture Assistance.”
• Statement 1 is correct:  The CDP-SURAKSHA has features such as database integration with PM-KISAN, cloud-based server space from NIC, UIDAI validation, eRUPI integration, local government directory (LGD), content management system, geotagging, and geo-fencing.
• Statement 2 is correct: The platform will allow an instant disbursal of subsidies to farmers in their bank account by utilising the e-RUPI voucher from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). 
•  The portal provides access to farmers, suppliers, implementing agencies (IA), cluster development agencies (CDAs), and National Horticulture Board (NHB) authorities.

Explanation: 

•  According to the most recent Global Forest Watch monitoring data, India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000, representing a 6% decline in tree cover over this time period.
• According to Global Forest Watch, which analyses forest changes in near real time using satellite data and other sources, the country lost 4,14,000 hectares of humid primary forest (4.1%) between 2002 and 2023, accounting for 18% of total tree cover loss during the same period.
• Statement 1 is correct: Forests are both a sink and a source for carbon, removing carbon dioxide from the air when standing or regrowing and emitting it when cleared or degraded.
• The data showed that 95 per cent of the tree cover loss in India from 2013 to 2023 occurred within natural forests. 
• Statement 2 is incorrect: The maximum tree cover loss of 189,000 hectares occurred in 2017. The country lost 175,000 hectares of tree cover in 2016 and 144,000 hectares in 2023, the highest in the last six years. 
•  Assam had the maximum tree cover loss at 324,000 hectares compared to an average of 66,600 hectares. Mizoram lost 312,000 hectares of tree cover, Arunachal Pradesh 262,000 hectares, Nagaland 259,000 hectares, and Manipur 240,000 hectares.
•  According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the rate of deforestation in India was 668,000 hectares per year between 2015 and 2020, the second highest worldwide.

Statement 3 is incorrect: From 2001 to 2022, Odisha had the highest rate of tree cover loss due to fires with an average of 238 hectares lost per year. Arunachal Pradesh lost 198 hectares, Nagaland 195 hectares, Assam 116 hectares, and Meghalaya 97 hectares.

Explanation: 

•  A solar eclipse takes place when the Moon moves in the middle of Earth and the Sun. The Moon blocks the light of the Sun, either fully or partially, which casts a huge shadow on some parts of the world.
•  There are four different types of solar eclipses, including total solar eclipse, annual solar eclipse, partial solar eclipse, and hybrid solar eclipse.
• Statement 1 is correct: It takes place when the Moon and Sun are aligned on the same side of Earth.
• Statement 2 is correct:A solar eclipse is witnessed only during the new moon.
•  However, the solar eclipse does not happens every month. It takes place only between two to five times annually.
•  Moon does not orbit Earth in the same plane as the Earth orbits the Sun. In fact, the Moon is tilted by about five degrees with respect to Earth. As a result, most of the time when the Moon is in between the Sun and Earth, its shadow is either too high or too low to fall on the Earth.
• Statement 3 is incorrect:  There can be between two and five solar eclipses every year, total eclipses only happen about once every 18 months or so.

Explanation: 

• Statement 1 is correct:   The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) is the first and only tri-service command in the islands and was established in 2001. 
• Statement 2 is incorrect:  There are 836 Islands in A&N, of which only 38 are inhabited. 
•  In February 1942, just a month after the fall of Singapore, the islands were occupied by the Japanese as a prospective springboard for the invasion of India.
• Statement 3 is correct:   Towards the end of 1943, they became the first part of India to be “liberated” from British rule, when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose visited Port Blair and hoisted the INA tricolour. However, this was mere symbolism because the British reoccupied the A&N after the Japanese surrender in 1945.