UPSC Quiz – 2021 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 10th November 2021

Solution (c)

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India has been determining the tariffs of aeronautical charges at major airports in the country.

Under the present Act, a “major airport” has been defined to mean any airport which has, or is designated to have, annual passengers in excess of 35 lakh. However, it does not provide for determination of tariff for a group of airports

The central government may also designate any airport as a major airport by a notification.

Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) is a regulatory agency under Government of India to regulate tariff and other expenditure & fees for major airports. It is a statutory body constituted under the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act (AERA), 2008.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/srinagar-declared-a-major-airport/article37359558.ece

Solution (a)

Sunspots are dark, planet-sized regions that appear on the “surface” of the Sun. Sunspots are “dark” because they are cooler than their surroundings.

Solar flares are highly energetic phenomena that happen inside the sunspots.

Sometimes solar flares also cause hot plasma to be ejected from the Sun, causing a solar storm, and this is called Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).

The solar magnetic cycle that works in the deep interior of the Sun creates regions that rise to the surface and appear like dark spots. These are the sunspots. Solar flares are highly energetic phenomena that happen inside the sunspots.

In a solar flare, the energy stored in the Sun’s magnetic structures is converted into light and heat energy. This causes the emission of high energy x-ray radiation and highly accelerated charged particles to leave the Sun’s surface.

Sometimes solar flares also cause hot plasma to be ejected from the Sun, causing a solar storm, and this is called Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). Coronal Mass Ejections can harbor energies exceeding that of a billion atomic bombs.

The energy, radiation and high-energy particles emitted by the flares can affect Earth-bound objects and life on Earth – it can affect the electronics within satellites and affect astronauts. Very powerful Earth-directed coronal mass ejections can cause failure of power grids and affect oil pipelines and deep-sea cables. They can also cause spectacular aurorae in the high-latitude and polar countries. The last time a major blackout due to a coronal mass ejection was recorded was in 1989 – a powerful geomagnetic storm that took down the North American power grid, plunging large parts of Canada into darkness and triggering spectacular aurorae beyond the polar regions.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sci-tech-and-agri/the-sun-lights-up-aurorae-in-high-latitude-countries/article37363424.ece

https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/sun-space-weather/sunspots

Solution (d)

China is strengthening connectivity and increasing its depth in Chumbi valley in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), close to India’s strategic and vulnerable Siliguri corridor, also called Chicken’s neck,

The Siliguri corridor, located in West Bengal, is a stretch of land bordering Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal

The geostrategic significance of the Siliguri corridor came about in terms of it being a narrow piece of land that connects the northeast to the rest of the country through which major national highways, railway line, pipelines, Off-Shore Cable (OFC) connectivity and the rest pass.

The Siliguri Corridor is an especially important and sensitive territory for India, formed by the creation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1948.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/china-strengthening-connectivity-in-chumbi-valley-close-to-siliguri-corridor/article37358027.ece

Solution (c)

The UK drug regulator announced that it has approved the first oral antiviral for treatment of Covid-19. The drug, molnupiravir, has been developed by Merck and Ridgeback. “Molnupiravir has been authorised for use in people who have mild to moderate COVID-19 and at least one risk factor for developing severe illness

Molnupiravir, sold under the brand name Lagevrio, is an antiviral medication that inhibits the replication of certain RNA viruses, and is used to treat COVID-19 in those infected by SARS-CoV-2.

Molnupiravir was approved for medical use in the United Kingdom in November 2021

Molnupiravir is a pro-drug, which means that it needs to undergo processing in the body to become active.

Molnupiravir developed initially to treat influenza, has been repurposed to treat Covid patients. It interferes with the replication of SARS-CoV-2, thereby reducing severity of disease.

Article Link:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-two-new-oral-drugs-and-the-treatment-of-covid-19-7611923/

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/explained-molnupiravir-mercks-new-drug-to-treat-covid-19/article36788711.ece

Solution (a)

Mullaperiyar Dam, is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala. It is located 881 m (2,890 ft) above mean sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala, India.

The dam is located in Kerala on the river Periyar, but is operated and maintained by the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.

The Periyar river which flows westward of Kerala in to the Arabian sea was diverted eastwards to flow towards the Bay of Bengal to provide water to the arid rain shadow region of Madurai in Madras Presidency which was in dire need of a greater supply of water than the small Vaigai River could provide.

The SC constituted a permanent Supervisory Committee in 2014 to oversee all the issues concerning Mullaperiyar dam. The dam is a source of friction between Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Article Link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullaperiyar_Dam