UPSC Quiz – 2021 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 14th December 2021

Solution (d)

Drugs that are abused can be classified into:

• Natural drugs
• Semi-synthetic drugs and
• Synthetic drugs.

Natural drugs come from one of the following three plants:

• Opium poppy (Papaver somniferous)
• Cannabis
• Coca

Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) plant produces beautiful red and white flowers which mature into bolls. Opium is a drug of abuse.

Cannabis plant grows wild and is also illegally cultivated. The flowering tops of cannabis are called ganja. The resin produced by crushing the plant is called hashish or charas. Hashish oil is also produced through distillation.

The leaves of coca plant and the coca paste made from these leaves are stimulating drugs.

Thus, opium, ganja, hashish, hashish oil, coca leaves and coca paste are natural drugs.

Semi-synthetic drugs: If the natural drug is treated chemically to either isolate its active ingredient or to modify it, semi-synthetic drugs are produced. Morphine, codeine, heroin, etc. are semi-synthetic drugs produced from opium while cocaine is a semi-synthetic drug produced from coca plant.

Synthetic drugs: Synthetic drugs are produced purely through chemical processes. Amphetamines, ecstasy, diazepam, methaqualone (commonly called mandrax) are some examples of synthetic drugs

How are drugs abused?

Drugs are smoked, snorted, consumed orally or injected depending on the nature of drug. Some drugs can be used in more than one way. For instance, heroin can be smoked while purer form of heroin can be injected. Injections give a greater high than oral use or smoking and hence injecting drug use is more harmful than oral use or smoking.

Article Link:

https://dor.gov.in/narcoticdrugspsychotropic/drugs-abuse

Solution (b)

Canada joined Australia, Britain and the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Wednesday, with China calling the boycotts “political posturing” and a smear campaign.

The United States was the first to announce the boycott this week, saying on Monday its government officials would not attend February’s Beijing Olympics because of China’s human rights “atrocities”, weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the world’s two largest economies.

The Winter Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. 

Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. 

The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.

Until 1992, the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games were held in the same year and in accordance with the 1986 decision by the IOC to place the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games on separate four-year cycles in alternating even-numbered years

The International Olympic Committee is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Article Link:

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/australia-joins-diplomatic-boycott-beijing-winter-games-2021-12-08/

Solution (b)

Trincomalee is a port city on the northeast coast of Sri Lanka. 

Trincomalee harbour being the second deepest natural harbour in the world, the British who were in control of the island decided make this as their primary logistics station in the east after World War I. They started the oil storage project in the 1924 and completed in late 1930’s. 

The facility, built by the British around World War II as a refuelling station, has 99 storage tanks that look like giant wells. They have a capacity of 12,000 kilolitres each. Eighty-four of those are in the 800-acre Upper Tank Farm (UTF). For a good part of a century now, these tanks have remained unused, shrouded in a forest. The Lower Tank Farm (LTF) has 16 tanks, spread across 50 acres. One tank is damaged from a Japanese aerial attack the war, so 15 are operational and run by the LIOC, while the UTF, for decades, remains neglected. Four of the 15 tanks are used for water storage by the Sri Lanka Air Force and Prima Group, a well-known name in Sri Lanka’s food processing sector.

From India’s geostrategic viewpoint, Trincomalee is an important counterbalance to the southern Hambantota Port backed substantially by China.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/the-battle-for-the-trincomalee-oil-tank-farm/article37910694.ece

Solution (b)

The Konyak is the largest tribe, followed by Ao, Tangkhul, Sema, and Angami in Nagaland. Other Naga tribes include Lotha, Sangtam, Phom, Chang, Khiemnungam, Yimchungre, Zeliang, Chakhesang (Chokri), and Rengma.

Konyaks live in Mon district of Nagaland, Tirap, Longding, and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh; Sibsagar District of Assam; and also in Myanmar. They are known in Arunachal Pradesh as the Wanchos

In the past, the Konyaks were famous for their practice of head hunting. A rite of passage for young boys of the tribe was to present the decapitated heads of the rival tribe members into the community. And this resulted in their community being mostly isolated. The decapitated heads were brought back as trophies and hung in a community barn known as a “baan”. The number of heads decapitated was directly proportional to the honor and the position of the warrior in the society. 

A unique feature of the Konyak tradition is the practice of the Angh (king) system.

Article Link:

https://www.news18.com/news/india/tattooed-headhunters-warriors-craftsmen-a-history-of-nagalands-konyak-tribe-4531898.html

Solution (c)

NASA launched its new Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) — the agency’s first-ever laser communications system — from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The LCRD will help the agency test optical communication in space.

Currently, most NASA spacecraft use radio frequency communications to send data. Optical communications will help increase the bandwidth 10 to 100 times more than radio frequency systems.

LCRD has two optical terminals – one to receive data from a user spacecraft, and the other to transmit data to ground stations. The modems will translate the digital data into laser signals. This will then be transmitted via encoded beams of light. These capabilities make LCRD NASA’s first two-way, end-to-end optical relay

Laser communications and radio waves use different wavelengths of light. Laser uses infrared light and has a shorter wavelength than radio waves. This will help the transmission of more data in a short time.

Optical communications systems are smaller in size, weight, and require less power compared with radio instruments.

Article Link:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-is-nasas-new-communications-system-lcrd-its-importance-7661272/