UPSC Quiz – 2021 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 16th December 2021

Solution (d)

Waste / Bio-mass sources like agricultural residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste and sewage treatment plant waste, etc. produce bio-gas through the process of anaerobic decomposition. The biogas is purified to remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor and compressed as Compressed Bio Gas (CBG), which has methane (CH4) content of more than 90%.

CBG has calorific value and other properties similar to CNG and hence can be utilized as green renewable automotive fuel. Thus it can replace CNG in automotive, industrial and commercial areas, given the abundance biomass availability within the country

CBG can be used to replace compressed natural gas (CNG)

Irrespective of technology, producing CBG from biomass involves a two-pronged approach. First, biogas is produced through anaerobic decomposition of biomass. Since biogas contains 55 to 60 per cent methane, 40 to 45 per cent carbon dioxide (CO2) and trace amounts of hydrogen sulphide, the second process involves purifying the gas to remove carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide gases to prepare CBG.

Thus chemically, CBG is the same as CNG — both are compressed methane — and has the same calorific value. The difference is that while CNG is a by-product of petroleum, CBG can be produced from any biomass, be it crop residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal wet waste or effluents from a sewage treatment plant.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/high-lpg-prices-are-scorching-the-air-pollution-fight/article37904630.ece

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/energy/clean-push-why-compressed-biogas-has-an-edge-over-cng-74874

Solution (a)

The Kerala government on Thursday sounded a high alert in Alapuzha district after the state animal husbandry department confirmed bird flu (H5N1) influenza) in some samples sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Disease in Bhopal.

Bird flu, also known as Avian Flu, is a variety of influenza caused by an airborne virus in birds. It can spread to humans in rare conditions, and if it happens, it can trigger a person to person transmission. There are many variants of the virus and H7N9 is considered the dangerous among them, they added. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are many subtypes of the avian influenza virus and only some of them will be dangerous to humans.

Avian flu is spread by close contact between healthy birds and ones who have been infected, even if they are dead.

Article Link:

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/high-alert-in-kerala-after-bird-flu-detection-101639077707328.html

Solution (c)

As India lumbers on with the formulation of its national suicide prevention strategy, in the works for some years now, The Lancet has published a broad and comprehensive policy paper offering a range of evidence-based solutions across sectors to reduce the very high suicide rate in the country.

The suicide rate among Indian girls and women continues to be twice the global rate, though it has dropped in the last decade or so. We are also losing a large number of young lives to suicide, which accounts for most deaths in the 15-39 years age group

India reports the highest number of suicide deaths in the world. Hanging is the most common method of suicide, followed by pesticides poisoning, medicine overdose, and self-immolation. Depression and alcohol use disorders, and social and cultural factors, appear to increase the risk of suicide. 

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/laying-out-a-path-for-indias-national-suicide-prevention-strategy/article37919322.ece

Solution (b)

Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegetation, or “slash”, is then left to dry, usually right before the rainiest part of the year. Then, the biomass is burned, resulting in a nutrient-rich layer of ash which makes the soil fertile, as well as temporarily eliminating weed and pest species. 

Slash-and-burn is a type of shifting cultivation, an agricultural system in which farmers routinely move from one cultivable area to another.

Assarting is the clearing of forests, usually (but not always) for the purpose of agriculture. Assarting does not include burning

Tribal groups in the northeastern Indian states of Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and the Bangladeshi districts of Rangamati, Khagrachari, Bandarban and Sylhet refer to slash-and-burn agriculture as jhum or jhoom cultivation.

Article Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/centre-looking-to-use-stubble-as-biofuel-minister/article37927354.ece

Solution (b)

The Summit for Democracy was a virtual summit hosted by the United States “to renew democracy at home and confront autocracies abroad” on December 9–10, 2021. The three themes are defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting corruption, and advancing respect for human rights

The Summit presents an opportunity to discuss how to strengthen democracy in times of peril and to show how democracy still works and can improve people’s lives in tangible ways. It aims to show how open, rights-respecting societies can work together to effectively tackle the challenges of our time, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, and inequality.

Article Link:

https://www.usaid.gov/democracy/the-summit-for-democracy