UPSC Quiz – 2023 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 28th October 2023

·       The Neolithic Age, also called the New Stone Age, is the final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans.

·       The term Neolithic is most frequently used in connection with agriculture, which is the time when cereal cultivation and animal domestication were introduced.

·       The Neolithic stage of development was attained during the Holocene Epoch (the last 11,700 years of Earth’s history).

·       The starting point of the Neolithic is generally thought to have occurred sometime around 10,000 BCE.

·       The Neolithic followed the Paleolithic Period, or the age of chipped-stone tools, and preceded the Bronze Age, or the early period of metal tools.

·       The Neolithic Revolution started in the Fertile Crescent, a region of the Middle East, where humans first took up farming.

Features of the Neolithic Age:

·       It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals, settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving.

·       The houses were built of mud and reed in rectangular or circular shapes.

·       Alcohol was first produced during this period, and architecture, as well as its interior and exterior decoration, first appeared.

·       To the north, the Bering Sea connects with the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait, at the narrowest point of which the two continents are about 53 miles (85 kilometres) apart.

·       It is bordered by the US state of Alaska to the east and northeast, the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Far Eastern region of Russia in the west, and the chain of the Aleutian Islands in the south.

·       The boundary between the United States and Russia passes through the sea and the strait.

·       In addition to the Aleutian and Komandor groups, there are several other large islands in both the sea and strait.

·       These include Nunivak, St. Lawrence, and Nelson islands in Alaskan waters and Karagin Island in Russian waters.

·       The two rivers that drain into the sea are the Anadyr and the Yukon Rivers.

·       There are five major rivers that flow into the Arctic, the Mackenzie and Yukon in North America, and the three largest in Asia, the Ob, Yenisey and Lena Rivers.

·       It aims to halt the decline of all river dolphin species and increase the most vulnerable populations.

·       The declaration will escalate collaborative endeavours to safeguard the surviving river dolphin species.

·       Countries that adopted the declaration include Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, and Venezuela.

·       The countries involved agreed to improve water quality in the dolphins’ habitat, create protected areas, tackle overfishing, and involve Indigenous communities in the affected regions in protecting the animals.

·       There is no role of UN here.

·       A seventh river dolphin species, the Chinese river dolphin, or baiji, was declared extinct in 2007.

·       Distribution: These dolphins are found in rivers of south-central Asia, China, and South America and in the coastal waters of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.

·       Common Features: They have slender beaks lined with lots of teeth, small eyes, flexible necks and bodies, pronounced forehead melons, large flippers, and small dorsal fins.

·       The six surviving species of river dolphins are the Amazon, Indus, Ganges, Irrawaddy, Tucuxi, and Yangtze finless porpoise.

·       All six species of river dolphins are classified as Endangered or Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

·       The largest is the Amazon River dolphin (Inia geoffrensis).

·       The project involves building a concrete gravity dam across the Gola River.

·       The Ramganga River originates in the southern slopes of Dudhatoli Hill in Chamoli district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand.

·       Time Period – Annual report

·       It is the world’s most authoritative source of energy analysis and projections.

Findings of World Energy Outlook 2023 for India

·       Power consumption – India will exceed the whole of Africa now.

·       Air-conditioner usage – Residential ownership to see 9 fold increase by 2050.

·       Energy demand – A sharp rise as temperatures cross the 25-degree Celsius threshold.

·       Energy supply – To rise to 60.3 exajoules (EJ) by 2050.

·       Investments – Need to nearly triple by the end of this decade to be on a trajectory to meet its net zero emissions target.

·       Annual CO2 emissions – To rises nearly 30% by 2050, which is one of the largest increases in the world.

·       Implication over India’s climate – Over the past 5 decades, more than 700 heatwave events occurred.