UPSC Quiz – 2023 : IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs Quiz 24th June 2023

·       The innocent passage refers to the passing through the waters which are not prejudicial to peace and security. However, the nations have the right to suspend the same.

Territorial Sea:

·       The territorial sea extends seaward up to 12 nautical miles (nm) from its baselines.

·       A nautical mile is based on the circumference of the earth and is equal to one minute of latitude. It is slightly more than a land measured mile (1 nautical mile = 1.1508 land miles or 1.85 km).

·       The coastal states have sovereignty and jurisdiction over the territorial sea. These rights extend not only on the surface but also to the seabed, subsoil, and even airspace.

·       But the coastal states’ rights are limited by the innocent passage through the territorial sea

·       The contiguous zone extends seaward up to 24 nm from its baselines.

·       It is an intermediary zone between the territorial sea and the high seas.

·       The coastal state has the right to both prevent and punish infringement of fiscal, immigration, sanitary, and customs laws within its territory and territorial sea.

·       Unlike the territorial sea, the contiguous zone only gives jurisdiction to a state on the ocean’s surface and floor. It does not provide air and space rights.

·       Each coastal State may claim an EEZ beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea that extends seaward up to 200 nm from its baselines.

·       Within its EEZ, a coastal state has:

·       Sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing natural resources, whether living or nonliving, of the seabed and subsoil.

·       Rights to carry out activities like the production of energy from the water, currents and wind.

·       Unlike the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, the EEZ only allows for the above-mentioned resource rights. It does not give a coastal state the right to prohibit or limit freedom of navigation or overflight, subject to very limited exceptions.

·       It grows well in both tropical and sub-tropical climates, and it comes up well in all types of soils, but well-drained sandy loam soils are best suited.

·       It is a highly weather-sensitive crop.

·       It requires a moderately cool and dry climate without any humidity.

·       It is a Rabi crop and is cultivated mainly in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

·       It is sown from October to November and harvested in February and March.

·       Its oil is reported to have antibacterial activity and is also used in veterinary medicines and various other industries.

·       India accounts for some 70% of the world’s production of this seed spice.

·       Other countries such as Syria, Turkey, UAE and Iran make up the balance 30%.

·       The electrons can be frozen in this state.

·       In this state you can cause electrons to freeze into predictable patterns, make them resilient to changes in spin and even have electrons synchronise their movements.

·       It is very difficult to create such states of matter.

·       This state of matter aids in encoding digital data for quantum computers.

·       Even when another particle is smashed into one of the electrons, or if another magnetic field is introduced, these spin values do not change.

·       The index quantifies the challenges presented to an individual’s lifestyle in 173 cities worldwide.

·       It was given considering five metrics: healthcare, culture, environment, education, and stability.

·       This ranking offers insights into the cities that excel in providing an exceptional quality of life.

Key highlights of the report

·       Top cities to live: Vienna (Austria), Copenhagen (Denmark), Melbourne and Sydney (Australia)

·       Bottom 3 Liveable cities: Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli (Libya) and Damascus (Syria)

·       From Asia, Japan’s Osaka was ranked number 10 in the rankings.

·       The index rose last year to reach a 15-year high as the world recovered from the pandemic.

·       The average index score is now 76.2 out of 100, up from 73.2 a year ago.

·       Despite overall growth in the index score, stability saw a marginal decline.

·       Those in Western Europe, in particular, have slipped in rankings due to increased instances of workers’ strikes failing to “match gains” made by cities in Asia and the Middle East.

·       The cities which are plagued by ongoing civil unrest and military conflicts, amongst other issues, remained at the bottom of the list.

·       The process of LGDs starts with a seed, a slice of another diamond on which the LGD is created.

·       Two methods to produce LGDs includes:

·       High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) and

·       Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD).

·       CVD is a chemical process in which the seed is heated up to 800 degrees in a sealed chamber filled with molecules of carbon-rich gas such as methane.

·       The HPHT method mimics the high-pressure, high-temperature conditions that occur under the earth to form a natural diamond.

·       India is one of the leading producers of LGD and most of them use Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD).

·       The size, clarity, cut and colour of LGDs make them suitable substitutes to natural diamonds.

India Centre for Lab-grown Diamond (InCent-LGD)

·       The aim of InCent-LGD is to promote indigenous manufacturing of both CVD and HPHT systems by providing technical assistance to the industries and entrepreneurs.

·       It is located at IIT Madras.