Ans: A

Exp:

Statement 1 is incorrect: The European Union (EU) has launched a naval mission called ‘Aspides’ to protect Red Sea shipping from Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

• The Iran-backed Houthis, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been harassing the vital shipping lane since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.
• ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ is a United States led military operation to respond to Houthi-led attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Statement 2 is correct: The EU says the mission’s mandate is limited to protecting civilian shipping in the Red Sea and that no attacks will be carried out on Yemeni soil. The mandate is set initially for one year.

Ans:C

Exp:

The Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, was a political deal designed to bring an end to 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.

• It was signed on 10 April 1998.
• The Good Friday Agreement is based on the idea of co-operation between communities.
• It set up a new government for Northern Ireland, representing both nationalists and unionists.

Ans: C

Exp:

• 100 years of the historic occasion when Satyendra Nath Bose authored the last of the four revolutionary publications that led to new quantum mechanics. 

• Planck’s law – It was discovered by Max Planck. 

• Planck’s law was correct, but its derivation was not.
• He derived Planck’s law in a revolutionary way which impressed Einstein, and subsequently they continued to collaborate. Hence, Option 1 is correct.

• Quantum statistics – Satyendra Nath Bose’s pioneering work on quantum statistics has paved the way for development of modern quantum technologies including Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum superconductivity, and quantum information theory.  Hence, Option 2 is correct.
• Boson– Bosons take their name from Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose who conducted important research in the 1920s regarding the behaviour of the most famous boson :  the photon. Hence, Option 3 is correct.
• Fifth state of matter – His work contributed to the concept of the fifth state of matter, known as Bose-Einstein Condensate.  Hence, Option 4 is correct.

• A Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that is typically formed when a gas of bosons at very low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero

Ans: D

Exp:

This is the first time that air quality in Indian cities has been linked to a La Nina event  and indirectly to climate change, which is making El Nino and La Nina more severe.

Statement 1 is incorrect: La Nina is the ‘cool phase’ of  El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

• It  is a pattern that describes the unusual cooling of the tropical eastern Pacific.

The ‘El Nino’ is a climatic phenomenon  that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It is the “warm phase” of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Statement 2  is incorrect: The air quality of the surrounding areas gets influenced by  La Nina.

• During the winters of 2022- The Northern Indian cities, including Delhi, were cleaner than usual, while cities in the west and the south, like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, experienced worse than usual air quality.
• La Nina events might produce noticeable changes in wind circulation over India. In the winter of 2022, however, the wind circulation was in the north-south direction. The pollutants being carried from Punjab and Haryana bypassed Delhi and surrounding areas and flew over Rajasthan and Gujarat to southern regions

Ans: D

Exp:

Statement 1 is incorrect: Tree cover refers to the total area of land that is covered by trees, regardless of whether or not the trees are part of a forest ecosystem.

Statement 2 is incorrect: Forest cover refers specifically to the area of land that is covered by a forest ecosystem, which is defined as an area with a tree canopy density of more than 10% and an area of more than 1 hectares.