Ans: C

Exp: 

Recently, the controversy began when a petition claimed that the 16th-century Jama Masjid in Sambhal was built on an ancient Hari Har Mandir, leading to court-ordered surveys, protests, and violent clashes.

Places of Worship Act, 1991

• Statement 1 is correct: The Act mandates that the religious character of all places of worship must remain as it was on August 15, 1947 and prohibits the conversion of any place of worship from one religious denomination to another, in whole or part.
• Key Provisions of the Act:

• Prohibition of Conversion (Section 3): Prevents the conversion of a place of worship, whether in full or part, from one religious denomination to another or within the same denomination.
• Maintenance of Religious Character (Section 4(1)): Ensures that the religious identity of a place of worship remains the same as it was on August 15, 1947.
• Exceptions to the Act (Section 5): 

• Ancient and Historical Monuments: The Act does not apply to monuments, archaeological sites, and remains protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
• Settled or Resolved Disputes: The Act excludes cases that have already been settled, disputes resolved through mutual agreement, or conversions that took place before the Act’s enactment.
• Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Dispute: The Act specifically excludes the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, along with any ongoing legal proceedings related to it.

• Penalties (Section 6): Specifies penalties, including a maximum imprisonment term of three years and fines, for violating the Act.
• Statement 2 is correct: The main criticism of the Act  is that it bars judicial review, a fundamental feature of the Constitution.

Ans: B

Exp:

The Union Cabinet has approved the One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme.

About One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) scheme

• • Statement 1 is  not correct: It is a Unified Portal for accessing journals. 
  • Applies to government higher education institutions (HEIs) and central R&D laboratories.
  • Statement 2 is correct: This scheme is overseen by the Ministry of Education, through the Department of Higher Education.
    • It is coordinated by the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an autonomous inter-university center under the University Grants Commission (UGC)

• Statement 3  is correct: It has been classified as a Central Sector Scheme.

• ONOS will enable state and central government HEIs to access thousands of journals on one platform, which will be active from January 1, 2025.

Ans: D

Exp:

The Tripura government affirmed its commitment to the development of all languages and preventing their extinction, following a request from the Reang community to recognize their oral language, Kaubru.

• • The Reang tribe, also known as “Bru,” is the second-largest tribal community in Tripura, after the old Tripuri clan. 
  • Statement 1 is correct:They belong to the Indo-Mongoloid racial stock.
  • Statement 2 is correct:They are classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Tripura. 
  • Apart from Tripura, members of the Reang tribe are also found in the neighboring states of Mizoram and Assam.
  • Statement 3 is correct: The Reang tribe traces its origins to the Shan State in Myanmar (formerly Burma). 

• The Reang community is divided into two major clans, known as Meska and Molsoi. 

• Most Reangs in Tripura follow Hinduism.

Ans: D

Exp:

As per experts, Sjogren’s disease in India is a silent epidemic, underdiagnosed and poorly understood. 

•  Sjogren’s disease is a Chronic Autoimmune Disorder.
• Statement 2 is correct: In it,  the immune system mistakenly targets the body’s moisture-producing glands, leading to dryness in various parts of the body.
• It remains as an under-recognized condition and  often undiagnosed for years.
• Statement 1 is correct: It is about 10 times more common in women than in men.
• Statement 4 is correct: It typically manifests in the 30s and 40s, though it can occur at any age, including in children.
• Statement 3 is correct: It is characterised by Chronic dryness of the eyes and mouth.

Ans: D

Exp: 

Recently, the Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas (GPHA), 2024 has been published by the UNEP. 

• Statement 1 is correct: It is funded by the International Climate Initiative of the German government.
• Statement 2 is correct: The Global Peatlands Initiative is an effort by leading experts and institutions formed at the UNFCCC COP in Marrakech, Morocco in 2016 to save peatlands as the world’s largest terrestrial organic carbon stock and to prevent it being emitted into the atmosphere.
• The Global Peatlands Initiative conducts international activities within four initial partner countries: Indonesia, Peru, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.
• The GPHA identifies 488 million hectares of peatlands globally, with 12% being highly degraded.
• Peat is partially decayed plant material that accumulates under water-logged conditions over long time periods.