Ans: C

Exp:

Central Government, State and UT Governments have taken several initiatives for the implementation of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020).

Statement 1 is correct: In School Education, a number of initiatives have been taken, such as:

• PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) for upgradation of schools.

• National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat).
• PM e-VIDYA for digital/online/on-air education.
• DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) as One Nation One Digital Platform.

Statement 2 is correct: The National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) has also been introduced to create a large pool of outstanding professionals who are willing to provide mentoring to school teachers. 

NMM is being piloted in 30 Central schools. Also, a school volunteer management program, namely Vidyanjali has been started to strengthen Government and Government aided schools through community and private sector involvement across the country.

Statement 3 is correct: Samagra Shiksha Scheme has been fully aligned with the recommendation of NEP 2020, with a total financial outlay of Rs. 2,94,283.04 crore, which includes a Central share of Rs. 1,85,398.32 crore. PM Poshan Shakti Nirman Yojna has also been aligned with the recommendation of NEP 2020.

Ans: A

Exp:

Statement 1 is incorrect: The Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR)  is spread over 899 square kilometres in the Valmiki Wildlife Sanctuary. It is located in Bihar’s West Champaran district, bordering Nepal to its north and Uttar Pradesh to its west.

Statement 2 is correct: The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) officially announced the increase in VTR’s tiger population in July. The reserve has witnessed a 75 per cent increase in tiger count that has been praised by NTCA. NTCA placed the reserve in the ‘Very Good’ category.  A total ban on sand and stone mining inside VTR, and strict restrictions on mining in its eco-sensitive zone, helped increase grassland cover. This, in turn, caused tiger numbers in the Protected Area to rise to 54 (earlier in 2023), up from 31 in 2018. 

Big cats, such as tigers, prey on Herbivores. These herbivores depend on grasslands. An increase in grassland cover thus helps in supporting the prey population, in turn increasing the chances of the carnivores’ survival. Reduced activities increased grassland cover; this supported more herbivores & consequently, tigers.

Ans: A

Exp:

India cyber threat report, 2023 has been released by Seqrite and the Data Security Council of India (DSCI).

Statement 1 is correct: Cryptojacking has emerged as a significant threat, with over 5.28 million detections in a year.

Cryptojacking is a cyber attack wherein a computing device is hijacked and controlled by the attacker, and its resources are used to illicitly mine cryptocurrency. In most cases, the malicious program is installed when the user clicks on an unsafe link or visits an infected website, unknowingly providing access to their Internet-connected device.

Statement 2 is correct: The automobile industry experienced the highest number of detections, followed by the government and education sector, according to the report.

Statement 3 is incorrect: India saw over 761 cyber threat detections per minute in 2023:

• Android Detections included 39% malware, 32% adware, and 29% Potentially Unwanted Apps.
• India saw over 400 million cyber threats across approximately 8.5 million endpoints (averaging 761 detections per minute) in 2023, while Surat (15 percent) and Bengaluru (14 per cent) reported the highest number of malware attack detections.

Ans: A

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: The Sahitya Akademi, founded on March 12, 1954, is an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Culture and is dedicated to the promotion of literature in Indian languages. The Government of India Resolution, which set forth the constitution of the Akademi, describes it as a national organisation to work actively for the development of Indian letters and to set high literary standards. It is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. 

Statement 2 is incorrect: Besides the 22 Scheduled languages enumerated in the Constitution of India, the Sahitya Akademi has recognised English and Rajasthani as languages in which its programme may be implemented. Akademi gives 24 awards annually to literary works in the languages it has recognised and an equal number of awards to literary translations from and into the languages of India, both after a year-long process of scrutiny, discussion, and selection. It also gives special awards called Bhasha Samman for significant contributions to the languages not formally recognised by the Akademi and also for contributions to classical and medieval literature.

Ans: C

Exp:

Statement 1 is correct: Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) is a Central University and a pioneer in the domain of Transport and Logistics education in India. Founded in 2022 by the Act of Parliament, GSV subsumes the previously-existing National Rail and Transportation Institute (NRTI). GSV is focused on developing global and national partnerships with top universities and organisations from across the world. 

Statement 2 is correct: The GSV has been established with a unique mandate to create a resource pool of best-in-class professionals for the entire transportation sector across technology, management, and policy, comprising multidisciplinary teaching, executive training, and research. The GSV students will be uniquely qualified to significantly contribute to transportation-related industries and crucially cater to the rising demands of the global economic order.