Ans: D

Exp:

• Statement 1 is correct: Namdapha flying squirrels are native to Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India, where a single specimen was collected in Namdapha National Park in 1981. They inhabit tall Mesua ferrea jungles, often on hill slopes in the catchment area of the Dihing River (particularly on the western slope of the Patkai range) in northeastern India.
• Statement 2 is correct: Namdapha flying squirrels are very elusive; due to this, they have been described relatively recently. They live in trees and are active during the night. Namdapha flying squirrels are herbivores (frugivores, granivores). They eat various fruits, nuts, seeds, fungi, flowers, and tree sap. 
• Statement 3 is correct: The range of the Namdapha flying squirrel might be restricted to a single valley, and it is threatened by poaching of animals for food from within the park and possibly by habitat destruction. It is among the 25 “most wanted lost” species that are the focus of Global Wildlife Conservation’s “Search for Lost Species” initiative. The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Namdapha flying squirrel’s total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers are decreasing.

Ans: C

Exp:

• Statement 1 is correct: The Brahmaputra Board, a statutory body, was set up under an Act of Parliament called the Brahmaputra Board Act (Act 46 of 1980) under the Ministry of Irrigation (Now renamed as Ministry of Jal Shakti). The Board consists of 21 Members ( 4 full-time Members and 17 part-time Members), representing seven states of the North Eastern Region, North Eastern Council, concerned Ministries – Ministry of Water Resources, Agriculture, Finance, Power & Surface Transport – and Departments of the Government of India – Central Water Commission, Geological Survey of India, India Meteorological Department and the Central Electricity Authority.
• Statement 2 is correct: The jurisdiction of the Board includes both the Brahmaputra and Barak Valley and covers all the States of the North Eastern Region, Sikkim, and part of West Bengal falling under the Brahmaputra basin. The mission of the board is the Regulation and development of the Inter-State Brahmaputra & Barak  River Valley by planning and other measures so as to achieve the development and utilisation of water resources of Brahmaputra.

Ans: D

Exp:

The Ministry of Mines launched the National Geoscience Data Repository (NGDR) Portal in New Delhi. 

• Statement 1 is correct: The NGDR initiative is spearheaded by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and the Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG-N). It represents a significant leap forward in democratising critical geoscience data, empowering stakeholders across industries and academia with unprecedented access to invaluable resources.
  • The Geological Survey of India (GSI) was set up in 1851 primarily to find coal deposits for the Railways. Its main functions relate to creating and updating national geoscientific information and mineral resource assessment. 
  • Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics [BISAG (N)] is an Autonomous Scientific Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the MeitY, Government of India, to undertake technology development & management, research & development etc., in the area of geospatial technology.
• Statement 2 is correct: NGDR is a comprehensive online platform for accessing, sharing, and analysing geospatial information across the nation.

Ans: C

Exp:

R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine developed by The University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India has been added to the World Health Organization’s  (WHO’s) list of prequalified vaccines. It is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

• Statement 1 is correct: If a vaccine has undergone a thorough evaluation of relevant data, testing of samples and WHO inspection of relevant manufacturing sites — and the outcome is positive — it is included in the WHO List of Prequalified Vaccines. The WHO also tests the vaccine’s suitability for the target population, usability with appropriate concomitant products and compliance with operational specifications for packaging and presentation.
• Statement 2 is correct: Achieving WHO vaccine prequalification ensures that vaccines used in global immunisation programmes are safe and effective within their conditions of use in the targeted health systems. WHO evaluates multiple products for prequalification each year and core to this work is ensuring greater access to safe, effective and quality health products.
• This prequalification of ‘R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine means’ larger access to vaccines as a key tool to prevent malaria in children, with it being a prerequisite for vaccine procurement by the United Nations Child Rights body UNICEF and funding support for deployment by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Ans: A

Exp:

• According to a new study published in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Hydrometeorology- The river basins in peninsular India face a higher probability of widespread flooding compared to the Ganga and Brahmaputra.
• Narmada basin has the highest probability (59 per cent) of widespread flooding, followed by Mahanadi (50 per cent), Godavari (42 per cent), Krishna (38 per cent) and Cauvery (19 per cent). 
• As for transboundary river basins, Ganga and Brahmaputra have a probability of 21 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.
• Statement 1 is correct: The 2018 Kerala floods, 2022 Pakistan floods, and lower Mississippi river floods in 2008, 2011, and 2015–19 have been linked with atmospheric rivers that usually carry moisture from the tropics to the extratropics. 
• Atmospheric rivers are large sections of the Earth’s atmosphere carrying water vapour through the sky. Widespread floods in India are associated with large atmospheric circulations that cause precipitation in the river basin.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: Widespread flooding causes enormous losses and damages compared to localised flooding, as it covers a large part of a river basin. 
• However, understanding the occurrence and drivers of widespread floods in the Indian subcontinent river basins is limited as the focus has primarily been on localised flooding.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: The team analysed the occurrence of widespread floods in seven major river basins in the Indian subcontinent, such as Ganga, Brahmaputra, Godavari, Krishna, Mahanadi, Narmada and Kaveri in 1959-2020.
• With 40 events in the period, the Mahanadi and Narmada river basins had the highest frequency of widespread floods, the analysis showed. Krishna and Godavari basins witnessed more than 20 widespread floods, while Ganga, Brahmaputra and Cauvery basins saw less than 15 events in the period.